Adam Gorney, the Rivals.com National Recruiting Director stated in his weekly column on Tuesday that he is not entirely sold that 2024 Miami football commit Joshisa Trader is a five-star prospect. Rivals ranks Trader as the 15th-best prospect nationally, the third-best player in Florida and second best athlete in the 2024 class.
Rivals currently has 21 players ranked as five-star prospects. Classes generally have 32 five-star players to mimic the amount of first-round picks in the NFL Draft. Rivals had 32 prospects ranked five stars in 2022 and 33 in 2021. The Miami football program has four former five-star signees on its 2023 roster.
The Miami football program signed defensive tackle Leonard Taylor and safety James Williams as five-star prospects in the 2021 class. Offensive tackles Francis Mauigoa and Samson Okunlola were 2023 five-star signees with Miami. Trader is the only five-star signee currently committed to Miami in the 2024 class.
In the last two seasons, Trader has 73 receptions for 1,335 yards and 13 touchdowns. Trader also has one interception in each of the last two seasons. Trader returned an interception for 90 yards last season. Gorney states in his summary of Trader he is not convinced he is an NFL first-round pick yet.
2024 FIVE-STAR 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟COUNTDOWN
— Rivals (@Rivals) August 14, 2023
At No. 15 is Miami (@canes_county) commit ATH Joshisa “JoJo” Trader (@joshisathe1)
See the FULL list of updating five-stars and get the @rivals staff thoughts on each HERE👇https://t.co/M2QEkrifOc pic.twitter.com/MphdB1ArzB
"ATHLETEJoshisa Trader (Rivals.com)“I’m not entirely sold that Miami commit Joshisa Trader is a five-star. He’s a very good player – both at receiver and defensive back – but does he scream future first-round pick? Not yet. He remains on the list as the rankings aren’t ruled by an iron fist but he has a lot to prove in the coming months…Gorney’s Take: To be completely frank, Joshisa Trader will need a big senior season and a strong showing in the all-star events or he runs the risk of falling out of five-star status. Trader is a very talented receiver, he makes plays all over the field and when he flips over to defensive back he might even be better.But he didn’t work out at OT7 Nationals and was a little off the radar this offseason. The Miami commit is really good but a first-round grade can only happen for so many so Trader needs to be back it up on the field. He definitely has the skills to do just that.”"
The second part of the analysis from Gorney on Trader was posted in the “Rivals Rankings Week: Five-Star Countdown for 2024 class.” At 6’1 and 180 pounds, Trader has excellent length for a wide receiver. Listed as an athlete, there has been some analysis that Trader could be a better defensive back than WR.
Trader has predominately played WR in high school and that is the position he is projected to play in college. Trader plays with fellow five-star 2024 WR Jeremiah Smith at Chaminade-Madonna. Playing with Smith could reduce the production that other WRs have as by far the best players on their high school teams.
Trader is ranked higher by Rivals than the composite rankings by 247 Sports and On3. If Trader has another productive season in 2023 it seems likely that he will maintain his five-star status ahead of the Early National Signing period in December. Miami currently has the 15th ranked 2023 recruiting class led by Trader.