Miami football missing out on 5-star local recruits becoming national trend

"“Under the old system, official visits were taken only in the fall. That limited the ability of recruits without financial means to see schools outside of their home region until late in the recruiting process. Under the new rules, prospects can now visit places on the school’s dime out of their home region in the spring, far earlier in the recruiting process. With recruits committing earlier and earlier in the process, the ability to have recruits visit earlier in the process opens up more doors.”"

Miami has been successful recruiting elite players out of California, particularly at Quarterback back going back 35 years. Miami won national championships with Gino Torretta and Ken Dorsey leading the Miami offense as the signal-caller. Brad Kaaya set the Miami passing record in 2016 matriculating from the Golden State.

A recruit told Elliott last summer that you cannot win a title staying out west. Miami has benefitted greatly from the transfer portal the last two offseasons. Defensive end Jaelan Philips was the top recruit in the nation in 2017 from Redlands, California and signed with UCLA. Phillips will make his Miami debut this fall.

The Texas’ schools lack success has also impacted where players have chosen to attend college. Jessie Armstead was a star linebacker for Miami in the 1990s from Dallas. Elliott remarked on the collapse of the Miami football program out of the elite and Florida State and Florida’s exit from the top five.

"“Florida is also a huge offender here. The Big 3 have only one appearance in the CFP, and only one conference title in that span (both by Florida State in 2014). All three schools have had at least one losing season in the CFP era. The last five years have been particularly troubling for the in-state schools, which have managed to keep only an astounding 2 of 14 five-stars recruits in the Sunshine State. The above suggests that this trend could see a bit of a reversal over the long haul if the programs in California, Texas, and Florida are able to turn it around. For instance, USC, Texas, A&M, and Florida could be primed to have their best teams in some time for 2020. However, with prospects being able to be exposed to far away locations earlier in the recruiting process, it is unlikely that the sport will see a return to the levels of a decade or two ago.”"

The eternal question in college football “Is the U back” is subjective. Miami has to concentrate on signing the elite players in the “State of Miami” and then the Southeast. Winning the ACC Coastal Division and the ACC should be the primary on the field goals in the short term.

Signing some combination of Marshall, Lewis and Brooks would be an enormous boost for Manny Diaz and the entire Miami football program. The Hurricanes have to stack elite recruiting classes on top of each other before they can proclaim “The U is back,” Signing the 13th best-recruiting class in 2020 is a good start.