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Donell Harris (New Thread)

Jassid82 said:
Ill reference the story Leon Searcy told on "the U part1" when he said FSU was trying to recruit him. "FSU came and recruited me and told me that I could help them beat Miami since they had not done it in awhile. I knew right then I was going to Miami. Why join the losing side?" (I'm paraphrasing of course but yall remember that part)..So WTF do you think these coaches from Bama, Clemson, LSU, UGA are telling these kids about us? The same **** thing!

We have to start winning before we can lock up 5* talent in 8 months before NSD. And yeah, every so often we will stumble across a Duke Johnson and Don Chaney. But we need 4-5 of those 5* types to get back to where we need to be.
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Really, If so we're really in deep sh*t. Not even Bama or Clemson are pulling in 4 to 5 5*s a class. 247 says they only give out 32 5* a year, across all positions. All we can do is do what's within our own control. "Build it and they will come."

Mercenaries need not apply. It's not the mind set we need.
 
dk72 said:
You can be the reason a team wins championships, especially the team you pretend to "love" and view as your "dream school", or you can go where you are guaranteed a high ranking and likely playoff shot because you are riding the coattails of those already there.

Bottom line is, the excuse just doesn't hold up for SFL recruits who claim they love Miami. If even half of the top 20 best SFL recruits every year came to Miami, we would be perennial contenders, every single year, no doubt. So if they love Miami, and it's their dream school, then be the ones that make it the high level program you claim you want to see it being.
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Ok so what about wanting to be developed? I mean we just look at “If you love your city then play for the Canes” when was the last time we had a 1st or 2nd rounder drafted off the D-Line? Kids shouldn’t care about stuff like that tho, just come to Miami.
 
If my son was a legit 5 star defensive linemen with offers to anywhere in the country and a chance to eventually sign a first round contract and not have to participate in the 9-5 grind, I'd be very protective of him as well!

One thing Bobby Bowden use to stress in recruiting is understanding who the decision makers are in a recruits life. It could be the grandma, pastor, high school coach or mama and daddy. Seems like other schools figured out Sr will have some say and got in his ear.

To me, this is a learning lesson. The staff needs to understand that you gotta recruit the whole family. I get bags are in play but Sr is saying the same thing we hear from the connected guys in sfla. We need to start winning!!! And we cant be getting out recruited by a team offering bags. Seems like the Harris family needs to be convinced UM is the place and I dont know how you do that if you are only in contact with one member of the fam. Most 16/17 year olds arent making this decision by themselves.

God I pray the staff is taking the same approach with Justin Flowes recruitment lol. Call the mama, daddy, barber, everybody!!!
 
I take most of what he said as the staff as a whole needs to do a better job. Whether its recruiting or developing, there needs to be some sort of improvement. A lot of our fans like to point to bags but where is the stability on either side? The "bag schools" are winning consistently AND OR developing talent. We also need to start having a Gerald Willis type talent on defense annually instead of every 2 or 3 years. Our defense is always near the top but when draft time rolls around, we're constantly waiting until day 3 to hear our players' names called.
 
do we even have room for him is the question? or do we have to drop someone.... dad's will be dads lol nothing wrong with what he said imo he spoke HIS truth. how do you think he would fare in the recruiting if he was in the 2020 class instead of 21? and **** D jack not working em?
 
Liberty City El said:
At the end of the day I got no problem with the interview or how he feels.

But I'm just tired of this "we love Miami" talk, because if yall really do & are such diehard Canes then there's no reason to decommit & start actively trying to get to Bama, Clemson, UGA, UF & all these other schools.

The kids that wanna be here sign here, it's really that simple. Idgaf about all these horsesh*t excuses, nothing is stopping Donell from being a Cane, literally not one thing, all he has to do is commit & stick with it.

Why did Trajan Bandy sign with us? Why did Navaughn Donaldson sign with us? Or Jon Garvin, or Gurvan Hall or Lingard, or Cam Harris, or Pope, Wiggins, Hightower, Brevin Jordan, Will Mallory, Delone Scaife or DJ Ivey? Or Jeremiah Payton, or Keontra Smith & Tecory Couch, or Jahfari Harvey, or Sam Brooks & Avery Huff? Simple answer...
Because they wanted to.

There's no special stipulation or list of demands needed, if a player wants to be a Cane & they have a legit commitable offer, they'll be here. Did he make valid points, yeah no doubt, but that's all just used to justify what the real angle is.
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This is why your one of my favorite posters. You keep things 100% and are very level headed
 
DMoney said:
The last time we won 11 games, we signed the #3 recruiting class in the nation.
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It's a very simple concept that seems so foreign to some of our fanbase and it's because we've been irrelevant for so long. If we win consistently, 4 and 5* will stray less.
 
Hufftwoseven said:
Y’all can call it bag chasing or whatever you want, maybe it’s true, but you can’t deny the facts this man stated.

He needs Miami to produce in regards to kids getting drafted, FACTS. Yes we’ve had good defenses and numbers lately but it hasn’t translated to high draft picks. Chad was a 5 star, late draft pick. Joe Jack was a promising freshman, didn’t develop any pass rushing moves and lost bend as he gained weight to play strong side.

Miami needs to win in order to recruit, FACTS. Can’t lose to a Willie Taggart team, us fans know this right?

The part about the coaching contacting him and not Harris Jr, I don’t have a stance on that, is it common for coaches to talk frequently through electronic communication? I figure that type of talk happened in person on campus, coaches can’t do that if parents do go on the visits.

Win and they come, plain and simple.
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Get outta here, the bag schools didn't have to win first so why us? Kids signed with them on the way up for that cash. Deny it all you want, but you know it's true. There's no maybe with this bag game, the **** is real. Point blank. Period. People always want to hold Miami to this standard as an excuse for these kids taking the cash but not other schools. How do we win big if they won't come?
 
Theedy50 said:
Some of y’all are so **** sensitive... Yes we have a 5 Star in Chaney and every once in a while there will be a kid like Duke Johnson who isn’t going anywhere else regardless but Elite kids wanna be developed and win. The guy was not wrong about what he said. 7-6 isn’t gonna appeal on a wide scale to 5 Star players who wanna win championships
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Donell committed to us in July of last year, between then & now he's been on campus well over a dozen times.

He knew we was 7-6 the entire offseason, he's met the the new staff & was committed until literally just 2 weeks ago.

Why didn't he reopen his recruitment in December after Richt stepped down? Why wait until now? The 7-6 stuff works if you're a new recruit that isn't familiar with the program & isn't already committed.

The same 7-6 team he decommitted from in June, is the same 7-6 team he was committed to in March/April, so what happened? Why come to the Spring game & recruit other kids to commit to us only to decommit a few months later?

I get what you're trying to say, but these recruits & their families always have every excuse in the world for why they can't/won't sign with Miami. My whole point is, it's unnecessary, they don't owe us anything & are not obligated to sign with us at all, so there's no reason for them to constantly carry on with this bullsh*t they be trying to sell.

If a prospect wants to go any program they want to, they should. All most of us ask is to stop dragging us along & pretending like they wanna sign with us so bad but just somehow find every reason on Earth not to.
 
DMoney said:
The last time we won 11 games, we signed the #3 recruiting class in the nation.
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and you are pivoting the conversation/topic again. Its not about class rank. The point is the elite of the elite talent of S FL (+/- 5 guys each year) are always going to be offered money and there is no reason to expect all but a select few won't take the money and run b/c they've been doing it for decades.

Again, it doesn't mean we can't have great recruiting classes and we can't ascend once again to the Mount Rushmore of college football but its foolish to think that winning 11 games is going to stop the majority of Dalvin Cook, Jeudy, or Stevenson type players from taking stacks of cash.
 
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Liberty City El said:
Donell committed to us in July of last year, between then & now he's been on campus well over a dozen times.

He knew we was 7-6 the entire offseason, he's met the the new staff & was committed until literally just 2 weeks ago.

Why didn't he reopen his recruitment in December after Richt stepped down? Why wait until now? The 7-6 stuff works if you're a new recruit that isn't familiar with the program & isn't already committed.

The same 7-6 team he decommitted from in June, is the same 7-6 team he was committed to in March/April, so what happened? Why come to the Spring game & recruit other kids to commit to us only to decommit a few months later?

I get what you're trying to say, but these recruits & their families always have every excuse in the world for why they can't/won't sign with Miami. My whole point is, it's unnecessary, they don't owe us anything & are not obligated to sign with us at all, so there's no reason for them to constantly carry on with this bullsh*t they be trying to sell.

If a prospect wants to go any program they want to, they should. All most of us ask is to stop dragging us along & pretending like they wanna sign with us so bad but just somehow find every reason on Earth not to.
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His dad literally said it was all Miami but he told him to enjoy the process and open things up. Also said he’s Miami’s to lose but that winning and player development would play a big role. I’m not slurping his every word I’m just saying that I don’t blame a kid of his caliber for taking a step back to be sure. He just reclassified and all plus this is a huge decision. We’ve had plenty kids back away from their pledge and rejoin including Blades Jr who’s Canes royalty so I don’t get why everybody going so hard on this kid that’s all
 
Please, Please Harris family...stop with the we are all Miami. If no one on the coaching staff has reached out to you, then maybe there's a reason? And why would anyone think everything said in this interview is 100% true? Commit to Bama or Clemson, then de commit, and go on their fan site and see how nice they are to jr. The fan response is a DUMB *** statement. Most posts are based on the emotional attachment we have to our favorite teams. There is no identifying who wrote what comments or responses on these sites. My emotions say, good luck somewhere else.
 
LOL;

If I’m being honest, I have zero issues w what Sr said.

I need u all to get out ur feelings and be objective. Sometimes we over analyze things from a fan’s perspective vs. dealing w reality.

His comments on bags was, “you don’t have to offer a kid two pennies if you’re winning.” I’ve said this all along. I know it’s been a while, but some of u mofos forget what it was like, recruiting wise, when we were winning. We were plucking blue chips out of state, and keeping blue chips home. Why? B/c we were winning, AND putting out 1st rounders. Like CP said after the 2001 season, all of his friends became millionaires over night. That’s attractive af to kids & their parents.

He echoed what many, logical, fans have acknowledged: Until we produce on AND off the field (NFL draft) we are going to strike out on highly rated players, consistently. He also echoed what I’ve been saying since I joined this board, stop offering cats who have no business being here. We went from a revolving gun chamber to a one shot pistol by offering a grip of 3 and low 3 star guys b/c we didn’t have the fortitude to go after the blue chips.

It’s no coincidence that after our 2017 season, our 2018 class was our best in yrs. After our 2018 season, our 2019 class was one of the worst. There’s a correlation between winning and attracting talent. U can’t go 7-6 and then expect to land blue chips. That’s law.

Furthermore, what coach is recruiting a kid w/o talking to their parents??! That’s more telling than anything! U gotta win over mom & dad. I’m in the insurance business, and my clientele is high maintenance. Every now and then I have to take care of their young 18 yr olds who wants to get their own policy. Regardless of how long I’ve had their parents as clients, this is their child. I gotta convince them that I’m going to take care of their best interest v. trying to make a new sale. And while my dialogue is focused on that child so they understand the legal agreement between both parties, I’m also making sure mom &/or dad r fully engaged and they understand where my intent is for their child. That’s Bible; so this kind of give us an insight as to some of the recruiting errors we’ve had: From Richt’s staff being negligent in their contact w recruits, stating “we thought u we’re going elsewhere” to Manny’s staff not fully engaging w parents.

So I’m going to emphasize this once more; Manny can do all the talking he wants, and it sounds good. Matter of fact, he’s put a bullseye on his back....now he’s gotta prove it on & off the field.
 
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