Miami football prospect Zane Durant discussed how he’ll be used defensively

During his visit with the Miami football program this week, four-star defensive end prospect Zane Durant discussed how he would be used on defense according to Rivals.Com. Rivals rank Durant as the 24th best strongside DE and 37th ranked player in Florida in the Class of 2022 out of Orlando Lake Nona.

Rivals has Indiana, Mississippi, Penn State and UCF as programs Durant holds a high interest. After his visit to Miami on Tuesday for the cookout, Durant has visits scheduled for June 11 to Indiana and June 18 to Penn State. There are no projections about which school has the lead for Durant.

Durant is the seventh-ranked SDE Miami has offered a scholarship to for 2022 according to Cane Sport, the Miami Rivals website. Shermar Stewart who is the 36th ranked player nationally, the fourth-ranked player in Florida and at SDE tops the edge rushers Miami is pursuing for 2022. Miami will lose two DEs after the 2022 season.

Super senior Zach McCloud moved from linebacker to DE for the 2022 season. DeAndre Johnson will be the other starting edge rusher after playing outside LB in the 3-4 at Tennessee before transferring to during the 2020 offseason. Miami has a lot of depth at DE behind Johnson and McCloud.

"“What really struck a chord with Durant during his visit to Miami in recent days is the coaching staff was telling him how they’d use him in the defense and just their personalities and not trying to sell him on all the glitz and glamour of the program and the city.That actually helped Miami a lot with Durant but Indiana, Penn State and West Virginia also remain really high on the list.”"

Miami head coach Manny Diaz has always spoken about recruiting being a relationship-building business. The discussion with Durant about how he would be used in the Miami defense and using the personalities of the coaching staff is a more important way to sell a program than the glitz and glamour of Miami.

The Hurricanes should have an advantage over other programs with what Miami can bring. Selling the relationships and continuing to build a winning culture in the Miami football program is far more important. The Hurricanes need to continue adding talent to the roster after signing the 11th best class in 2021.