College football fans were allowed momentary permission to drool over the physical attributes of a bunch of underage high school athletes this week. Wednesday marked National Signing Day, when thousands of high school football players signed letters of intent to play football at universities across the country.
The Miami Hurricanes had two major obstacles heading into recruiting season. The team had fewer than 20 scholarship slots to offer due to a glut of returnees, and new coach Al Golden got a late start, due to his postseason regime change.
Nonetheless, the Canes had plenty of holes to fill, including linebacker, defensive back, wide receiver, and kicker. Despite these obstacles, Golden managed to pull in a respectable class, ranked 36th by recruiting site Rivals (and unranked by ESPN, who only selects a top 25). That ranking could improve if the Canes can secure Palm Beach Dwyer quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who is expected to announce his choice Friday evening (Florida and Wisconsin are the other schools in the running).
That may not be up to Miami standards, but considering the Miami class was ranked as low as 85 by Rivals in December, one thing is for certain: Al Golden is a closer.
Among the better gets for Miami are Tampa Alonso defensive end Anthony Chickillo, Lakeland Kathleen linebacker Gionni Paul, and Las Vegas Bishop Gorman defensive tackle Jalen Grimble.
Chickillo and Grimble were five-star recruits, while Paul had originally verbally committed to Arizona State, but was flipped by Golden. Apparently Golden did such a good job selling Miami to Paul that the latter is now sporting a tattoo of the U. If Golden can acquire Brissett on Friday, he could have quite a haul considering the circumstances.
FIU coach Mario Cristobal didn't land any names as big as Golden's but his class of 25 new Panthers includes 19 from the state of Florida. The Miami Herald called the class the deepest in the team's 10-year history, though with only 11 three-star recruits (and no four- or five-star recruits), that still leaves FIU near the bottom of the major recruiting rankings.
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Meanwhile, Golden needs all the goodwill he can get, because in-state rivals Florida and Florida State both assembled top-25 classes. ESPN rated the Noles' class number 1, while Rivals has Florida State ranked second.
New Gators coach Will Muschamp's first class was ranked 8th by ESPN and 14th by Rivals. The class included 7 players in the ESPNU Top 150, including Brooksville Nature Coast receiver Ja’Juan Story and Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas cornerback Marcus Roberson.
Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher signed a staggering 12 players from ESPNU Top 150, including Tampa Plant running back James Wilder Jr. and Davenport Ridge defensive back Karlos Williams.
Golden has 3 ESPNU Top 150 players so far, but for now his recruiting record is a distant third behind Fisher and Muschamp.
