Miami Recruiting: News, Predictions and June Official Visitors for June 20
Article photo of defensive lineman LJ McCray from Daytona Beach (Fla.) Mainland; photo credit to Brian Smith
June 20
Miami hosted talented edge rusher Elias Rudolph this past weekend for an official visit. He has already taken official visits to Pittsburgh and Michigan, and those will be the other two finalists per John Garcia, Jr. of Rivals.
#Rivals250 pass rusher Elias Rudolph is in evaluation mode after official visits to finalists Miami, Michigan and Pitt, with a commitment coming soon.
— John Garcia, Jr. (@JohnGarcia_Jr) June 20, 2023
"All three of these schools check the boxes."https://t.co/xcr72nPm4Z pic.twitter.com/Fi06G43k32
Per the article, here's a key quote about what Rudolph thinks of his final three schools:
"I need to get down to my notebook and pen, weight the pros and cons. It's gonna be a hard decision."
Having personally seen Rudolph dominate during the Palm Beach Gardens jamboree in May, make no mistake, he's one of the nation's most outstanding football recruits. His rankings aside (way too low), there's a reason that Michigan, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Miami, Florida State, Tennessee, and many more programs want to add the 6-foot-4 and 215-pound edge defender to their roster.
It's simply hard to find players with the combination of length, flexibility, speed, instincts and determination that Rudolph possessed during that jamboree to not go all-out for his signature. He's a dude.
As good a pash rusher there is in America 👇 | @EliasRudolph6 pic.twitter.com/tCmUPkFLLx
— Brian Smith (@fbscout_florida) May 20, 2023
The long-term projection for Rudolph needs to be about his upside, including some comparisons that were laid out below. He's just now scratching the surface of what he can be. He's still light in the pants to take on the 300-plus-pound offensive tackles that await him at the college level. That's okay.
Many of the greatest edge rushers the game has seen, like Miami defensive line coach Jason Taylor, were not the heaviest of defensive ends at this stage of their careers. A few examples include:
Javon Kearse was 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds coming out of North Fort Myers (Fla.) High School before he played for Florida. Reinard Wilson was 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds when he came out of Lake City (Fla.) Columbia prior to joining the Florida State program. Justin Tuck was 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds when he came out of Rockford (Ala.) Central Coosa County prior to heading off to Notre Dame.
As for Miami, the Canes have seen a plethora of linebackers end up at defensive end, as well as so-called undersized edge rushers add weight and become big-time college and even NFL players.
Jerome McDougal would be a good example, same with Kenard Lang, among many others.
All of those recruits ended up being over 250 pounds and being NFL players after successful college careers. Do not be surprised if Rudolph, at the least, ends up being a dominant college edge rusher that gets up to 250 pounds or at least close to that.
June 16 3:15 Update
Really impressed With Moritz Schmoranzer. He's a big offensive lineman from Roanoke (Va.) North Cross School that's been added to this weekend's official visit list. Been watching his film and he's aggressive and quite athletic in open space. Check it out:
For a player that's just learning football, Miami certainly found a really talented offensive lineman from Virginia. Check out the HUDL film from Moritz Schmoranzer:https://t.co/DBYfOOBUsC
— Brian Smith (@fbscout_florida) June 16, 2023
Gold is where you find it. If the Canes continue to bring in athletic prospects like Schmoranzer, the offensive line depth chart will continue to improve.
June 16
From the list of official visitors down below, there's been another change (and more could certainly happen; that's recruiting). This time, former Penn State commitment Deryc Plazz has been added to the official visit list.
He's from Jacksonville (Fla.) Andrew Jackson and plays offensive line. Plazz could end up at either guard or tackle. Most notably about his skills, he's a true athlete. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds. The way he moves in space, along with a lot of upside to add strength and power.
The interesting note about Miami recruiting Plazz stemmed from him being on the original list of official visitors for the month of June. All Hurricanes took him off the list after he committed to the Nittany Lions right after the June 2 weekend.
Let's see if the offensive lineman with offers from the likes of the Canes, UCF, PSU, Pittsburgh, North Carolina State, Florida State, Wake Forest, Northwestern, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Duke, Rutgers, Kentucky and Cincinnati wants to join the fold in Coral Gables.
This will be Plazz's second official visit. Could he take more? Sure. The Hurricanes have recruited him for quite sometime, however, and it's likely that he would be a welcome addition to the Miami depth chart if Plazz truly wants to be a part of the Miami family. Time to move in a different direction and with a prospect that's commonly discussed.
Will big-time wide receiver Jeremiah Smith officially visit Miami? The answer would be yes. Even with the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna elite prospect being an official visitor this next week, the unknowns about where Miami actually stands can be anyone's guess.
He's already visited Georgia (May 19), Florida (June 2), and Ohio State (June 9), with Florida State (June 20), Miami (June 22) and Penn State (June 24) still to come. Technically, with the new NCAA rule that recruits can take unlimited official visits, Smith could take more trips during the fall even though the trip to Happy Valley will be official visit No. 6.
There's a long, long way to go for Smith's signature.
June 13
One of the official visitors from this upcoming weekend has decided to pick his home-state program. Miami wanted offensive lineman Eddie Tuerk. So did many other schools, and the La Grange (Ill.) Lyons Township prospect decided to stay close to home and pick the Illinois Fighting Illini. He's not visiting UM for the June 16 weekend.
Overall, Illiois picked up four commitments yesterday, so they have been on a bit of a recruiting roll.
As for Miami, still look for them to end up with at least three offensive linemen within this class when all has been said and done. Mario Cristobal and his staff covet the big fellas and will not allow the depth chart to end up below par moving forward.
In fact, Canes fans should expect the offensive line to be a strength for years to come.
June 9:
With Demetrius Freeney committing to the Canes, Miami actually added to their 2023 recruiting class. Miami can now zero in on the truly high-end cornerback recruits they want like Ellis Robinson IV (Georgia commitment), as well as Ricky Knight IV, among others.
Robinson will visit Miami on June 9, while Knight will be in Coral Gables for the June 23 official visit weekend.
The Miami Hurricanes hosted their first group of recruits during the June 2 weekend. No commitments just yet, but the information coming out of Coral Gables has been primarily positive. Here's what's been going on.
While the majority of the June 2 official visitors will take at least one more official visit before deciding, this next weekend will be huge for the Canes. There’s also a few players – among an ever-chaning list – that will likely come off the official visitor docket as well. Let’s hit that topic first.
As noted this past weekend, offensive lineman Joseph Ionata committed to Alabama. Offensive lineman Deryc Plazz also made a pledge to Penn State. Therefore, they will no longer be listed on Miami's official visitors list.
There are several more irons in the fire for UM offensive line recruiting. No worries there (more on that fairly soon).
Same with safety prospect Kaj Sanders, as he made a pledge to Penn State as well. He should probably be considered off the Miami official visitors list, too, at least for now.
The recruitment of wide receiver prospect Dre’shon Miller, however, will come to a critical juncture this next weekend. After officially visiting UM this past weekend, Miller will trek to LSU unofficially June 9.
The Tigers are truly after Miller and should be considered a prime threat. Considering he’s from the Texas-Louisiana border, that’s definitely an area with quite a bit of LSU support as well.
If the Canes get past this next weekend without Miller committing to the Bayou Bengals, the chances of Miller eventually becoming a Hurricane will go up considerably. Based on the photos and social media buzz, it certainly appeared that he was happy with the time spent in South Florida, too.
Had an amazing time on my official visit at @CanesFootball . I greatly appreciate the hospitality and the generosity from the coaches and staff. Thank you #GoCanes 🌴 @coach_cristobal @CoachDawson_UM @Kevin_Beard9 pic.twitter.com/jZ9J1vxmZ9
— DrelonMiller (@DrelonMiller) June 5, 2023
It should be of great interest to Miami fans with how the recruitment of linebacker prospect James Nesta. Through the grapevine, he's a dude Miami truly wants. Nesta has indicated that he's down to Miami, Oklahoma and North Carolina, but beyond his trip to Coral Gables, no further official visit dates have been made known. Now, time for a couple of recruiting predictions.
One, Miami will get its first commitment this month by the end of next week. Two, Miami’s June 9 weekend will eventually see five or more prospects will join the already committed Hurricanes.
One of them shall not be a talented tight end, however.
I will no longer be taking an official visit to the University of Miami! @ChadSimmons_ @JeremyO_Johnson @SWiltfong247 @adamgorney
— Kylan Fox (@TheKylanFox) June 5, 2023
Kylan Fox officially visited UCF this past weekend. That being the case, Florida State (June 23) would be the more likely choice from what have been hearing here at All Hurricanes. Perhaps that changed with Fox’s trip to Orlando, but the trend has been the Noles for a little while. His official visit to see Deion Sanders and Colorado (June 16) could prove interesting as well.
And oh...I've been asked multiple times so I might as well be quite clear on this one. I have no idea where 5-star wide receiver prospect Joshisa Trader would be leaning right this moment. I keep getting that question behind the scenes and honestly it probably does not matter all that much.
He's made it clear, right in front of my face, that a very late recruiting decision will be made. Thus, let us all see how Miami's passing game looks this fall and reconvene then. It's likely that Trader will want to see marked improvement from Miami's passing game before making much of a statement about the Canes anyway.
Until that time, Trader will definitely be a prospect that Mario Cristobal and his staff go after hard, but he's still a recruit that's not even remotely close to decision mode. Look for a National Signing Day decision from Trader.
This page will be continuously updated throughout the week, so look for more information soon.
Now, here’s what’s coming for the rest of the visits for June (again, this official visit list is constantly changing, so keep that in mind).
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Fan Nation High school football recruiting analyst covering the state of Florida, as well as across the Southeastern United States and the state of Texas.