Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘True ’Canes’ define UM’s recruiting class
Coach Richt completes his search for mostly homegrown players
CORAL GABLES — St. Thomas wide receiver Mike Harley concedes there was a bit of back-and-forth during his recruitment, but there was never any question he grew up a Hurricanes fan.
Trajan Bandy grew up a Hurricanes fan, too. So did De’Andre Wilder. And Jon Ford. Even Amari Carter, who grew up more than an hour’s drive from Coral Gables, couldn’t escape his Palm Beach Gardens neighborhood without hearing about Miami. He, too, became a lifelong Hurricanes fan. On Wednesday, all of them — from the outspoken cornerback who spent months recruiting fellow players to the receiver who wavered between Miami and West Virginia — signed with the Hurricanes, helping give coach Mark Richt an impressive class after his first full recruiting cycle at Miami.
And in their own ways, each embodied something specific Richt and his staff went searching for as they tried to round out the Hurricanes roster. There wasn’t just a sense Miami needed solid players. That’s a given. Talent will always matter when it comes to college football.
The Hurricanes wanted something in addition to talent.
They felt they needed a players who understood Miami’s rich history and wanted to do their part to help get the Hurricanes back to being what they once were in college football.
They wanted what they termed “true ’Canes.”
“People will rank them based off of other things, but we ranked them based on, ‘Are you a ’Cane first?’ We feel like if we get a defense that plays like Hurricanes, we’ll be OK,” Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said. “What we talk about all year with our defense, I think there’s a way that you play in terms of the aggression, the violence, the tenacity that you play with. Beyond that, I want to play with people that are defined by being from down here. They understand that if the best players from South Florida go to one school, it won’t be close. No one else would be able to compete with us. [We want] the guys that feel that daily, when they go home, the pressure the community puts on them to perform. That’s what we want.
“I want people to understand that they represent all of South Florida by the way we play and the way that they play. To me, that’s what pushes you through that hot workout in the summer time. You have to play for something bigger than yourself.”
Wanting players like those is part of the reason Diaz said he felt it was important for the Hurricanes to push hard to sign junior college cornerback Jhavonte Dean.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound four-star prospect out of Blinn College would help fill an immediate need for Miami after the departures of Corn Elder and Adrian Colbert, but Dean also grew up in South Florida. Dean understands the type of players with whom he’d share a roster with at Miami. And after Miami’s efforts,
Dean ultimately committed to Miami on the night before Signing Day. His letter of intent followed Wednesday morning.
In all, the Hurricanes’ class includes 24 players, 16 of whom hail from Florida. Twelve of those players grew up in Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach counties. They’re representative of the talent pool that helped Miami win five national championships between 1983 and 2001.
And, while it’s almost impossible for the Hurricanes to keep that talent pool to themselves these days, they’re going to try their hardest to continue finding players like the ones they signed this year.
“Everybody talks about putting a fence around South Florida, but if you put a fence around it — there might be 120 guys that are going major Division I, and guess what? You can only take 15 or 20 a year, on average,” Richt said. “You can’t get every player in the tricounty area. It’s impossible. The goal is to get the ones you want, or at least a high percentage of those.”
There were some misses locally, of course. The Hurricanes were hoping to land cornerback Brian Edwards, of Miramar, and fellow corner C.J. Henderson, of Miami Columbus. Both announced Wednesday they were signing with Florida, where former Hurricanes coach Randy Shannon is on staff.
Ultimately, the 12 locals will help make up for that, Miami coaches hope.
They found in Miami Central’s Navaughn Donaldson, Douglas’ Corey Gaynor and American Heritage-Plantation’s Kai-Leon Herbert three homegrown offensive linemen, defying the stereotype that South Florida tends to produce just hyper-talented skill players.
In Bandy and Carter, they found two young defensive backs that have all the makings of vocal leaders. And in Waynmon Steed and Wilder, they found two more hungry linebackers that can add to a talented group.
And Diaz shared that toward the end of the recruiting cycle, some of the current Hurricanes — as well as the recruits — had their input in the class, too, understanding what it was Miami wanted.
Among those to offer their advice were Bandy and Harley.
“The kids — it’s so easy for them now to connect, not just with cell phones, but social media,” Diaz said. “It’s important they have those relationships and, sometimes, to be honest, the kids will talk to us and say, ‘Coach, I’m not sure this guy fits. I’m not sure this guy is a pure ’Cane.’ That’s why sometimes, on the outside, it looks like it’s fantasy football. You add this guy with this many stars and your team will get better. That’s not always the case.
“To me, to succeed at UM, for us to be great, you have to understand the dynamics of what it means to wear this uniform. That’s what we’ve harped on the last 12 months with our current roster. So it was just natural that we took that into recruiting.”
For all of Miami’s signees — and especially its homegrown core — it’s time to get to work. Ten players are already on campus and will participate in spring practice. The others will arrive in early summer. By the start of fall camp, all will be working to help the Hurricanes continue the momentum they built after a 9-4 season and their first bowl win in a decade.
“I grew up playing football in Miami. I was raised in Miami. I saw the program go down the last couple years and I want to help put Miami on the map,” Bandy told the Sun Sentinel last month. “I have a passion for it and for my community. I have a passion for Miami. I want to see the program go up, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.”
Added Harley, who previously committed to West Virginia but in the end signed with his hometown team: “I felt a vibe at Miami that we were a family. A family circle. It’s close to home, and I always wanted to play at Miami. Now I have the opportunity, and it’s once in a lifetime.”