Mario Cristobal loses out on Irish OT to South Carolina and we all know why

Neff Giwa committed to the South Carolina Gamecocks and it's not a big surprise. Shane Beamer needed him and was willing to do anything to get the 300-pound offensive lineman from Ireland. Mario Cristobal didn't need Giwa because there are bigger fish on the board, but he and the staff were intrigued by his potential. That's not a knock on Giwa or South Carolina, it's just a fact that the Gamecocks and Hurricanes are at two different places where they are recruiting right now.

Beamer tried to do everything in his power to keep Giwa from even visiting Miami. He knows what the Hurricanes' reputation is with offensive linemen, and he was right to be afraid that Cristobal could swoop him up even with less of a financial commitment. 

Neff Giwa takes the bag and commits to the Gamecocks

South Carolina viewed Giwa as a superstar recruit — a player that Beamer could build the offensive line class around. And I get it. He's reportedly 6-foot-8 and 300 pounds, he's got long arms, he played rugby, so he's probably tough and nasty, and he looks like he's about 32 years old. So, yeah, good for the Gamecocks. They might have found themselves a dude, and it was worth a lot of money to make it happen.

Critstobal had to look at this from a different angle. Barring something crazy, the Hurricanes are going to get a commitment from 5-star offensive tackle Mark Matthews. That's the guy they have targeted as the big catch. In the past 24 hours, it was announced that Oluwasemilore Olubobola, a top-five offensive tackle prospect from New Jersey, is going to visit Miami next weekend, and you know Cristobal is going to make a big play there. 

Given the offensive linemen in play for Miami right now, along with just signing 5-star freshman Jackson Cantwell, it wasn't good business for the Hurricanes to commit top-level NIL resources to a player that they might not be ready to immediately compete for a starting spot. Giwa might be able to do that at South Carolina and the Gamecocks were willing to pay more for that possibility. In the pre-NIL days, I have no doubt Giwa would've been a 'Cane based on what Miami does developing offensive linemen. But this is in the NIL era and when that bag is big, the long-term thinking goes out the door. It is what it is.