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Reviewing the Classes: The Class of 2001

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DMoney said:
We spend so much time on recruiting, but we rarely take time to look back. This series examines every class for the past five coaches- Manny, Richt, Golden, Shannon, and Coker. As Mario’s first class enters Year 4, what are the trends he needs to avoid if he wants to break the cycle?

Of course, bad coaching and development played a massive role in our downfall. But for this exercise, I wanted to focus on pure talent acquisition. That’s why I use NFL numbers. The NFL has the most standardized and competitive talent-evaluation process in football. It’s also really hard to get there- only 2% of CFB players and only 22% of four-stars make the league. And far fewer are able to stick around. As expected, our NFL decline mirrored our decline on the field.

Let’s start with our last championship-caliber class: 2001:

Four-year winning percentage: 88%
Total enrollees- 20
NFL players- 13
NFL games- 1,016
Day 1 Picks- 4
Day 2 picks- 5
Pro Bowls- 11

The class ranked 8th on Rivals. But as the numbers show, it was the best in America. I’ve listed the players in order of recruiting ranking, with NFL players in BOLD:

FIVE STARS

LB Leon Williams (Brooklyn, NY)
  1. Fourth Round
  2. 61 NFL games
FOUR STARS

DB Antrel Rolle (Miami-Dade, FL)
  1. First Round
  2. 155 NFL games
  3. 3-time Pro Bowler
DT Orien Harris (Newark, DE)
  1. Fourth round
  2. 20 NFL games
OL Robert Bergman (Bakersfield, CA)

TE Kellen Winslow II (San Diego, CA)
  1. First Round
  2. 105 NFL Games
  3. 1 Pro Bowl
LB Roger McIntosh (Gaffney, SC)
  1. Second Round
  2. 124 NFL games
DE Thomas Carroll (Lakewood, NJ)

DE Andrew Williams (Tampa, FL)
  1. Third Round
  2. 9 NFL games
OL Randy Boxil (Palm Beach, FL)

OT Rashad Butler (Palm Beach, FL)
  1. Third Round
  2. 51 NFL games
RB Frank Gore (Miami-Dade, FL)
  1. Third Round
  2. 241 NFL games
  3. 5 Pro Bowls
THREE STARS OR BELOW

FB Quadtrine Hill (Broward, FL)

ATH Sean Taylor (Miami-Dade, FL)
  1. First Round
  2. 55 FL games
  3. 2 Pro Bowls
CB Kelly Jennings (Live Oak, FL)
  1. First Round
  2. 91 NFL games
ATH Buck Ortega (Miami-Dade, FL)
  1. 12 NFL games
DL Miguel Robede (Quebec, CA)

TE Brandon Sebald (Ulster, NY)

CB Marcus Maxey (Navasota, TX)
  1. Fifth Round
  2. 2 NFL games
WR Roscoe Parrish (Miami-Dade, FL)
  1. Second Round
  2. 90 NFL games
OT Tony Tella (Houston, TX)

WHAT HAPPENED: While Larry Coker was the head coach on National Signing Day, this was a Butch Davis class. Butch took the Browns job in late January, so most of the work was done when he handed it over to Coker. But this was also Coker’s best moment as a recruiter. Frank Gore and Roscoe Parrish were headed to Ole Miss until Coker took over and pressed to keep them home.



Coker also deserves credit for stealing Kellen Winslow II from Washington. KWII was ready to commit to the Huskies, but Winslow's dad still resented Washington's coach, Rick Neuheisel, for crossing the picket line during the NFL strike. Winslow wanted his son to play under Michigan State's Bobby Williams, one of the few black coaches in Division I. KWII was ready to announce for Washington on his dad's Fox Sports show, but Winslow Sr. halted the decision and created a highly awkward situation on camera. Miami, with former WR Curtis Johnson leading the recruitment, emerged as the compromise choice after NSD.



There weren’t many losses in this class, but a couple proved to have repercussions down the line. The Canes were slow to offer two-star local athlete Chris Gamble, who excelled at both WR and CB at Dillard. Gamble ended up signing with Ohio State, playing both ways, and drawing the phantom penalty from Terry Porter in the Fiesta Bowl. The Carolina Panthers drafted him in the first round, and he played nine years in the NFL.

The Canes also lost a battle for a package deal: DL Marcus Spears and WR Michael Clayton from Baton Rouge. They were leaning to Miami at one point in the process, before ultimately choosing the hometown Tigers. That was the class that put LSU and second-year coach Nick Saban on the map, as they also landed Andrew Whitworth, Joseph Addai, Marquise Hill, Ben Wilkerson, Travis Daniels and others. Both Saban and LSU would be a thorn in Miami’s side for the next two decades.

BEST PLAYER: It’s hard not to pick a Hall of Famer in Gore, but the only choice is Sean Taylor. For someone so legendary, his recruitment started out pretty ordinary. A three-star ATH recruited by the likes of Georgia Tech, Taylor transferred from Killian to Gulliver as a junior but failed to generate any national buzz. As a senior, he carried Gulliver Prep to a state championship with a Florida-record 44 touchdowns. While some had him pegged as a linebacker because of his size, he remained at safety and the rest is history.



BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: The weakness of this class was OL and QB– two positions that frustrated Canes fans for the rest of the decade. There was no quarterback in the class, and the highest-rated offensive lineman was Robert Bergman. Not only was he a star OL, but he also punted (44.9 per attempt) and pitched for the baseball team (91 mph fastball). Some may remember that one of his relatives posted on the Grassy football board throughout Bergman's career. Ultimately, his lack of size and power kept him off the field.

BEST EVALUATION: Overshadowed by his Suwanee teammates Jarvis Herring (Florida) and Kyler Hall (Florida State), it was Kelly Jennings who emerged as the best of the bunch. He was a two-way player and the state runner-up in the 100M (behind future Kansas State star Yamon Figurs) as well as a good student. At Miami, he developed from an unknown three-star recruit into the first round pick of the Seattle Seahawks.



LESSON LEARNED: Take a quarterback every year. Miami was red-hot, but we still didn’t add a single body at quarterback. This came back to bite us.

CONCLUSION: With 13 pros, four Pro Bowlers, four first rounders and a championship trophy, this class is the last example of the Miami standard.

Click to expand...

mario was never trying to win until now- he knew this was going to take time and that's probably why he didn't get a defense last year to help Cam ward ---- the marathon will end after this year hopefully we are in first
 
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Great article, D. Couple thoughts on that class - I recall being big into recruiting back then.

Andrew Williams was a top notch prep kid coming out of HS, IIRC. Didn't qualify and ended up going to JUCO - I believe the same JUCO as Jerome McDougle and they were on the same team. Those two were dudes.

Michael Clayton/Spears - there was a period of several years where we went HARD after some Louisiana products. Clayton and Spears and then in subsequent years guys like Craig Davis, Kriston Pittmon, Carnell Stewart, and some others. That was right around the time that Saban basically locked down the state. But man, I was tired of losing Louiasiana recruits.

As for Orien, I believe we also looked at his brother the prior year, Kwame, who was a huge recruit and ended up being a first rounder.
 
This thread is just missing Mike Bakas.

I remember being at the team hotel in Arizona on New Years Day's before the Fiasco Bowl and speaking with Winslow Sr who was at the table next to us. He mentioned how happy he was with his son being at Miami. Good times.

Next year I met Kellen's Jr's mother at the airport after the UF game. She was flying back to the DC area on the same flight as me. I had my Cane gear on and she introduced herself. I told her how I met her husband the year before and she made it clear it was her "EX". LMAO but she was very nice as well.
 
That Kellen Winslow lore is crazy! I had no clue about that.

Chris Gamble was a major miss. I feel like he really opened the South Florida to OSU floodgate.
 
Sebastianspipe said:
FACTS. Gore doesn't make it to Ole Miss or any NCAA school without Butch pulling strings.

The loss this year was Adrian McPherson although he screwed himself over at FSU. Easily the most talented QB in FL past 25 years. Butch had him on campus and at games numerous times.

This is also the year when Dirty Doc Holiday and Amato were paying out the *** and raiding Broward and got Tramain Hall, Sterling Hicks and Greg Golden. They were bought by October and all 3 dummies smoked themselves out of a future, but Pagano was all over Golden, who was a better returner than Roscoe. This is why Gamble wasn't more of a priority either. I know @gogeta will back me on this one.
Click to expand...
this is correct. Greg Golden and tremain hall were scary on returns...Greg Golden had the hype of Mali Toney for example in broward.

Those 3 were browards best...we missed on Tony Brown as well. from sta he went to Tenn....also my teammate Bryant Mcfadden in 2000 but he never was coming here lol.

NC state landed those broward kids and a few down south kids as well who would have helped us like stephen tulloch, etc.

reading this one brought chills n memories as these are my high school years.

*Random
The one n only college camp i attended was the Miami Nike Camp . I remember pulling up with my dad n best friend an parking....getting out the car ...and the kid getting out the car next to us wearing a Killian workout shirt was....Sean Taylor. Of course we didnt have a clue who he was then,,,an i dont think me an my friend realized who it was until he had a big game vs chaminade that year on the way to states and channel 7 interviewed him and we were like hey thats the kid that walked with us into camp at Miami. Me and my friend were about 6'2-6'3 so we thought kid was a DE lmao
 
Last edited:
AUcane said:
Great article, D. Couple thoughts on that class - I recall being big into recruiting back then.

Andrew Williams was a top notch prep kid coming out of HS, IIRC. Didn't qualify and ended up going to JUCO - I believe the same JUCO as Jerome McDougle and they were on the same team. Those two were dudes.

Michael Clayton/Spears - there was a period of several years where we went HARD after some Louisiana products. Clayton and Spears and then in subsequent years guys like Craig Davis, Kriston Pittmon, Carnell Stewart, and some others. That was right around the time that Saban basically locked down the state. But man, I was tired of losing Louiasiana recruits.

As for Orien, I believe we also looked at his brother the prior year, Kwame, who was a huge recruit and ended up being a first rounder.
Click to expand...
we had landry the safety i thimk almost locked in as well


i want to get back into nola but we never really try anymore..i guess it was all curtis johnson

the midget is from nola which makes it more maddening
 
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DMoney said:
We spend so much time on recruiting, but we rarely take time to look back. This series examines every class for the past five coaches- Manny, Richt, Golden, Shannon, and Coker. As Mario’s first class enters Year 4, what are the trends he needs to avoid if he wants to break the cycle?

Of course, bad coaching and development played a massive role in our downfall. But for this exercise, I wanted to focus on pure talent acquisition. That’s why I use NFL numbers. The NFL has the most standardized and competitive talent-evaluation process in football. It’s also really hard to get there- only 2% of CFB players and only 22% of four-stars make the league. And far fewer are able to stick around. As expected, our NFL decline mirrored our decline on the field.

Let’s start with our last championship-caliber class: 2001:

Four-year winning percentage: 88%
Total enrollees- 20
NFL players- 13
NFL games- 1,016
Day 1 Picks- 4
Day 2 picks- 5
Pro Bowls- 11

The class ranked 8th on Rivals. But as the numbers show, it was the best in America. I’ve listed the players in order of recruiting ranking, with NFL players in BOLD:

FIVE STARS

LB Leon Williams (Brooklyn, NY)
  1. Fourth Round
  2. 61 NFL games
FOUR STARS

DB Antrel Rolle (Miami-Dade, FL)
  1. First Round
  2. 155 NFL games
  3. 3-time Pro Bowler
DT Orien Harris (Newark, DE)
  1. Fourth round
  2. 20 NFL games
OL Robert Bergman (Bakersfield, CA)

TE Kellen Winslow II (San Diego, CA)
  1. First Round
  2. 105 NFL Games
  3. 1 Pro Bowl
LB Roger McIntosh (Gaffney, SC)
  1. Second Round
  2. 124 NFL games
DE Thomas Carroll (Lakewood, NJ)

DE Andrew Williams (Tampa, FL)
  1. Third Round
  2. 9 NFL games
OL Randy Boxil (Palm Beach, FL)

OT Rashad Butler (Palm Beach, FL)
  1. Third Round
  2. 51 NFL games
RB Frank Gore (Miami-Dade, FL)
  1. Third Round
  2. 241 NFL games
  3. 5 Pro Bowls
THREE STARS OR BELOW

FB Quadtrine Hill (Broward, FL)

ATH Sean Taylor (Miami-Dade, FL)
  1. First Round
  2. 55 FL games
  3. 2 Pro Bowls
CB Kelly Jennings (Live Oak, FL)
  1. First Round
  2. 91 NFL games
ATH Buck Ortega (Miami-Dade, FL)
  1. 12 NFL games
DL Miguel Robede (Quebec, CA)

TE Brandon Sebald (Ulster, NY)

CB Marcus Maxey (Navasota, TX)
  1. Fifth Round
  2. 2 NFL games
WR Roscoe Parrish (Miami-Dade, FL)
  1. Second Round
  2. 90 NFL games
OT Tony Tella (Houston, TX)

WHAT HAPPENED: While Larry Coker was the head coach on National Signing Day, this was a Butch Davis class. Butch took the Browns job in late January, so most of the work was done when he handed it over to Coker. But this was also Coker’s best moment as a recruiter. Frank Gore and Roscoe Parrish were headed to Ole Miss until Coker took over and pressed to keep them home.



Coker also deserves credit for stealing Kellen Winslow II from Washington. KWII was ready to commit to the Huskies, but Winslow's dad still resented Washington's coach, Rick Neuheisel, for crossing the picket line during the NFL strike. Winslow wanted his son to play under Michigan State's Bobby Williams, one of the few black coaches in Division I. KWII was ready to announce for Washington on his dad's Fox Sports show, but Winslow Sr. halted the decision and created a highly awkward situation on camera. Miami, with former WR Curtis Johnson leading the recruitment, emerged as the compromise choice after NSD.



There weren’t many losses in this class, but a couple proved to have repercussions down the line. The Canes were slow to offer two-star local athlete Chris Gamble, who excelled at both WR and CB at Dillard. Gamble ended up signing with Ohio State, playing both ways, and drawing the phantom penalty from Terry Porter in the Fiesta Bowl. The Carolina Panthers drafted him in the first round, and he played nine years in the NFL.

The Canes also lost a battle for a package deal: DL Marcus Spears and WR Michael Clayton from Baton Rouge. They were leaning to Miami at one point in the process, before ultimately choosing the hometown Tigers. That was the class that put LSU and second-year coach Nick Saban on the map, as they also landed Andrew Whitworth, Joseph Addai, Marquise Hill, Ben Wilkerson, Travis Daniels and others. Both Saban and LSU would be a thorn in Miami’s side for the next two decades.

BEST PLAYER: It’s hard not to pick a Hall of Famer in Gore, but the only choice is Sean Taylor. For someone so legendary, his recruitment started out pretty ordinary. A three-star ATH recruited by the likes of Georgia Tech, Taylor transferred from Killian to Gulliver as a junior but failed to generate any national buzz. As a senior, he carried Gulliver Prep to a state championship with a Florida-record 44 touchdowns. While some had him pegged as a linebacker because of his size, he remained at safety and the rest is history.



BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: The weakness of this class was OL and QB– two positions that frustrated Canes fans for the rest of the decade. There was no quarterback in the class, and the highest-rated offensive lineman was Robert Bergman. Not only was he a star OL, but he also punted (44.9 per attempt) and pitched for the baseball team (91 mph fastball). Some may remember that one of his relatives posted on the Grassy football board throughout Bergman's career. Ultimately, his lack of size and power kept him off the field.

BEST EVALUATION: Overshadowed by his Suwanee teammates Jarvis Herring (Florida) and Kyler Hall (Florida State), it was Kelly Jennings who emerged as the best of the bunch. He was a two-way player and the state runner-up in the 100M (behind future Kansas State star Yamon Figurs) as well as a good student. At Miami, he developed from an unknown three-star recruit into the first round pick of the Seattle Seahawks.



LESSON LEARNED: Take a quarterback every year. Miami was red-hot, but we still didn’t add a single body at quarterback. This came back to bite us.

CONCLUSION: With 13 pros, four Pro Bowlers, four first rounders and a championship trophy, this class is the last example of the Miami standard.

Click to expand...


I played optimist on the West Grove Redskins with Frank and Scoe.

It was crazy how much better they were than everybody else, even at that age. Frank was so humble for how good he was, whereas Scoe would trash talk anyone, even adults.

There was a safety (Rashad Anderson) and Kenneth Smiley that played in the Big East, and Denzel Perryman’s half brother Quintero Frierson that played MLB at Rutgers.
 
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