2021 Recruiting Wishlist: Running Back Amari Daniels

There’s only a few remaining 2021 targets for the Miami Hurricanes, but today I'm going to talk about one of my new favorite prospects in this class, 3-star running back Amari Daniels out of Miami Central High School.

247 Sports composite has Daniels ranked as the #6 all-purpose back for the 2021 class and #52 overall player in the state of Florida.

For a long time, it looked like Daniels had little to no interest in the hometown Hurricanes, but with the arrival of new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, paired with the success of Miami and the offense so far, there’s reason to believe UM could be his choice.

Last week Daniels announced on social media that he’d be releasing his top two schools soon. He’s also told 247 Sports that he plans on making a decision before the start of his season, which is expected to be next month. There’s said to be four schools that could make his top two, Miami, Texas A&M, Georgia and Penn State.

Daniels enters his senior season as one of the best running backs in South Florida, and his 3-star ranking is almost guaranteed to rise this fall. As a junior, Daniels helped Miami Central win the 6A State Title, while rushing for over 1,000 yards.

Recently, Daniels announced that he’d be playing in the All-American Bowl, which is going to be in early January.

I’m a huge fan of running backs that come out of South Florida, it really says something about a player if they can put up impressive stats in the most talented area for high school football in the country. Just look at guys like Jaylan Knighton and Donald Chaney Jr.

Daniels reminds me a little bit of Knighton, both are home-run hitters when it comes to the position, and can go 65 yards like that for a touchdown. Amari stands at only 5-8 but decent size at 195 pounds, again very similar to Knighton’s build.

He doesn’t have the burning 4.4 speed of someone like Knighton or Duke Johnson, but Daniels has great quickness that allows him to break off long runs. Then once he’s in the open field, Daniels can make defenders miss with a stiff arm or his agility.

Aside from his downfield speed, Daniels vision as a running back is something else that makes him an elite prospect. He shows great decision making in which holes to cut through, and he doesn’t hesitate.

What really excites me about Daniels, is what he could bring to Miami’s RB room. If I had to bet, I’d say Cam’ron Harris declares for the NFL Draft after this season, and we already know that Rhett Lashlee loves to use a 3-4 player at rotation for his running backs. So it’s safe to assume Daniels would see action as a true freshman.

In Daniels and Knighton, you’d have your faster backs that can also play a role in the passing game. Then you have Chaney, and current 2021 commit 4-star Thad Franklin from Chaminade-Madonna in Broward County. Both Franklin and Chaney are powerful and bruising runners. If you have those four, that would become an elite running backs room very quickly.

With Miami off this week before playing Clemson next Saturday, you can bet Manny Diaz and his staff are talking with Daniels, especially with his top two schools coming out soon. At this point, it looks like it could come down to Miami and Texas A&M. If the Canes can land Daniels, they’ll have a future star on their hands.