Miami continues Northwestern pipeline with Brinson commitment
The Miami Hurricanes and tight ends coach Stephen Field have built a Northwestern recruiting pipeline in the 2021 class, landing commitments from Romello Brinson, Kahlil Brantley, Ja’Corey
Hammett and Tim Burns.
South Florida is the best place in the world to find high school football talent and Miami Northwestern, for the past three years, has been unparalleled in Miami-Dade County.
Last year, Northwestern won a third straight state championship and the Bulls will be the overwhelming favorite to repeat in Class 5A this year. A group of future Miami Hurricanes will be at the center of Northwestern’s quest for four in a row.
Last year, Kahlil Brantley and Tim Burns Jr. both orally committed to Miami. In January, Ja’Corey Hammett
followed his two teammates in committing to the hometown team. On Saturday, the Hurricanes
scored perhaps their biggest prize yet from the local school — Romello Brinson, a four-star wide receiver, scorned teams like the Georgia Bulldogs and Texas A&M Aggies to stay home at Miami.
If all four follow through and sign national letters of intent with the Hurricanes in December or on National Signing Day next year, it will mark a massive turnaround for Miami with one of the most storied programs in all of Florida.
In 2019, the Hurricanes had only one former Bull on the roster. In 2021, the Hurricanes are poised to have five or perhaps even more. They got it done with the help of one assistant coach, one particularly vocal recruit and a continued commitment to uncovering gems across the Miami metropolitan area.
GREAT RECRUITER
Field was a unicorn when he took over as Northwestern’s coach in 2012. The school, founded in 1951 and overwhelmingly black, had never had a white coach before Field took the helm in 2012. Players thought it was a joke. Alumni balked at the idea.
Nonetheless, Field became beloved in his three years there. Now the tight ends coach understands the community better than pretty much any other college coach across the country.
“Any time you have a coach that coached at a particular high school in Miami-Dade County, they’re going to make a difference. I don’t care where they come from,” Bulls coach Max Edwards said. “They understand our kids and they understand how our kids act a little bit, and by him being a coach at Northwestern, he kind of knows what Mello’s going through and the halls he walks, so I will say it can help.”
Field was the primary recruiter for Brinson, Brantley, Hammett and Burns. The position coach — who also landed commitments from Miami Central guard Laurence Seymore, Orlando Edgewater inside linebacker Deshawn Troutman and out-of-state tight end Elijah Arroyo — is currently the No. 2 recruiter in the Atlantic Coast Conference and No. 5 in the nation, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2021.
NEVER WAVERED
At one point last year, all three of the Bulls’ top receivers were committed to Miami.
Brinson spent about nine months committed to the Hurricanes last year before he backed off his pledge midway through the 2019 season.
Wide receiver Marcus Fleming, who signed with the Nebraska Cornhuskers in February, spent more than a year committed to Miami before he backed off his commitment midway through last season.
Brantley committed to the Hurricanes early last year and has never wavered — in fact, he’s the most
vocal pledge in the class.
“He’s a natural leader. He’s going to show it with his actions and his workouts, and the way he practices. And the way he handles the team and goes about his business,” Edwards said. “He has a knack as a leader, as a person and just showing that he’s an impressive young man.”
Since Brinson committed, Brantley has moved on to other goals, including trying to lure Kamren Kinchens to Coral Gables. The four-star Northwestern safety is slated to make an announcement next month, choosing between Miami, Texas A&M and the Auburn Tigers.
UNCOVERING GEMS
Brinson was one of the most coveted prospects in the Southeast when he committed to the Hurricanes, but this wasn’t necessarily true for Brantley, Hammett and Burns — all three-star prospects.
Brantley flipped from the Utah Utes and still claims just two offers from teams that finished last season in the Top 25. Burns holds fewer than a dozen offers and none from Top 25 teams. Hammett only had one other offer when he committed to Miami.
The Hurricanes trust players from a team like the Bulls will outperform they rankings at the next level. No one is better evidence, potentially, than Hammett.
Northwestern’s defense was one of the best in the state last year, sending wave after wave of edge rushers at opposing offenses. It was easy for Hammett to get lost in the shuffle behind front-seven stars like Wati Huggins, Terrence Lewis and A’mahri McCray,
all of whom earned first-team all-county honors from the Miami Herald.
Midway through the season, it clicked and Hammett finished the year with 11 sacks. Miami offered him — and locked him up — before he hit the camp circuit and started to draw national attention.
“I think it was the competition and he didn’t want to get lost in the shuffle, and he had to do what he had to do and he did it,” Edwards said. “UM did a good job of going ahead, and discovering and offering him because they got a guy that’s going to be a big-time player.”