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Miami kept the momentum for the 2017 recruiting class going when unranked OT Zalontae Hillery committed to the Canes earlier today.
THE BLOCK IS HOT
— Jorge Baez (@Coach_Baez) July 16, 2016
☀️ ☀️
WE JUST GOT BETTER, #OLU #WELCOME2THE[]_[]#SQ[]_[]AD17 pic.twitter.com/qhcc0LRD8E
OK......Zalontae Hillery?
— StateOfTheU.com (@TheStateOfTheU) July 16, 2016
Yup.
Brunswick Glynn (GA) OL Zalontae Hillery has verbally committed to Miami. Story to come soon.
— InsideTheU.com (@InsideTheU) July 16, 2016
Now before people go jumping on the "unranked" thing, relax. Hillery is a player with good size at 6'6" 280lbs, quick feet, and good technique at the OT spot. He's teammates at Brunswick (GA) Glynn Academy with Canes commit and unofficial recruiting ambassador ATH DeeJay Dallas, a fact which I'm sure played into Hillery's decision to commit. The pair of players from South Georgia were on campus for the inaugural Paradise camp, and that's where Hillery committed to Miami.
Hillery is unranked because he hasn't been to camps and showcases. One report said that the singular camp he'd ever attended, prior to attending Paradise, was a 1 day camp a Georgia. In the world of recruiting, you get seen by camping, and Hillery hasn't. It's for that reason that Hillery has gone under the radar as far as recruiting.
Miami is not the only team to have seen something here. Hillery holds offers from Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Michigan State, North Carolina, and others. While he's not a household name to this point, Hillery is a player that P5 schools have known about for a while.
Hillery joins Navaughn Donaldson and Zach Dykstra as OL commits in this class. You can see his HUDL highlights below: