Miami Hurricanes Recruiting Radar: 2019 Rivals250 Postseason Update

Miami may be in the middle of sewing up the majority of their 2018 class during the early signing period next week, but it’s never too early to take a peek at what’s under the hood for the upcoming 2019 class.

Mark Richt and his coaching staff have been busy trying to follow up the massive success they’ve had with Storm18 by creating budding relationships with underclassmen in hopes of building Surge19 into a winner as well.

If the newest Rivals250 for 2019 is any indication, the staff is well on their way to achieving that goal.

The postseason Rivals250 for the junior class was updated on Tuesday and it revealed the Hurricanes have been busy at work evaluating and sending out new offers for the 2019 class. Miami now has 23 uncommitted targets with offers in the Rivals250, up from 15 in the initial preseason release back in August.

After the decommitment of DT Derick Hunter, Miami moved down from 2 to 1 commitment in the rankings. The lone representative of Surge19 was WR Brieon Fuller, who saw a small change 8 spots down to #121 overall.

Below you can find a handy little chart of all the guys of Miami interest within the postseason 2019 Rivals250.

Thoughts

• Ahmmon Richards’ brother Mark-Antony Richards had a huge junior season and made the leap from “pretty good” prospect to “elite” prospect, moving over 100 spots into the top 25 overall. While the younger Richards is listed as an athlete and can also play running back and wide receiver, Rivals sees the most potential in him at DB. Rivals recruiting analyst Rob Cassidy describes him as a player that has “solid length and is becoming a more complete prospect with each passing month. He closes in a hurry and has incredible hands for a defensive player.” The Miami lean goes to all his brothers’ home games, so he got an up-close view of the Hurricanes’ big season in 2017. A commitment from the Wellington star is a matter of “when”, not “if”.

• New offers since August within the updated Rivals250 include TE Keon Zipperer, DE Braylen Ingraham, receivers Jeremiah Payton and Blake Hinson, CB Johnny Dixon, and RB Cesare Mellusi. If Hinson’s name sounds familiar, that’s because it is: his brother, Evan Hinson, was a 3-star TE that was committed to Miami in the 2016 class before Al Golden and his staff was let go. Evan ended up at South Carolina, but the family ties to Miami could still run deep.

• New targets on the board didn’t all come from new offers; some came from the almighty decommitment. Those would be South Dade duo WR Frank Ladson and ATH Tyrique Stevenson, who both decommitted from UF after their coaching changes back in November. The Canes were already trending up with the talented pair (who will play together in college as a package deal) before they jumped ship from the Gators, as both Ladson and Stevenson made multiple unofficial visits to Miami for practices and games throughout the 2017 season. 247’s Crystal Ball currently envisions the two in Miami and it doesn’t hurt that teammate Patrick Joyner just committed to the 2018 class.