Class Impact: Henry Gray to Miami

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Stefan Adams

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2020 Miami Central CB Henry Gray committed to the Canes on Saturday afternoon on his Underclassman Day visit to campus.



The 6-1, 175-pounder is currently a consensus 4-star in the national rankings. According to 247Sports, Gray is the #71 player nationally, #9 CB in the country, and the #12 player in The Sunshine State. He is a 4-star and top 100 overall talent on Rivals, but they have not yet ranked players in order on the site. His commitment further solidifies Miami’s early #1 2020 class on 247Sports.


The Player

Gray grew up a Canes fan and recently transferred to Miami Central after previously playing at Miramar, where he recorded 3 picks in his sophomore year and showed a knack for finding the endzone, returning 2 for touchdowns.

Gray is considered a consensus top 100 overall player for good reason. What stands out about Gray on first glance is his frame: he is long and lanky, and uses those attributes well. Physically, he is exactly what Manny Diaz is looking for in a corner and can be left on an island. At such a young age, Gray is already advanced at anticipating routes and utilizes those instincts to quickly break and make a play on the ball. He is a long strider and demonstrates the ability to flip his hips and run in step with any receiver.

Gray is also not afraid to come up and make a big hit on the ball-carrier like some young corners are. Perhaps the most impressive trait he possesses is his excellent tackling form, showing he will be an asset in run support on the outside of Miami’s defense.

Basically, Gray is the complete package at corner that Miami fans should be excited about. He has no ceiling and is an elite prospect that, as he becomes more comfortable with his technique and gains weight, has the potential to develop into the best corner in the country and take away half the field from an offense.


The Class

Gray is the 8th commit overall, the first corner, and the 2nd DB in Miami’s 2020 class, also joining Deland 4-star Avantae Williams, a safety. After receiving his Hurricanes’ offer just three weeks ago on March 9th, Gray’s Miami recruitment progressed quickly. He visited UM for a spring practice this past Thursday, returning to campus again for Underclassman Day yesterday. While he wasn’t planning on committing on the visit, Gray was really feeling the vibe and just couldn’t resist, pulling the trigger for Miami before he left. Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz was his lead recruiter and built a strong connection with Gray; Diaz deserves the credit here for bringing Gray into the fold.

The Canes took 4 CB’s in the 2018 class, adding Al Blades Jr., Gilbert Frierson, DJ Ivey, and Nigel Bethel to the mix. Although that is a quality haul at the position, the jury is still out on if Blades Jr. and Frierson will ultimately end up at safety, while Miami will lose 2 senior CB’s to graduation next off-season. That leaves only 5 corners going into 2019. There are also no current CB commits in the 2019 class, but that is sure to change as well.

Being so early, it’s kind of hard to project out positional numbers for the 2020 class when the 2019 class is still so far away from being completed. So, while a lot depends on how many CB’s Miami takes this year, due to the lack of depth on the current roster, I’m pretty confident in saying UM is going to make the position a priority regardless and sort out the numbers later. With Gray on board, the new top target at CB to keep an eye on is Trinity Christian 4-star Fred Davis, who is showing strong signs of favoring Miami at this point.


The Team

Next year, Miami loses corners Michael Jackson and Jhavonte Dean to graduation. The Canes won’t lose anyone to graduation in the 2019 off-season, so by 2020, it is likely a senior Trajan Bandy is in his second year starting at one corner spot. By that time, we’ll likely know if Blades Jr./Frierson has stuck at corner, and can assume one of them or Ivey is also starting. Behind them, Gray will compete with Bethel and any 2019 signees for a spot in the CB rotation as a true freshman, with the hopes he can develop into a starting level player by his sophomore season in 2021. If he stays on track in his development, Gray can be an All-American level player and potentially leave early for the NFL by his junior season.

 
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Why not make the crib great...already my top recruit for 2020 and that’s saying a lot with who we got on board
 
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When I look at the big picture in terms of our DB recruiting, I see that this staff has a plan and that plan is all about the long game. I can also see that things are very close to coming together as far as having a championship quality UM depth chart in the secondary. Sure some of the losses really stung i.e. Henderson, Jobe, Surtain, and Campbell but what is becoming apparent to me is that we are going to be able to get to where we want to be without the local 5 star divas/drama queens/bag whores/ sellouts.

We have a tremendous opportunity to stack UM quality talent upon talent. Bandy, Blades, Ivey, Frierson, Hall, Carter with the potential to add Richards, Stevenson, Couch, Brownlee, Battle, Henry Gray, Fred Davis etc.....We may not win them all but we will get there.
 
Gray and Davis would be the best CB duo we have signed in a long time. Two national top 50 type kids. It won’t be easy though, obviously. Nothing ever is when it comes to kids that everyone wants.
 
When I look at the big picture in terms of our DB recruiting, I see that this staff has a plan and that plan is all about the long game. I can also see that things are very close to coming together as far as having a championship quality UM depth chart in the secondary. Sure some of the losses really stung i.e. Henderson, Jobe, Surtain, and Campbell but what is becoming apparent to me is that we are going to be able to get to where we want to be without the local 5 star divas/drama queens/bag whores/ sellouts.

We have a tremendous opportunity to stack UM quality talent upon talent. Bandy, Blades, Ivey, Frierson, Hall, Carter with the potential to add Richards, Stevenson, Couch, Brownlee, Battle, Henry Gray, Fred Davis etc.....We may not win them all but we will get there.
Disagree, I hope your right though but I think u need those names that we missed to field a real UM secondary. A first rounder across the board type secondary.
 
Disagree, I hope your right though but I think u need those names that we missed to field a real UM secondary. A first rounder across the board type secondary.

We failed to capitalize on what I consider a once in a lifetime opportunity of DBs last year. There is no way to spin it, especially when you see our defense frequently lining up in 4-2-5 nickel sets now.

Guys like Ivey, Banda, Frierson are all great - but there will be an opportunity cost we will have to pay when we play elite teams because of some if Rumph/Bandas misses.

Look at what happened to UGA in OT against Bama? They played a great game, but had a weak link at CB and got exposed due to bad personnel/poor recruiting. It was a massive opportunity cost they had to pay, and we're likely heading down the same road if things stay status quo.
 
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We definitely did not get everyone in the secondary that we could have gotten but we still signed a talented bunch when you put the last 2 classes together. It’s considerably better than any back to back db classes we have signed in a long time.

Safety
4star gurvan hall
3star Amari carter
3star Derrick smith

Cb
4starTrajan bandy
4star jhavontae dean
4 star Gilbert Frierson
4star Dj ivey
4 starAl blades
 
We definitely did not get everyone in the secondary that we could have gotten but we still signed a talented bunch when you put the last 2 classes together. It’s considerably better than any back to back db classes we have signed in a long time.

Safety
4star gurvan hall
3star Amari carter
3star Derrick smith

Cb
4starTrajan bandy
4star jhavontae dean
4 star Gilbert Frierson
4star Dj ivey
4 starAl blades

You don't have to preface everyone's name with their little star ranking. Jesus are you an annoying type dude.
 
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You don't have to preface everyone's name with their little star ranking. Jesus are you an annoying type dude.
Imagine being mad at someone listing who we got the last 2 years along with their rankings, you mfs be miserable af
 
Imagine being mad at someone listing who we got the last 2 years along with their rankings, stfu you miserable *** b*tch

We sat here and watched all of their recruitment...no one needs their little star rankings rehashsed. What does that do for the arguement?

And yes overall the classes were very good db, but there are definite misses at corner, esp when you hire a school's coach, a coach with no other real resume...And yes, it's ok that Rumph didn't sweep the board with the AH corners, but to get swept?

You post the same **** over and over again about this DB class...We all like those kids, let's see what happens.
 
We sat here and watched all of their recruitment...no one needs their little star rankings rehashsed. What does that do for the arguement.
You wouldn’t know it the way some of you say we have recruited dbs the last 2 classes
 
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You wouldn’t know it the way some of you say we have recruited dbs the lady 2 classes

But at least we have you here to save the day and remind everyone (and as a bonus you include the star rankings)...phewwwwww
 
Clemson had a wide receiver playing cornerback last year but our cb room isn’t up to par with elite teams.lmao the blasphemy in these threads sometimes
 
Clemson had a wide receiver playing cornerback last year but our cb room isn’t up to par with elite teams.lmao the blasphemy in these threads sometimes
Remember players ain’t elite if they go to Miami but if they go elsewhere they are per some on this board
 
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We need the names that we “missed” to field a real UM secondary?? Hilariously Terrible opinion
So we wouldnt be better with cj jj ps2 and campbell? We would have real um depth if we landed those guys the outlook would be way different as far as secondary is concerned anyone that says otherwise is lying
 
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