Miami Hurricanes : Signing Day Thoughts

For starters, welcome to The U, gentlemen and great job, coaches.

Miami added sixteen signees to the 2013 class, five of which are already on campus. The other eleven faxed in signed Letters Of Intent throughout the course of the day and as a result, the Hurricanes will be better this coming football season.

The day started slow as defensive tackle Jay-nard Bostwick chose Florida, linebacker Matthew Thomas picked Florida State and the dramatic recruitment of offensive lineman Denver Kirkland ended with a pledge to Arkansas.

While those three missed, the faxes kept rolling in. Five-star quarterback Kevin Olsen. Three-star offensive lineman Alex Hall.

The day’s first surprise came when the top-ranked fullback Gus Edwards picked Miami over Florida State. The three-star former Syracuse was down to the Canes and Noles and decided Coral Gables was the spot for him.

Technically listed as a fullback, Edwards was recruited as a running back and is said to be built like the great Eddie George, listed at 6-foot-2 1/2 and 230 pounds, he can be that big-body back UM was looking for.

Artie Burns. Jamal Carter. Ray Lewis III. Alquadin Muhammad. Ufomba Kamalu. All were in the books before 9:00am local time. Devonte Bond soon followed, faxing in his LOI from California, making for a half-dozen with a handful of three- and four-star talent.

Before the Thomas or Kirkland departures even sunk in, Miami beat Florida State in the battle for receiver Stacy Coley, a decision that floored Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher, as he believed the four-star talent was headed to Tallahassee.

Keith Bryant, the four-star defensive tackle from Delray Beach, ended his recruitment process, quickly choosing Florida State, but within minutes ESPN cut to four-star Miramar linebacker Jermaine Grace, who picked picked Miami over Louisville and Tennessee.

Grace was former teammate of current Canes former Miramar teammates Tracy Howard and Malcolm Lewis and had UM atop his list for a good while.

These aforementioned eleven, combined with the five early enrolees – Standish Dobard, Hunter Knighton, Beau Sandland, Sunny Odogwu and Alex Figueroa – have given Miami a small, but powerful class.

Because of the low number of signees, this class isn’t going to rank highly with the likes of ESPN, Rivals or Scout, but don’t let those numbers fool you.

There is some quality here, as well as kids who can be immediate difference makers – and while all needs weren’t fully met (especially defensive tackle), the secondary, linebackers, tight ends, offensive tackle and quarterback all got a huge shot in the arm.

And with all that out of the way, the list compiled, coaches thanked and players welcomed, let’s get down to brass tacks here, starting with the fact that 2013 was never supposed to be a banner class for the University of Miami.

Al Golden and his staff went at it hard and added a ton of talent and depth last February. Just shy of three dozen kids joined the program, with many getting quality minutes this past season.

Because of that, it was a known fact that 2013 would be lean and while the Canes obviously had scholarships for the likes of Thomas, Bryant and four-star running back Alex Collins, who verballed to Arkansas two days back but didn’t sign a LOI today due to his family wanting him to stay in Miami, one would assume this is pretty much what the coaching staff expected as today drew to a close.

That really is the discrepancy in all this; what coaches expect, versus the inflated expectations of fans who base thoughts, feelings and emotions on message board posts, paid recruiting sites, YouTube highlight reels and the flip-flopping emotions of high school athletes changing their minds daily and sharing their innermost thoughts 140 characters at a time.

Many are blaming Thomas-To-Tallahassee on Golden and staff pulling the offer from his high school teammate Kirkland.

How utterly asinine.

Golden has a masters degree in Sports Psychology. This is his twenty-first year in the coaching game, where he’s oft been praised for being a tireless, relentless recruiter. He’s an up and comer with a good head on his shoulders, praised by his mentors and peers, and a safe bet that since entering this profession in 1993, that he’s seen it all.

The fact Miami coaches pulled the scholarship offer from Kirkland says three things; (1) Kirkland was playing games or not as interested in Miami as recruiting sites led fans to believe, (2) that Thomas certainly wasn’t as interested in staying local as some believed and (3) that a message was being sent to kids who might simply be looking for one more hat to add to the table for their own personal game of Three Card Monte on Signing Day.

In other words, if Kirkland and Thomas were serious about Miami and anything resembling a package deal, no scholarship offer would’ve been rescinded. It’s that simple.

Coaches pressed Kirkland for a commitment, even a silent one, to get a gauge on his interest level and a feel for how the class was shaping up. He flinched when his bluff was called and continued to play the game.

It what might’ve been a Freudian slip by his stepfather a day later, it was stated that Miami was “right up there with Arkansas”, where he signed today. The Canes weren’t the leader as many were led to believe.

Miami invited Kirkland and his family in for a sit-down last Saturday and it was the right move on two levels as the Canes worked to pacify a situation that got out of hand, but also to expose what coaches most-likely knew deep down; that Kirkland was never coming to Miami, playing the situation, getting attention and enjoying the spotlight.

He was offered a second shot as his supposed dream school and one would think that after losing that opportunity days back, that he’d have leapt at the chance when the unexpected offer was back on the table.

Instead, a thanks, but no thanks moment, some dimwitted response about not being shown enough love, too much hurt as a result of what Miami did (re: forget over three-hundred days of recruiting, somehow those forty-eight hours were too much of a slap in the face to move past for his hometown program? Please.) Something that effect.

There’s also the conspiracy theory regarding Booker T. Washington head coach Tim Harris and his issues with the Miami program, having worked at ‘The U’ during the Randy Shannon era and stepping down when Golden took over.

Shannon is now coaching linebackers at Arkansas, meaning it’s not far fetched to believe Harris was guiding one of his kids away from Coral Gables and towards Fayetteville.

Whatever is truth, fiction or something in-between, fact remains that Golden is no slouch and three years in, knows exactly what he’s doing. If he didn’t, guys like Duke Johnson, Deon Bush and the swayed-late Howard don’t stay home last year.

Same today with late scores like Coley and Grace, as well as nabbing Edwards late in the process when going head-to-head with Florida State.

Where Fisher was admittedly shocked that wideout Coley chose Miami, a safe bet Golden wasn’t surprised that Thomas and Bryant headed north, or that Kirkland became a Hog, as this had been a general feeling in the recruiting world for weeks now.

Lost in this fans’ game of, “we should’ve signed that guy” or “I can’t believe we let him get away”, the two biggest recruits Miami football reeled in a month into 2013; Mario Cristobal and James Coley, as well as the hiccups in the NCAA investigation that have cast a dark cloud of this program for over two years now.

When interviewed by ESPN U earlier in the day, Golden made no bones about the constant distraction.

“We’re not just fighting the opposition, we’re fighting the term ‘sanctions’ all the time,” Golden said. “It’s been basically a 2 1/2-year probation. I’m proud of our staff for continuing to battle and fight through it.

“And I’m proud of the recruits that believe in what we’re doing and want to move forward and really want to be Miami Hurricanes in the end.”

The end of that statement holds the most important part of the story; reeling in kids who want to be here, especially in times of trouble. Guys like Olsen, Carter, Gall and Burns, who never wavered, boldly pledged their allegiance and worked to reel in others down the stretch.

Sitting here in early 2013, Miami is still a hard sell. The negative recruiting and trash talking from outsiders is at an all-time high. Threats of the ‘death penalty’ and NCAA’s hammer have been pushed for years now. As has talk of Golden bailing the program like a thief in the night.

Situations like this show our true colors. Sort of a fight or flight response kicks in. Do guys want to be part of the resurgence, or are the tempted to go an easier route, signing on with a program that’s already where it wants to be?

There’s no sin in doing so, or bonus points for sticking around. It’s simply a question of Miami identifying the type of guys who buy into “the process”, instead of taking on guys with four dozen offers, five stars next to their name and selling them on something simply because of their on-the-field potential. It they lack the intangible and they’re not a good fit, all that talent is a waste.

Just as linebacker Arthur Brown, who never took to Miami, but once back home did wonders at Kansas State.

Identifying the right guys for Miami – that’s where Cristobal and Coley are the biggest recruits of 2013, as these seasoned veterans will help Golden build this thing proper.

Both came on too late to make an impact for this class, but that was expected. Golden and staff have been going hard at the 2014 class the past two years, starting in with these kids when they were freshmen in late 2010 when Golden took over.

Miami already has two commits for next year’s class – offensive lineman Trevor Darling of Miami Central and wide receiver Travis Rudolph out of Cardinal Newman in West Palm. The Canes are also coming hard at five-star running back Sony Michel out of American Heritage in Plantation.

The new recruiters. The Golden football camps. The mended fences with local high schools, sans this snafu with Harris, who seems to have a personal beef with UM. Not to mention the bigger class able to be recruited next year, as well as NCAA sanctions most-likely being a thing of the past. The future is bright.

As fans, the focus is on the now, and after ten down years of Miami football that is understandable.

Still, if you were to ask coaches their thoughts on this class you’d have to assume that they’re more than please, are thrilled with a few late pick-ups and know that 2013 was about hanging tough, picking up a few quality guys and getting to February 7th, so they could start busting ass recruiting next year’s class, the revamped coaching staff bubbling over with talent and energy.

Until the ship is righted, it’s hard for some to see what’s taking place. Some need to reach the top of the mountain to look back and see the steps in the journey, with things finally making sense. For others, they see where the road is going based on those steps being taken.

Again, no right or wrong. Simply an ability to see the now and the future, as opposed to having to look back at the past for the ‘how’.

Today was a good day for Miami football, with things potentially turning great as the NCAA investigation loses steam and two new coaching hires roll up their sleeves to get busy for next year.

Hard for some to focus on all that now, more concerned with the ones that supposedly got away – but doesn’t make it any less true.

In closing, before going off the rails about The State Of The U or how Florida and Florida State graded out higher, remember this; every kid that signed on this year did so int the midst of an NCAA shitstorm.

Coach Golden and staff recruited their asses off and found kids that could see the bigger picture – which is truly a rarity when looking at how some others chose to act like complete buffoons during the process, as well as on Signing Day itself.

There are some future stars in this class and this isn’t the first time Miami has had to go small (in numbers), but has found great value in a handful of kids.

Players that buy-in and want to be Hurricanes, as well as a staff that continued to grind it out despite the dark cloud that’s hovered the past few years.

Invaluable.

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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