UM official: ‘Completely unfair’ to blast Rumph
Assistant ripped on social media for not signing local pair.
While Miami capped a top10 ranked recruiting class Wednesday, some criticized the Canes for the players they missed out on. On Thursday, two people close to the situation pushed back.
Some fans on social media were upset with cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph for not successfully recruiting one or both of his former players at Plantation-American Heritage, five-star corners Patrick Surtain Jr. and Tyson Campbell. Surtain signed with Alabama, and Campbell with Georgia.
Two people close to Rumph defended the former Atlantic High standout.
“It’s completely unfair,” Matt Doherty, UM’s director of player personnel, said on WQAM. “You can’t bully a kid going into a school because of a past relationship with an individual. Mike did a phenomenal job maintaining the job with those kids for two years. It just didn’t work out. We took our best shot. We don’t feel like we left anything undone. We did everything we could possibly do within the rules, within our power to woo those guys. It’s no one individual’s fault.”
Surtain’s father, Heritage coach and former Dolphins All-Pro Patrick Surtain, came even stronger in a subsequent WQAM hit, saying fans bashing Rumph need to “sit down and shut their mouths,” and that Miami “is going to be fine” with the players it landed.
“Coach Rumph is not going to get everybody,” Surtain said. “People are acting like these kids are going to the NFL. They are 17-year-old kids and making decisions that are best for themselves. I relayed that message to Coach Rumph. He’s doing an excellent job for that secondary he had last year and the year before; look what he did with it.
“He has some terrific players in his ’18 class. I know he’s going to coach them up and develop them in the right way.”
Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz praised the defensive backs UM signed.
“When we rank our guys, we say is this guy is a ‘1,’ ” Diaz said. “A ‘1’ is a top, top guy, high, high-profile guys. ... A year ago, we weren’t getting all the 1’s, we weren’t getting as many 1’s as we got this year.”
Passed up late: Miami at one point was heading for a top-five finish in the website recruiting rankings but was passed late. How UM did in the near-final numbers (this signing period lasts until April, but any major movement in the top of the rankings is unlikely):
247Sports ranked UM’s class eighth overall, two spots behind Clemson for tops in the ACC. ESPN had UM in the same spot, but Clemson one spot higher.
Rivals, on the other hand, ranked UM sixth, two spots ahead of Clemson for No. 1 in the league.
In average player rank, Miami finished 10th, according to Rivals and ninth according to 247.
It is UM’s first consensus top-10 class since 2008, when ESPN and 247Sports (the latter retroactively) ranked Miami No. 1 overall. Rivals ranked that Canes class fifth.