I'd like to propose a new rule for this board

[AlexCane]

It doesn't matter. Even if there were a "rule" like the OP proposed, there will always be someone who dogs out the staff for "whiffing" on one of these kids when they go somewhere else and ball out--regardless of what actually happened with their recruitment.

There's a ton of guys who are destined each and every year to be this next year's Giovanni Bernard. All of the questions and accusations: "why didn't we get him?" "Golden & Staff ignored him even though he was all Cane" "he's a SFL kid that we should have kept home". All of that continues to happen, even though Bernard had next to no Miami interest, wanted to leave FL for college, and only ended up at UNC after Weis was fired from Notre Dame. BUT--don't let the facts get in the way of a few wannabe recruitniks' whining sessions.

There's always kids we see playing somewhere else that we wished were Canes, but I'm more focused on who we actually get, and how they fit into Golden & his staff's plans to get us back to where we all want to be.

FYI, Bernard was a Shannon casualty, not Golden.

 

[BWCD]

FYI, Bernard was a Shannon casualty, not Golden.

I know. I wasn't trying to say Golden whiffed on Bernard specifically--I was using him as an example of what folks like to say when a guy goes somewhere else and does well, when he was never coming to Miami to start with. Guess I could have been clearer.

 

[The Franchise]

Its never not timely, its never not a relevant conversation to have...which is basically what OP is trying to say, that, it is. I disagree strongly.

The point was that 99% of the doofus contingent who are parroting this are doing so because it sounds shocking and they have an axe to grind. If you're gonna throw it out there, don't do so mindlessly. You're now talking about finer point items like evaluation and under-the-radar guys, which really wasn't in the spirit of my post. The folks rabble rabbling aren't *really* worried about kids going to Purdue, they're trying to vaguely paint this picture of UM missing out on all the local studs and *gasp* we've only got 2. If you're a 1%er who is talking about kids going to Purdue who we should've taken a longer look at and want to discuss why, you're really not the intended audience.

That's how I see it too, Swag. I understand exactly where you were going.

Larry makes a great point with his post in that S Fl is always loaded with under the radar guys who go on to have really nice college careers. There simply isn't enough room in an 18 person class to grab all those guys, especially when many are not at positions of need.

It's up to Al to prioritize the needs we have and to pluck the right guys to fit his system and our needs. He needs to be good at projecting who is the best of the group and then convincing them to come here. Four years from now we will either say he did a good job or he didn't.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to mention guys like Sojourn Shelton because Al never wanted him. We can list every good player in S Fl, and the list will be a mile long. And there's a good chance some will turn out to be good players. The problem is that when you have 18 slots you need to pick the guys you think are the top 18 in the COUNTRY.

Al will either be good at evaluating, closing and developing, or he won't. If he's not he will fail like the last two guys and get rung up. I happen to be in the camp that thinks he will succeed, so I'm not going to second guess all of his moves.

 

[edge]

Here is a list of top 60 Dade recruits. I have highlighted a few that I know nothing about but was wondering if they were UM caliber.

RK PLAYER POS HT WT SCHOOL
1 Matthew Thomas LB 6-3 200 Miami Booker T.
2 Jamal Carter S 6-1 190 Miami Southridge
3 Daryl Chestnut RB 5-10 180 Miami Columbus
4 Denver Kirkland OT 6-4 290 Miami Booker T.
5 Stacy Thomas DE 6-2 235 Miami Gulliver Prep
6 Lorenzo Woodley RB 6-0 200 Miami Columbus
7 Lamar Robbins ATH 6-3 183 Miami Southridge
8 Xavier Hines CB 5-10 190 Miami Belen Jesuit
9 Ahmad Thomas S 6-0 195 Miami Central (Oklahoma)
10 Michael Johnson CB 5-10 170 Miami Booker T. (FSU)
11 Jesus Wilson WR 5-8 175 Miami Christopher Columbus
12 Da'Wan Hunte CB 5-10 185 Miami Central (NC State)
13 George Williams LB 6-1 200 Miami Gardens Hialeah
14 Gerald Wright C 6-4 270 Miami Northwestern
15 Leroy Clark CB 5-11 180 Miami Archbishop Carroll
16 Artie Burns CB 6-0 183 Miami Northwestern
17 Treyvon Williams OLB 6-1 220 Miami Norland
18 Akeem Jones QB 6'2" 180 Miami Gardens Carol City
19 Bo Ellis RB 5-9 185 Gulliver Prep
20 Terrance Alls WR 6-0 175 Dade Christian
21 Anthony Walker LB 6-1 200 Monsignor Pace
22 Darren Parker CB 6-1 175 Miami Booker T. Washington
23 D'Angelo Reynolds DE 6'5" 225 Miami Northwestern
24 Isaac McDonald DE 6-6 200 Champagnat Catholic
25 Jordan Reyes OL 6'7" 313 Miami Dr. Krop (FIU)
26 Artie Burns DB 6-1 175 Miami Northwestern
27 Troy McCullom DB 6-0 180 North Miami
28 Devondre Powell DB 5-10 170 Miami Jackson
29 Wendell Dunn S 6-0 190 Palmetto
30 Grant Siegel OG 6'3" 265 Miami Gulliver Prep
31 Jerrol Mobley DT 6-4 315 Miami Hialeah
32 Troy McCollum DB 6'0" 170 Miami North
33 Paul James DE 6-3 235 Dr. Krop
34 Troy Cook QB 6-2 200 Palmetto
35 Ricardo Cardona DE 6'2" 230 Miami Edison
36 Darren Parker DB 6'1" 175 Miami Booker T. Washington
37 Christopher Brown DB 6'0" 180 Miami Central
38 Charles Williams QB 6-2 180 Champagnat Catholic
39 Marqez Hodge LB 6'1" 205 Miami Central (Syracuse)
40 Chris Herise DE 6'4" 225 Miami Central
41 Darius Tice RB 5'10" 200 Miami Northwestern
42 Wendell Dunn LB 6'4" 210 Miami Palmetto
43 Fabian Johnson RB 5'8" 185 Miami Northwestern
44 Rafiki Lindsay DT 6'2" 281 Miami Norland
45 Edwin Durassaint LB 6'0" 187 Homestead Carol City
46 Jelifer Alphonse DB 5'10" 167 Miami Edison
47 Javon Hadley DB 5'11" 170 Miami Palmetto
48 Treyvon Williams LB 5'11" 190 Miami Norland
49 Troy Cook QB 6'2" 196 Miami Palmetto
50 Darrin Lawrence DB 5'9" 165 Miami Palmetto
51 Camilo Padron LB 5'10" 213 Miami Belen Jesuit
52 Aaron Thomas DT 5'11" 304 Miami Carol City
53 Marcus Davide LB 5'10" 207 Miami Columbus
54 Mateo Buraglia K 6'0" 190 Miami Belen Jesuit
55 Austin Krtausch DE 6'3" 220 Miami Sunset
56 Jordan Gibbs LB 6'2" 220 Miami Killian
57 Marquise Blanchard LB 6'2" 190 Miami Jackson
58 Devon Speight TE 6'4" 186 Miami Northwestern
59 Raymond Attley DB 6'2" 180 Miami Norland
60 Brandon Diaz QB 6'3" 205 Miami Central

 

[The Franchise]

I suspect we didn't show any interest in Boza because we learned we had no chance of keeping him here. He's not exactly the type of kid who stays local.

I'm not going to guess at the reason. But Al never showed any interest, and knowing how tenacious he is, I doubt he would back off so easily if he really wanted him.

 

[HurricaneDeak]

I suspect we didn't show any interest in Boza because we learned we had no chance of keeping him here. He's not exactly the type of kid who stays local.

I'm not going to guess at the reason. But Al never showed any interest, and knowing how tenacious he is, I doubt he would back off so easily if he really wanted him.

I'm not saying you're wrong, because I honestly don't know. But if Al started recruiting the kid and he said, "Listen, you have absolutely no chance of flipping me. I'm going to OSU to play for Meyer and that's it." Why waste time you could spend recruiting other players. He has to respect that some kids just don't want to go to Miami.

 

[FreePawn]

OMG, we have as many commits from Nigeria as we do from SoFla!!!!

 

[Ethnicsands]

Of course it comes down to evaluations...but, I think this is a worthy discussion every single year. Its never not timely, its never not a relevant conversation to have...which is basically what OP is trying to say, that, it is. I disagree strongly.

We have a ton of the top players in SoFla targeted and ready to make a decision on Signing Day. If we hit'em all out of the park...let's just be honest...there won't be too much of a complaint.

But, what happens if Matthew Thomas goes elsewhere and we didn't offer Skai Moore? Skai Moore goes on to play well at USCe? We take a player like Ufomba Kamalu and he never develops and Alvonte Bell turns into a solid DE at Kentucky? The staff doesn't pursue Leroy Clark or Sojourn Shelton and Leroy Clark and Sojourn Shelton ends up a three year contributor at Purdue/Wisconsin.

The Coker and Shannon Errors were filled with similar stories. Obviously Miami isn't going to get everyone, they aren't going to hit on everyone, but, there are tons of players in their back yard that will end up becoming studs, good players, and contributors...the obvious reference is...when we miss out on OOS recruits...why didn't we just stay local?

The corollary is that you 'just didn't stay local' because the staff missed on the evaluation. Liked the OOS kid more, or didn't know about the instate kid ( the latter of I am not worried about with this staff) But, if your staff is good, they should hit on as many as they miss, if not more. And if the hits come from Tampa, or Pahokee, or Overtown - great. If they come from North Atlanta, Austin, or St. Paul, well, that's okay too.

Also, FWIW, flipping through the roster, it looks like 4 out of every 5 kids currently on schollie is from the Gunshine State. As it should be.

This is where the local/non-local topic meets the road. I contend that we should be able to have a meaningfully higher 'hit rate' on local kids, because we can evaluate them better, more frequently, more in person. We can know their staff and support network better. They play better competition than most non-local kids.

So IMO, when it's close, we should always be erring on the side of local. Not for politics, but for players.

That's a general point, though, because this year, the lower numbers and desire by the top kids to hold their decisions to the last day complicated things. AG doesnt want to burn bridges by dropping a local 'backup' at the last minute, either. I assume he has some jawand blues lined up if things fall apart here. We'll hopefully not have to learn that....