Miami Football Recruiting: Grading the Hurricanes 2018 class
By John Buhler
The Miami Hurricanes have put together a phenomenal 2018 recruiting class under head coach Mark Richt. Here are all the guys that have committed to The U.
No, it did not take long for Miami Hurricanes head coach Mark Richt to turnaround his alma mater’s football program. Richt played for the Canes from 1979 to 1982 in Coral Gables, shortly before the football program became the national powerhouse known as The U.
Richt had been a dominating recruiter in the SEC with the Georgia Bulldogs from 2001 to 2015 as their head coach and with the Hurricanes’ ACC rival Florida State Seminoles before that from 1990 to 2000 as quarterbacks coach and later offensive coordinator.
2017 was Richt’s first true recruiting class at The U. He did very well in his first year on the job, as Miami had the No. 12 overall class, according to 247Sports. The only ACC program with a better recruiting class from a year ago was rival Florida State.
However, Florida State has undergone a coaching change from Jimbo Fisher to Willie Taggart. Fisher left Tallahassee for the Texas A&M Aggies job in the SEC. Taggart left the Oregon Ducks after just one year in Eugene to return to the Sunshine State.
Obviously, the phenomenal recruiter that is Richt has capitalized on the change of guard in Tallahassee. According to 247Sports, Miami has the No. 5 overall class in 2018. The Hurricanes are No. 1 in the ACC with one five-star, 13 four-stars, and eight three stars. Here is the 2018 Miami football recruiting class.
2018 Miami Hurricanes Football Recruiting Class
Miami had 10 early enrollees, including their only five-star in running back Lorenzo Lingard of Orange City, Florida. He is the No. 2 running back in the country, the No. 6 player from Florida and the No. 25 player nationally. With the way that Richt likes to pound the rock to open up the pass, look for Lingard to be an impact player very early in his collegiate career at Miami.
Other high-profile early enrollees include four-star pro-style quarterback Jarren Willams from Lawrenceville, Georgia, offensive guard Delone Scaife from Miami and wide receiver Brian Hightower from the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. All three could be early contributors to the Hurricanes football team.
Looking at their 10 early enrollees, their nine prospects who have signed national letters of intent and their three hard commits, Miami certainly has many areas of great strength in their recruiting class. Getting Lingard and Williams as early enrollees are huge. Landing letters of intent from tight end Brevin Jordan (Las Vegas) and wide receiver Mark Pope (Miami) absolutely helps.
Overall, Miami looks to be very strong at its skill positions in this recruiting class, especially at tight end. That has been a Richt specialty for a long time. The defensive backfield looks strong, as does the secondary. However, two areas of weakness are on the offensive line and at linebacker. Richt doesn’t typically clean up at offensive line, so the problem continues. Not one linebacker? Come on!
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Miami has done a great job with its 2018 recruiting class. It allows Richt to get more dynamic playmakers on both sides of the ball on campus. Perhaps they can add a guy or two on the second national signing day in the form of defensive end Andrew Chatfield of Fort Lauderdale or athlete Marquezz Ezzard of Stockbridge, Georgia? It’s really hard to be critical of a recruiting class that could lead to a national championship for Miami one day here very soon.
Grade: A