STA star OT Armella beginning to blow up, lands UM offer

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Stefan Adams

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Going through spring practice last week, 2022 St. Thomas Aquinas OT Julian Armella got his first introduction to Miami Hurricanes recruiting when he met UM’s Director of Recruiting David “Pop” Cooney. It wasn’t long before Armella had a Miami offer in hand.

“I mean it was kind of a weird situation because we were just finishing practice, and my coach asked if Miami called,” Armella began. “I was like, ‘No coach they didn’t’, and he said ‘Well, by the way, you have an offer from Miami.’ And that was a big deal for me. The day before my dad was saying, ‘You’re getting all these offers, but where’s Miami at?’ So, it was crazy the next day I got Miami.”

You could say Armella has had an exciting spring so far. Last week was huge for the rising sophomore for the Raiders, as he landed offers from blue-blood programs such as Ohio State, Penn State, Alabama, and LSU in addition to Miami within days of each other.

“As a kid, I always told everyone that one day I’m going to be playing college ball, I’m going to be on your TV,” Armella said. “The dream is coming true now.”

Schools like Florida State, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, and Auburn were previously involved for the 6-6 290 pound lineman. One might wonder how such a young prospect is attracting so much attention so early, but for Armella, his domination of the off-season camp circuit speaks for itself.

“That’s where I kind of blew up I guess you could say,” Armella said of camp season. “The Opening, I did well, got into a little scrap with a guy. And then at Rivals, I won OL MVP over all the great offensive lineman that were there – (Marcus) Dumervil, Big Baby (Laurence Seymore) – all these highly recruited guys, and for a freshman to walk in there and get MVP, everyone was crazy about it.”

Although Armella goes to St. Thomas in Fort Lauderdale, he lives in Miami, so UM is even more of the local school in this recruitment and he plans to use his proximity to campus to his advantage.

“I’ll definitely be there more than once,” Armella said of UM. “I talk to Dumervil and I see all these guys, they can go to Miami more because it’s local. That’ll be one of the schools I can go to and just be on campus. I’ll be up there soon.”

Besides it being the hometown school, what is it about Miami that has Armella interested in rocking the orange and green?

“I grew up watching Miami, them being dominant with offensive line, defensive line, lately watching Mark Richt, all of that,” Armella said. “So, when I had an opportunity to get an offer from them and go play for them, take my talents there for maybe 3-4 years, it’s surreal. Just wow - it’s a blessing.”

Making things interesting in this recruitment is that Armella is an FSU legacy. His father, Enzo Armella, graduated from Miami Springs, and played at FSU from 1991-1995 as a guard. Enzo also started for the Noles’ 1993 national championship team when he was there, but Julian says Enzo doesn’t force FSU onto him when it comes to recruiting.

“I mean my dad is 100% open about my recruitment,” Armella said. “He told me, ‘Yeah, I’m an FSU legacy and I went there, but I want you to go wherever you feel is home. If you feel Alabama is home, Miami is home, I’m not going to do anything about it. You need to go where it feels home to you.’ He was a highly recruited guy too and he said FSU just felt like home. So that’s his advice to me.

“I’ve always liked a lot of different schools, but my dad was always all about FSU. He would always take me to their camps and stuff. I’ve been going there since maybe 7, 8 years old for camps, 1-on-1’s. So, I grew up basically on the campus. My dad having went there, he’s pretty known over there.”

Being so far from his signing day, Armella feels no pressure to rush his recruitment, and prefers to focus on developing relationships with the coaching staffs and improving his game. He has a tentative plan to be committed by the end of his junior year or beginning of his senior year, but admits that could change. However, when he does commit, he won’t keep looking around at others schools.

“I talked to my dad about it and he kind of pointed something out to me. He said, ‘When you commit these days, you need to make it mean something.’ So, whenever I do commit, I plan to shut everything down,” Armella said. “But at the same time, you never know what can happen. A coach can get fired, the recruiting staff can go to **** - anything can happen and you always want to keep your options open.”

Armella started 6 games at tackle as a freshman for St. Thomas in 2018, the first rookie to start on STA since Nick Bosa, the #2 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft last month. While the Raiders and Armella didn’t quite reach their goal of a state title last season, Armella (who will start at RT in 2019) is confident that this year’s group can get the job done.

“I love STA, it’s home for sure. Last year, we fell off at the end, made it to the state championship and lost to Lakeland. But it’s the past - whatever happened, happened,” Armella said. “But this year, I feel like we have an improved team, spring football is going great. The O-Line, we’re starting to get together, we have a bunch of new people that are going to provide for us and get us to that state championship. I’ve always been told you can’t have a sophomore slump, so my mentality going into sophomore season is I have dominate and ball out.”

 
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"The day before my dad was saying, ‘You’re getting all these offers, but where’s Miami at?"

Man I can't stand these parents attitudes. Your kid isn't signing for 3 more years. Chill the f out.
While I agree with what you're saying, I also took that quote as "we've received an offer from every big school bama, OSU, etc... but there's one we still really want! The home team! UM! Where's Miami?" Probably a valid question when the dude has offers from every big time program.
 
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Going through spring practice last week, 2022 St. Thomas Aquinas OT Julian Armella got his first introduction to Miami Hurricanes recruiting when he met UM’s Director of Recruiting David “Pop” Cooney. It wasn’t long before Armella had a Miami offer in hand.

“I mean it was kind of a weird situation because we were just finishing practice, and my coach asked if Miami called,” Armella began. “I was like, ‘No coach they didn’t’, and he said ‘Well, by the way, you have an offer from Miami.’ And that was a big deal for me. The day before my dad was saying, ‘You’re getting all these offers, but where’s Miami at?’ So, it was crazy the next day I got Miami.”

You could say Armella has had an exciting spring so far. Last week was huge for the rising sophomore for the Raiders, as he landed offers from blue-blood programs such as Ohio State, Penn State, Alabama, and LSU in addition to Miami within days of each other.

“As a kid, I always told everyone that one day I’m going to be playing college ball, I’m going to be on your TV,” Armella said. “The dream is coming true now.”

Schools like Florida State, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, and Auburn were previously involved for the 6-6 290 pound lineman. One might wonder how such a young prospect is attracting so much attention so early, but for Armella, his domination of the off-season camp circuit speaks for itself.

“That’s where I kind of blew up I guess you could say,” Armella said of camp season. “The Opening, I did well, got into a little scrap with a guy. And then at Rivals, I won OL MVP over all the great offensive lineman that were there – (Marcus) Dumervil, Big Baby (Laurence Seymore) – all these highly recruited guys, and for a freshman to walk in there and get MVP, everyone was crazy about it.”

Although Armella goes to St. Thomas in Fort Lauderdale, he lives in Miami, so UM is even more of the local school in this recruitment and he plans to use his proximity to campus to his advantage.

“I’ll definitely be there more than once,” Armella said of UM. “I talk to Dumervil and I see all these guys, they can go to Miami more because it’s local. That’ll be one of the schools I can go to and just be on campus. I’ll be up there soon.”

Besides it being the hometown school, what is it about Miami that has Armella interested in rocking the orange and green?

“I grew up watching Miami, them being dominant with offensive line, defensive line, lately watching Mark Richt, all of that,” Armella said. “So, when I had an opportunity to get an offer from them and go play for them, take my talents there for maybe 3-4 years, it’s surreal. Just wow - it’s a blessing.”

Making things interesting in this recruitment is that Armella is an FSU legacy. His father, Enzo Armella, graduated from Miami Springs, and played at FSU from 1991-1995 as a guard. Enzo also started for the Noles’ 1993 national championship team when he was there, but Julian says Enzo doesn’t force FSU onto him when it comes to recruiting.

“I mean my dad is 100% open about my recruitment,” Armella said. “He told me, ‘Yeah, I’m an FSU legacy and I went there, but I want you to go wherever you feel is home. If you feel Alabama is home, Miami is home, I’m not going to do anything about it. You need to go where it feels home to you.’ He was a highly recruited guy too and he said FSU just felt like home. So that’s his advice to me.

“I’ve always liked a lot of different schools, but my dad was always all about FSU. He would always take me to their camps and stuff. I’ve been going there since maybe 7, 8 years old for camps, 1-on-1’s. So, I grew up basically on the campus. My dad having went there, he’s pretty known over there.”

Being so far from his signing day, Armella feels no pressure to rush his recruitment, and prefers to focus on developing relationships with the coaching staffs and improving his game. He has a tentative plan to be committed by the end of his junior year or beginning of his senior year, but admits that could change. However, when he does commit, he won’t keep looking around at others schools.

“I talked to my dad about it and he kind of pointed something out to me. He said, ‘When you commit these days, you need to make it mean something.’ So, whenever I do commit, I plan to shut everything down,” Armella said. “But at the same time, you never know what can happen. A coach can get fired, the recruiting staff can go to **** - anything can happen and you always want to keep your options open.”

Armella started 6 games at tackle as a freshman for St. Thomas in 2018, the first rookie to start on STA since Nick Bosa, the #2 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft last month. While the Raiders and Armella didn’t quite reach their goal of a state title last season, Armella (who will start at RT in 2019) is confident that this year’s group can get the job done.

“I love STA, it’s home for sure. Last year, we fell off at the end, made it to the state championship and lost to Lakeland. But it’s the past - whatever happened, happened,” Armella said. “But this year, I feel like we have an improved team, spring football is going great. The O-Line, we’re starting to get together, we have a bunch of new people that are going to provide for us and get us to that state championship. I’ve always been told you can’t have a sophomore slump, so my mentality going into sophomore season is I have dominate and ball out.”


Another excellent overview Stefan! Thank for sharing it with us! Do you believe that our beloved Canes have a chance with this kid, given that his father is an FSU legacy?
 
"The day before my dad was saying, ‘You’re getting all these offers, but where’s Miami at?"

Man I can't stand these parents attitudes. Your kid isn't signing for 3 more years. Chill the f out.

The kid is one of the best OL to come out of south Florida in a while and has been getting crazy love by everyone but the home team. And it was just a comment to each other. How dare him wonder where they are! Glad we got on him. He is a 5 star OL
 
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This is exactly the kind of recruit Miami cannot lose out on to another school. So many local studs signing else where. Keep the kid home!!
 
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You can't offer local kids too early especially kids who play on the line. OOS schools can offer early and often to any possible "future" stud. If the stud doesn't grow to be a stud then they can pull the offer or cool on the kid without bearing the consequences and lose ties to the community. It is risky for Miami to do that being the home town school with deep connections to those schools, families and coaches. Being a home town school works as a double edge sword. As Miami, when you offer it is hard to pull the offer 2-3 years down the road.
 
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"The day before my dad was saying, ‘You’re getting all these offers, but where’s Miami at?"

Man I can't stand these parents attitudes. Your kid isn't signing for 3 more years. Chill the f out.
Especially when he ***** off elsewhere as a 'business decision'.
 
Enzo and I went to school together. Graduated same class. We both took French as an elective back in the day. Our teacher was Mr. Piedra. The other French teacher was a perfect 10 named Mrs. Gonzalez. She was fine as can be.

Enzo used to call me Jacques Cousteau, for my penchant for picking up the language quickly. Dude was a bear. He looked like he was 30 years old as a teen.

If his kid is anything like him, then we’d be getting a good one.
 
You can't offer local kids too early especially kids who play on the line. OOS schools can offer early and often to any possible "future" stud. If the stud doesn't grow to be a stud then they can pull the offer or cool on the kid without bearing the consequences and lose ties to the community. It is risky for Miami to do that being the home town school with deep connections to those schools, families and coaches. Being a home town school works as a double edge sword. As Miami, when you offer it is hard to pull the offer 2-3 years down the road.
It seems we only offer studs when they're still a few years out from signing anything. It's the reason we always have the No1 recruiting class in the country whenever signing day passes and the new recruiting year begins.
 
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