Signing Day Profile: RB Jaylan Knighton

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Matthew_Suero

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2020 Deerfield Beach (FL) RB Jaylan Knighton signed with Miami this morning. Miami now has 12 players signed.



The 5-9, 195-pounder is currently a consensus 4-star in the national rankings. According to the 247Composite, Knighton is the #104 player nationally, the #10 RB in the country, and the #19 player in the Sunshine state.

Recruiting Story

Knighton’s recruitment was a roller coaster ride and a wild one at that. Knighton originally committed to Oklahoma the spring before his junior year. Knighton then reopened his recruitment back up in January of 2019. When summer rolled around, Knighton was ready to make a decision and he chose Florida State over the Hurricanes. Knighton would eventually decommit from FSU two days after Miami won in Tallahassee, and the day after Willie Taggart got fired. His recruitment then shifted into a Miami and Florida battle before he ultimately chose Miami on Thanksgiving.

Evaluation

On film, Knighton shows elite straight-line speed that makes him seem like he was shot out of a cannon. A true burner that is still physical enough to lower his shoulder and run through contact. Shows an effective jump cut to defeat contain and swiftly run away from the flow of the defense. Love how decisive he is with his cuts and he doesn’t dance around in the backfield; in other words, he gets north-south very quickly. Crafty in leaking out of the backfield as a pass-catcher and is a threat in the screen game. He’s a complete back in every sense of the term and also is frequently cited for his leadership in the locker room.

Knighton averaged a whopping 9.7 yards per carry in 2019 during 12 regular season games, racking up 1,414 rushing yards and 19 TD’s on the ground to go along with 13 catches for 267 yards and 2 TD’s through the air. Last season, he was awarded Broward 8A Player of the Year after setting the Bucks’ single-season rushing record (2,099 yards, 28 TD’s). He ran a 4.49 40-yard dash, a 4.26 short shuttle, and had a 32.90 inch vertical leap at the Opening Finals in July.

The Team

Miami’s running backs were one of the only bright spots on the offense in 2019. Despite playing in a system that was not running back-friendly and running behind an offensive line with serious talent, depth, and experience issues, Deejay Dallas and Cam Harris put together a decent season. Both of these backs managed to average over five yards per carry and they combined for over 1,000 yards on the ground.

Redshirt Probability: 7/10

As it stands, Knighton would arrive on campus as the 5th running back on the depth chart at best. If Miami keeps their current offensive system, a system which refused to use more than two backs a game, it would be hard to find playing time for Knighton. Also, Manny Diaz has shown that he favors redshirting freshmen unless they are needed immediately. However, should Deejay Dallas leave for the draft or if one of the younger running backs decides to transfer, Knighton’s chances of playing in five or more games would rise drastically. As of now, though, I have him ending up behind classmate Don Chaney on the depth chart, so playing time is going to be hard to come by.

 
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Not sure how this happened.

Me either but it’s a good thing. Maybe I’m beating my head into a wall but I just have to believe Manny has enough self awareness to realize that his coaching staff is a disaster in many respects and makes changes in the offseason. No way he allows 6-6 to happen again unless he’s completely tone deaf. Too much talent on this team for it to happen again, especially with a kid like this on board.
 
Knighton recorded the 5th fastest 40 time in the whole 2020 class

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Jaylan knighton is one of the more impressive gets we have gotten in a long time, not only because he’s an elite talent but just the landscape of his recruitment considering Miami already had an elite back in Chaney in addition to all the rbs we already have compared to a MUCH weaker depth chart at FSU that he could have went to especially with cam Akers declaring early. He came here to compete and you got to salute kids like that, most ain’t built like that
 
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Sorry, hard to imagine a redshirt. If a legit talent, should find a way to get on field and he's not staying more than 3 years in the program. So if he sits a year, you have him for 2. Not a math major, but that makes little sense.
 
Regardless of how I feel about this staff & direction of this program, pulling both Chaney & Knighton is remarkable. Lotta L’s this yr, but this is our best highlight all season, imo.



this backfield talent wise is at early 2000s type levels. lingard, knighton and chaney together is stupid. and just toss cam in there as an afterthought. that is insane talent in 1 backfield
 
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the last big time back we got rides the pine
lets hope they can find ways to use this guy
and pls don't rs him
have him returns punts, kick offs, play in the slot, do something to get him the ball in space
 
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