The past month has been an eventful one for Champagnat Catholic defensive tackle Travonte Valentine. After winning a state title back in December, Valentine recently decommitted from Miami after rumors of Al Golden leaving Miami for Penn State surfaced. The 330-pound lineman has narrowed his choice down to LSU and Miami.
“The atmosphere of the recruiting process is going very well. There’s a lot of spectating and rumors and stuff like that so it’s alright. I really don’t go on Facebook or Twitter and leave all that trash talking to the fans. I just walk away and stand my ground,” said Valentine.
Valentine’s decommitment caused a stir amongst Miami fans. Will the negative comments towards him have an impact on his decision?
“Nah, not at all. Fans are fans especially the die-hard fans. There’s all these rumors about me being ineligible and all that but that’s not the reason why I actually decommitted. Right now with the way my GPA is at a 3.2 so far, I can get into whatever school I want to. I’m just focused on doing me and my official visits.”
Next up for Valentine is his official to LSU.
“I’ve never been to Baton Rouge. My teammates Kato Nelson and Darnell Saloman have been there so I just want to see how it works out.”
What is it about the Tigers that interests him?
“The thing that sticks out about LSU is the way they put defensive tackles in the NFL. They have freshmen making impacts already, so that’s what I like.”
Although some Canes fans have remained optimistic that Valentine will be in this class, others believe that Miami is set to be just another “hat” on the table.
“Of course I’m still considering them. It’s home. My people can come and drive to see me when they want to.”
Much has been made about Valentine wanting to get word from Al Golden after he cited Golden’s flirtation with Penn State as a reason for his decommitment.
“I’ve been talking to Coach Golden on Twitter, but I might have the chance to go over there today to see what they’re up to. (Anthony) Moten is taking his official today so I might surprise him and chill with him.”
Miami sent a crew of coaches down to Champagnat earlier this week.
“On Thursday, I met with four Miami coaches and we had a great talk. I enjoyed their company at the school and it went well.”
An X-factor working in Miami’s favor is running backs coach Hurlie Brown, who is a longtime family friend of Valentine.
“Him (Brown) and my step-father are like best friends from back in the day because they went to the same high school. We have great chemistry.”
When Valentine meets with Golden face-to-face, what does he want to hear from the Miami Head Coach?
“I want him to tell me about the situation if he was going to leave and people say just because a Head Coach is leaving, it doesn’t mean anything. No, if a Head Coach leaves then other coaches on the staff might not have their jobs. For people to bash at me for that was silly because when you think about it, Coach Hurlie might not have been there and that new Head Coach might have brought his own staff in."
**Miami will get the last crack at Valentine as he will take his official visit on the weekend of January 31st.
“The atmosphere of the recruiting process is going very well. There’s a lot of spectating and rumors and stuff like that so it’s alright. I really don’t go on Facebook or Twitter and leave all that trash talking to the fans. I just walk away and stand my ground,” said Valentine.
Valentine’s decommitment caused a stir amongst Miami fans. Will the negative comments towards him have an impact on his decision?
“Nah, not at all. Fans are fans especially the die-hard fans. There’s all these rumors about me being ineligible and all that but that’s not the reason why I actually decommitted. Right now with the way my GPA is at a 3.2 so far, I can get into whatever school I want to. I’m just focused on doing me and my official visits.”
Next up for Valentine is his official to LSU.
“I’ve never been to Baton Rouge. My teammates Kato Nelson and Darnell Saloman have been there so I just want to see how it works out.”
What is it about the Tigers that interests him?
“The thing that sticks out about LSU is the way they put defensive tackles in the NFL. They have freshmen making impacts already, so that’s what I like.”
Although some Canes fans have remained optimistic that Valentine will be in this class, others believe that Miami is set to be just another “hat” on the table.
“Of course I’m still considering them. It’s home. My people can come and drive to see me when they want to.”
Much has been made about Valentine wanting to get word from Al Golden after he cited Golden’s flirtation with Penn State as a reason for his decommitment.
“I’ve been talking to Coach Golden on Twitter, but I might have the chance to go over there today to see what they’re up to. (Anthony) Moten is taking his official today so I might surprise him and chill with him.”
Miami sent a crew of coaches down to Champagnat earlier this week.
“On Thursday, I met with four Miami coaches and we had a great talk. I enjoyed their company at the school and it went well.”
An X-factor working in Miami’s favor is running backs coach Hurlie Brown, who is a longtime family friend of Valentine.
“Him (Brown) and my step-father are like best friends from back in the day because they went to the same high school. We have great chemistry.”
When Valentine meets with Golden face-to-face, what does he want to hear from the Miami Head Coach?
“I want him to tell me about the situation if he was going to leave and people say just because a Head Coach is leaving, it doesn’t mean anything. No, if a Head Coach leaves then other coaches on the staff might not have their jobs. For people to bash at me for that was silly because when you think about it, Coach Hurlie might not have been there and that new Head Coach might have brought his own staff in."
**Miami will get the last crack at Valentine as he will take his official visit on the weekend of January 31st.
. There are some guys that are just Canes and it doesn't matter who the coach is (i.e. Duke, Chickillo, Kc, Darling). I'm merely pointing out that ANYONE that coaches the U is going to bring in at least some top talent just on name of the program and proximity. In order to win here you need to do better than that. You must convince a majority of your homegrown talent to stay home and represent and Golden simply isn't doing it right now.
