Recruiting Breakdown: Safety

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Peter Ariz

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Seniors
Vaughn Telemaque
Andrew Swasey
Juniors
Alonzo Highsmith, Jr.
Kacy Rodgers
Sophomores
None
Freshmen
Deon Bush
Rayshawn Jenkins
Commits
Jamal Carter
Artie Burns

Safety is one of the biggest needs on the recruiting front, even with the recent commitments of Artie Burns and Jamal Carter. Carter is a safety all the way, but Burns may be better off at corner.

From last year’s class, Deon Bush is going to be playing safety for at least this season, which is not his most natural position. He can play it, but he’s another guy who may be better off at corner. Rayshawn Jenkins has generated a lot of buzz as well during the summer 7-on-7 sessions. His heart isn’t on the defensive side of the ball, but he will most likely have to play there because of a lack of depth past this year.

Look for the staff to target in on at least one, maybe two more safeties for this class. If they land one more, they would be content with three for the class, but landing two more would give them more options with both Burns and Bush, who could excel as bigger corners. This isn’t to say they can’t be great safeties, I just see them as potentially special players at corner.

There are honestly no “true” safeties on the team past this season, so we will see how good of a talent developer Paul Williams is. Bush, Jenkins, Carter, and Burns all have elite talent, it will just be up to them to put it all together.

Possible Targets

Michael Parker- The 6’3 safety from Virginia recently popped up on the radar and has serious interest in Miami. He’s a tweener, but has deceptive explosiveness from the position.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VvCh9a4t8s

Ahmad Thomas- The Oklahoma commit from Central would definitely listen to Miami if the coaches called. He loved the ‘Canes early on, but was never offered. He makes a lot of tackles from the position.

Leroy Clark- An under-the-radar prospect from Archbishop Carroll, Clark had a very productive junior season with 13 interceptions. He’s not the biggest or fastest, but has a great feel for the game. Holds an Oklahoma offer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8e0OpHAwWs

Simeon Thomas- The rangy athlete from Carol City doesn’t jump out in his highlights, but has the potential to blow up with a big senior season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LupSUzQ9CBA

Bottom Line
This class absolutely needs one more safety. The coaches will determine if one more is all they need. A lot also depends on if they find a couple safeties they like that have mutual interest. On a related note, some times people forget that the senior prospects still have one more season to prove themselves. While almost all offers are handed out before a prospect’s senior season even begins nowadays, it isn’t out of the question for a player to have a breakout season and catch the staff’s attention. Ray Lewis III is also a commit who still hasn't been pegged as either a RB or DB. He could fill the third safety spot, but I personally like him at running back better.
 
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Carter is a big kid already as a Senior.

Says he played OLB his Junior Season because of a coaching decision, so you know he can come up in run support lol.
 
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I know that JUCOs don't emerge until late in the fall, but maybe the staff is planning on adding a JUCO to the mix.
 
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I think you let this season play out a bit and see what Bush, Rodgers and Jenkins have to offer there. If they're serviceable for the next 2-3 years, I'm not sure you absolutely need to pick up another Safety. If they think Burns is going to play corner, then you get one more. Burns would be one very large corner. He's got a good frame.

I have a bigger concern with OL, ala HawaiiCane, if we lose out on Kirkland. We absolutely need 2-3 OL. We also absolutely need 2 LBs at least. I think those are bigger needs than a potential 3rd Safety prospect. That'd make 5 Safety prospects in 2 classes. Little heavy. Just let the season play out and make an assessment on the 3 mentioned above.
 
Our luck with JuCo sucks. Still a little surprised we never went after Thomas when he would have committed on the spot in the spring and probably never would have wavered.
 
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Some new names on the recruiting radar. Canesport say we're hot on the trail of the Robinson twins, Tyrell and Tyree out of San Diego, Calif. There's also an article on Scout where Tyrell says Miami has offered and are under consideration. They both want to play basketball, and are a definite "package deal".........
 
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AJL will be a WR at Miami. Staff is still evaluating and have a season to do it, just like they did with Crawford last year.
 
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