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Recruiting Radar: Numbers, Offers, and Updates

A quick look at a few recruiting topics for Miami as the 2017 cycle begins.

By Cameron J. Underwood

Welcome back, recruiting fans. I know I said I was going to do this last week, but life happened. But, we're back and ready for action. Let's get into it.

Numbers for the 2017 recruiting class

This has been at the forefront of people's minds: how many players is Miami going to take in 2017? There are a couple factors to consider. And they are:

  1. The number of scholarship players currently. Miami sits at 80 players by my count in The Matrix. That number could change with the reported look to add WR and CB through grad transfers.
  2. How many players Miami took in 2016. There were 18 signees, 5 of which were early enrollees, which means there were 13 regular incoming recruits for the last cycle. We'll touch on this again in a minute.
  3. How many seniors are on the roster. There are 11 seniors on the roster by my count in the previously linked roster count.
  4. How many players leave early next year. Brad Kaaya? Gus Edwards? Al-Quadin Muhammad? Other?
  5. How many players are dropped/cut/told to transfer. Dead weight from the previous regime will be culled from the roster, and how many, and WHEN that happens will impact the number of players Miami brings in with this class.
After considering the above facts, there are 2 things I can confidently say:

1. there is room for 12 (!!!!!!) Early enrollees. I don't think that Miami takes 12 EEs next cycle, but based on only having taken 13 regulat signees last cycle, that room exists.

2. With 11 seniors, that would take the roster down to 69 (nice). Which means, there would be room for 16 total signees, regular or otherwise.

So, while there's hypothetical room for a super duper gigantic class including up to 12 early enrollees, without transfers/cuts/attrition/whatever to lower the overall roster number further, Miami's ceiling for signees is 16 (edit: got this wrong twice already. Sorry).

For the sake of argument, I'll assume a few early departures for NFL and transfers. As such, I'll operate on a full class of 25.

Class Breakdown

A quick chart with my perceived  needs for Miami in the 2017 class, by position:

Quarterback Running Back Wide Receiver Tight End Offensive Line
1+ 2+ 4 0 4+
Defensive End Defensive Tackle Linebacker Cornerback Safety Best Available
2 3 4 3 2 (any extra spots not filled)

My rationale is simple:

On offense: Cam's Crootin' rule #1: You need a QB in every class. Period. Miami has needed 2 RBs in a class for the last few years, and this is the year it HAS TO happen. Still need big numbers at WR and OL. TE is good on both numbers and depth.

On defense: We need depth and talent at every position.

We'll look at targets for these positions in the coming days.

Current commits....or are they?

Miami is said to be making all players, even commits re-earn their offers. That means, talking to them to get them to reconfirm their commitments, and, in many cases, making the player visit or camp at Miami now that the new staff is there so they can be re-evaluated.

I have absolutely no problem with this. New staff, new evals. Some players will be dropped, and others will not. This is part of the business of recruiting. Just putting it out there now so that when this happens people don't overreact. SPEAKING OF WHICH......

What's up with Tyler Dunning?

A 4-star LB from St. Thomas Aquinas, Tyler Dunning is a player who seems to be on his way out of this class. Rivals, 247, and CanesInSight have all reported that Dunning has had no communication with this staff and is not in the plans for Miami moving forward.

So, let's call it what it is: Dunning is another drop by this staff. He won't be in this class, and everybody would be better served coming to terms with that now.

Miami on an offering spree

Over the last several days, Miami has offered a plethora of 2017 and 2018 players. This is for a number of reasons. Primary among them is the fact that nearly all previous offers are null-and-void since the previous staff is gone. And, secondarily, the new staff has connections to other (better?) players, and is moving based on that.

There are new names popping up on the radar every day, and that will continue through the Spring Evaluation period (a couple months from now). So, just sit back and watch CMR and staff work. They're seriously grinding right now.

Junior Day this Saturday

Just wanted to put it out there that Miami is having their first Junior Day for recruits this Saturday. This is an invite-only event, and there will be many top 2017 players on campus for this event.

As per usual, I'll have a preview up for you later this week.

That's it for today. Check back tomorrow as we start to look at some targets for the 2017 recruiting class.

Go Canes