Mario Cristobal and Miami have made moves to address a major issue in roster building

The Miami Hurricanes could take another big step toward building in-house depth at quarterback with the pledge of local prospect Neimann Lawrence. One of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the 2028 class, Lawrence has a top final five of Miami, Texas, Texas A&M, Notre Dame and Michigan.

Lawrence will make his announcement on June 25 and, as things currently stand, it looks like the Hurricanes have some ground to make up in this battle. However, Mario Cristobal and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson have a few things working in their favor as Lawrence's recruitment reaches the home stretch.

Mario Cristobal and Miami have eyes for elite in-state QB Neimann Lawrence

Lawrence comes from one of the local powerhouse programs, American Heritage School in Planatation, Florida. It's the same school where Malachi Toney and Mark Fletcher attended, and it's been very good for the Hurricanes over the years. But American Heritage is a factory of football talent, and it's one school that several top programs focus their recruiting efforts on year to year.

READ MORE: 4-star QB sets commitment date with Miami Hurricanes included in final 5 schools

If Miami is going to receive Lawrence's commitment in three weeks, it is going to have to get past Texas. The Longhorns have been trending the for the quarterback in recent weeks and today's disclosure of an announcement date saw a flurry of predictions come through for Texas to land yet another top quarterback. 

The On3/Rivals predictor currently has Texas as a huge favor, getting close to 90 percent of the predictions. It feels like a tough mountain to climb.

Miami has to make in-house quarterback depth a priority for the future

Building a roster of elite talent isn't cheap. Even for money machines like Notre Dame, Ohio State and Texas A&M, there's eventually a point when the ATM is closed. Miami is on its third transfer quarterback in as many seasons, and they have paid big money to secure the services of Cam Ward, Carson Beck and now Darian Mensah. It's proven to be money well spent and almost got the Hurricanes a championship last season. But the costs for top quarterbacks will continue to climb and Miami has to balance that with the costs of having top recruiting classes and retraining the talent on the roster.

On most rosters, the quarterbacks are going to take up a significant portion of the financial resources, so the best way to counter that is with in-house numbers. Recruitment and development at the position is paramount for Miami to remain among the top teams in college football despite being in a conference that doesn't offer member teams the return on investment that the SEC and Big Ten offer. 

The good news is Miami already has a quarterback in the 2028 class, Knox Annis, who committed to the Hurricanes earlier this year. Four-star quarterback Israel Abrams is also in the fold and is one of the top five players at the position in the 2027 class. Adding Lawrence to this group would turn a good situation into a great one, but even if it doesn't happen, Miami is addressing an issue before it becomes a problem. 

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