Kirkland’s Sit-Down With Coaches A Sham

Honestly, the strange tale gets stranger and because of that, needs to be revisited.

By the end of last week, all the talk was the Miami Hurricanes pulling a scholarship offer from Booker T. Washington four-star offensive lineman Denver Kirkland.

By Thursday, his head coach – and former UM assistant – Tim ‘Ice’ Harris was up in arms, ripping ‘The U’ and head coach Al Golden via the Miami Herald, threatening to never push another one of his kids towards the hometown program. A day later, cooler heads prevailed and Harris backed off those comments.

Come Saturday, Kirkland and family had requested a sit-down with UM, with all signs pointing towards ironing things out, leaving most to believe a verbal commitment was coming at day’s end.

Honestly, didn’t this whole thing escalate because Kirkland wanted to be at Miami, but the school reneged on the offer and that caused bitterness and hurt feelings?

In the end, the meeting went nowhere – and played out like that of an ex-girlfriend wanting to clarify that she wasn’t dumped and instead was the one doing the dumping.

Golden wasn’t at the meeting, initiated by Micheal Barrow, who was helping recruit Kirkland and reached out on Friday to see if peace could be made. It was reported that both offensive line coach Art Kehoe and offensive coordinator James Coley were at the meeting.

After the meeting, Kirkland’s stepfather Shanton Crummie spoke out. Crummie wasn’t at the meeting, but summarized based on what Kirkland and his mother shared.

“We appreciate everything Coach Golden and their coaches did in giving him another chance to be apart of their class and talking to him about what happened,” said Crummie.

“The confusion here is that not many people were aware they had been telling us things were getting tight with scholarships. We told them Denver might have a decision by Feb. 1 or Feb. 2. We were just surprised and upset when they came to school Thursday and told him they couldn’t wait any longer.

We thought he would have until Signing Day as long as we told them they were in front or close. But they couldn’t wait.”

Honestly, the confusion here is the Saturday sit-down itself.

If Miami was truly the school Kirkland wanted to be at, Thursday’s shakedown and Saturday’s second chance would’ve ended with a verbal commitment. Nothing more, nothing less.

Those taking shots at Golden and Miami for dropping the ball, causing a rift with Booker T. Washington and hurting local recruiting, stop now.

Let’s call this what it is.

Kirkland, on his own, or on the advice of Harris, chose to ride out the recruiting process – which is hardly a crime. Tons of kids do it and this is their time in the sun as high schoolers, so soaking it up is part of the process. Especially for a highly-touted four-star talent.

That said, Miami wasn’t playing games here. This is a small, limited, carefully-selected class and scholarships are limited.

The Canes signed just shy of three dozen kids in 2012, so this class will be infinitely smaller. Even less than expected should Golden choose to self-impose (re: despite the latest with the NCAA, there has been talk of only carrying eighty scholarship players this season instead of eighty-five.)

Kirkland may be a true talent, but offensive line isn’t as big of a need as linebacker, running back or wide receiver, which is why Miami hasn’t thought of pulling scholarship offers from Matthew Thomas, Alex Collins or Stacy Coley – three immediate-impact players who can make a difference the minute they see the field.

Miami has a veteran offensive line, signed three lineman last year and has at least two in this year’s class. As a result, Kirkland fell to low-man on the totem pole for this small class.

Still, for all the right reasons, UM re-reached out, set up a fence-mending meeting – one that IF Kirkland truly had Miami atop his list, would given him another shot at committing to his supposed dream school.

He didn’t, and left with Miami out of the running (supposedly) with Florida State and Arkansas his final two — a Razorbacks program with Randy Shannon now on staff, the same Shannon who had Harris on his roster years back, fueling rumors of Harris pushing Kirkland to Fayetteville.

Rumors continue to swirl, but one thing is fact — Miami wasn’t Kirkland’s top choice as of last week, and even with one final shot to make things right, he didn’t choose UM this past Saturday, with Canes coaches essentially calling his bluff.

Signing Day could still bring another twist to this pointlessly dramatic tale, but regardless of how it turns out, Miami gave this kid a few chances and he spurned them both.

For fans of ‘The U’ taking to social media with lame “SMH” hash tags regarding Miami coaches and how this was handled – might want to look at the recruit (and his coach) more than the recruiters, in this case.

Kirkland could’ve been a Cane at any point the past three-hundred-plus days and even when the offer was off the table, Miami put it back out there again and he said ‘no’ for a second time. That’s fact.

One’s “dream school” shouldn’t be “up there with Arkansas”, according to stepfather Crummie. When Miami knocks a second time, you answer. Period.

MONDAY MORNING UPDATE : According to Matt Shodell over at CaneSport.com, the Miami offer is still on the table for Kirkland. When interviewed, Harris attributed this to UM doing the right thing, but remains aloof regarding whether Kirkland and teammate Matthew Thomas will sign with the Canes on Wednesday morning at 9am ET.

Christian Bello has been covering Miami Hurricanes athletics since the mid-1990s. After spending almost a decade as a columnist for CanesTime, he launched allCanesBlog.com. – the official blog for allCanes.com : The #1 Canes Shop Since 1959. Bello has joined up with XOFan.com and will be a guest columnist at CaneInsider.com this fall. Follow him on Twitter @ChristianRBello.

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