Miami football winning in 2019 has huge impact on 2021 recruits

The Miami football program has the nation’s eighth-ranked recruiting class for 2020 and the top-ranked for 2021. They are going to need a good season on the field in 2019 to keep the players currently committed for those two classes.

Manny Diaz and his new offensive coaching staff plus a largely replaced recruiting staff have done an exceptional job getting the Miami football program back on track in recruiting. The Hurricanes were ranked in the top ten for 2019 before the class collapsed with a bevy of de-commitments and wound up 28th.

Miami cannot afford another 7-6 season and maintain its momentum in recruiting. Several high profile players, particularly for 2021 are still considering committing to Miami. James Williams from Western High School in Fort Lauderdale is the nation’s top safety and eighth-ranked player for 2021.

Williams de-committed from Miami earlier this year. Getting Williams back as part of the Hurricanes class of 2021 to re-establish a ton of momentum and potentially lure in other recruits. Four-star 2021 cornerback Corey Collier, the nation’s third-ranked player at his position for 2021 is also considering Miami.

Securing South Florida or the State of Miami as dubbed by the godfather of Miami football Howard Schnellenberger is much more difficult than it used to be. Re-establishing their program on the field will help Miami football in recruiting in the future. Rob Cassidy spoke to the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson.

"“It’s definitely going to be an uphill battle. Right now, Manny Diaz is selling a dream. He’s selling what the future might look like. Meanwhile, Alabama, Georgia and Clemson are taking what they want by selling the current reality.Miami is going to have to have a big season and show an upward trajectory to have a chance with the truly elite prospects. It’s not what UM fans want to hear right now, but it’s the truth.Nobody knows anything about Diaz the head coach, which makes it difficult to land players with elite offers.Now, if UM flirts with nine or 10 wins this season, things will get easier. This fall will dictate the direction of both players’ recruitments. Don’t count Miami out, but there’s work to be done.”"

Miami currently has one five-star commit for 2020 and six four-stars. Running back Don Chaney jr will join Miami’s only consensus five-star player on the current roster, Lorenzo Lingard at RB next season. Miami’s 2021 class is the nation’s top-ranked largely because of volume. Ten players are committed to Miami for 2021.

Notre Dame has the nation’s second-ranked class and they have five commits. No other program with a highly ranked recruiting class of rising juniors has more than four commits. The Hurricanes have four four-star commits for 2021. Diaz and his staff have to keep grinding to continue to make an impact on the future.

Several high-level prospects in addition to Williams and Collier. are considering Miami. The biggest name recruit to keep an eye on is five-star QB, Jake Garcia.

If Garcia commits it could make for a very interesting QB room in 2021. Miami has four-star QB Tyler Van Dyke committed for 2020. All four QBs currently on scholarship will still be eligible in 2021.

The likelihood is that one of the three of N’Kosi Perry, Jarren Williams or to a much lesser extent Tate Martell will transfer sometime in 2019-20. Getting Garcia to commit for 2021 would be one of the biggest recruits for Miami in years. He would provide a lot of momentum and give other recruits a reason to choose Miami.