In this installment of the Recruit Notebook, we meet a rugged player who has dealt with several injuries through his HS career: LB Waynmon Steed.

Bio

An instinctual LB with very good skills, Waynmon Steed was one of the leading players on Miami (FL) Central HS’s outstanding defense. With many tackles to his credit as a senior, Steed was frequently seen making plays for the Rockets.

Steed, a 6’0” 221lb player, has dealt with injuries in his HS career. The 3 time State Champion at Central missed his junior year with a torn labrum in his shoulder. Steed had already become a known player after an 83-tackle sophomore year and good showing at several offseason camps, so he at least had his name out there.

In the course of his senior year, Steed partially tore his ACL. He’s already had surgery for that injury, so he has begun the rehab process.

As far as his recruitment goes, Steed was all-Miami from the jump. He committed to the Canes back in February 2015, and never wavered on his commitment. Miami Central is a top tier school, so many coaches came by to recruit players — including Steed — and the Rockets’ team visited many campuses for team camps. Through it all, Steed remained steadfastly committed to the Canes, even through the coaching change from Al Golden to Mark Richt.

Recruiting followers say they want guys to pick a school, not a coach, and value the definition of commitment. To those people, I present to you Waynmon Steed. He’s just the kind of player they’ve been looking for.

Recruiting Ranking

On the 247sports composite, Steed is a 3-star prospect, the #25 ILB in this class, the #83 player in the State of Florida, and the #640 player in this class overall.

Steed committed to Miami over 13 other offers including Mississippi State, Louisville, Cal, and LSU. Steed is an early enrollee, and already on campus in Coral Gables.

Steed as a player

Steed is a player with very good instincts, which he follows to the ball on many plays. He’s a fierce run defender who fills his gap well and brings down the runner on first contact.

On film, Steed shows good timing and instincts as a blitzer as well. This isn’t the best part of his game, but he’s good enough to be a sufficient blitzer from time to time.

Steed runs from sideline to sideline well, and is good, but not great, in coverage. Steed is only an average athlete, so he has to become more knowledgeable and efficient in this area moving forward, which will allow him to stay on the field for 3 downs on defense, potentially.

Steed does well taking on and shedding blocks. But, he’ll have to become more adept at this in college, as some of the OL he faced in HS were quite poor (thereby making it easier for him to shed their blocks).

For another look at Steed, here’s an eval from a HS coach:

Strengths: great coming downhill in the box; understands and reads blocks of the OL very well; great at striking and using hands to beat blocks; covering backs out of the backfield.

Weaknesses: May not have been put in enough zone situations to understands coverage areas and offensive threats; average athlete at best

2017 Outlook

Steed is coming off ACL surgery, so he’ll need time to recover and get back to top form. With the amount of talent at LB in front of him, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Canes took the deliberate route in this recovery.

Chances for a redshirt: 9/10

Steed is a nice player who will be quality depth in the future. But, with Shaquille Quarterman, Michael Pinckney, and Zach McCloud entrenched as starters, and several decent backup options already on the roster, there’s no need to rush Steed back from his knee injury, and integrate him into the defense starting in 2018.

That’s it for this installment of the Recruit Notebook.

Go Canes.