2023 Canes ‘Crooting spotlight: CB Cormani McClain

2022 high school recruitment is over. Cristobal landed a top 15 class, transfers included, in only 2 months, with a skeleton crew.

Imagine 2023, with a full year and a complete staff on the recruiting trail.

As we move into the new cycle, we’ll spend each week building a Big Board with the Canes must gets, really wants, and gotta haves.

Enter: Cormani McClain

Consensus 5 star cornerback from Lake Gibson High School in Lakeland, Florida.

#1 CB in Florida, #1 player in Florida, #3 player in the country.

Rangy, with insane fluidity and solid technique already. Has inhuman recovery speed and equally inhuman ball skills. This kid is the closest thing to a sure shot NFL draft pick you can find at the high school level.

At 6’1.5”, 165 lbs, he’ll need to pack on weight at the college level. Despite his size he’s physical at the line of scrimmage and an eager, skilled tackler.

He’s a day 1 starter and a day 1 difference maker at a position that’s been lackluster for the Canes recently, save for Tyrique Stevenson.

He can also do this:

Do the Canes have a shot?

Miami’s recruitment of McClain predates the Cristobal era, with his primary contact being DVD. If another SEC school doesn’t steal DVD away from Miami (re: T-Rob, re: Bryan McClendon), we have a realistic chance.

McClain’s top 5 at this point are Alabama, FSU, Florida, Miami, and BYU.

Where does McClain land on the Canes Big Board?

Really want.

McClain isn’t a must get because we can still have a stacked class without him.

He isn’t a gotta have because of the number of talented cornerbacks available in 2023.

But maybe it’s my paranoia talking here.

My defense mechanism against the inevitable letdown the past 15 years of Miami fandom has primed me for.

But we really, really want him.

He’s an elite, first-round level talent who can truly lockdown an entire side of the field, a generational player who intercepts passes one-handed, with style.

He can be the domino that falls in Miami’s direction, marking a new era of recruiting and on-field success for the Hurricanes.

If McClain comes to the U, so will others.

Imagine a secondary with McClain, James, Avantae, and Kinchens.

Imagine Bama and Georgia struggling to pull talent out of South Florida, against juggernaut Miami.

So no, we don’t really, really want him.

We have to have him.

So long to 15 years of paranoia, and an expect-the-worst attitude.

So long to the era of Diaz-level expectations.

He’s the best, he’s in Florida, and he’s ours.

It’ll be an up and down recruitment, but if Cristobal and Steele build an improved, fundamentally sound, non-embarrassing defense this year, we can land him.

McClain = MUST GET

GO CANES