2017 will be the second recruiting cycle for Mark Richt with the Miami Hurricanes. Here are the five recruits Miami must land on 2017 National Signing Day.
The Miami Hurricanes enter 2017 National Signing Day in good shape in the second year of the Mark Richt era. It will take some time for the elite head coach/recruiter in Richt to get his alma mater’s program up to the high standard he once had at the University of Georgia.
According to 247Sports, Miami has the No. 16 recruiting class of the 2017 cycle heading into National Signing Day. Miami has 20 commitments: six four-stars and 14 three-stars. Richt does have nine early enrollees, including his best commitment thus far of this 2017 class: Offensive tackle Navaughn Donaldson (Miami Central HS), the No. 12 offensive tackle, the No. 13 player in Florida, and the No. 71 overall player.
With 2017 National Signing Day coming up on Wednesday, Feb. 1, here are the five recruits Richt and the Miami program must land in this recruiting cycle.
Christopher Henderson is the No. 15 cornerback in the country, the No. 24 player in Florida, and the No. 135 player in the 2017 class. 247Sports has him as a four-star recruit with a 0.9357 grade. He remains uncommitted heading into National Signing Day, but land at one of these three schools: Alabama, Florida, and Miami.
While he has not committed to a Power 5 program, it feels almost inevitable that Henderson will sign with the rival Florida Gators. It’s especially painful for Miami as not only Henderson hails from the city, but former Hurricanes head coach Randy Shannon is his lead recruiter to Gainesville.
For Richt to get his alma mater’s program back on track, he’ll need to keep the best talent in Miami on his Coral Gables campus. Richt would love to add another four-star cornerback to his secondary, but landing Henderson out of Columbus High School feels like an unrealistic reach. It would be an incredible signing for Richt to pry Henderson away from Florida.