Miami football recruiting: Edge rushers strongly considering Hurricanes
The Miami football program is expected to have to continue its transition with edge rushers in 2022 as they will have to do in 2021. Miami lost starters Jaelan Phillips and Quincy Roche after the 2020 season. Zach McCloud and DeAndre Johnson who are the projected starters at defensive end are in their last seasons of eligibility.
Behind Johnson and McCloud, 2021 signees Thomas Davis and Jabari Ishmael, Jahfari Harvey, Cameron Williams, Chantz Williams and Quentin Williams are the future. Elijah Roberts is a swing defensive lineman who can play tackle and end. Miami does not have a commitment from defensive players for 2022.
According to 247 Sports, Miami has offered scholarships to 24 DEs in the Class of 2022. Five DEs are strongly considering Miami or listed as warm according to 247 Sports. Four-star weakside DEs D.J. Wesolak from Booneville, Missouri and Dante Anderson from Homestead have Miami among their top programs.
Wesolak is the 176th ranked player in the Class of 2022, the 10th ranked WDE and the third-ranked player in Missouri. Miami is one of 11 schools Wesloak is listed warm with. Among those schools are national powers Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma. Clemson has three crystal balls for Wesolak.
Shemar Stewart i hope you’re watching https://t.co/5bNejSb1sB
— ferny mijares (@ferny_xvii) April 30, 2021
The Tigers crystal balls for Wesolak include the three most recent. Arizona State who is one of the 11 teams Wesolak appears to be considering the strongest has a crystal ball and so does Notre Dame who is not one of the 11. It appears that Wesolak will be a long shot for the Miami football program to sign in 2022.
Anderson is warm on Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Mississippi in addition to Miami. The only crystal ball for Anderson is trending to Miami from Inside the U reporter Gaby Urrutia, who only gives a confidence score of three out of 10. Anderson had 27 tackles, 10 sacks and nine tackles for loss in 2020.
Miami Hurricanes Football
Shemar Stewart, Keahnist Thompson and Zane Durant are four-star strongside DEs considering Miami. Stewart is the seventh-ranked player nationally and top-ranked at SDE and in Florida for 2022.
Both crystal balls for Stewart with an average score of 5.5 projects the Monsignor Pace star to sign with LSU.
Thompson is the 334th ranked player, 21st ranked SDE and 37th ranked player in Florida out of Lakeland. Central Florida and Miami are the two programs Thompson is listed as considering the highest.
Thomas has offers from many college football heavyweights including Alabama and Florida. Durant is the 341st ranked player, 22nd SDE and 41st ranked player in Florida in the Class of 2022 from Orlando Lake Nona.
The strongest competition for Durant for Miami is Indiana, UCF and West Virginia. Neither Anderson nor Durant have a crystal ball projection. The 2022 signees for Miami at DE will not be expected to play immediately.
Next. Miami DE depth chart entering summer. dark
Stewart would be the exception. The Miami football program likely needs to win at least 10 games to have a chance to receive a commitment from Stewart. Several other highly ranked edge rushers are from South Florida but do not have Miami highly ranked on their list. The Hurricanes likely need to sign two edge rushers in 2022.