Golden Hits Orlando; Nada (Yet) In Texas

An article ran on Canesport.com today regarding Miami head coach Al Golden hitting the road and doing the dog and pony show in the central Florida area. Orlando hasn’t necessarily been a breeding ground for the Canes in the past, so effort from Golden and staff can go a long way in mending fences and bringing some of that northern talent down south.

Veteran head coach Tim Borcky, of Orlando Lake Highland, praised Golden and cited that Rutgers coach Greg Schiano hit that region hard during the Scarlet Knights successful run a few years back.

Borcky went on to state that his region hadn’t been frequented by Miami coaches since Don Soldinger and Art Kehoe were both on board 2005 and prior – another obvious dig at the Randy Shannon era and Hurricane recruiting between 2006 and 2010.

While it sounds like Golden and staff are planting seeds for 2013, while looking for available players to pick up for next month, the main focus today is on two that supposedly “got away” at Thursday’s U.S. Army All-American game. Two recruits played the hat game and in both cases, chose elsewhere.

Winter Garden West Orange safety Lucas Thompson chose East Carolina, over Miami and South Carolina, while Olney three-star running back Wes Brown stayed in-state, choosing Maryland, over Miami and Vanderbilt.

So with Thompson and Brown going elsewhere, it begs the question – did Golden fail when it came to closing, or were these two never truly in the running?

The word on Thompson is that grades were an issue, which is why he chose the academically unsound East Carolina, whereas Brown stated that his decision has been made for a while and he always intended on staying home.

When interviewed after his commitment, Brown stated, “It’s been made up. I was just throwing you all [the media] off.” Brown also made it clear that by staying home, his mom can attended all his games without having to spend any money on travel.

Regarding the Maryland staff trying to lure in two of Brown’s high school teammates, the running back made it clear, “I’m not doing any recruiting so they better not ask,” Brown said. “I’m my own man.”

As for Thompson, Miami supposedly remains number two and according to the Orlando Sentinel, the safety still plans on visiting Coral Gables before Signing Day (which seems a bit pointless, unless the decisions isn’t in stone).

So on paper, it looks like the Canes “lost” a safety who could’ve been another academic casualty while a running back who seems a bit self-entitled, chose to stay home close to family. End of the world? Hardly. Especially with more recruits expected to get on board this weekend at Saturday’s U.S. Army All-American game and over the coming weeks.

Brown would’ve been a nice addition, but the Canes already have Randy ‘Duke’ Johnson and Danny Dillard on board and at safety Miami covets Deon Bush, who has Miami in his top three with Alabama and Auburn. UM already has a safety commit from three-star Rayshawn Jenkins out of St. Petersburg.

Lots of recruiting news to discuss in the coming days, but way too soon to write off Al Golden and staff for not landing Thompson or Brown. Plenty of bigger fish remain. – C.B.

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