Miami Hurricanes welcome summer’s second wave of recruits (including Gage Batten)
All new Hurricanes are present and accounted for.
UM on Sunday brought in four freshmen on scholarship, one transfer and 13 walk-ons, by and large completing the 2015 signing class. That’s in addition to the 13 signees who arrived last month and the five who enrolled in January.
All those players are enrolled in school (UM’s Summer II session starts Monday), a team spokesman said. All except transfer Gerald Willis III are qualified to play this fall. Willis, a defensive end/tackle who transferred from Florida, will sit out due to NCAA transfer rules. He will be eligible in 2016.
Among those arriving Sunday include promising four-star wide receiver Lawrence Cager, who checked in at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds and will wear No. 18; linebacker Jamie Gordinier (6-4, 235, No. 52), who has a chance to play this fall; defensive tackle Kendrick Norton (6-3, 310, No. 7), who is a possible redshirt candidate behind UM’s other more experienced defensive tackles; and quarterback Evan Shirreffs (6-6, 190, No. 16), who is headed for a redshirt year.
An interesting name among the walk-ons is Gage Batten, who played at Dwyer High (and King’s Academy) and was the Post’s All-Area Defensive Player of the Year in 2012. Batten (6-0, 242) left Auburn in March. He suffered a season-ending injury during Auburn’s fall camp last year, and appeared in six games as a backup H-back in 2013.
Another Palm Beach County connection: defensive lineman Colton Lynn, who played at Boca Raton High before transferring to Fort Lauderdale-St. Thomas Aquinas.
The other walk-ons who joined the team Sunday are Marco Baeza, TJ Callan, Mitch Davis, Eddie Dunn, Cory Giordano, Heath Grady, Jared Hardie, Thomas Lehto, Tyler Murphy, Jake Romp and Samuel York.
Though some wind up playing in games, not all the walk-ons will . Teams can begin fall practices with 105 players on its roster; which can be expanded to 120 the week of the first game. UM currently has more than 130 players in its program.
