Mario Cristobal and Miami will get the first shot to close the deal on 4-star WR target

What was expected has now become a reality.

Four-star wide receiver Eli Woodard, who de-committed from USC last week, will take an official visit to Miami on May 29. The Hurricanes have been rumored to be the new favorite for Woodard, who is from Riverside County, California, will be one of at least 15 official visits expected to be on campus in the final weekend of May.

After backing away from his USC pledge, Woodard named Miami, UCLA and Cal as the three programs that were high on the list. The Hurricanes are the first school with a scheduled official visit and have a good chance at gaining a commitment next weekend.

4-star WR Eli Woodard will visit Miami next week

Mario Cristobal and Kevin Beard have been aggressively pursuing Woodard for a while and the work has paid off. When Woodard entertained the idea of a visit to Miami, he went against the unofficial "no-visit" rule that USC coach Lincoln Riley asks of all Trojans commits. Woodard, however, clearly had an interest in the Hurricanes and, instead of staying with his pledge to the local team, he made the mature decision to control his own fate.

This is another potentially big recruit for Beard, who has occasionally been the target of frustration from some Miami fans (most notably Luther Campbell) for losing out on local recruits like Jaremiah Smith. The Hurricanes, however, already have the commitment of five-star local recruit Nick Lennear at wide receiver and adding Woodard would be another strong sign that the criticism of Beard is overblown. 

It's also the heart of flip season for Cristobal and staff. While Woodard wouldn't necessarily be a flip since he's re-opened his recruitment, landing the wide receiver would be in addition to earlier flips with five-star cornerback Donte Wright, who was previously committed to Georgia and four-star cornerback Al'King Hall, who was pledged to Oregon until last week. 

Miami has a huge recruiting weekend coming up

The opening weekend of "official visit season" is going to be a massive one for Cristobal and the Hurricanes. Of the expected official visitors, six are current commits, including Wright, Lennear and four-star linebacker AJ Randle, who committed to Miami on Tuesday. Other commitments expected to be on campus are four-star cornerback Al'King Hall, four-star offensive lineman Sean Tatum and four-star defensive lineman Ezekiel Ayangbile.

There will also be several targets on campus with five-star edge rusher Jaiden Bryant leading the way. Bryant is an LSU commit, but the Hurricanes have always been in the picture and stand to make up a lot of ground next weekend. Bryant is taking a full slate of visits, with Texas A&M and South Carolina also on the upcoming schedule, before hitting LSU on June 19 before the summer dead period begins.

The other target to keep an eye on is five-star linebacker Kaden Henderson, the top linebacker recruit in Florida. Miami has been among the top schools in his recruitment, but he is also high on Texas A&M, who has proven one of the Hurricanes' biggest nemesis on the trail. This is the time of year when Cristobal shines brightest, so expect a lot of news coming out of Coral Gables over the next month. 

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