Rivals national recruiting analyst John Garcia Jr .and national rankings director Adam Friedman both stated as fact when answering the question "Fact or Fiction: Miami commit Hylton Stubbs is nearing five-star status."
Stubbs is the 27th prospect, seventh player in Florida and third safety in the 2025 Rivals class rankings. Stubbs is the highest-ranked player in the 2025 Miami class by Rivals. Friedman and Garcia provided extensive analysis of why Stubbs is nearing five-star status.
Friedman said that Stubbs' "coverage skills in the secondary, wingspan, leaping abilities, and physical style all give me confidence in him becoming a standout at the next level." At 6'2 and 190 pounds, Stubbs is the ideal size for a collegiate safety.
Garcia stated in the last year Stubbs has upped his stock more than just about anyone over the past year and has been "flashing with his range and ball skills in coverage while plenty willing to work down the alley or into the box to make noise closer to the line of scrimmage."
While projected as a safety, Garcia was impressed with "how comfortable Stubbs is in space, where his man coverage skills have been at or near the top compared to any non cornerback projections in the cycle." Miami is building a versatile secondary, particularly among its safeties.
Stubbs leads an exceptional 2025 Miami secondary c
lass. Miami also has commitments from four-star safety Amari Wallace, cornerback Chris Ewald and three-star CB Timothy Merritt. Wallace is listed by some recruiting outlets as a CB. Stubbs and Wallace will provide Miami with a lot of flexibility in the future secondary.
The 2025 Miami class is currently 10th in the Rivals rankings. Fifteen of the 18 2025 Miami commits are graded four stars by Rivals. Miami is trending to sign a top 10 class for the third straight year. The Hurricanes would also sign the top-ranked class in the ACC for the third consecutive cycle.