Official visit season starts tomorrow, and the Canes are in a healthy position. As it stands, they have the #4 class on the Composite with 15 commits and a 92.90 average recruit rating. Now it's time to push it over the top. Here is the latest.

- There has been a lot of talk about numbers with this class. In the past, the discussion was always about scholarships. Now, it's salary. I expect the Canes to keep this class relatively small (20 players) in terms of NIL guys. That will give the staff flexibility to retain a loaded roster. They want a chance to develop their own young players.

But that doesn't mean they will only bring in 20 high school players. Don't be surprised if the Canes snatch some G5 prospects with limited NIL and full scholarships. This staff values senior film immensely and never stops evaluating.

- The story of this recruiting class right now is defensive end. If I had to place a wager, I'd bet on the Canes landing one of DJ Jacobs (Atlanta, GA) and Jaiden Bryant (Columbia, SC). Bryant is visiting this weekend and we remain in communication with Jacobs. The staff has prioritized the position, Jason Taylor's track record is established, and both five-stars have made multiple visits. There is an outside possibility, although not likely, that we could land both.



- Position-wise, I think the last spots will look something like this (in no order): DE, DT, LB, S, WR.

- The Canes would love to close the deal with WR Eli Woodard (Temecula, CA) this weekend. They have a chance to do so. They also love WR Tre Moore (Austin, TX). I could see this wrapping up soon one way or the other.

- At DT, the staff is eager to get an in-person look at DT DeMarco Jenkins (Houston, TX). Damione Lewis, a fellow Texan, is a huge advocate for Jenkins. This could move fast if the visit goes well.



- The LB board is the most wide-open on the team, aside from AJ Randle (Raleigh, NC). We have four linebackers scheduled to visit this week (Randle, Kaden Henderson, Noah Glover and Jalaythan Mayfield) one next week (Drew Williams) and one the following week (Aston Whiteside). Of all the remaining positions, this is the most unclear.

- The top target at safety appears to be Andre Hyppolyte (North Miami Beach). Jeff Bertani is the longest-tenured HS coach in Miami with a long history of NFL players, especially at defensive back. Those names include Kemal Ishmael (95 NFL games), EJ Biggers (92 NFL games), Johnathan Cyprien (79 NFL games) and Louis Delmas (78 NFL games). Coach Cristobal has tremendous respect for Bertani, and he coached Cyprien at FIU. Bertani speaks extremely highly about Hyppolyte, who is also playing QB this year.

Loia Valade (West Boca) is a good player but I don't think his price point made sense as a box safety. He is no longer visiting and not expected to reschedule.

- TE Jordan Karhoff (Columbus, OH) is another good player where the bidding outpaced the evaluation. I do expect the staff to address this position at one point. Remember, tight end is historically a late-bloomer position with converted QBs, oversized WRs and basketball players. For example, basketball convert Gavin Mueller rose from a three star to the #5 TE in America as a senior.

- At this time of the calendar, and with the IPF under construction, the team has been in conditioning mode. The IPF opens up next week, and football drills will pick up at the same time. We will have buzz from those workouts as they happen. But I wanted to share one name who could be a breakout candidate- LB Bobby Pruitt. He's put on serious weight and is now a full-time linebacker after dabbling at safety last year. He has an opportunity to carve out a major role as that third linebacker behind Mo Toure and Chase Smith.

 

After last year, you would think people would be less dismissive of the buzz coming out of Greentree. Besides Jojo, a lot of the hype from the preseason ended up being true

Greentree jokes just don’t hit the same anymore

Lofton, Jojo, Lyle, they talked about how talented the TE room was most of the offseason … and tbh Scott was overhyped last Spring then was in mostly a supportive role until late second half of the season.

The GTAA club has been performing much better. Maybe the odds have swung from 80/20 to 60/40 hype v truth. But there is still Kool-Aid drinking going on.

 

Lofton, Jojo, Lyle, they talked about how talented the TE room was most of the offseason … and tbh Scott was overhyped last Spring then was in mostly a supportive role until late second half of the season.

The GTAA club has been performing much better. Maybe the odds have swung from 80/20 to 60/40 hype v truth. But there is still Kool-Aid drinking going on.

Of course. They get more viewers and more excitement for the program by hyping things. Similar to predictions of our recruiting class. They're almost always over-optimistic.

That said, things do look pretty **** good - both our 2026 team and for our 2027 recruiting class.

 

There is an outside possibility, although not likely, that we could land both.

I'm closely watching the evolution here. Originally D$ said its either or but not both because

• NIL wasn't realistic for both in the same class
• Both would prefer to be the headline DE in the class.

Now we're at outside possibility

Next up is a decent chance

Eventually to be overtaken by Keep an eye on

Almost sounds like a stretch call for horse race

 

They’re good enough to do that IMO. But yeah, any time you hear a kid hyped you don’t fully expect, there’s a chance it’s because the rest are taking the step you hoped. Could be a combo of both in this case. Hope the freshmen push the upperclassmen hard.

It's not about Pruitt specifically for me at all. I thought he should have gotten a lot more PT last year. Wiley obviously after like half way through season we went into preserving RS mode. But I don't like the news about Wiley apparantely moving to more of a hybrid edge? (at least what it means for our LB core and rotation Im saying)....

I haven't liked how pruitt has been used since he's been here. I don't like how Wiley doesn't seem to be ready to step up. I think Toure is bad against the pass and just a downhill thumper type, which is fine but he's a 2 down player. Chase smith I think is average and plays and looks like robocop. I think everyone saying Smith has some great athleticism or mobility is tripping or living in the past 5 injuries ago. The fact he's about to start the entire season is not a positive. Marcelin imo is the least talented LB we've brought in in like 3 years and I don't expect anything from him personally. plus he's severely undersized. Campbell has never truly played off ball LB before so will need min 1-2 years before he actually contributes other than ST. Edwards is way too undersized to contribute asap - same as Pruitt was as a frosh. Busch I think COULD, but is the last person to be enrolled on the team, so who knows.... I guess we will see about Bonner. He's probably now the best hope at Chase Smith not being a season long starter I guess... But the fact he didn't play last year is just as headscratching as Pruitt. In fact more so given his experience at NCSt. Though I already thought he had a lower ceiling than Pruitt did anyways...

I'd love if Pruitt became the guy to start above Smith. I just have zero faith in the coaches to actually play him given they have refused to do so for 3 years now. I'd really love for Wiley to be the guy. But theres been zero indication that'll happen...

 

Ohio state praying we get Bryant

Be careful what you wish for. Heard a lot of people says TAMU had too many 5* OL already committed for Matthews to go there.

 

after reading this post............

@Confidence1000

 

I'm hoping for 2 more Edges… 1 of the big two…Then one of Rojas/Garrer/Wittenberg.

Also would you say we lead for Hyppolite @DMoney ? Or is this a dogfight with UF. No news is seldom good news with kids that are thought to be leans.

Box safety on Valarde? He looks more versatile than that…Actually you've mentioned him as a corner before @DMoney?

I don't think he's a box safety at all. He's a little smaller and has really good speed/athleticism.

 

 

It's not about Pruitt specifically for me at all. I thought he should have gotten a lot more PT last year. Wiley obviously after like half way through season we went into preserving RS mode. But I don't like the news about Wiley apparantely moving to more of a hybrid edge? (at least what it means for our LB core and rotation Im saying)....

I haven't liked how pruitt has been used since he's been here. I don't like how Wiley doesn't seem to be ready to step up. I think Toure is bad against the pass and just a downhill thumper type, which is fine but he's a 2 down player. Chase smith I think is average and plays and looks like robocop. I think everyone saying Smith has some great athleticism or mobility is tripping or living in the past 5 injuries ago. The fact he's about to start the entire season is not a positive. Marcelin imo is the least talented LB we've brought in in like 3 years and I don't expect anything from him personally. plus he's severely undersized. Campbell has never truly played off ball LB before so will need min 1-2 years before he actually contributes other than ST. Edwards is way too undersized to contribute asap - same as Pruitt was as a frosh. Busch I think COULD, but is the last person to be enrolled on the team, so who knows.... I guess we will see about Bonner. He's probably now the best hope at Chase Smith not being a season long starter I guess... But the fact he didn't play last year is just as headscratching as Pruitt. In fact more so given his experience at NCSt. Though I already thought he had a lower ceiling than Pruitt did anyways...

I'd love if Pruitt became the guy to start above Smith. I just have zero faith in the coaches to actually play him given they have refused to do so for 3 years now. I'd really love for Wiley to be the guy. But theres been zero indication that'll happen...

This is exactly how I'm seeing it currently. Why this position has been the weakest on the defense and needs to be addressed.

 

This is exactly how I'm seeing it currently. Why this position has been the weakest on the defense and needs to be addressed.

Depth is a problem. I'm not worried about Toure and Smith. They played sound football during the CFP.

 

It's not about Pruitt specifically for me at all. I thought he should have gotten a lot more PT last year. Wiley obviously after like half way through season we went into preserving RS mode. But I don't like the news about Wiley apparantely moving to more of a hybrid edge? (at least what it means for our LB core and rotation Im saying)....

I haven't liked how pruitt has been used since he's been here. I don't like how Wiley doesn't seem to be ready to step up. I think Toure is bad against the pass and just a downhill thumper type, which is fine but he's a 2 down player. Chase smith I think is average and plays and looks like robocop. I think everyone saying Smith has some great athleticism or mobility is tripping or living in the past 5 injuries ago. The fact he's about to start the entire season is not a positive. Marcelin imo is the least talented LB we've brought in in like 3 years and I don't expect anything from him personally. plus he's severely undersized. Campbell has never truly played off ball LB before so will need min 1-2 years before he actually contributes other than ST. Edwards is way too undersized to contribute asap - same as Pruitt was as a frosh. Busch I think COULD, but is the last person to be enrolled on the team, so who knows.... I guess we will see about Bonner. He's probably now the best hope at Chase Smith not being a season long starter I guess... But the fact he didn't play last year is just as headscratching as Pruitt. In fact more so given his experience at NCSt. Though I already thought he had a lower ceiling than Pruitt did anyways...

I'd love if Pruitt became the guy to start above Smith. I just have zero faith in the coaches to actually play him given they have refused to do so for 3 years now. I'd really love for Wiley to be the guy. But theres been zero indication that'll happen...

I am not that disappointed with the thought of Wiley as an edge. I think he has the physical ability to become a first rounder at the the position and that is WAY more valuable than an off ball linebacker.

 

I'm closely watching the evolution here. Originally D$ said its either or but not both because

• NIL wasn't realistic for both in the same class
• Both would prefer to be the headline DE in the class.

Now we're at outside possibility

Next up is a decent chance

Eventually to be overtaken by Keep an eye on

Almost sounds like a stretch call for horse race

Wash the spinach; it's go time

 

Lofton, Jojo, Lyle, they talked about how talented the TE room was most of the offseason … and tbh Scott was overhyped last Spring then was in mostly a supportive role until late second half of the season.

The GTAA club has been performing much better. Maybe the odds have swung from 80/20 to 60/40 hype v truth. But there is still Kool-Aid drinking going on.

The other two didn’t pan out mostly for external reasons in my eyes but lofton was the real head scratcher they made it seem like he was the best player on offense lol

 

Last year was the depth class. Just a giant roster of recruits with a lot of developmental types in the lower half of the class.

This is the all killer, no filler class with no wasted money and every bit of cap room goes to those 4-star and above types.

Good class comin, but we really need to flip a few of these players we fought hard for but just missed out on.

 

Lofton, Jojo, Lyle, they talked about how talented the TE room was most of the offseason … and tbh Scott was overhyped last Spring then was in mostly a supportive role until late second half of the season.

The GTAA club has been performing much better. Maybe the odds have swung from 80/20 to 60/40 hype v truth. But there is still Kool-Aid drinking going on.

Why do we pin this on insiders and act like it’s a knock on them? Everyone who watched practice — coaches, former players, boosters, and insiders — saw the same thing. Lofton and Lyle dominated those practices. Sure, it didn’t necessarily translate to Saturdays, but they were just calling it how they see it. You can’t really knock them for that

 

I am not that disappointed with the thought of Wiley as an edge. I think he has the physical ability to become a first rounder at the the position and that is WAY more valuable than an off ball linebacker.

Agreed. We need to bring in more LBs that are genuine LBs - not converted DEs who may never learn to play in space.

Randle seems to fit that. As do Glober and Mayfield.

 

Why do we pin this on insiders and act like it’s a knock on them? Everyone who watched practice — coaches, former players, boosters, and insiders — saw the same thing. Lofton and Lyle dominated those practices. Sure, it didn’t necessarily translate to Saturdays, but they were just calling it how they see it. You can’t really knock them for that

I’m not pinning it on anyone. Just pointing out you can’t always believe the hype.

 

After last year, you would think people would be less dismissive of the buzz coming out of Greentree. Besides Jojo, a lot of the hype from the preseason ended up being true

Greentree jokes just don’t hit the same anymore

They used to be based on hope...now they are based on talent...

 

Last year was the depth class. Just a giant roster of recruits with a lot of developmental types in the lower half of the class.

This is the all killer, no filler class with no wasted money and every bit of cap room goes to those 4-star and above types.

Good class comin, but we really need to flip a few of these players we fought hard for but just missed out on.

With 105 spots, it’s good to have a group of developmental players in each class. I don’t see that as wasted NIL allocation because they are significantly less expensive.

 

Lofton, Jojo, Lyle, they talked about how talented the TE room was most of the offseason … and tbh Scott was overhyped last Spring then was in mostly a supportive role until late second half of the season.

The GTAA club has been performing much better. Maybe the odds have swung from 80/20 to 60/40 hype v truth. But there is still Kool-Aid drinking going on.

exactly.

NFL teams draft busts all the time, every college program/recruiting site misses on recruits/rankings. professional scouts disagree and miss frequently.

why are we acting like dmoney/CIS are supposed to hit 100% on their projections when literally top of the profession guys never do, and the people commenting wouldn’t even sniff a 30% hit rate