Podcast: The biggest Miami football, men’s basketball and baseball stories of the summer

The summer is usually quiet in college athletics, but not for the Miami Hurricanes.

The football, men’s basketball and baseball teams have all spent the last few weeks making big moves, and the Eye on the U podcast is back after a few weeks off to catch up on all the big news in Coral Gables.

David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Miami Herald’s Hurricanes beat writer, hit on all the big topics, from football recruiting to a major change at the top of the baseball program.

To start things off, they dive into the state of the football program and, in particular, its recruiting efforts. Miami’s Class of 2024 isn’t very flashy so far, but is it concerning yet? The answer is sort of complicated.

The Hurricanes have a very solid foundation to their 2024 recruiting class, with South Florida stars and high-level three-star prospects all over the class. They do , however, need to start winning some big recruiting battles, like the ones they did last year on their way to a top-10 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

Finally, Miami found a little bit of recruiting momentum this week, with elite edge rusher Marquise Lightfoot committing to the Hurricanes on Monday and giving them a second top-100 prospect in their 2024 class. Miami beat out Ohio State to land the four-star prospect and bounced back after losing a handful of in-state recruiting battles earlier in the weekend.

Elsewhere on campus, it’s a pivotal time for the baseball team. J.D. Arteaga took over as the new coach last week and now the 2023 MLB draft is here, starting with Rounds 1 and 2 on Sunday.

As is always the case, the Hurricanes are going to lose a lot of talent to the MLB draft next week, which helps underscore why Arteaga got promoted into his new job, despite some of Miami’s recent postseason failures: The new coach is as plugged into the local baseball scene as anyone and the Hurricanes, under some constraints as a private school, need to build up their depth. There might not be anyone better suited to lock down local talent than Arteaga.

As always, thanks for listening and please continue to rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.