South Florida prospects talk Miami Hurricanes
By Gerry Hamilton
COCOA BEACH, Fla. -- When the top prospects get together at an even such as the Pylon 7-on-7, there are always a number of interesting topics on the recruiting front to be discussed. In particular, last weekend’s 7-on-7 featured many of the top skill prospects in Broward, Dade and Palm Beach counties and that meant the Miami Hurricanes were a topic of discussion.
When talking about Miami in it’s current state, the main question is when or if The U will be back among the nation's elite.
After a 9-4 season in 2013, the Hurricanes took a step back in 2014, finishing 6-7, albeit with a talented freshman quarterback in Brad Kaaya who certainly provides Miami fans hope for 2015 and beyond. That means the 2015 season is a make-or-break one for Al Golden and staff with the rival Florida State Seminoles winning and recruiting at a very high level and the Florida Gators sure to get the recruiting bounce in 2016 after a coaching change and the ability to sell a vision for the future to top prospects in the Sunshine State.
While the Hurricanes finished with the No. 23 class in 2014, Miami is expected to finish in the top 10 annually since it sits in the most talented area in the country. The Class of 2016 is off to a great start with eight ESPN Junior 300 verbals and has the early look of a potential top-5 class, it will be the 2015 season that tells the story on how the class will finish.
On Saturday, RecruitingNation asked a number of top prospects from the area what the Hurricanes have to do get “back,” and improve the chances of landing some of the top prospects in the area.
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Devin Bush Jr., ILB
ESPN Junior 300 ranking: No. 207
What does Miami have to do to get back?
“Show me this year what you can do when so much pressure is on. All the talk about firing your coach, how do you bounce back and make things positive from a negative.”
What hurts Miami the most with area prospects?
“Unstable coaching staff, rumors about Coach Golden getting fired, coaches leaving, players not wanting to go there and it’s not interesting like it used to be.”
It's been reported by pay site now that "Highly regarded 2016 recruit Devin Bush, Jr., who lists UM among numerous offers, is hearing negative recruiting against Miami. Who is he hearing it from? And where does Miami fit in with him?"
FSU is slow paying him but...that could change in not too distant future of the fall season and Devin blows up.
While his Dad was an FSU baller and grad, he played in the NFL for several, is coaching Jr. at Flanagan, and had a great relationship with UM & NFL all-world Warren Sapp> So I do wonder which team is may be feeding into Jr's narrative that he'd like UM coaching to be stable, considering the hot seat-ness of Golden. Can anyone paraphrase what that negative crootin' was about and from whom?