2021 Recruiting Wishlist: 4-star Cornerback Markevious Brown

While the Miami Hurricanes have been hot on the recruiting trail over the past few months, Manny Diaz and his staff are still working to add the final pieces to what is already a very impressive 2021 class.

One of the biggest position groups of need for Miami in 2021, in my opinion, is cornerback. UM already has two CB’s committed for this cycle, 3-stars Tim Burns and Malik Curtis. Even with those two, Miami should look to add one more corner.

Last weekend, Canes target, 5-star CB Jason Marshall announced that he’d be committing to Florida.

Now while Marshall’s announcement to the Gators wasn’t what fans wanted to see, there are still several cornerbacks that would be a great addition to Miami’s class. One of those names is 4-star Markevious Brown out of IMG Academy.

Brown received an offer from the Canes in April of 2019, and attended a camp in Miami last summer.

247 Sports composite has Brown ranked as the #19 cornerback in the 2021 cycle, #42 player in the state of Florida, and #278 overall player in the country. He’s listed at 6-0 and 170 pounds. As a junior, Brown appeared in just five games, recording 9 tackles for IMG.

Brown transferred to IMG prior to his junior season, and is from Pahokee in South Florida. In 2019, Brown played behind fellow cornerbacks Elias Ricks and Lejond Cavazos. Both 2020 signees, Ricks signed with LSU, and Cavazos with Ohio State.

In early July, Brown included Miami in his top-five schools. The list also included Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss and Virginia Tech. Brown holds offers from schools like Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Penn State, among others.

While Brown has remained pretty quiet throughout his recruiting process, there are some who believe he could be close to making his decision.

Even though his stats won’t jump out at you, the talent is obviously there, and Brown was named to the Sports Illustrated All-American watch list in July. He also attended and participated in the Under Armour Future 50 camp in January.

When watching film on Brown, and reading other evaluations on him, his speed and instincts in the secondary is really what makes him an elite prospect. With exceptional coverage skills, Brown has a high ceiling, and shows a lot of promise. More than anything, Brown does a great job in man coverage, with great ability in mirroring the receiver.

His physicality is also something that sticks out, especially for someone at cornerback. A good tackler and explosiveness when blitzing the quarterback, Brown almost reminds me a little bit of Trajan Bandy in that aspect.

Back in January, Brown told reporters that UM cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph is key in Miami recruiting him. “I feel like Mike Rumph can take my game to the next level being my position coach,” Brown said. Brown has also said he’s talked with coach Jonathan Patke, and assistant director of recruiting Demarcus Van Dyke.

Now with Ricks and Cavazos gone, 2020 is really Brown’s time to shine, and many are expecting a breakout season for Markevious.

247 Sports recently said that Miami’s biggest competition for Brown is Virginia Tech. Working for Va Tech in this situation, is that one of Brown’s coaches is former Hokies cornerback Antonio Banks.

While there are other cornerbacks in the 2021 class, it’s pretty clear that Brown is at the top of the list for Miami. Now that he’ll be the starting cornerback this year for IMG, I think you’ll gradually see Brown make even more of a name for himself as an elite player, and is one that the Hurricanes need to sign.