And so it begins…

Welcome home and welcome back. Early news out of The U today has been nothing but good. Randy Shannon is doing something his predecessor was accused of never doing – closing strong.

Shannon has Signing Day by the tail and Miami has reeled in three big fish this morning.

First up, Ramon Buchanan. He was a Cane, went over to the dark side at Florida for a few weeks and this morning recommitted to the University of Miami. Welcome back. Buchanan saw the light before it was too late and the four-star safety out of Melbourne is a huge get for the Canes.

A surprise to some, but not to others, Tommy Streeter made it official this morning and decided to stick with his Northwestern teammates and sign on with The U. Some tried to downplay the need of Streeter. I think it was a defense mechanism and a way to process all the talk of him going out of state. South Carolina seemed to be the front-runner for a while.

Instead, Streeter stayed home and Miami just landed a 6’6″, 200 pound, four-star wide receiver who will immediately have an impact on this program. The Canes have been beyond weak at the position the past few years, but in the past few years Shannon has now addressed this and Miami is pretty much loaded at the position. In a few years, scary loaded and possibly the nation’s best.

As expected, offensive lineman Ben Jones signed on with Miami today. A teammate of Streeter and a slew of other “Bull Canes”, Jones was a top priority of Canes coaches. Miami wouldn’t let hte 6’5″ and 280 pound, four-star tackle get away.

In other news, we’re hearing that Jeremy Lewis confirmed his commitment to The U, squashing my fears that his recent wavering would have him Clemson bound. Seems like Lewis was Canes all the way and just wanted his day in the sun. He got it and Miami got him.

Marcus Robinson has also been confirmed to Miami, which is comforting after a little rumored wavering as of late and Kendal Thompkins made it official this morning as well. I thought Miami might not have space for Thompkins after the signing of Streeter, but I was wrong and it’s one more Bull headed to The U.

If my numbers are correct, that’s thirty commitments to Miami as of now – a handful as early enrollees who count towards last year’s class.

More to come today…. Updates will be timestamped below:

12:03pm ET – Terrelle Pryor just showed up at his presser on ESPN U to tell everyone that he had nothing to say. Call me crazy, but just cancel the event, kid. Who calls a conference to say they have nothing to say? 18-year olds who don’t deserve full on press conferences to announce the college of choice, that’s who.

12:20pm ET – Jamie Harper to Clemson. The Jacksonville RB stuck with his gut. I wrote last night that I felt he’d wind up a Tiger. The Canes were on board late in the process and Harper stuck with his top choice all along.

12:32:pm ET – Julio Jones to Alabama. Hardly a shock that this Foley (AL) product stayed home. Especially with Nick Saban running the show and the Tide’s potential.

12:47pm ET – TJ Lawrence just entertained us all with his oh-so-clever hat trick. Look, I don’t mind kids having the hats up there to make the decision and then choosing one, a la Arthur Brown. But shuffling the hats around like a street vendor doing the ball and cup trick? Dumb. Lawrence chose the Gators, which isn’t really a shock. Typical that he acted like a punk in the process.

12:54pm ET – Mike Gottfried just made fun of Lawrence for playing ‘three card monte’ with the hats. I feel vindicated.

12:59pm ET – Brandon Harris picked Miami over Ohio State and LSU. Maybe the biggest get of the day based on the Canes needing to replace the loss of PJ to LSU. Gotta love Harris slapping on helmet instead of a hat. Credit to the kid for not playing the game and trying on hat after hat (helmet after helmet might’ve been too much…) and just getting up there, making a choice and starting the celebration. Miami doesn’t need the drama queens.

1:07pm ET – Gottfried just gave all the recruiting credit to Joe Pannunzio as Miami’s top recruiter and praised the hiring of Bill Young, but failed to mentioned Micheal Barrow and Clint Hurrt who have absolutely been the show stoppers this off-season. No disrespect to Pannunzio… but get your facts straight, Gott.

1:12pm ET – T.J. Bryant of Lincoln (Tallahassee) chose Southern Cal over Miami and Florida State. Big pick up for the Trojans. Would’ve liked to see Bryant in the orange and green, but better he went west than staying home and sporting the garnet and gold. A wash as far as losing a Sunshine State recruit.

1:26pm ET – At some point I missed Nick Perry to Southern Cal. Perry chose USC over Miami and Michigan earlier today. Not really a shock that he didn’t come to The U, but a little surprised he headed west. Nice feather in the cap for the Trojans.

Pretty much done on the recruiting front for today, barring any last minute surprises. In the end, Miami landed six of the nine kids we wrote about last night. Buchanan, Harris, Jones, Lewis, Streeter and Thompkins should have Miami fans rejoicing today. Almost three dozen new Canes headed to campus and many of them will have an immediate impact in 2008.

Side note, word is Patrick Johnson is rethinking his commitment to LSU and supposed was told ‘scram’ by Miami coaches earlier today. Gotta love that turn of events after he left the Canes at the altar a few weeks ago…

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