Armondo Blount C/O 2025 Defensive End

[canes732]

Lock this thread please

 

[NorthEastCane]

No because then that means we’re failing in the eyes of the fans. Too many star chasers for that strategy to work.

It doesn't matter what the fans think. What matters is what the staff thinks. Do they have guys that can be developed and be successful.

That said, you have to find a way to keep kids home or hit on some big evals. Need DTs and as we’ve seen time and time again, the portal can only do so much.

I've been saying for years that UM was never a recruiting powerhouse even when we were good. We were an evaluation and development powerhouse. And we were location in an environment with a large pool of talent that got overlooked ... and still do. These aren't "diamonds in the rough" types, they're more like "lost in the crowd". How often have you've heard "How did we let them get away" (to Pitt, Cinn., West Va, etc.).

We need to identify and lock them in early, they rarely flip. They're not jags, they 4* types with upside. With Alonzo, it seems like we've already begun. I like many of his "evaluation" gets, there's just not many with DT body types.

Then we can selectively recruit the higher rated guys that we feel we have a chance for.

 

[gogeta4]

Kid is ******* up. This **** ain’t done though, refuse to believe that. Go handle business and beat that team in three weeks then see what they think.

I don’t think FSU realizes what Miami is about to bring in the trenches.

hes legitimately an fsu fan it kinda was surpriing he picked us.

I personally wouldnt continue recruiting him but thats me ...and i hold grudges lol

 

[P-Tizzle]

nobody is saying you aren't connected. But at the same time, you've been saying that Hartline did something that will ruin connections down here, but Smith is still committed to them and they are taking a swing at flipping the STA WR. If his connections were blown, how are they still making inroads with a committed SFL WR?

Now you say that FSU broke the Code with Blount. Yet, they got the flip.

Either these unwritten rules are nothing more than **** people talk about to appease people who are trying to get info on recruits or it's just loser talk from us canes fans to explain why we can't close the elite SFL players.

I’ll say it. That guy isn’t connected to anything. Hartline, more 5 stars than wins, and now apparently FSU did something to ***** up relationships with SoFlo recruiting ties. He’s vague on purpose without any substance. Wake me up when he’s actually right.

 

[FromDeeeeep]

Blostein wrote an article today with the "backstory"

-- Entering the 2023 football season, FSU felt it was the frontrunner in Blount's recruitment. That thought only heightened after he got a chance to the watch the 'Noles beat down on LSU in Orlando to open the season. He and his family had a great relationship with area recruiter Randy Shannon as well as other members of FSU's coaching staff.

-- There was then a turning point in this recruitment: Blount's attendance at the Texas A&M at Miami game in early September. He watched the hometown Hurricanes beat the Aggies for one of Mario Cristobal's first big wins in Coral Gables. Following that win, Blount's recruitment trended heavily towards the 'Canes.

-- FSU attempted to stymie the momentum of Miami following that win by getting in contact with Blount and his family. That effort was to no avail as Blount announced his pledge to the 'Canes on Sept. 14. His commitment marked a massive sting for FSU as he was one of their top overall targets in the 2025 class regardless of position.

-- This is when the rumors started about reclassification for Blount. Blostein said he was able to confirm them "with a few well placed sources"

-- Another pivotal turning point in this saga was Miami's loss to Georgia Tech a few weeks ago. The Hurricanes had the lead and the game won before a poor coaching decision led them to an unprobable loss. blostein thinks this was the origin of Blount beginning to look around again.

-- It wasn't until last Friday before the 'Noles played Syracuse and the 'Canes played North Carolina that rumors of FSU making a major play for Blount started once again. And he was listening. Blostein said he was told that by the following Monday, Blount's chances of ending up in Miami's class were slim and there was confidence the Seminoles were going to pull off the flip

-- After hearing the buzz of a flip to FSU, Blostein said he confirmed Blount's intentions to be in Tallahassee over the weekend and purposefully did not report on any news regarding this recruitment early in the week as to not give away FSU's behind-the-scenes moves.

-- Everything was set for Blount to visit Tallahassee for the Duke game and then announce his decision at some point on Sunday. By Saturday at around midnight, everything was going according to plan. The intention was to still announce his flip to the 'Noles on Sunday.

-- That changed -- temporarily -- on Sunday morning however. Blount was only going to announce his reclassification to 2024 on Sunday and instead wait a week before announcing his flip.

-- Blostein said there was a massive push by Miami to attempt to have Blount leave FSU's campus without flipping his commitment. This push involved not only messaging from the Hurricanes' coaching staff, but also pressure from individuals directly surrounding Blount's life. Blostein said he was told the push worked for a few hours and the plan was to wait a week before making any decision on a flip.

-- Apparently Blount was still on campus at FSU at this time giving the Seminoles the chanceto play defense against Miami's effort. Blostein says he was told the FSU staff did not apply pressure to Blount -- they simply answered any questions he may have had about the program and essentially provided truth and clarity on some untrue narratives beind pushed by the opposing staff. FSU's honesty paid off as Blount departed the Moore Athletic Center on Sunday evening committed to the Seminoles.

Blount was actually watching the Seminoles' walkthrough practice and I'm told he was keeping an extremely close eye on the defensive line group.


That's the Nole story and apparently, they are sticking to it.....

Blostein and the rest of their 247 staff are a joke. They tried to sell last year that Mario left Hykeem Williams pleading & begging texts and voicemails. Going to so far and saying they had screenshots of the texts and heard the VMs. But never did they publish them and now they refuse to talk about them.

Bartow is a snake and he can try and put out whatever narrative he wants to his old media buddies but no one outside Tallahassee believes that ****.

 

[sebastian91]

3. The Blount shenanigans seem pretty cut and dry to me. Kid was leaning FSU before he committed to us seemingly out of the blue. This reeks of using us to up the bag from the school he really wanted to be at all along. Staff should have seen right through it and that's on them for not.

a. How do you know that they didn't see through it?
ii. What would you have them do about it if they did?
6. Maybe the Miami coaches saw an opportunity to:
A. Keep him interested long enough to draw in other commits
4. Make F$U spend more than they would otherwise have to
ix. **** it, maybe dude sticks...

 

[miamian01]

Lmao yeah he just left out the massive amounts of cash paid out to his mom and him to get him to tally, during the visit, and upon committing. What a f^cking clown . F^ck FSU.

This insinuation that every black kid is wooed is insane. Win the games you’re supposed to and this won’t happen. I believe the family wants him here. I’m pretty sure he’s a Rise Prep kid because he reclassified. I don’t know if we landed one Rise kid. Maybe the Washington’s were but I’m not sure. In recruiting, sometimes you lose battles. In Miami’s case, they lost the kid. Simple as that. It helps for them to have Shannon, Surtain, and Odell. Jason Taylor wasn’t going to be his position coach. We have Sabbath and Roland, but they aren’t on field. I mean FSU has Flagg from Booker T committed. Miami didn’t even attempt to recruit him. A local DT at a position of need.

 

[NorthEastCane]

I tbink mario will get his OL from the portal. But the DL?? Yeah, comp is real tough. Just look at last year - Bear and Fiske were the top 2 and then there was a big gap to the next group.

And Bear was back channeled. He knew where he was going before he entered the portal.

Mario has to start dusting off his back channeling chops now. You can't wait to see who's already in the portal.

 

[FrancisSawyer]

If we are operating like that we won’t be good. You can do that at Pitt and NE cause those guys are being paid millions already. They have to wait till free agency so u get something out of them. These pups ain’t never seen money like that you have to go all out or fall behind.

The other thing you have to understand...and please, this is not meant to be a shot at any TRUE insiders on here...

The information a MAJORITY of them are getting is from a similar source - the staff. It's not them that are spewing their own bs (unless they're fraud insiders just piggy-backing on others looking for clout, and I'll let posters come to their own senses as to who is real and who isn't)...it's the staff.

What's been consistent this whole cycle? The hype and fluff, the false sense of confidence regarding at least a dozen recruits so far...and when the results don't match, there's always an excuse. When they do hit, there's an incessant bravado sense of "I told you so!" When it doesn't...excuses come forth. A majority of that false bravado is from the staff being constantly played or having zero idea of where they actually stand in a big-boy recruitment.

Go back and look at tons of threads, you'll realize what I'm talking about. Very few "insiders" have a variety of sources, or sources that extend beyond the walls of the University of Miami. Those that do, tend to be the legit ones.

A lot of you are sheep and hang onto every word, and then get emotional when it doesn't pan out the way you expected. You've got to use your brain and cypher through the timeline/information.

I agree with this but the one thing that I have a hard time reconciling is the last sentence in your third paragraph about the false bravado coming from the staff being constantly played or having zero idea where they stand in a big boy recruitment. I would totally understand that under Golden, Coker, Shannon or Diaz. Heck even Richt but that doesn't fit with the type of recruiter we know Mario to be. The guy has his faults but to be constantly getting played and having no idea where he stands in a recruitment just doesn't go with what we know about the guy. There is something very wrong here and I'm at a loss to explain it.

 

[Angry Ibis]

I wish I could come on a message board with zero insight and be a know it all based on “reports.”

You've come to the right place!

 

[Angry Ibis]

Here are my thoughts:

1. DT recruiting 100% needs an overhaul, similar to what we've seen done at the WR position - from strategy, position coach, etc. Nuances aside, Salave'a simply isn't getting it done from a TA standpoint.

2. As an extension to that, what is our recruitment identity going to be for the position? DT tends have a longer-term ROI time horizon (similar to OL) so do we need to be focusing more of our attention on the Josh Horton type recruits as a baseline and then cherry pick the McCray's of the world. Obviously will need a true developer of said talent in place to make this strategy work but we seem to putting all of our eggs in the blue chip basket and cutting off our collective noses despite our face.

3. The Blount shenanigans seem pretty cut and dry to me. Kid was leaning FSU before he committed to us seemingly out of the blue. This reeks of using us to up the bag from the school he really wanted to be at all along. Staff should have seen right through it and that's on them for not.

Staff needs glasses....

 

[Hufftwoseven]

That was a short lived commitment lol

 

[NorthEastCane]

This insinuation that every black kid is wooed is insane. Win the games you’re supposed to and this won’t happen. I believe the family wants him here. I’m pretty sure he’s a Rise Prep kid because he reclassified. I don’t know if we landed one Rise kid. Maybe the Washington’s were but I’m not sure. In recruiting, sometimes you lose battles. In Miami’s case, they lost the kid. Simple as that. It helps for them to have Shannon, Surtain, and Odell. Jason Taylor wasn’t going to be his position coach. We have Sabbath and Roland, but they aren’t on field. I mean FSU has Flagg from Booker T committed. Miami didn’t even attempt to recruit him. A local DT at a position of need.

There are instances where that doesn't matter. I'm no insider so I don't know if that's the case here. But its recruiting. It's not for the faint hearted.

I expect it to happen. My only concern is what's next. You can't go two cycles and recruit the position as we have.

 

[zx7oppa]

I trust Zo eval.

 

[NorthEastCane]

Here are my thoughts:

1. DT recruiting 100% needs an overhaul, similar to what we've seen done at the WR position - from strategy, position coach, etc. Nuances aside, Salave'a simply isn't getting it done from a TA standpoint.

2. As an extension to that, what is our recruitment identity going to be for the position? DT tends have a longer-term ROI time horizon (similar to OL) so do we need to be focusing more of our attention on the Josh Horton type recruits as a baseline and then cherry pick the McCray's of the world. Obviously will need a true developer of said talent in place to make this strategy work but we seem to putting all of our eggs in the blue chip basket and cutting off our collective noses despite our face.

3. The Blount shenanigans seem pretty cut and dry to me. Kid was leaning FSU before he committed to us seemingly out of the blue. This reeks of using us to up the bag from the school he really wanted to be at all along. Staff should have seen right through it and that's on them for not.

This is how we did it in the 80s, 90s and up until Butch. Once you demonstrate a track record of success it's easier to get the blue chips.

However, the key is evaluations. Not all 4*s have equal upside.

 

[Jaxcane4]

Lmao yeah he just left out the massive amounts of cash paid out to his mom and him to get him to tally, during the visit, and upon committing. What a f^cking clown . F^ck FSU.

Sounds like what Florida fans said about us last year. Doesn't matter how you get there long as you get there. Everyone gets paid now.

 

[Dwinstitles]

I agree with this but the one thing that I have a hard time reconciling is the last sentence in your third paragraph about the false bravado coming from the staff being constantly played or having zero idea where they stand in a big boy recruitment. I would totally understand that under Golden, Coker, Shannon or Diaz. Heck even Richt but that doesn't fit with the type of recruiter we know Mario to be. The guy has his faults but to be constantly getting played and having no idea where he stands in a recruitment just doesn't go with what we know about the guy. There is something very wrong here and I'm at a loss to explain it.

I agree that he always has a plan. I’m mad a bit but I’ll wait till NSD to see what clever tricks he still has up his sleeves. He seems like a guy that will have something planned especially if his background is recruiting.

 

[cway313]

Blostein wrote an article today with the "backstory"

-- Entering the 2023 football season, FSU felt it was the frontrunner in Blount's recruitment. That thought only heightened after he got a chance to the watch the 'Noles beat down on LSU in Orlando to open the season. He and his family had a great relationship with area recruiter Randy Shannon as well as other members of FSU's coaching staff.

-- There was then a turning point in this recruitment: Blount's attendance at the Texas A&M at Miami game in early September. He watched the hometown Hurricanes beat the Aggies for one of Mario Cristobal's first big wins in Coral Gables. Following that win, Blount's recruitment trended heavily towards the 'Canes.

-- FSU attempted to stymie the momentum of Miami following that win by getting in contact with Blount and his family. That effort was to no avail as Blount announced his pledge to the 'Canes on Sept. 14. His commitment marked a massive sting for FSU as he was one of their top overall targets in the 2025 class regardless of position.

-- This is when the rumors started about reclassification for Blount. Blostein said he was able to confirm them "with a few well placed sources"

-- Another pivotal turning point in this saga was Miami's loss to Georgia Tech a few weeks ago. The Hurricanes had the lead and the game won before a poor coaching decision led them to an unprobable loss. blostein thinks this was the origin of Blount beginning to look around again.

-- It wasn't until last Friday before the 'Noles played Syracuse and the 'Canes played North Carolina that rumors of FSU making a major play for Blount started once again. And he was listening. Blostein said he was told that by the following Monday, Blount's chances of ending up in Miami's class were slim and there was confidence the Seminoles were going to pull off the flip

-- After hearing the buzz of a flip to FSU, Blostein said he confirmed Blount's intentions to be in Tallahassee over the weekend and purposefully did not report on any news regarding this recruitment early in the week as to not give away FSU's behind-the-scenes moves.

-- Everything was set for Blount to visit Tallahassee for the Duke game and then announce his decision at some point on Sunday. By Saturday at around midnight, everything was going according to plan. The intention was to still announce his flip to the 'Noles on Sunday.

-- That changed -- temporarily -- on Sunday morning however. Blount was only going to announce his reclassification to 2024 on Sunday and instead wait a week before announcing his flip.

-- Blostein said there was a massive push by Miami to attempt to have Blount leave FSU's campus without flipping his commitment. This push involved not only messaging from the Hurricanes' coaching staff, but also pressure from individuals directly surrounding Blount's life. Blostein said he was told the push worked for a few hours and the plan was to wait a week before making any decision on a flip.

-- Apparently Blount was still on campus at FSU at this time giving the Seminoles the chanceto play defense against Miami's effort. Blostein says he was told the FSU staff did not apply pressure to Blount -- they simply answered any questions he may have had about the program and essentially provided truth and clarity on some untrue narratives beind pushed by the opposing staff. FSU's honesty paid off as Blount departed the Moore Athletic Center on Sunday evening committed to the Seminoles.

Blount was actually watching the Seminoles' walkthrough practice and I'm told he was keeping an extremely close eye on the defensive line group.


That's the Nole story and apparently, they are sticking to it.....

Yikes and yall spend all that energy hating Deion.

 

[PRcane787]

Sounds like what Florida fans said about us last year. Doesn't matter how you get there long as you get there. Everyone gets paid now.

Oh I know. I’m ****ed we didn’t match the offer with all the DT whiff money we should have. However, this dip**** writer tries to play it off like it was some novel story of good will and trust that got him to flip.

 

[pacusmc]

The other thing you have to understand...and please, this is not meant to be a shot at any TRUE insiders on here...

The information a MAJORITY of them are getting is from a similar source - the staff. It's not them that are spewing their own bs (unless they're fraud insiders just piggy-backing on others looking for clout, and I'll let posters come to their own senses as to who is real and who isn't)...it's the staff.

What's been consistent this whole cycle? The hype and fluff, the false sense of confidence regarding at least a dozen recruits so far...and when the results don't match, there's always an excuse. When they do hit, there's an incessant bravado sense of "I told you so!" When it doesn't...excuses come forth. A majority of that false bravado is from the staff being constantly played or having zero idea of where they actually stand in a big-boy recruitment.

Go back and look at tons of threads, you'll realize what I'm talking about. Very few "insiders" have a variety of sources, or sources that extend beyond the walls of the University of Miami. Those that do, tend to be the legit ones.

A lot of you are sheep and hang onto every word, and then get emotional when it doesn't pan out the way you expected. You've got to use your brain and cypher through the timeline/information.

Yes and even the staff is blindsided sometimes.

Every once in a while you’ll have someone speak about something that he may have first hand knowledge of.
There have been several instances where a poster may know something that’s either just a bold prediction or solid info.
When Williams put Bama and uga as his final 2, someone came in here and doubled down that he was gonna be a cane not matter what we hear.
Flo said the same thing about Bain and JoJo.
He said regardless of what you hear they would be canes.

I remember during the tc and Ps2 days when dsj wa saying we will land them both. Total troll job. Then someone with first hand knowledge came in and literally said

“Buyer beware. Bags have beeen dropped at heritage”

People thought he was a troll and actually believed the real one.

If you want to be connected you can only say so much. Leak too much info and your not gonna get squat from anybody.

Maybe the staff doesn’t feel as bad about d line recruiting and feels more than confident about who we have on and behind the starters.
Everyone acting like Mario doesn’t have a clue is stupid.
We say Joe has to leave and that Jt is just there for looks.
But if I told you our defense stats against the run this year at the beginning of the season everybody here would’ve thought I was crazy.


Also, if the kid can change his mind so quickly because of one game against gt and Fck over mentors that want him at um then he’s the one that has to break the recruiting rules.
Fck around with your recruitment and it never goes well.