Miami football program has to recruit better locally to compete nationally

The Miami football program became a power in the 1980s through national championship head coach Howard Schnellenberger’s plan to recruit and have a virtual fence around “The State of Miami.”

The State of Miami was an idea created by Schnellenberger to have a recruit and have a virtual fence around Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. The tri-county South Florida area is the most fertile recruiting ground in the country. If the Miami football program can keep the majority of top recruits at home they will be elite.

That has not happened in this decade. The defection of high school starts from South Florida to the SEC, Big Ten, other ACC Schools and beyond has kept the Hurricanes stuck in mediocrity. Only six of the top 50 players in Florida in the Class of 2020 are committed to Miami with a sixth projected to commit.

Manny Diaz has called the group of 2020 commits to Miami a special recruiting class. They are going to have to prove it on the field. The 2017 Hurricanes that began the season 10-0 under Mark Richt seemed to turn the Miami fortunes around. Since then Miami is 13-15 with three wins against FCS teams.

Recruits don’t want to matriculate at schools that win 40 percent of their games against FBS schools. Miami needs to build momentum in the Independence Bowl against Louisiana Tech. Signing Day is the 18th-20th. The Independence bowl will not affect early signees. Recruiting expert Larry Blustein spoke to the Miami Herald.

"“There’s a lot of frustration with this program because it’s been 18 years since they’ve been really relevant…You look at these kids Miami has and say [some of them] would never even make the taxi squad on the UM teams in the early 2000s and 1990s and 1986.It would be impossible with this type of roster to compete for a national title. They need to have a better roster…Miami doesn’t have a guy who can sit in a living room and pull in these kids…They don’t talk terribly about them, but a lot of these schools aren’t sending these kids there…Their coaches are telling them, ‘Why would you go to Miami? They lost to this team and don’t draw anyone.’”"

Diaz and his staff are doing a good job upgrading the talent with the 2020 recruiting class. Ten of the 20 players committed to Miami for 2020 are four-star players. The Hurricanes 2020 recruiting class is currently ranked 14th less than a week before the early signing period begins.

The Herald’s Barry Jackson spoke to two anonymous high school coaches and recruiting analysts about what is holding the Miami recruiting classes back. The list is not a surprising one. The list not surprisingly begins with a lack of winning and went from there. Miami has had one 10 win season since 2004.

• Winning
• Miami’s not the cool place anymore
• The ability for players to travel more to see other campuses
• The cheating issue
• Not enough local coaches pushing UM on their kids (not that they’re obligated to)
• Adults with influence on these prospects are often pushing prospects to go elsewhere
• Some better local recruiters on other staffs
• Attendance
• Some players simply want to experience life elsewhere

Jackson went more in-depth explaining the reasons why with quotes from anonymous sources corroborating the reasons for the Hurricanes mediocrity listed above. Miami is not the draw it once was. The Orange Bowl was a special place for players to play and the Hurricanes made it to the NFL.

That is not the case as much anymore. If Miami is going to change the culture as Diaz has promised they have to start winning and get players to the NFL. Miami needs to bring in players committed to the U and good enough to play at the next level. Until that happens the Miami football program will be stuck in mediocrity.