Alabama and Penn State Land Prospects Coveted by Miami
It's June and official visit season for the Miami Hurricanes. While they will probably gain a commitment or two, if not more, during the next two to three weeks, other schools have been going to work in recruiting as well.
For instance, on Saturday, Alabama picked up a commitment from Joseph Ionata from Clearwater (Fla.) Calvary Christian. He has been a prime target for Miami offensive line coach Alex Mirabal and several other college football programs.
IM HOME‼️@AlabamaFTBL #RollTide @Hayesfawcett3 pic.twitter.com/DkmoxdCc20
— Joseph Ionata (@joseph_ionata) June 3, 2023
At 6-foot-4 and 295 pounds, Ionata has been underrated by the recruiting services. Miami really wanted him, as did Bama, Florida, UCF, and many other college football programs.
Additionally, Penn State just plucked its third prospect out of the city of Jacksonville. The Nittany Lions had already landed commitments from Mandarin High School cornerbacks Jon Mitchell and Antoine Belgrave-Shorter. Now, PSU head coach James Franklin and his staff have gained the verbal commitment of offensive lineman Deryc Plazz from Andrew Jackson High School, also inside Jacksonville.
Plazz has been a fast-rising prospect that also had official visits lined up to Duke on June 9, Miami on June 16, and North Carolina State on June 23.
Penn State has been recruiting the state of Florida hard and its been rewarded. As for the Canes, a few questions regarding Ionata and Plazz, as well as offensive line recruiting overall.
First, Ionata was slated to take his official visit to Miami on June 23. With Plazz having a visit to Miami for the weekend prior to Ionata's visit, there's the obvious question that comes up for any recruit that pledges before taking all his set official visits.
Will one, or perhaps both of them, still take an official visit to Miami and/or other schools? One can bet that each of them will still be receiving texts and phone calls from Miami coaches and coaches for other schools.
Next, a big picture overview of what Miami has along the offensive line leads to the most important question.
How many offensive lineman would Miami like to sign within this recruiting class?
Miami's 2024 recruiting haul already has nine verbal commitments, but just Juan Minaya will play along the offensive trenches from those prospects.
The Canes could afford to be picky for the 2024 class after signing the nation's top offensive line group in 2023, bolstered by two 5-star prospects in Francis Mauigoa and Samson Okunlola. Even so, each recruiting class needs at least three big fellas in it to keep a good balance on the roster.
The next few weeks will be interesting to see how Miami handles offensive line recruiting. Perhaps a few of the above questions will be answered fairly soon.
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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.