Miami and Mario Cristobal get bad news on dream 5-star WR flip target

Rivals' Steve Wiltfong has told Miami fans to shift their flip focus from five-star WR Calvin Russell to Oregon ATH/WR commit Jalen Lott. "Calvin Russell is not a target," Wiltfong said during a podcast covering the latest recruiting storylines.

"He's [Calvin Russell] got friends on the team so he likes to support those guys. But the circumstances of his recruitment, he's going to Syracuse and Miami's got their receivers in the fold."

Steve Wiltfong

Calvin Russell (2026 WR) — Syracuse commit

Russell is a 6-foot-5-inch, 190 pound, South Florida outside receiver from Miami Northwestern. He is ranked top-40 nationally in the On3 Industry Rankings, and ESPN has him as the No. 4 WR in the 2026 class. He committed to Syracuse on July 5th of this year and that obviously was disappointing for Canes fans since he is a five-star Miami-area blue-chipper.

He has repeatedly been around UM games. Last season he attended Miami's 41-17 win at Florida and was recently in the building for Miami-Syracuse this past Saturday (Miami won 38-10).

Jalen Lott (2026 ATH/WR) — Oregon commit

Lott is a 6-foot, 170 pound, two-way athlete (WR/CB) with an award-winning track career to go along with it. He committed to Oregon on July 8, 2025. Lott had a breakout junior season with 85 catches, 1,111 yards and 16 TDs, and comes from a highly athletic family.

Since committing, Lott has continued to draw heavy attention; Wiltfong reported he was in Austin for a Texas visit in September, but he points to Miami as a program with a realistic flip chance for Lott.

While Russell has been a player circled by Miami fans for a while, current reporting around UM's priorities suggests he isn't an active flip target at this time. But Miami fans should be happy to hear that Lott might be in play because he is a very talented prospect.