Miami or Georgia for the Best CB Class in the Nation?
Did Miami just sign the nation’s best cornerback class? Possibly. Much depends on whether a certain cornerback still signs with the Canes (see below).
Beyond Miami, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and possibly Alabama and/or LSU could be in the top group of programs with top cornerback recruits. For now, let’s take a look at what Miami signed, and also give some background about Georgia. Those two schools certainly loaded up.
Robert Stafford, Melbourne (Fla.) Eau Gallie – Bypassed Florida State, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee, Penn State, and numerous other Power 5 schools to sign with the Hurricanes.
Damari Brown, Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) American Heritage – Long recruiting battle ended on National Signing Day with Brown picking the Canes over the Seminoles, Crimson Tide, and many other opportunities.
Antione Jackson, Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Dillard – Originally a class of 2024 recruit that reclassified to the 2023 class, Jackson made an early verbal commitment to attend Georgia. That did not slow down Cristobal and his staff from recruiting Jackson. He eventually flipped to the Canes after also having offers from across the country.
Cormani McClain, Lakeland (Fla.) High School – As of this article going to print, he’s still not signed by Miami or anyone. He has been committed to Miami since Oct. 27, however. Assuming McClain ends up in the class, he’s the finalizer that will have provided Miami with arguably the nation’s best cornerback group. Keep in mind, he was ranked the No. 2 overall player in Sports Illustrated’s SI 99 rankings back in August.
Why can someone label the Canes as having signed the nation’s top cornerback class? Here are the answers.
Versatility could not have been any higher than with the prospects gained by the Canes. In whatever order a person wants to define them, all of the following attributes attested to Miami’s cornerback class as being tremendous: length, speed, height, and playmaking ability.
For those that have seen every one of these players first hand, it’s blatantly obvious as to why they were so ardently recruited. To pick out one category that provided Miami with the best cornerback class, here’s a look at a primary factor, versatility.
Any of the four can play multiple cornerback spots. Whether field corner, boundary corner, or nickel corner, each of the four Miami cornerback recruits can play at least two of those spots. That’s a sizable advantage when attempting to play against teams that use receivers in different spots on the field in an attempt to gain a mismatch. Miami will be able to move their cornerbacks to help offset such efforts.
Now, as for a few schools that certainly need to be in the conversation for top cornerback honors, Georgia had a great class as well.
AJ Harris, Justin Rhett, Chris Peal, and Daniel Harris are all talented cornerbacks that had numerous offers themselves. AJ Harris, in particular, was one of the nation’s most coveted cornerbacks out of Phenix City (Ala.) Central and could have picked his school. He has been ranked No. 26 in the SI 99.
In many ways, that Georgia group of cornerback signees mirrored what Miami signed. Harris, in particular, could move around and play multiple spots. He might even earn immediate playing time in Athens, Ga.
That being considered, if there’s an edge between Miami and Georgia, McClain would be the most likely difference (again, assuming he signs with Miami).
In high school, McClain provided a game-changing ability by taking the football away. Teams would often just bypass throwing to his side of the field. Those same talents will translate to once he’s in Coral Gables.
For now, Miami and Georgia are the two best cornerback classes. Each program did a tremendous job of recruiting the position. There’s still some players left out there that could help close that gap at least a little bit, with Desmond Ricks from Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy expected to sign with LSU or Alabama today.
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