It took more than a year, but the Miami Hurricanes got their man at QB in the 2021 recruiting class when Loganville (GA) Grayson 4-star QB Jake Garcia committed to Miami moments ago on the first day of the Early Signing Period.

A 6’2” 195lb blue chip recruit, Garcia’s path to Miami has been incredibly, remarkably, ridiculously circuitous. A Los Angeles native, Garcia played for multiple HSFB programs out on the West Coast (Long Beach Poly, La Habra, and Narbonne, respectively) for the first 3 years of High School.

Then when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and it looked like SoCAL wouldn’t have HSFB in the fall, Garcia moved across the country to Georgia to play his senior season. First, he moved to Valdosta to play at Valdosta High under legendary coach Rush Propst — the coach who formerly led Hoover (AL) to multiple State Championships and was featured in the MTV show “2 A Days” in the early 2000s.

After an ESPN feature on Garcia and his cross-country move was published — a piece which detailed his parents getting separated to facilitate Jake moving away with just his dad to play football with the intention to reconcile legally once Jake’s HS career was over — the younger Garcia was investigated for not making a “true and complete” move to Georgia. And, after a short investigation, Jake was ruled ineligible at Valdosta after playing only one game.

Then, Garcia moved further North in Georgia from Valdosta to Loganville, a suburb located about an hour East of Atlanta. And, a funny thing happened: he was ruled eligible to play at powerhouse Grayson HS. I don’t know what changed between playing at Valdosta, another powerhouse HSFB program, and Grayson, but hey, whatever.

Once eligible again, Garcia hit the ground running and kept doing what he does best: BALLIN’!!!!!!!! He stepped right in for Grayson and has helped the Rams to the Georgia 8A Football Semifinals (game to be played this Friday at 8pm).

Just after his move from California, Garcia made the choice that many Cali players, especially QBs, make: he committed to USC. That was in spite of heavy interest in Miami (Garcia had taken multiple cross-country unofficial visits on his own dime to Coral Gables) among other schools.

But, when USC took a commitment from another blue chip QB (Miller Moss, who also holds a Canes offer), Garcia started to think about things. And, while he continually stated that he was all-in with SC, there was room for Miami to work a flip. After being committed to USC for only a couple of months. Garcia decommitted from the Trojans on December 3rd.

From there, it was merely a matter of time before Garcia completed the flip and picked Miami. Sure, Florida State tried to make a late run, but Miami’s longstanding connection to, and relationship with, Garcia was more than the moribund Noles could overcome.

After debating his choice, Garcia announced his commitment to Miami minutes ago on the first day of the Early Signing Period.

We may or may not have been prepared for this around these parts here at State of the U (wiiiiiink) so there’s more Garcia content coming in minutes.

Welcome to the U, Jake!