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From Manny Navarro's article in the Athletic.
theathletic.com
The highlights:
Kahlil Brantley never gave up.
Neither did standout wide receiver Romello Brinson or five-star safety James Williams or the rest of the players who were already a part of the Miami Hurricanes’ 2021 signing class. They made FaceTime calls and left messages on Twitter and Instagram.
Whenever they got the chance, they kept telling Jake Garcia the same thing: We really want you to come to The U.
It started when Garcia said he received an alert on his phone from Brantley, directing him to see something interesting on Twitter. The text referred to the tweet put out by Jaxson Dart, advertising his new offer from USC.
Garcia didn't know USC was recruiting another QB until that tweet.
“I got a call later (from USC) that they might offer somebody. I was like ‘Might? OK. You guys already offered somebody.’ It was just a little bit sneaky.”
There’s no doubt in Garcia’s mind the persistence of Miami’s other recruits and its fan base played “a huge role” in why he signed with the Hurricanes.
“The USC kids, we had some group chats and stuff like that, but it wasn’t on a FaceTime level or the way the Miami kids were doing it,” Garcia said. “Those fans, the whole time I was committed (to USC), those fans kept going at it. It’s not like they let me forget about it. Those fans are ridiculous, but I love those fans, though. And they need to keep doing what they’re doing for the upcoming classes, too. They don’t let you forget about Miami.”
“A far as quarterbacks go, we had a short list,” said Andy Vaughn, Miami’s director of player personnel. “(Offensive coordinator) Rhett Lashlee is very particular about what he looks for in guys and he had a list. We were working through that.
“I don’t want to say every egg was in that basket, but there was a lot in there and he was the guy that we really wanted.”
“You have to have a certain type of personality to play QB-1 at Miami,” Vaughn said. “You saw that this year in D’Eriq (King). The way (starting quarterbacks) carry themselves, the way they need to be a leader, the way guys need to follow them — I think you see a lot of those qualities in D’Eriq. A lot of those qualities are in Jake, too.
He’s the kind of guy that you want as a quarterback in your system. The guy can play. I mean, you can see all the throws. He can make all the throws. He is athletic. He’s not asked to do that a lot. But he is an athletic player who can make some things happen with his feet if he needs to.”
“The mindset for me going into it, no matter who’s there, I’m coming in and I’m going to be the starting quarterback and I’m gonna win the national championship. But if it doesn’t work out that way, I’m completely fine with it. The redshirt year is a developmental year and you get groomed, and a redshirt year does not hurt. It doesn’t hurt at all. It can actually help you and if you play early it could really mess you up sometimes. I just trust the process of it and things will work itself out.”
Jake's father, Randy, said he put a football in Jake’s hands “when he couldn’t even hold one.” He was 7 when he actually played tackle football. He played ages 7, 8 and 9. God bless the dads that were out there volunteering, but there was just too much hitting. It was just too much. So Jake stuck with baseball until he was 13.”
Garcia returned to football in the eighth grade, his father said. That’s when he began training with California-based quarterback guru Danny Hernandez. Before he left California for Georgia and an opportunity to play his senior season, Garcia met with Hernandez two to three times a week. Hernandez said Garcia had a lot of natural gifts early.
Hernandez said Garcia breaks down film of NFL and college quarterbacks with him “to keep his football IQ sharp.”
“That’s the great part about Jake,” Hernandez said. “As good as he looks and as clean as he throws, he’s always trying to get better. That’s what I told college coaches. This kid has not reached his ceiling yet, which is exciting because I think he has a lot of room to grow and he knows that. So he’s attacking all his workouts with a humble approach, but he’s hungry knowing that he wants to get better and can get better.”
“The things that he doesn’t get enough credit for is his athleticism,” Hernandez said. “The guy can move. He has very good spatial awareness, and that’s one thing that not a lot of quarterbacks have. You see a pocket passer and you think that he’s a statue back there. But he really understands how to create space, how to generate power in small spaces, and those are a lot of things that we’ve worked on in the offseason to be able to get him to do that.
What was Garcia looking for after he decommitted from USC?
“Jake wanted to be around people, players and coaches who are like-minded, like him, and that is, when it’s time to play ball, let’s play ball. It’s time to work out, work out,” his father said. “Not fake, don’t just do it half-heartedly. Go all out, give 100 percent, and that’s what he was getting from Mello (Brinson) and these other guys that he’d been talking to.”
Garcia and his family watched Miami’s 62-26 loss to North Carolina on Saturday in person. As tough to stomach as the game was, Randy Garcia said the visit still went well. And, yes, they will be moving to South Florida with their son.
“Somebody said to us, ‘We’re sorry Jake had to see that,’” Randy said. “I said, ‘Well, that’s not a problem as long as we score 63 (next time). Honestly, it happens, right? You still had 12,000 fans in there. That’s 12,000 more than USC had in their stadium.
Jake is finishing up his last HS class by the beginning of January and is set to enroll at Miami in January
How the Miami Hurricanes landed four-star QB Jake Garcia
The persistence of Miami’s other recruits and its fan base played “a huge role” in why Garcia signed with the Hurricanes.
theathletic.com
The highlights:
Kahlil Brantley never gave up.
Neither did standout wide receiver Romello Brinson or five-star safety James Williams or the rest of the players who were already a part of the Miami Hurricanes’ 2021 signing class. They made FaceTime calls and left messages on Twitter and Instagram.
Whenever they got the chance, they kept telling Jake Garcia the same thing: We really want you to come to The U.
It started when Garcia said he received an alert on his phone from Brantley, directing him to see something interesting on Twitter. The text referred to the tweet put out by Jaxson Dart, advertising his new offer from USC.
Garcia didn't know USC was recruiting another QB until that tweet.
“I got a call later (from USC) that they might offer somebody. I was like ‘Might? OK. You guys already offered somebody.’ It was just a little bit sneaky.”
There’s no doubt in Garcia’s mind the persistence of Miami’s other recruits and its fan base played “a huge role” in why he signed with the Hurricanes.
“The USC kids, we had some group chats and stuff like that, but it wasn’t on a FaceTime level or the way the Miami kids were doing it,” Garcia said. “Those fans, the whole time I was committed (to USC), those fans kept going at it. It’s not like they let me forget about it. Those fans are ridiculous, but I love those fans, though. And they need to keep doing what they’re doing for the upcoming classes, too. They don’t let you forget about Miami.”
“A far as quarterbacks go, we had a short list,” said Andy Vaughn, Miami’s director of player personnel. “(Offensive coordinator) Rhett Lashlee is very particular about what he looks for in guys and he had a list. We were working through that.
“I don’t want to say every egg was in that basket, but there was a lot in there and he was the guy that we really wanted.”
“You have to have a certain type of personality to play QB-1 at Miami,” Vaughn said. “You saw that this year in D’Eriq (King). The way (starting quarterbacks) carry themselves, the way they need to be a leader, the way guys need to follow them — I think you see a lot of those qualities in D’Eriq. A lot of those qualities are in Jake, too.
He’s the kind of guy that you want as a quarterback in your system. The guy can play. I mean, you can see all the throws. He can make all the throws. He is athletic. He’s not asked to do that a lot. But he is an athletic player who can make some things happen with his feet if he needs to.”
“The mindset for me going into it, no matter who’s there, I’m coming in and I’m going to be the starting quarterback and I’m gonna win the national championship. But if it doesn’t work out that way, I’m completely fine with it. The redshirt year is a developmental year and you get groomed, and a redshirt year does not hurt. It doesn’t hurt at all. It can actually help you and if you play early it could really mess you up sometimes. I just trust the process of it and things will work itself out.”
Jake's father, Randy, said he put a football in Jake’s hands “when he couldn’t even hold one.” He was 7 when he actually played tackle football. He played ages 7, 8 and 9. God bless the dads that were out there volunteering, but there was just too much hitting. It was just too much. So Jake stuck with baseball until he was 13.”
Garcia returned to football in the eighth grade, his father said. That’s when he began training with California-based quarterback guru Danny Hernandez. Before he left California for Georgia and an opportunity to play his senior season, Garcia met with Hernandez two to three times a week. Hernandez said Garcia had a lot of natural gifts early.
Hernandez said Garcia breaks down film of NFL and college quarterbacks with him “to keep his football IQ sharp.”
“That’s the great part about Jake,” Hernandez said. “As good as he looks and as clean as he throws, he’s always trying to get better. That’s what I told college coaches. This kid has not reached his ceiling yet, which is exciting because I think he has a lot of room to grow and he knows that. So he’s attacking all his workouts with a humble approach, but he’s hungry knowing that he wants to get better and can get better.”
“The things that he doesn’t get enough credit for is his athleticism,” Hernandez said. “The guy can move. He has very good spatial awareness, and that’s one thing that not a lot of quarterbacks have. You see a pocket passer and you think that he’s a statue back there. But he really understands how to create space, how to generate power in small spaces, and those are a lot of things that we’ve worked on in the offseason to be able to get him to do that.
What was Garcia looking for after he decommitted from USC?
“Jake wanted to be around people, players and coaches who are like-minded, like him, and that is, when it’s time to play ball, let’s play ball. It’s time to work out, work out,” his father said. “Not fake, don’t just do it half-heartedly. Go all out, give 100 percent, and that’s what he was getting from Mello (Brinson) and these other guys that he’d been talking to.”
Garcia and his family watched Miami’s 62-26 loss to North Carolina on Saturday in person. As tough to stomach as the game was, Randy Garcia said the visit still went well. And, yes, they will be moving to South Florida with their son.
“Somebody said to us, ‘We’re sorry Jake had to see that,’” Randy said. “I said, ‘Well, that’s not a problem as long as we score 63 (next time). Honestly, it happens, right? You still had 12,000 fans in there. That’s 12,000 more than USC had in their stadium.
Jake is finishing up his last HS class by the beginning of January and is set to enroll at Miami in January
