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Recruiting Radar: 1/22 Official Visit preview and more

Another week, another HUGE list of official visitors. Read the details here.

By Cameron J. Underwood
Visitors abound this weekend, but the question that's on most Canes fans' lips: "What's up with Sam Bruce?!?!?"
Visitors abound this weekend, but the question that's on most Canes fans' lips: "What's up with Sam Bruce?!?!?"
247Sports

The first Official Visit weekend of Mark Richt's tenure was a huge one, that saw 11 players visit, and garnered the Canes 2 commits (and a possible). This weekend will be more of the same, with many prospects coming to visit, and several who could be give their commitment to Richt and the Canes. Who, you ask? Let's meet them

Official Visitors

Canes Commits

CB Malek Young. After weeks of rumors that Young, a one-time Georgia commit, would flip to Miami now that Richt is the Canes' coach, that finally came to fruition last weekend. Young canceled an OV last weekend, and is visiting Coral Gables this weekend. A strong visit should effectively end his recruitment.

CB Tyler Byrd. After a strong showing at the U.S. Army All-American game, Byrd's stock is soaring. He's one of the longest tenured Miami commits, but the Canes look to be in for a fight to the finish here. Byrd will visit Tennessee next weekend, the last weekend before NSD. So, CBs Coach Mike Rumph and the rest of the staff needs to have a very strong visit weekend with Byrd now to work towards fully securing his commitment.

CB James Wiggins. This visit will go a long way towards clearing up the picture of Wiggins' recruitment. Once thought to be on his way out of the class as a drop, that may not be the case. Wiggins has heard from Rumph, but this will be the first contact he's had with Richt and DC Manny Diaz. Wiggins is a talented player, so this visit is worth watching.

WRONG.

Wiggins isn't visiting. He's instead going to OV to Illinois, where former DB coach Paul Williams now works. Wiggins will be decommitting in the near future and will not be in this class.

Canes Targets

DT Glen Logan. This very talented LSU commit may be the most watched visitor this week. There are substantial rumblings that Logan may be nearing a decommitment from LSU, and DL Coach Craig Kuligowski has made Logan his clear #1 target at the DT position. This staff had a great round of visits last weekend, and if that holds true in respect to Logan, there could be good news for Miami fans in the near future.

WRONG.

Logan canceled his visit on Friday morning, and is sticking with LSU. Speculate as will as to what changed, but if you've followed recruiting for a while, you know what the score is.

WR Randrecous Davis. Stop me if you've heard this before, but here is a talented player committed to Georgia who is interested in Miami. Much like Malek Young, Davis is a player that has been strongly linked with Miami since the moment that Mark Richt was named coach. At this point, this visit almost feels like a formality. I fully expect Davis to flip to Miami this weekend. Oh, and you say his name: ran-DREEK-us.

DT Marcel Southall......maybe. Southall is another DT prospect that Coach Kool has been after, but it remains to be seen if he'll make it to campus this weekend. Several Big12 schools are trying to sway his visit plans at the last minute, so we'll see. With that in mind, there's obviously a long ways to go to get Southall to commit to Miami.

OT Lucas Niang. This talented 6'6" OL will visit Miami, but might be on campus earlier than other visitors. A Connecticut native, Niang may be forced to move up his travel plans to avoid the incoming NorEaster winter storm. Apart from that, Niang has himself said he's down to 3 schools: Auburn, TCU, and Miami. With a commitment coming in the days after this visit, Miami will have to do plenty of work to move up Niang's list, as he's never visited campus before.

TE Jovani Haskins. A prep QB with TE size, Haskins is one of the top targets to join this class. Miami has a bunch of ground to make up, however. Haskins told 247sports' West Virginia site on Wednesday that the Mountaineers are his "#1 choice". So, to get past that, Miami will need a strong visit weekend. Haskins is also considering Virginia Tech.

WR Kelvin Harmon. A one-time South Carolina commit, Harmon is a big bodied possession receiver who has risen up Miami's board recently. Many think that the Canes are the team to beat here, and, like Davis, I'd expect Harmon to commit on his visit this weekend, if given the opportunity.

CB Henry Miller. Rivals is reporting that Miller has recently received a scholarship offer, and will be traveling to Coral Gables for a visit. He's lower down the list of targets at CB for me, but has intriguing size (6'3") and could possibly slide into the spot currently occupied by James Wiggins, if Miami decides to part ways with the current commit. We'll see.

UPDATE

UF commit Christopher "CJ" McWilliams, a cornerback from Miami Southwest Sr. High School,  will be visiting Coral Gables this weekend, according to David Furones of The Miami Herald

So, game on.

Other Blips on the Radar

The Battle for Sam Bruce heats up.

First, there was this tweet:

Then there was this tweet:

I wrote it in yesterday's Class Breakdown, and I'll say it again: this is going to be a fight to the finish for Bruce. While he's on the list as a commit, it makes more sense to think of him as an uncommitted player that Miami is chasing. That's the kind of recruitment, and the kind of effort, that the Canes will need to put forth to get him to sign an NLI with Miami.

Yes, I know all the statements Bruce has made. "I committed to a school, not a coach" (referencing friend/mentor Kevin Beard). And the longer quote he gave to a recruiting writer (I forget which one), that you can see below:

I know. I KNOW. But, that's in the past. We can live in the past or work towards building a new future. I choose the latter.

As of now, Bruce is still set to have his OV to Coral Gables on January 29th. Miami's gonna want to go big, then.

Tyler Byrd reconsidering?

Saw this tweet last night

With the reported visit to Tennessee (where his friend/teammate RB Carlin Fils-Aime is committed) on the books for next week, that combination has my attention. But, like I wrote earlier, a strong visit this weekend to Coral Gables could curtail some of this.

Elite OT to visit Miami?

Interesting development in OL recruiting

Major national recruit OT Willie Allen will visit on the 29th....if he hasn't decided by then. Obviously, Miami is working to get him on that visit, regardless. And, that this point, why not?

WR Nate Johnson down to 3

After visiting Miami last weekend, Nate Johnson says he's down to 3: Michigan, Miami, and Notre Dame.

So, there's a chance.

Class Breakdown

Missed yesterday's Class Breakdown wk 3? Lucky for you, I have the link right here (or below, actually)

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