The Bank (11/21)

Nov 21, 2023

In the past few Banks, we revealed new names like Cole McConathy and Markel Bell. This one will involve more familiar names as Miami hones in on its top high school targets. But when it comes to new names and targets, the Portal will be pumping them out.

- Expect a lot of team turnover. The staff feels like they upgraded the roster from Year 1 to Year 2 and hope to make a similar leap this offseason. The positions to watch are QB, WR, DT (x4), DE and S.

- This is also the time of the year where you see attrition in the class. I expect a few names to move on. Overall, the quality will improve.

- I'm told Miami's offer to QB Cedric Bailey (Chaminade) is independent of his teammate, elite WR Jeremiah Smith. Otherwise, Bailey would have been offered earlier. Why now? Miami needs QBs due to transfer uncertainty and they like the development of Bailey as a senior. On top of his physical tools (6'6, 4.4 shuttle, strong arm), he is considered to have elite intangibles on and off the field. And while he's not being offered because of his relationships, they certainly don't hurt. This isn't an imminent flip situation- Miami will need to recruit Bailey and win him over organically.

- Miami still feels it's in a good place with Jeremiah Smith. One selling point- Miami has two of the top 3 receivers in the ACC, statistically.

- A lot of the remaining battles are in South Florida. Mario would love to finish strong locally like he did with Reuben Bain, Mark Fletcher and Damari Brown last December. The staff is sky high on RB Jordan Lyle (STA) after a big senior year. He is a top priority and his recruitment reminds me of Fletcher last year. CB Xavier Lucas (American Heritage) is going through the recruiting process but remains a top target with mutual interest. One name who is having a strong senior year- ATH Lawayne McCoy (Central). Some local observers believe he is playing his best ball at cornerback.

- Another local name who is having a great senior year- TE Benjamin Blackburn (Columbus). He is a true in-line tight end and is committed to a TE factory in Stanford. Miami would love to take him or TE Camden Jones (Pasadena), a Cal commit who visited last week and impressed. Both guys are high IQ and physically imposing. One factor helping with Blackburn- he grew up a Miami fan.

- CB Zavier Mincey (Daytona Beach) will be a battle until the end but Miami is in a good position right now. I don't feel as confident on OL Isendre Ahfua (Seattle), although there is communication.

- Anything can happen in recruiting and things change from day to day. But as of now, Miami likes its communication with DT Artavious Jones (Blountstown), RB Kevin Riley (Tuscaloosa), TE Elija Lofton (Las Vegas) and LB Cam Pruitt (Mobile).

- I read speculation on RB TreVonte Citizen because he wasn't at the game. I'm told he was attending to a family matter.

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YankeesCane

Nov 22, 2023

But what would Kiffin do? lol

MumbleRap

Nov 22, 2023

EltonJohn13 said:
Zion hasn't played in over 2 years. I think it's safe to say he won't ever play football here again.

He played vs A&M last year and pretty sure graded out as our best OL. I just want some **** clarification. Mario has been quiet, why has not one reporter asked about it? Kinda wild to me tbh.

MumbleRap

Nov 22, 2023

sharkindaawater said:
what is the fascination with zion? He cant even physically play football

So why doesn’t our coach say that? Think the fascination is the mystery behind it… we’ve never received anything concrete

WeBallinBoyz

Nov 22, 2023

YankeesCane said:
You know whats funny, USC is ranked 18th in recruiting right now and they too spent that money on a coach who is under performing

Miami and USC and actually very similar

hoops156 said:
USC won 11 games last year which makes it more tolerable to have a down year 2. we had 5 wins last year. we havent done what USC did last season in year 1 under riley in like 20 years

It’s a good point @hoops156, that buys you some time + he finally fired Grinch and he’s developed multiple Heisman QBs. It’s not like he doesn’t have a track record on offense.

Despite that, going 7-5 in Year 2 with the probable #1 draft pick is no bueno. As for their recruiting class, @Rellyrell knows more about this but they’re almost assuredly gearing up to spend MASSIVE in the portal. They took quality from HS, not just taking kids to take them. Despite the 18th-ranked class and only 17 commits, their average recruit ranking is actually 13th.

USC will be competing with us for everyone except maybe a QB, but those DTs and safeties/DBs…yeah. Just one of the blue bloods we’ll have to fight off, and now they can show they’re part of one of the two premier football conferences in America, while we go 5-10 with ACC teams.

WeBallinBoyz

Nov 22, 2023

YankeesCane said:
But what would Kiffin do? lol

Kiffin would’ve won 9 games with TVD. If you want to even play the hypothetical Kiffin + Guidry, we’re ACCCG bound. No doubt in my mind.

But that ship is sadly gone and even though I’m a pretty open Lane supporter, we should focus on our head coach. The only way Mario is successful here is bringing in talent and building rosters better than most college teams. He needs that advantage to offset coaching deficiencies.

And that’s why a lot of us are concerned we’re not bringing in enough talent to match the expectations set forth upon hiring.

305 MOUNTAIN MAN

Nov 22, 2023

YankeesCane said:
But what would Kiffin do? lol

Loose to Saban, again !

Shogungts

Nov 22, 2023

lj21 said:
But you truthfully should only have to do this once. If we recruit well in HS this should only be a 1 year stop gap at those positions. It's not like we should be in the portal every single year for QB and DT. Miami has to do it one time, win and get a great recruiting class. Is that a wrong way to think?

I think for QB in particular (as has been said before by others including Dmoney) the norm has changed. The majority of P5 programs have a starting QB who transferred from another school. ****, of the current top 10 in the AP ranking, six of the schools have a transfer QB.

Does that mean that Miami should stop trying to get a top tier recruit our of high school? No, but in the new college football reality, I think teams need to be ready to go portal shopping for a QB every year if necessary. And if you are dealing with a NIL budget that can't compete with others (either bc the money is not there, you have too many gaps, and/or you have to pay extra for the 'suck tax') then trying to find the QBs with potential in recruiting (which should be cheaper) and hoping you hit on one of them while trying to get the proven ones in the portal is probably the best play.

DT (at least so far) has generally been a position that has been harder to get a true elite player in the portal and recruiting would be the preferred method but 1) we can't seem to get a DT recruit for the life of us and 2) any DT we get in 2024 is likely not contributing until 2025 (there are some exceptions, but they are rare). Recruiting DTs then becomes a chicken or egg situation. We likely have to try to overspend on a portal DT in hopes of showing recruits, but again now you are talking showing 2025 recruits who we will likely be behind on (since recruiting starts before Fall and the portal DT would play until then) and would likely not be ready to play until 2026. So if the portal DT you get does not have 2 years, you are going to be back in the portal again next year trying to replace them.

TLDR - the rules for QB have changed and Miami has mucked up the DT position so much the last few years that it is likely still going to be a few more years before we can get ourselves out of the hole. I am hoping there are some DT surprises either in the portal or recruiting that will help us get out of the hole sooner, but I am not counting on it.

passitback

Nov 22, 2023

MumbleRap said:
He played vs A&M last year and pretty sure graded out as our best OL. I just want some **** clarification. Mario has been quiet, why has not one reporter asked about it? Kinda wild to me tbh.

Similar situation with JB. Weird rumors that make very little sense.

I'll interpret it as them never playing for us again. If contrary news comes out, cool. Otherwise, that's what I will stick to.

In my opinion, it's best to have zero expectations for them to suit up. Gotta be a "see it to believe it" type to preserve your sanity as a die hard.

stormsurge

Nov 22, 2023

Interesting that of the positions D$ listed where we needed to get more talent at that CB was NOT one of them.

hoops156

Nov 22, 2023

MumbleRap said:
He played vs A&M last year and pretty sure graded out as our best OL. I just want some **** clarification. Mario has been quiet, why has not one reporter asked about it? Kinda wild to me tbh.

zion told you his own status in the offseason.

Brains

Nov 22, 2023

sharkindaawater said:
what is the fascination with zion? He cant even physically play football

One of the all-time themes of this board, right up there with Flowe.

Shogungts

Nov 22, 2023

JayCane20 said:
That is why I didn't automatically throw him into the money that can be reallocated.

I think he leaves and Rivers kicks inside to center. Still not a huge need to grab an OL in the portal if that happens but we could.

I see it like this just for a visual:
TVD's NIL - $ for $ to a new QB. Should have a high-choice option as long as Mario's reputation doesn't kill it. They have a plan in place and hopefully it works out
Cohen's NIL - $ for $ one of the top DTs in the portal. Should get an all-conference caliber guy
Deen's NIL - $ for $ should land a rotational DT
Taylor's NIL - $ for $ for a starting WR or CB
James' NIL - $ for $ for a starting Safety
Kam's NIL - $ for $ for a rotational Safety and a rotational DT
Lee - Stays or $ for $ goes towards a Nickel/CB. Maybe another portal OL

The rest opening up is pretty much pennies. Use that to go towards freshman, allocating to high performing young guys, etc.

If I am following correctly, this seems to indicate that there is the same amount for NIL available next year as there was for this year?

Brains

Nov 22, 2023

RVACane said:
We’re actually going to have to do what FSU has done in the portal at this point. I’m mostly bothered by the average ranking of our recruits as you’ve been pointing out. The whiffs are bad of course but what we’ve gotten, on average, does not bode well.

I really don’t get the OL whiffs more than anything.

My primary metric for this staff has always been recruiting. The worst sign for this program right now is their inability to recruit. Our fans are grossly underestimating how ****ed we are unless recruiting improves- this offseason- by leaps and bounds.

LeavingJesusland

Nov 22, 2023

Odin said:
Dmoney,when you say DTx4,do you mean the 2 commits plus 2 more or do you mean 4 more on top of the 2 in this class.

Canes Legacy

Nov 22, 2023

Don’t forget about the suck tax we have to pay.

One9

Nov 22, 2023

MumbleRap said:
So why doesn’t our coach say that? Think the fascination is the mystery behind it… we’ve never received anything concrete

Because information must remain classified with top secret clearance in Fort Cristobal, Coral Gables, FL.

Jedi Master Cane

Nov 22, 2023

YankeesCane said:
But what would Kiffin do? lol

Win a **** of a lot more games.

J
Jaxcane4

Nov 22, 2023

MumbleRap said:
He played vs A&M last year and pretty sure graded out as our best OL. I just want some **** clarification. Mario has been quiet, why has not one reporter asked about it? Kinda wild to me tbh.

I'm pretty sure he said it's a pain tolerance thing or I read it enough on here from the insiders to know that. Either way I'm sure it's a hippa thing as well.