Report of grad transfer doesn’t sit well with some
Clemson’s Bryant to make official visit to campus this month
CORAL GABLES — During his tenure at Miami, Hurricanes coach Mark Richt hasn’t shied away from recruiting — and signing — graduate transfers he believes can help his team win immediately.
But right now, some of Miami’s most recent recruiting overtures to one high-profile graduate transfer don’t seem to be sitting well with at least some of the current players on the Hurricanes’ roster.
Miami running back Lorenzo Lingard on Monday night took to Twitter to share his thoughts on a Rivals.com report that former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant, a graduate transfer, is set to make an official visit to UM later this month.
“They say it’s business. I believe in my QBs … Anything possible with opportunity but loyalty is the code? … I forgot its business,” Lingard posted in a tweet that has since been deleted. He added a laughing emoji and the words “#Same opinion free.”
Lingard, who is currently recovering from knee surgery, linked his tweet to the Rivals.com story reporting Bryant is set to make an official visit to Miami on Nov. 24 when the Hurricanes host Pittsburgh in their regular-season finale at Hard Rock Stadium.
The running back wasn’t the only one to share his thoughts on the topic.
Freshman quarterback Jarren Williams, one of the jewels of the Hurricanes’ 2018 recruiting class and the player many believe could be Miami’s quarterback of the future, chimed in, quote-tweeting Lingard’s post and writing “Real talk,” an indication he agreed with Lingard’s sentiment.
And it’s there where things could get tricky for Richt moving forward.
If the Hurricanes, who have struggled with quarterback play all season, bring in a veteran like Bryant — who would be a oneyear fix — they run the risk of losing Williams, who could transfer. Fellow quarterbacks N’Kosi Perry and Cade Weldon, both of whom are redshirt freshmen, could leave the program as well, to seek playing time at another school.
Since Richt took over as Hurricanes coach in December 2015, two former Miami quarterbacks — Jack Allison and Evan Shirreffs — have transferred. A third, Brad Kaaya, opted to leave school early and enter the NFL Draft.
Among the quarterbacks expected to return to Miami next season, only Perry has seen extensive playing time, with Richt alternating between him and redshirt senior Malik Rosier through the first 10 games of the season.
Perry, who has been named the starter for this week’s game at Virginia Tech (4-5, 3-3), has appeared in eight games and completed 53.9 percent of his passes, throwing for 866 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions.
However Bryant, if he were to come to Miami, would give the Hurricanes a veteran presence with championship experience.
A former four-star prospect coming out of high school, he started every game for Clemson last season and helped lead the Tigers to their third straight berth in the College Football Playoff and the ACC title.
He completed 65.8 percent of his passes for 2,802 yards with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions in 2017 and ran for 665 yards and and another 11 scores.
He started the first four games of this season for Clemson and threw for 456 yards before he was replaced by true freshman Trevor Lawrence, a move which prompted Bryant’s decision to transfer.
Along with Miami, Bryant is reportedly considering Mississippi State, Arkansas, Auburn, Missouri and North Carolina. Many in recruiting circles believe Arkansas is the favorite to land Bryant because of his relationship with first-year Razorbacks coach Chad Morris.
Morris was Clemson’s offensive coordinator in 2014, when Bryant initially committed to the Tigers.
For his part, Richt on Tuesday wouldn’t address the Rivals report or Bryant specifically — that would violate NCAA rules — but he did say that no graduate transfer at any position has ever been promised playing time.
Competition, he stressed, is the key. And he pointed out recruiting happens at every year at every position.
“We’ve never brought in a graduate transfer and promised him he’d start. We’ve never done that. We’ve only promised an opportunity to compete and then they look at the situation and decide whether that situation is one that makes sense to them,” Richt said. “The bottom line is we are always trying to build our roster through any means that’s legal, and that means it helps us be stronger. Competition creates better play and that’s what we’re looking for. I’m not talking specific to any position, as I know you guys want me to, but any time a graduate transfer has come into this program, he’s always been promised an opportunity to play, an opportunity to win a job. But we’ve never said, ‘You come in here, you’re going to start for us.’ We’ve never done that. You can’t do that. It’s not right, it’s not fair to anybody.”
Richt then continued, “We recruit every year. We recruit every year at all positions. We recruit high school kids, we look at junior college kids, we look at graduate transfers, we look at guys that might transfer that aren’t graduates. I think everybody in America’s doing that. We’re not doing anything different than anybody else.”
Any potential link Richt might have with Bryant wouldn’t be the quarterback’s only connection with Miami.
Rosier, who led the Hurricanes to 10 wins last season and started the first four games this year before being demoted in favor of Perry, has spoken publicly about his friendship with Bryant and said he supported the quarterback’s decision to transfer.