Coaches eager to tap recruiting pipelines to jump-start programs
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The battle for Florida talent has always been a fierce one, with three Power 5 schools that have won 11 national championships chasing top talent.
The battles have only intensified with UCF posting back-toback undefeated regular seasons, Lane Kiffin leading FAU, Butch Davis leading FIU and Charlie Strong leading USF.
After a rocky debut season, FSU coach Willie Taggart said recruiting during his second year has been a better experience.
“I think it’s just recruiting the kind of individuals you want in your program. We’ve had two recruiting classes where we’ve been able to get some guys in,” Taggart said. “Having the whole year here, you really understand your team, the guys you have, the guys that you need to go and get in order to build a program the way you want to.”
Taggart has said during his FSU Booster Tour he planned to “recruit where you’re at.” Taggart’s roster features 15 South Florida natives, including Asante Samuel Jr.
In 2017, Samuel told the Sun Sentinel, “I just went with my gut feeling, and I just feel like Tallahassee is going to be a very good place to be the next couple of years with Willie Taggart and what he’s bringing. It was kind of a hard decision because my mom loves UM, but she just said go with my heart.”
First-year Miami head coach Manny Diaz inherits a program that has a long history of recruiting in “The State of Miami,” a phrase former UM coach Howard Schnellenberger coined to describe the school’s talent-rich neighborhood during the early 1980s.
Diaz said the whole country is aware of the talent in South Florida and he no longer is fighting just in-state teams for top area recruits.
“Florida’s always been a major
battleground in recruiting, no matter what the names are,” he said during ACC Kickoff. “Everyone’s going to go where the players are, right? In my mind, we’ve got as good of players as anyone in the country, so it’s always highly competitive.”
He added that Miami likes to feel it has a home-field advantage when it comes to recruiting talent in the area.
“Every team in the nation flies an airplane down to Florida to come recruit our kids. The difference with is we’re home,” Diaz
said. “There are certain guys that have a lot of pride in where they’re from and they want to see their hometown team be great. If we can have those guys be the core of our recruiting class and sprinkle some guys in that are maybe from out of our area, that’s really been how Miami’s won in the past. We don’t pay attention to recruiting rankings or things like that. A lot of times we feel guys in our area aren’t really ranked what they ought to be. We don’t really care what they’re ranked, to be honest. If we think they can play for us, then that’s where we put our focus.”
Miami linebacker Shaq Quarterman said Miami pride helped
him decide to play for the Hurricanes, along with the school’s rich history.
“Miami is the only school in Florida that has that tradition,” he said. “You can say whatever you want to say, but you can’t negate that fact. South Florida is different entirely. We breathe talent; we breathe talent.”
When he faces South Florida natives who went to rival schools, Quarterman said it’s strictly business.
“Honestly I don’t think about it that much. When we see ‘em, we see ’em. They know where they should be at and they usually regret it, so that’s on them,” he said with a smile.