A recruiting lesson learned from 18 years of UM mediocrity. Here’s what’s changing

For 40 years, since Howard Schnellenberger coined the phrase “building a wall” around South Florida, the Miami Hurricanes have made recruiting in Miami-Dade and Broward a priority.

So it’s notable that with the early signing period beginning on Wednesday, Mario Cristobal’s 2023 recruiting class has only eight players from Dade and Broward (none from Palm Beach), and 16 from other parts of the country.

But here’s why that is a good thing:

All of the great Canes teams had key players from other parts of the country, and that’s the type of top-five class that Mario Cristobal is now assembling, arguably the Canes’ best class since 2004.

And too often over the past 18 years, UM settled for local prep players who weren’t considered elite or close to that, leading to perpetual disappointment when they became simply average or pretty good college players, but not genuine difference makers.

Anyone with eyes knows the Canes need more of the absolute best prospects from South Florida who have been snagged by Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and other powers over the past two decades -- Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa, Jerry Jeudy, Patrick Surtain and many others.

But this also needs to be said: The Canes don’t necessarily need as many decent, but not great, South Florida prospects. This UM staff appears to recognize that, and unlike previous staffs, seems to have the ability to land very good players from elsewhere instead of pretty good players from here.

UM’s roster in recent years has been filled with three- and four-star South Florida prospects who never quite become what everyone hoped they would be -- from Nesta Silvera to Navaughn Donaldson to Kai-Leon Herbert to Issiah Walker to a bunch of linebackers (Avery Huff, Sam Brooks, Patrick Joyner) and receivers (Dee Wiggins, even five-star Mark Pope) and many others. Silvera, Donaldson and Pope were good college players, but not the elite difference-makers that some expected.

Some three- and four-star defensive backs - DJ Ivey, Te’Cory Couch, Gilbert Frierson and others - have become solid contributors, but not the type of players that start for national title contenders.

Of the 17 Canes who have entered the portal in the past two weeks, nine attended high school in the tri-county region; Thad Franklin, Jalen Harrell, Eljiah Roberts, Allan Haye, Huff, and Keshawn Washington couldn’t carve out roles and weren’t dissuaded from leaving. Local prep star Jaylan Knighton left for SMU after an uneven UM career.

Now let’s be clear: There have been local players who have made a real impact - not a negligible one - at UM the past few years, topped by Greg Rousseau and Kamren Kinchens. Leonard Taylor, Nyjalik Kelly and Wesley Bissainthe - among others - are headed in that direction.

But here’s the takeaway: If you cannot land the best players from South Florida, don’t assume the second- or third-tier players here are better than the best players in other regions. Selectivity is needed, and this new UM staff understands that.

Cristobal put it well recently:

“Miami is a national brand. You always start with the home base. You go for the very, very best players and you have to try to find a way to get the best players [locally]. Should that not occur, you have to get the best players from other places.”

He then pointed out that one of the best teams he played on at UM had players from “all over the country” and Canada.

The 2001 UM team - considered one of the best in college football history - had a quarterback from California (Ken Dorsey), an all-time great safety from Louisiana (Ed Reed), a star running back from Gainesville (Clinton Portis), an All American center from Canada (Brett Romberg), an All American tackle from New Jersey (Bryant McKinnie), All American tight ends from San Diego and Oklahoma (Kellen Winslow Jr. and Jeremy Shockey), a star linebacker from Sacramento (D.J. Williams), an All American corner from Lehigh Acres (Phillip Buchanon) – plus superior players from Miami-Dade (Andre Johnson, Willis McGahee, Vernon Carey, Sean Taylor, Antrel Rolle, Jonathan Vilma) and a Lantana (Palm Beach) star in Vince Wilfork.

So what you want is “the elite players locally, that truly, truly, truly want to work hard and be great and complement them with a locker room that’s as diverse as an NFL locker room from all over,” Cristobal said. “Get the best of the best.”

Cristobal’s 2023 class appears to be a big first step in achieving that.

So far, he has had great success luring the top players from other parts of the country, including five-star cornerback Cormani McClain from Lakeland; five-star IMG Academy offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa (who grew up in American Samoa, then moved to California as a teenager and later relocated to Florida), four-star tight end Riley Williams from IMG Academy (via Portland, Oregon) and one of the top two players in Orlando (linebacker Malik Bryant).

ESPN ranks McClain the fourth-best player in the 2023 class, Mauigoa the fifth best, Bryant the 74th and Williams 75th. IMG Academy defensive end Jayden Wayne (who played high school ball previously in Tacoma and developed a relationship there with Cristobal) is 83rd, giving UM six players in ESPN’s top 100.

This isn’t a banner South Florida recruiting class; ESPN rates only four Dade/Broward/Palm Beach prospects among its top 100 overall prospects.

Of those, Fort Lauderdale Stranahan receiver Hykeem Williams (No. 24) chose FSU over UM and others on Sept. 23; Plantation American Heritage receiver Brandon Inniss (No. 30) is committed to Ohio State as UM and others continue to pursue him; Gulliver Prep receiver Jalen Brown (No. 62) is LSU-bound; and Miami Central defensive end Rueben Bain (No. 73) picked UM over FSU last week.

Among players ranked 101 to 150 by ESPN, Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas safety King Mack (103) is Penn State-bound; American Heritage cornerback Damari Brown (112) is uncommitted, with UM among his finalists, and Miami Edison receiver Nathaniel Joseph (147) is a UM commitment.

Besides Joseph and Bain, UM’s other local commitments are Fort Lauderdale Dillard cornerback Antione Jackson (162 in ESPN’s top 300), Miami Palmetto receiver Robby Washington (209), plus three-star Palmetto linebacker Bobby Washington (Robby’s twin brother) and LaSalle three-star offensive tackle Frankie Tinilau (who grew up playing rugby in Australia and has considerable upside), and running backs Christopher Johnson (Dillard) and Mark Fletcher (Plantation American Heritage).

There’s reason to believe UM will have fewer recruiting misses overall considering Cristobal’s gifts as a recruiter and the fact UM’s evaluation team was bolstered by the addition of football general manager Alonzo Highsmith, who has 23 years of NFL experience in scouting and personnel.

And the lesson from the past 15 years of football irrelevance should be this: Don’t settle for decent prospects from South Florida over top prospects elsewhere simply because they’re from South Florida. It seems Cristobal is acutely aware of this.