Miami Hurricanes DC Manny Diaz rebuilding the state of Miami

Freshmen like defensive back Trajan Bandy and Jonathan Garvin made impacts for the Hurricanes last season. Bandy’s pick-six against Notre Dame was one of the most memorable plays of the season. Garvin’s two fumble recoveries tied for the team lead with team MVP Jaquan Johnson.

Diaz told South Florida High School Sports publisher Larry Blustein on the show Monday night.

"“When we got here two years ago, we made it our sole philosophy that we were going to recruit the best defensive players from Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties and we completely committed to that. We are gaining the benefits of that over time… The ‘16 class, just keeping that class together, the ‘17 class, which really, was important in was in terms of filling some numbers because of the holes we had on the roster [and now] the ‘18 class, by extension, really have some guys that we think can do some special things. “Some guys are already on our campus, defensively, like a Greg Rousseau, defensive end, Gilbert Frierson and DJ Ivey, who are both just blowing it away on our campus right now in terms of our offseason program. Gurvan Hall, again, what we’ve done in Palm Beach County the last three years, in terms of what we’ve gotten out of there, it’s been the key to our success in recruiting.”"

Next: Can Miami Hurricanes skill position freshman make an impact in 2018

The emphasis in the first recruiting class under Richt and Diaz was to upgrade the talent. The last two classes have been more about adding depth. Each class during the Richt era has improved in the rankings. The Surge ’19 Class is off to a good start. Miami is currently ranked first in the country. That’s more because of quantity at this point.