Miami Hurricanes Football: Richt & Staff Hit the Road on the Recruiting Trail
On January 14, 2016 head coach Mark Richt and company hit the road on their first serious recruiting trip as Miami Hurricanes. Though, some assistants traveled out of state, Richt made it very clear that he was planning to put up a fence around South Florida … something famed head coach Howard Schnellenberger proved to be highly successful.
Richt has always been a dominant recruiter. In fact, in Richt’s past five years as Georgia’s head coach their recruiting classes looked like: 2015 – ranked No. 8, 2014 – ranked No. 9, 2013 – ranked No. 10, 2012 – ranked No. 5 and 2011 – ranked No. 6.
In a nutshell, the Bulldogs were a consistent Top 10 recruiting class.
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In addition to his ability to recruit, Richt builds teams with depth and knows how to coach up talent (he’s been a consistent winning coach in a very tough SEC).
This is something that’s lacked at Miami for many years under Randy Shannon and most recently, Al Golden (they’d land decent recruiting classes, but it wouldn’t really pan out on the field).
Signing day is on February 03 (about 2 weeks away), and the ‘Canes will need to fill some serious needs.
Currently, Miami sits with the No. 16 ranked 2016 recruiting class.
Though Richt and his team have had a late start to lure big-time talent to The U for next season, I believe Miami’s ranking will still drop and more great commitments will come on the horizon.
Check out the list of “Road Warriors” for the Miami Hurricanes (the ‘Canes staff will probably be bouncing around from city to city, town to town all day):
Mark Richt headed to the gulf coast, Naples, Fl and then touched down in Palm Beach, Fl. Who knows how many more places Richt will end up today, but let’s just say he’s working hard to make Miami relevant again.
A local to the 305, Manny Diaz is staying home, recruiting Miami. What can you say about the city of Miami? Maybe, the most talent rich area in the world when it comes to football.
Mike Rumph is also hitting Florida’s west coast, recruiting Bradenton. My guess is that he’ll be visiting IMG Academy (where numerous 2016 and 2017 top prospects play their high school football).
When wide receiver coach Dugans says, “2 deep in the Donk!” Is he referring to Mark Richt and himself? Maybe in an Impala with the candy apple paint and some 18″ Dayton wire rims?
I’m pretty sure Mark Richt’s son, Jon Richt isn’t traveling to Daytona Beach for the booze and sun-tanning.
Running backs coach and co-offensive coordinator, Thomas Brown is heading up to Palm Beach where a lot of highly regarded recruits play their ball. Palm Beach is also near Delray Beach, Lantana, Deerfield Beach, Lake Worth, Boynton Beach and Wellington.
Safeties coach Ephraim Banda will have his hands full in Orlando, Fl (which is near Kissimmee, Sanford, Winter Park and Winter Gardens). This area is also highly rich in top tier football talent.
Coach Craig “Kool” Kuligowski is one of two assistants traveling out of state. He’ll be visiting the “The Big Easy” where outside of some Florida cities, hosts a slew of amazing football talent.
Offensive line coach, Todd Searels is going to our great nation’s capital, Washington D.C. ESPN 300s: Undecided commit Jauan Williams (OT), undecided commit Terrell Hall (DE), undecided commit Aaron Hansford (ATH) and Maryland commit Richard Merritt (OG) all play out of this city.