Mario Cristobal loses out on 5-star OT and Mark Matthews could be next for Miami

The news Miami and Mario Cristobal were worried about just came in. Yup, the Canes were finalists for 5-star offensive tackle Oluwasemilore Olubobola, who is a standout playmaker for St. Peter's Prep in New Jersey. Moments ago, though, Marcus Freeman was the one who got to celebrate.

That's because the 6-6, 295-pounder announced that he's going to be playing his college ball in South Bend, committing to Freeman and Notre Dame. For a little while, Notre Dame has been the presumed favorite, but there was some hope that maybe Miami would be able to change his mind late. That didn't end up happening.

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There's no way to sugarcoat things here: missing out on Olubobola is a pretty big loss for Cristobal and Miami offensive line coach Alex Mirabal. Throughout his recruitment, the youngster picked up more than 40 offers, with Miami, Notre Dame and Texas A&M being his finalists.

According to the 247Sports Composite, the new Notre Dame pledge is ranked five stars and the No. 3 offensive tackle in the country. He's also the No. 15 player nationally for the 2027 class, which speaks to his incredible potential for the future.

5-star OT Oluwasemilore Olubobola commits to Notre Dame over Miami

This indeed is a great get for Freeman, but now what for Cristobal? This loss means he's got to go all-in for fellow 5-star offensive tackle Mark Matthews, who is set to announce his decision on May 15. Unfortunately for Canes fans, the worry is that another recruiting loss will be coming.

Matthews, a 6-5, 300-pounder, was recently predicted to commit to Mike Elko and Texas A&M, but he locked in an official visit for late May to Coral Gables. That appeared to open the door for the Canes to still pull things off here, but A&M supporters are feeling pretty dang confident.

Originally, Matthews was planning to take his official visits before deciding his college of choice, but something changed for him and now he feels ready enough to reveal to everyone where he'll be moving to next season. So, where will it be?

While his finalists are Miami, Texas A&M, LSU and Georgia, the assumption is that he's going to decide between the Hurricanes and Aggies. With Matthews being a stud for St. Thomas Aquinas High in nearby Fort Lauderdale, it adds extra pressure on Cristobal to keep a top talent close to home.

Cristobal always wants to keep homegrown playmakers in the state, but in recent years we're seeing the opposite be the case for The U. Jeremiah Smith and Calvin Russell are two players that immediately come to mind for frustrated Miami fans - Smith has even turned down Miami for a potential transfer multiple times.

Losing out on Matthews is only going to make things worse, especially with Olubobola taking his game to Notre Dame. Soon enough, we're going to find out where Matthews will be committing to as well, but the main fear is that both Olubobola AND Matthews will be telling Cristobal thanks, but no thanks. Should Miami go 0-for-2 with those two targets, it will no doubt be a bit of a setback for the o-line recruiting efforts for '27.

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