Thoughts on the 2015 Miami Hurricanes National Signing Day

How did 2015 National Signing Day for the Miami Hurricanes turn out?

For any Miami Hurricanes fan, the 2015 National Signing Day was tough to watch.

First we had to find out that running back Jordan Scarlett, the local South Florida prodigy from St. Thomas Aquinas High School, decommitted two days before signing day, and then ended up in Gainesville, Florida, to play football at the University of Florida.

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Scarlett noted that playing for the Gators head coach Jim McElwain, was a huge factor in his decision since McElwain coached great running backs in college such as Eddie Lacy, Trent Richardson and Mark Ingram during his time serving under Nick Saban as Alabama’s offensive coordinator.

The only thing I could think was, literally three days before signing you pull this? Are you serious?!?!

However Scarlett’s decision wasn’t the biggest part of signing day that hurt the most, it was watching all of the local talent once again leave South Florida to help boost up another big time powerhouse program. It was tough to see players such as Da’Vante Phillips, Torrance Gibson, Taravarus McFadden, Tyrek Cole, Jovon Durante and Devante Peete all leave the city and not even consider Miami in their top choices.

Out of the top 50 players in the state of Florida, Miami has a grand total of three players, Mark Walton, Jaquan Johnson, and Tyree St. Louis, committed to the school.

Sep 27, 2014; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Hurricanes head coach Al Golden greets wide receiver Malcolm Lewis (9) during the first half against the Duke Blue Devils at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

To add further insult to injury, the Hurricanes only have a combined total of seven players who committed from the South Florida, Tri-County Area (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach).

Meanwhile schools such as Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida State, and Ohio State have come down to South Florida and started treating it like it’s their home. These schools come down to South Florida and they start selling to these recruits the fact that they can play inside of a stadium where nearly 100,000 people will come to watch them play on Saturdays, which is nothing that the Hurricanes can compete with.

Or these schools sell recruits on the fact that when they play for their programs that they will have some of the best facilities to come and play football. Schools even look at the strength of their conference and the different games they’ll play in on a weekly basis to get recruits fired up about their program.

For whatever selling point the other schools use, all I could think of is what selling point can the Hurricanes use for their school?

The most obvious selling point is the rich tradition that the school has. The Hurricanes have a total of five national championships, two Heisman Trophy winners, and 35 All-Americans in it’s history. In addition while playing in Miami people are going to experience the awesome weather Miami has to offer, it’s one of the most prestigious academic schools in the country, and not to forget, beautiful women are crawling left and right.

More importantly, what the Canes do each year in the NFL Draft, only a few schools can say they do. The Canes are getting football players employed with the NFL upon leaving their program.

In an interview with radio host, Joe Rose, of the Joe Rose Show, South Florida High School Sports Senior Analyst, Larry Blustein said this:

"At the end of the day, listen, Miami’s putting how many kids in the NFL this year? That would be my number one thing — listen, we’re improving, we’re getting better, but we’re also putting seven kids in the NFL this year, and nobody else can match that but FSU and Alabama.”"

However, it didn’t seem like this signing day a lot of recruits were interested in listening, but that’s to get expected finishing the year with a 6-7 record.

That 6-7 record was also more of a reason why the documentary series that Billy Corben directed, The U, didn’t nearly had the effect on recruiting that a lot of people thought it would have. The documentary talked about the glory days of the Miami Hurricanes through the eyes of great NFL talent from the program such as Ed Reed, Jeremy Shockey, Jonathan Vilma, Antrel Rolle, Santana Moss, and Greg Olsen.

For a documentary to talk about the crowning achievements of one of the best college football programs in the country, and to get scoffed at in the eyes of future potential recruits isn’t something that should get taken lightly.

Again, National Signing Day was tough to watch.

Thankfully the 2015 recruiting class for the Miami Hurricanes was fairly decent, so all is not lost. Hurricanes head coach Al Golden made sure that he got players that will make an impact next season, which is the most important aspect.

The Hurricanes did their best to beef up one of their weaknesses, the offensive and defensive line. Out of the 20 scholarships accepted six were offensive line commits, and four were defensive line commits.

At the end of the day though, it’s all about developing the talent that comes in. It’s not about the number of stars a player has attached to his name, it’s about making sure that the players on the roster get better.

National Signing Day is a year’s worth of work finalized in one day, and if any evidence of their 2015 recruiting class, the Hurricanes need to do more work.

People are saying that the Hurricanes are all in for 2016, we’ll have to wait and see.

Next: NCAA: Miami Hurricanes get ready, it's time for Joseph Yearby

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