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Recruiting Radar: Richt going for star power now

Mark Richt and the Hurricanes are trying making moves with some very talented prospects.

By Cameron J. Underwood
4-star WR Donnie Corley, a U.S. Army All-American, received a Miami offer recently.
4-star WR Donnie Corley, a U.S. Army All-American, received a Miami offer recently.
247Sports

It's a travel day for me, but this figures to be another recruiting day for Miami. Let's get into it:

Canes offer massive DT Raekwon Davis

A late rising but GIGANTIC player on the DL, 4-star DT Raekwon Davis (6'8" 320lbs) from Meridian, MS was offered by Miami this week.

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Davis, who is committed to Alabama and made it to the final 5 at Nike's The Opening this summer, is exactly the kind of player that Miami has been missing over recent years. Where this becomes interesting is that back in August, there was talk that Davis was imminently going to decommit from Alabama. So, at least at one time, there was talk that he was going to part ways with the Crimson Tide and look around.

Now, to be fair, there has been no such talk in the last 5 months. And, Alabama, to whom Davis has been committed since before his junior year, specializes in utilizing and developing players of Davis' size and ability.

A glimmer of hope? Davis is setting up his official visits for after the dead period. He's said he has a couple open spots, so there's room for Miami to try and get him on campus. And, as I've written many times here, getting him on campus for a visit is an absolute necessity. He doesn't visit, we have no chance. But, with Mark Richt as our coach now, that could be a possibility.

I couldn't find Davis' full-season highlights, but here are some of his 1 on 1s vs top talent at The Opening from July (starts at 30seconds into video).

DT D'andre Christmas-Giles gets Canes offer, too

I guess CMR knows what we all know: The Canes need DTs. In an effort to buffer that position on the roster, 3-star DT D'Andre Christmas-Giles (6'3" 290lbs) from New Orleans (LA) St. Augustine was contacted by Miami this week. And, per ESPN recruiting analyst Gerry Hamilton, Miami is a team in play for Christmas-Giles, who recently decommitted from Tennessee

You already know the drill: we need DTs bad. And, uh....Christmas-Giles a really good option. Much like the above listed Davis, Miami will try to get him on campus for an official visit. When you consider this tweet from Christmas-Giles twitter account, that seems to be looking like a distinct posibility

Unlike Davis, I WAS able to find Christmas-Giles' highlights. And OH MY GOODNESS I'M IN LOVE!!!!

Update on DT Glen Logan

4-star DT Glen Logan (6'4, 290lbs) from Destrehan, LA is a player Miami has been connected with throughout this cycle. He once said Miami was his "dream school", and I think that statement more than anything tangible in terms of recruiting has been the fuel to the flame of Miami's hope to land him.

Logan, who is committed to LSU, seems to be all Tigers at this point. They're the only Official Visit he currently has scheduled, and I haven't been able to find anything that says he's going to take any other visits after the dead period. And, if you didn't know, LSU get who they want from Louisiana 99 times out of 100.

So, basically, unless something drastic changes here, we'd be best served by moving on and focusing on other targets.

OL Marcus Tatum down to 3

A player that I've talked about before, 3-star OL Marcus Tatum (6'7" 255lbs) from Daytona Beach (FL) Mainland is down to 3 schools: Florida, Miami, and Tennessee.

The major movement here will take place after the dead period ends in January. Tatum has visits to Tennessee (January 15th) and Miami (January 22nd) on the books. He previously visited Tennessee in the fall.

At current, 91% of CrystalBall predictions on 247Sports have Tatum heading to Florida. The Gators get the first shot at him after the dead period, and could seal the deal then. For Miami, and stop me if you've heard me say this before, everything hinges on getting Tatum on campus for an Official Visit. Here, it's not so much "getting (insert player) to schedule the visit" it's getting him to actually TAKE the visit.

In any event, Tatum's junior HUDL highlights are below:

Detroit CB Lavert Hill to visit Coral Gables

Wassup to all my Detroit Playas!! (shoutout to Notorious BIG).

Anyways, away from Hip Hop History and focusing on Present Day Recruiting, Miami has made a move with 4-star CB Lavert Hill (5'11", 175lbs) from Detroit (MI) King HS. Hill is a player that has been on Miami's radar for a while. How long? We offered him a scholarship more than 500 days ago, back in July 2014 after he participated in one of the Al Golden football camps.

Moving to the present, Hill seems to be warming up to Miami even more. He's scheduled an official visit for the January 29th -- the weekend before National Signing Day. And, per this report from Canesport ($), Hill says he's "really thinking about Miami".

Not saying anything is certain (Hill has been linked with hometown schools Michigan and Michigan State through his recruitment), but with Hill's talent (12 interceptions as a senior) and our DIRE need for CBs in this class, this could be a match for all involved parties.

I know, I know. You want the highlights. You can see them below:

Multitalented WR Donnie Corley gets Canes offer as well

Not enough Detroit for you in this update? Trick question: THERE'S NEVER ENOUGH DETROIT IN AN UPDATE!!!! (I'm from the D, deal with it). So, just to give you even MORE Detroit, there's another offer of note.

4-star WR Donnie Corley (6'3" 185lbs) from Detroit (MI) King HS was offered by Miami 2 days ago. If you missed it from the school tag, Corley and the aforementioned Hill are HS teammates.

A U.S. Army All-American, Corley is a dynamic player who has used his talents with great success throughout his HS career. Like Hill (and many HS players in Michigan), Corley played both ways at the prep level. He'll eschew that to focus on offense in college.

Corley had one of the best endings to a HS career ever. In the Michigan Division 2 Championship game, Corley scored the game winning TD, on a hail mary, jumping over a defender, with no time left on the clock, to cap an undefeated season. It was pretty awesome. You can see that play right here:

Looking ahead, there are a lot of moving parts here. First, there's a thought that Corley and Hill may be a "packaged deal", i.e. they want to play in college together. Next, Corley may or may not be an early enrollee. If he is, Michigan State figures to be the front runners. Last, with Hill already having an OV to Coral Gables on the books for January 29th, the Canes now have to work to get Corley to join him on that trip. That last part will be no easy task, as Michigan and Notre Dame are also pushing for one of Corley's last 2 OVs (he took 3 during the fall, including to Michigan State).

With Miami's need for WRs in this class after only taking 1 last year (Freshman Lawrence Cager) and with the potential of losing Stacy Coley to the NFL, Corley is a player who could push for immediate playing time as a freshman. Corley has the talent to produce right away, as evidenced by his senior year, which saw him catch 59 passes for 1,408 yards and 16 touchdowns, including the State Championship-winning catch embedded above.

You can see all of Corley's highlights below:

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6 National recruits profiled today, the "worst" of which is a 6'7" OL with good technique and a projectable frame. Yeah, that'll work.

Anyways, that's it for today. Leave a comment and vote in the poll.

Go Canes