4-star OT Neal on UM: "It's almost one of those perfect fits to be honest"

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Stefan Adams

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Working mostly at left tackle, IMG Academy (FL) 4-star OT Evan Neal put on a clinic on Day 3 of the Opening Finals with his performance in the OL/DL session. Arguably UM’s top target overall in the 2019 cycle, Neal didn’t lose a rep and was dominating some of the best D-Linemen in the country.

“Oh yeah, I feel like I had a pretty good performance, always have room for improvement,” Neal said on his day in Frisco. “That’s why I’m ready to take a shower, get into the film room, and see what I did wrong to correct it.”

A few weeks back, Neal visited Coral Gables with many members of his immediate family and detailed what it is about the Canes that has him interested being a part of the U.

“It was amazing man, they threw everything at me. They’re making the decision hard on me,” Neal said. “I’ve been to Miami a lot, I grew up a Miami fan. Miami will be a real good fit for me, close to home, good program, good head coach. Great academic program as well, it’s a place where I can live and be comfortable at. Beautiful campus, the nicest campus in college football. Miami’s right on the beach, I mean come on.”

And Neal is certainly a priority to the Canes. In fact, he says he’s in touch with Mark Richt more than any other head coach in the nation.

“Coach Richt texts me almost every day,” Neal said. “From a head coach, I get the most text messages from him. Out of all the head coaches, nobody talks to me more than coach Richt.”

Neal, who is 6’7.5” and 361 pounds, has no other visits planned as of now, but as an early enrollee, knows his decision window is fast-approaching.

“I don’t know exactly when I’m going to be making a decision, but I do know that I’m going to be early enrolling, so before December,” Neal said.

Although he declined to name an official leader or top groups, Neal’s final comments on Miami sum up why some consider him a Miami-lean to this point.

“It’s almost one of those perfect fits to be honest,” Neal said on UM. “But there’s still time for other schools, I still have to see what’s up.”
 
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“That’s why I’m ready to take a shower, get into the film room, and see what I did wrong to correct it.”

By far my favorite part of the interview. The kid is not even officially a senior, and yet he is already a film junky. He has the perfect combo of skill set/attitude to change the culture/abilities of a position group. Considering that our OL is the weakest link of our position groups, he is the most important target on our board.
 
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"They're making the decision hard on me"

That sounds like someone committed or heavily leaning somewhere else. That's a strange thing to say for someone who's supposed to be leaning our way.

I thought the exact same thing when I first read it. Then I realized he was probably talking about the decision to go ahead & commit to Miami. Because later on he talks about Miami being the perfect fit but wants to see what's up.
 
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