Coral Gables, FL.-- The #1 player in Utah found his way to Florida for the weekend.

Maui Tonata, the 6 foot 6, consensus top 15 recruit in the Class of 2028 made his way from the Salt Lake State down to Miami to watch the #3 ranked Hurricanes down Florida State in thrilling fashion. The 320lb kick stepper from Orem High had nothing but positives for the atmosphere and energy of Hard Rock Stadium, citing the 'Canes ability to close out the nail biting win as one of his favorite moments of the trip

"What a great game. Probably one of the best games this year. Finishing off with Miami winning, they definitely deserved it. It was a great experience." Tonata stated. "They always got a gameplan, you know. They're always able to accomplish it. Coach {Alex} Miribal and Coach {Mario} Cristobal always got something up their sleeves, not only for the offense- but also the offensive line."

It was rainy and muddy. It was disgusting. It was football weather.

Harsh tropical climates like we saw Saturday evening are where elite offensive lines thrive, using their wall of mass to expand rushing lanes and play smash mouth football. For Maui Tonata, that was exceptionally fun to watch in person.

"They're always doing the little things right. Finishing the block, always looking for the ball and trying to block someone. It was cool seeing an offensive line moving so quick at 300+ pounds."

As far as where Miami stands in his recruitment process, it's clear the 'Canes stand near the top for the top 3 OT in the class.

"This is definitely one of the top schools I'd come to. I do really believe in Coach Cristobal and Coach Miribal."

Maui would cite Brigham Young (BYU) and Oregon as other potential homes.

After being asked what he's looking for the most during the remainder of his recruitment process, Maui kept it simple- he just wants to continue building authentic relationships.

"Relationships. Having great people around, the atmosphere. I care a lot about relationships. I got to have good people around me."

If you want the buzz on what Miami's top targeted recruits had to say following the rivalry dub, CanesInsight has you covered! Tune in to or YouTube channel for the exclusive content HERE !

Cover Photo Credit: 24/7Sports

 

Hey I fully agree. No argument for me we expected and should have blow them out. Definitely no argument it would be BETTER to just kick their *** than have a good viewing game for recruits imo.
However it is also just a fact Mario has found ways to Lose to teams as 10+ pt favorites yearly dating back to Oregon as well, and we seem to always suck off bye weeks. So if we can just cut that out at least, Hey you can argue that is improvement as well. Win all games we should win - and we should win pretty much every game! Like while he was building us up to here, the Development path was win more games every year and make playoffs and win conference. Okay we successfully did that in a pretty step by step fashion - 5 to 7 to 10 to 10+Playoff wins...
Now the areas of improvement/development are we still need to win conference, we still need to cut out the losses that shouldn't happen, we still need to clean up penalties which have been a problem here every year under Mario, etc... And now this year unlike last 2 seasons for the most part Mario has to keep us at this level while combating quite a lot of important injuries.... and ultimately the end goal is winning #6.

All I was saying though is its Marios job to SELL the result of this game to recruits. And if that was an example from Brysen Wrights dad on the spin zone, hey I'll take it lol

Georgia was favored by dam near 20 over Auburn, and look what happened to them lol....

 

Hey I fully agree. No argument for me we expected and should have blow them out. Definitely no argument it would be BETTER to just kick their *** than have a good viewing game for recruits imo.
However it is also just a fact Mario has found ways to Lose to teams as 10+ pt favorites yearly dating back to Oregon as well, and we seem to always suck off bye weeks. So if we can just cut that out at least, Hey you can argue that is improvement as well. Win all games we should win - and we should win pretty much every game! Like while he was building us up to here, the Development path was win more games every year and make playoffs and win conference. Okay we successfully did that in a pretty step by step fashion - 5 to 7 to 10 to 10+Playoff wins...
Now the areas of improvement/development are we still need to win conference, we still need to cut out the losses that shouldn't happen, we still need to clean up penalties which have been a problem here every year under Mario, etc... And now this year unlike last 2 seasons for the most part Mario has to keep us at this level while combating quite a lot of important injuries.... and ultimately the end goal is winning #6.

All I was saying though is its Marios job to SELL the result of this game to recruits. And if that was an example from Brysen Wrights dad on the spin zone, hey I'll take it lol

I laughed when one of the players in interviews acknowledge the bye week curse.. Lol.

 

Georgia was favored by dam near 20 over Auburn, and look what happened to them lol....

Yes, that happens at UGA and like Ohio St signficantly less often than it happens to us. We have to get to that level still in that specific department. There are other areas we are ahead of UGA and Ohio St. And I think we could/would beat both them. That's not what I'm talking about though.
I'm talking about looking at our program as a whole and identifying the areas WE can still make the improvements year over year.

 

@Confidence1000 it appears in large part I was wrong about how the game was perceived by these jits. Only seen a few negative responses. To me that's crazy, but I really don't care how I view it so long as it doesn't cost us with these recruita who will define the program moving forward.

Why would it have cost us? We won the game the game was outstanding and the rock was crazy! Because we didn’t win by 40? The number 1 ranking helps but I really think the way our staff recruits was also huge.

 

Why would it have cost us? We won the game the game was outstanding and the rock was crazy! Because we didn’t win by 40? The number 1 ranking helps but I really think the way our staff recruits was also huge.

As I stated I'm gonna stop my part in this convo. We don't all have to view things the same. You having to ask that question after everything I already said says enough.