As I've shamelessly broadcasted on this board for years, I am a filthy, dirty, ****** star *****. So I am constantly checking who we are recruiting, where we sit in the composite, projecting the class vs others, etc. It's simply irrefutable in today's college football world...the programs who recruit the best players are the best programs year after year. Not exactly a novel concept or breaking news, but if you want to win championships, you must sign top ranked classes. Yes, there are other factors that go into winning, of course, but talent acquisition is non-negotiable.
So the "bar" for a truly elite class can be simply defined as 300 points on the composite. Class size plays a role into this, so it's not absolutely imperative that you get to 300 if you're taking a small class (Clemson being the annual reminder of this --- they sign a very high percentage of blue-chip players, but rarely gigantic classes that push them to 300 on the composite), but you can be assured that if you do sign a class of 300+, you're going to be very, very high in the overall rankings. Here are how many teams have gotten to this magical number over the past several cycles:
2018 -- 3
2019 -- 2
2020 -- 3
2021 -- 2
2022 -- 4
As you can see, this number puts you into the elite of the elite as far as recruiting classes go. Now, 2023 might be *slightly* different, as the NCAA has removed the 25 player cap, so there might be a couple more teams that hit this number because I believe the classes, for the most part, will be a little larger than usual. But regardless, if you sign a 300+ score class, you're going to be one of the highest classes in the country, if not definitively Top 5. Right now, Miami sits at 215, which is good for #10. So do we have a path to 300+? In January, when Mario was hired, I'd have suggested a nearby asylum for you to reside in permanently if you'd have suggested we get to 300 this class. Now, 6 months in, I genuinely believe that the question is not if we will get to 300, but how much above 300 will we finish? Which is absolutely absurd, but this is the result of hiring one of the best recruiters on the planet, putting him in paradise, with extra juice that he's back home, and giving him the support of an entire administration as well as dump trucks full of cash. So how do we get to 300?
We know nothing in life is a lock, but I am going to list a few kids here that I believe we are all VERY confident will wind up Canes when ink comes to paper:
Rueben Bain
Christopher Johnson Jr.
Jayden Wayne
Tommy Kinsler
Adding those 4 gets us to 252 points, on only a total of 16 kids. I believe we will sign well north of 25 this cycle, probably between there and 30, so who else do we need to get to attain 300+, and how much higher than that can we realistically expect at this point? Well, there are a million ways to skin a cat, and nobody is going to project all 28-ish kids on the nose this far out, but IMO this is a VERY realistic path going forward. And I went conservative here:
- We will most likely add 2 more receivers, and for the sake of being conservative, I added Hykeem Williams and Andy Jean and DID NOT add the higher ranked Jalen Brown.
- IMO we will push for a 2nd back aside from CJ Jr. but with nobody being extremely likely from the high end kids, I didn't add anyone else to the class.
- I believe we take at least 6 linemen, so again taking the conservative route, I added Alinen and Freeling and DID NOT add Okunlola, although in reality he is probably more likely than the aforementioned 2.
- I added Malik Bryant, as I feel we're the team to beat for him, but did not add a 2nd backer to be conservative. I do think we will sign 2, though.
- I think Bonsu is a silent commit, but even if not, IMO he's in this class. I also feel that we are in a GREAT spot for Aguero at the moment, so although it's probably not a conservative approach to add him, I do feel he's more likely than not. So I popped both of them into the class.
This only gets us to 23 commits...and we're now at 299.66 on the composite. And again, this is WITHOUT Okunlola, WITHOUT Jalen Brown, WITHOUT David Hicks, WITHOUT Popo, Baxter, Hussey, Damari Brown, Acheampong, Stanquan Clark, M'Pemba, Kirkland, Cormani, LeBlanc, Braxton, John Walker, and I'm sure several I'm missing. Look at that list...I think we're pretty confident we're getting AT LEAST a couple kids from that list, and we're at 300 points without ANY of them.
This really is going to be an elite, elite class when the ink dries. Again, I thought we had zero shot at a Top 5 class in January. And this is coming from the most optimistic dude on the planet when it comes to Mario and his ability to recruit. Here we are 6 months later, and I'll be SHOCKED if we land with less than 300. What this man has done (and those around him deserve a lot of credit as well) in 6 months is honestly hard to even comprehend. What a time to be alive, and what a time to be a motha****in' Miami Hurricane.
