Richt seemed to have Miami headed in the right direction during the magical 2017 season. Three losses to end the year carried over into the 2018 season. Miami has not recovered since. Richt announced his retirement three days after Miami lost 35-3 to Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Miami Hurricanes Football
Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz was compelled to return after an 18 days stint as the head coach at Temple to return to Coral Gables for his dream job. A 6-7 2019 debut season under Diaz has already put the South Florida native on the hot seat. Miami has enough talent to greatly improve its performance.
The talent on the Miami football program is there to annually be a contender in the ACC Coastal. The 2018 recruiting class that was eighth in the country is entering their junior or redshirt sophomore seasons. Tight End Brevin Jordan are defensive end Greg Rousseau and projected as first-round NFL Draft picks in 2021.
The Hurricanes need more than that duo to play at least a level expected from players who composed the nation’s eight best recruiting class. While fans and some media often say the stars players receive as recruits don’t matter the truth has proven the opposite to be true. Finishing in the top five matters in recruiting.
Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU and Ohio State were the top five teams in the recruiting rankings over the past five seasons. All five have appeared in the College Football National Championship game. All but Georgia have a title during the six-year college football playoff era. Miami has to focus on the ACC Coastal first.