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As a visitor for the Miami Hurricanes’ Junior Day event in late January, 2021 Chaminade-Madonna (FL) DT Allan Haye recently got his first inside look at how the UM program is run.
“We were just checking out the facilities. We were talking about the defense, about how quick and easy it is to learn,” Haye said. “They just had 4-year starters in the linebacking corps, and anybody that knows football knows how hard it is to start at linebacker as a freshman. We broke down to D-Line, linebacker, DB groups, we watched film, got to meet all the coaches – it was fun.”
Since landing his UM offer in mid-January, Haye has kept in regular contact with both D-Line coach Todd Stroud and running backs coach Eric Hickson. He spent most of his time on the visit building a better relationship with Stroud, whose main pitch revolved around the pipeline that Miami has built with the Chaminade-Madonna Lions in recent years.
“He was saying Lions do good over there, we’ve got a lot of players over there from my school,” Haye said of Stroud. “He was saying I fit the program, fit the defense, that I can play early. Their defense is similar to ours and they play fast.
“Coach Stroud’s my dog, I mess with coach Stroud.”
Being recruited by the local Hurricanes means a lot to someone like Haye, who says he appreciates the style of football that comes with being a Cane.
“It’s the closest thing to South Florida football,” Haye said of UM. “It’s just fast, smashmouth football, talking trash - as long as you can back it up - and they got a little swag to them, so that’s exactly where I’m coming from. It felt great to get the offer, it felt real good.”
Other ACC programs such as Louisville, Georgia Tech, Duke, and Pitt are also in regular contact with Haye, but right now, he only has two upcoming visits in mind.
“I’m going to stop by Miami again this spring,” Haye said. “Then Iowa State has been working me big to set something up, I love it. That will be sometime in the summer.”
The Cyclones have become a true contender in this recruitment, in part because of the efforts of defensive line coach Mike Nelson, who has stayed in constant contact with Haye.
“So far, I don’t really know too much about Iowa State, but I have a good relationship with their D-Line coach, we can just talk,” Haye said. “He tells me some stuff about their program, but I’m trying to go look at it myself.”
The 6-1 295 pound prospect doesn’t want the recruiting process bleeding into his senior year, so Haye says he hopes to have a decision made before fall begins, and he expects to narrow down his list soon as well.
“I’m getting ready to pick out some schools that I could potentially go to and could see myself at, really sit down and figure out where I want to go,” Haye said. “I’m going to drop a top list soon, real soon.
“I want to go to a school where it’s like where I’m coming from, somewhere I’m comfortable and it’s like a family environment. A school where I can talk to my coaches, talk to my teammates without having to act a certain way, I can just be me. Like if I want to talk to my coach about a certain topic, I don’t have to think twice before I do it.”
As a newcomer to the game, Haye has experienced rapid development by his own admission: In 2019, Haye registered 68 tackles, 8 TFL, and 6 sacks working on the interior of the D-Line during his junior season as Chaminade took home another state title.
“It was a good season. Coming from where I came from, starting football my sophomore year and putting on a helmet and shoulder pads for the first time, to work hard and win states back-to-back was just crazy to me.
“I think I’ve gotten a lot better – I’ve gotten bigger, faster, stronger. I became a student of the game, because I felt like if I didn’t try to learn the game, I wasn’t going to get good very fast. I watch a lot of film, I watch a lot of players I admire. That’s how I feel I got so good so fast, because most people wouldn’t be able to do that in a span of a year.”
“We were just checking out the facilities. We were talking about the defense, about how quick and easy it is to learn,” Haye said. “They just had 4-year starters in the linebacking corps, and anybody that knows football knows how hard it is to start at linebacker as a freshman. We broke down to D-Line, linebacker, DB groups, we watched film, got to meet all the coaches – it was fun.”
Since landing his UM offer in mid-January, Haye has kept in regular contact with both D-Line coach Todd Stroud and running backs coach Eric Hickson. He spent most of his time on the visit building a better relationship with Stroud, whose main pitch revolved around the pipeline that Miami has built with the Chaminade-Madonna Lions in recent years.
“He was saying Lions do good over there, we’ve got a lot of players over there from my school,” Haye said of Stroud. “He was saying I fit the program, fit the defense, that I can play early. Their defense is similar to ours and they play fast.
“Coach Stroud’s my dog, I mess with coach Stroud.”
Being recruited by the local Hurricanes means a lot to someone like Haye, who says he appreciates the style of football that comes with being a Cane.
“It’s the closest thing to South Florida football,” Haye said of UM. “It’s just fast, smashmouth football, talking trash - as long as you can back it up - and they got a little swag to them, so that’s exactly where I’m coming from. It felt great to get the offer, it felt real good.”
Other ACC programs such as Louisville, Georgia Tech, Duke, and Pitt are also in regular contact with Haye, but right now, he only has two upcoming visits in mind.
“I’m going to stop by Miami again this spring,” Haye said. “Then Iowa State has been working me big to set something up, I love it. That will be sometime in the summer.”
The Cyclones have become a true contender in this recruitment, in part because of the efforts of defensive line coach Mike Nelson, who has stayed in constant contact with Haye.
“So far, I don’t really know too much about Iowa State, but I have a good relationship with their D-Line coach, we can just talk,” Haye said. “He tells me some stuff about their program, but I’m trying to go look at it myself.”
The 6-1 295 pound prospect doesn’t want the recruiting process bleeding into his senior year, so Haye says he hopes to have a decision made before fall begins, and he expects to narrow down his list soon as well.
“I’m getting ready to pick out some schools that I could potentially go to and could see myself at, really sit down and figure out where I want to go,” Haye said. “I’m going to drop a top list soon, real soon.
“I want to go to a school where it’s like where I’m coming from, somewhere I’m comfortable and it’s like a family environment. A school where I can talk to my coaches, talk to my teammates without having to act a certain way, I can just be me. Like if I want to talk to my coach about a certain topic, I don’t have to think twice before I do it.”
As a newcomer to the game, Haye has experienced rapid development by his own admission: In 2019, Haye registered 68 tackles, 8 TFL, and 6 sacks working on the interior of the D-Line during his junior season as Chaminade took home another state title.
“It was a good season. Coming from where I came from, starting football my sophomore year and putting on a helmet and shoulder pads for the first time, to work hard and win states back-to-back was just crazy to me.
“I think I’ve gotten a lot better – I’ve gotten bigger, faster, stronger. I became a student of the game, because I felt like if I didn’t try to learn the game, I wasn’t going to get good very fast. I watch a lot of film, I watch a lot of players I admire. That’s how I feel I got so good so fast, because most people wouldn’t be able to do that in a span of a year.”
