Miami football recruiting: Too soon to be upset about Brandon Cleveland de-commitment

The de-commitment from four-star defensive tackle Brandon Cleveland is too early to be upset about. Head coach Manny Diaz has taken a more deliberate approach with the 2022 recruiting class for the Miami football program than in the past year. Cleveland is the 219th player, 17th DT and 25th player in Florida for 2022.

The de-commitment from Cleveland drops Miami from 35th to 57th in the 2020 team rankings in recruiting classes. Four-star quarterback Jacurri Brown who committed to Miami last Friday is the only remaining player in the Hurricanes 2022 recruiting class. Part of that is deliberate from head coach Manny Diaz.

Cleveland is the second de-commitment in the 2022 Class. Miami also lost a commitment from three-star strongside defensive end, Jamaal Johnson, earlier this month. Diaz has made an effort to curb the de-commitments that were prevalent for Miami before he took over as head coach in December 2018.

No one has been able to have on-campus visits in the last year. The mortarium is currently through at least May 31. Brown was the biggest player the Miami football program needed to add. When he committed to Miami last week, Brown stated he plans to recruit other players to the Hurricanes class of 2022.

According to Andrew Ivins of 247Sports.Com, the two primary contacts for Cleveland with Miami were co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Blake Baker who is now at LSU and defensive line coach Todd Stroud who was reassigned to an administrative position with the Hurricanes.

It is still early in the 2022 recruiting class and Miami has offers out to multiple four and five-star DTs. Miami is young at DT. The Hurricanes will lose senior Jon Ford after the 2021 season and Nesta Jade Silvera and Jared Harrison-Hunte are eligible for the 2022 NFL Draft, but Miami signed five-stat DT Leonard Taylor in 2021.

With the methodical approach that Diaz and his staff are taking with the 2022 class because of the COVID-19 pandemic and not being able to see players in-person, patience is needed. After signing the 12th ranked class in 2021, Miami should continue to sign a top 15 class in 2022.