Local Five-star WR Calvin Russell talks being a 'hometown hero' and recaps official visit

I agree it’s a “failure” if we miss on him but it’s not “colossal” or black and white as you’re making it out to be. He’s not even the best WR in his team and his $ demands are completely irrational. This isn’t a JJ or Jojo situation. I hope he stays home but if we get Keys and other WR’s, I’m okay with this whiff.

So basically if we miss on both Keys and Russell it's a failure then? Am I reading your stance correct?
 
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I agree it’s a “failure” if we miss on him but it’s not “colossal” or black and white as you’re making it out to be. He’s not even the best WR in his team and his $ demands are completely irrational. This isn’t a JJ or Jojo situation. I hope he stays home but if we get Keys and other WR’s, I’m okay with this whiff.


No disagreements.

I more heavily wanted Miami to get Calvin to commit earlier in this cycle because he is a UM legacy and I'm a UM alum, but I've lost confidence and patience with all of the things that you and I know are happening behind the scenes.

If he signs, great. If not, sign who we can and hit the Portal for everything else. Calvin can't step onto the Hard Rock field until August 2026 at the earliest. Plenty of time to backfill if we whiff.

I'm not happy about that. There are no excuses being made. But if things go south, I won't whine or cry, just move on to the next.
 
They're all failures, definitionally. Some are bigger than others. Most are survivable.

I'm mostly in agreement, I was just asking him to clarify since he says if we don't get Russell, but get Keys…Well Keys is probably still less likely than Russell or we definitely aren't the favorite for Keys.
 
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I'm mostly ion agreement, I was just asking him to clarify since he says if we don't get Russell, but get Keys…Well Keys is probably still less likely than Russell or we definitely aren't the favorite for Keys.


Tough situation.

Should we pursue the very best players who have interest in Miami recruiting them? We are.

Until we win conference/national championship(s), is it easy for teams to negative-recruit us? Yes. Will we land all the very best players? No, not all of them.

Keys was always going to be a challenge as a 5-star out-of-stater. So not landing him is a "big failure" due to the loss of his potential impact.

Russell is a "big failure" because he is a UM legacy and a top player in Dade.

So they are individually and collectively "big failures" if we don't sign them.
 
I agree it’s a “failure” if we miss on him but it’s not “colossal” or black and white as you’re making it out to be. He’s not even the best WR in his team and his $ demands are completely irrational. This isn’t a JJ or Jojo situation. I hope he stays home but if we get Keys and other WR’s, I’m okay with this whiff.
Lennear is the truth. Would love it if we could get that kid to reclassify. He need's to be a Hurricane, no exceptions.
 
Tough situation.

Should we pursue the very best players who have interest in Miami recruiting them? We are.

Until we win conference/national championship(s), is it easy for teams to negative-recruit us? Yes. Will we land all the very best players? No, not all of them.

Keys was always going to be a challenge as a 5-star out-of-stater. So not landing him is a "big failure" due to the loss of his potential impact.

Russell is a "big failure" because he is a UM legacy and a top player in Dade.

So they are individually and collectively "big failures" if we don't sign them.
A big failure? Everyone here that is calling not getting Keys and Russell are not objective at all. For years we have been at best an average team. Last year we had a chance to win the ACC and get into the National Championship but failed. Did it ever occur to some of you that regardless of his Mom, Russell seems to want to leave the city of Miami and experience college life away from home. Is that too difficult to comprehend? As far as Keys is concerned we have always been fighting an up hill battle versus LSU. Personally myself I would rather have Vince Stafford. That kid has the speed, the moves, and the hands. He is also going to cost a lot less money. I don't care if he is a rated a 4 star recruit but he plays like he has 6 stars. I feel Mario is going to close this deal this weekend.
 
I agree it’s a “failure” if we miss on him but it’s not “colossal” or black and white as you’re making it out to be. He’s not even the best WR in his team and his $ demands are completely irrational. This isn’t a JJ or Jojo situation. I hope he stays home but if we get Keys and other WR’s, I’m okay with this whiff.

I don't disagree wtih that except that Key's isn't coming to Miami.
 
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No disagreements.

I more heavily wanted Miami to get Calvin to commit earlier in this cycle because he is a UM legacy and I'm a UM alum, but I've lost confidence and patience with all of the things that you and I know are happening behind the scenes.

If he signs, great. If not, sign who we can and hit the Portal for everything else. Calvin can't step onto the Hard Rock field until August 2026 at the earliest. Plenty of time to backfill if we whiff.

I'm not happy about that. There are no excuses being made. But if things go south, I won't whine or cry, just move on to the next.
I suppose none of the behind the scenes goings on appropriate to talk about here… so I won’t ask.

Unless it’s cool to talk about them here, in which case I’ll ask.
 
Tough situation.

Should we pursue the very best players who have interest in Miami recruiting them? We are.

Until we win conference/national championship(s), is it easy for teams to negative-recruit us? Yes. Will we land all the very best players? No, not all of them.

Keys was always going to be a challenge as a 5-star out-of-stater. So not landing him is a "big failure" due to the loss of his potential impact.

Russell is a "big failure" because he is a UM legacy and a top player in Dade.

So they are individually and collectively "big failures" if we don't sign them.

Ya I agree.

There were a couple more WR in that category, and I agree very disappointing to miss on all of them if we do. (Z-Rob, Wingo, Dixon-Wyatt, Jase Matthews) Spafford is top 8-10 imo though, very close to that top category

Spafford
Evans
Lopez

A-? B+…Or is that worse in your opinion?

Staff for 2-3 years now seems to have Lopez up there as an elite slot prospect…And I know @gogeta has considered him a top target for couple years now.
 
The top 1% prospects at WR and LB (HS and Portal) continue to elude our roster.

We’re so close, just need to round it. Soon we’ll hear “don’t worry Canes hitting portal super hard for established WR1 this winter” only to whiff there and then it turns into “Miami is being very aggressive on the HS trail, trying to sign best WR class”

Never ending cycle last two years imo
 
The top 1% prospects at WR and LB (HS and Portal) continue to elude our roster.

We’re so close, just need to round it. Soon we’ll hear “don’t worry Canes hitting portal super hard for established WR1 this winter” only to whiff there and then it turns into “Miami is being very aggressive on the HS trail, trying to sign best WR class”

Never ending cycle last two years imo
Given we are working off a budget, I'm fine not landing the top 1% prospects at LB. We need to begin to land a top 1% WR every other year or so at least though.
 
Ya I agree.

There were a couple more WR in that category, and I agree very disappointing to miss on all of them if we do. (Z-Rob, Wingo, Dixon-Wyatt, Jase Matthews) Spafford is top 8-10 imo though, very close to that top category

Spafford
Evans
Lopez

A-? B+…Or is that worse in your opinion?

Staff for 2-3 years now seems to have Lopez up there as an elite slot prospect…And I know @gogeta has considered him a top target for couple years now.
If we end with Spafford, Evans and Lopez, that's a C+ Class at WR considering the fact that we just put up the best offense in CFB and have shown that receivers can eat in this scheme. Add the fact that we are apparently opening up the check book to bring in talent and I would be extremely disappointed with that class at WR.
 
We gotta get at least 1 of them. Both Russell and Keys are top tier talent at the position. I know it’s an uphill battle for now, but signing day is months away. In the end I say Russell is a CANE.
 
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If we end with Spafford, Evans and Lopez, that's a C+ Class at WR considering the fact that we just put up the best offense in CFB and have shown that receivers can eat in this scheme. Add the fact that we are apparently opening up the check book to bring in talent and I would be extremely disappointed with that class at WR.

Ya while I wouldn't argue with someone saying they are slightly disappointed or it's a B+ type class, or at lowest a B…I don't see how anyone can say it's a C+

Spafford is a top 100 kid (or do rankings only matter when we ship on kids?) that runs a 10.69 and DMoney told you he cooked So Fl Express or whatever 7 on 7 team it was. He is also committed to one of the top 2-3 programs in the nation and they don't want to lose him. He picked them over USC and I believe Oregon (maybe I'm wrong on the Oregon part?) Lopez has been one of our top targets for a couple years now. Gogeta gave this board heads up on him as a sophomore

I think this board is seriously underrating Spafford. Or both of them, actually.
 
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Ya while I wouldn't argue with someone saying they are slightly disappointed or it's a B+ type class, or at lowest a B…I don't see how anyone can say it's a C+

Spafford is a top 100 kid (or do rankings only matter when we ship on kids?) that runs a 10.69 and DMoney told you he cooked So Fl Express or whatever 7 on 7 team it was. He is also committed to one of the top 2-3 programs in the nation and they don't want to lose him. He picked them over USC and I believe Oregon (maybe I'm wrong on the Oregon part?) Lopez has been one of our top targets for a couple years now. Gogeta gave this board heads up on him as a sophomore

I think this board is seriously underrating Spafford. Or both of them, actually.
Spafford is solid. I’m high on him as a player. Not so much the other two if that’s all our class is.
 
it really is simple, play baby Jesus, we win, get Coleman on his ***, game over


where as IF we don't play baby Jesus and our best players... then we wont be seeing a top 3 class or 5. things can go opposite pretty fast


play our Best PLayers...
Get Coleman on his *** huh? BIG PAUSE
not safe for work no GIF
 
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