Hurricanes Made Impression With Elite DL Recruit T.A. Cunningham
One of the nation’s most coveted defensive line recruits would be T.A. Cunningham from Los Alamitos (Calif.) High School.
Cunningham has been ranked by the On3 consensus as the No. 58 player in the country, and the No. 9 defensive lineman in the class of 2024.
He recently took an unofficial visit to Miami, and took a few minutes to share his thoughts on the Canes, other programs, and the recruiting process overall.
Height and weight right now?
“6-foot-6, 270.”
Although Cunningham has been playing primarily defensive end at the prep level, he said that many schools see him as a flex player, i.e. one that can move inside during obvious passing downs and get after the quarterback, while also being a traditional defensive end during first and 10 situations.
Ironically, that’s something that came up with his most recent visit to the University of Miami when he met with the Hurricanes coaching staff. The Canes see Cunningham as one that can move to multiple positions and make an impact in different ways.
Best unofficial visit thus far would be?
“Miami.”
As for why, Cunningham was just coming off the trip to South Florida, so keep that in mind. Still, he did have promising remarks for the Orange and Green.
“It’s a lot. First, it’s the football aspect of course. You have two defensive line coaches. (Defensive line) coach Joe (Salave’a). Then there’s Jason Taylor.
“Being able to be coached by a Hall of Fame player (in Taylor), that’s really cool.”
Cunningham also made it clear that meeting Taylor and just being around him was comfortable. Same with coach Salave’a. Miami did really well with Cunningham meeting both coaches, and the staff overall, honestly.
A couple of other interesting notes about Cunningham visiting Miami came from the practice field.
“It’s intense,” Cunningham admitted. He also described how Miami’s coaches had ways to ramp up the practice as well as knowing when to turn it down a bit. Cunningham liked that. One last note about the Miami visit from Cunningham.
“It felt like family.”
That’s a good sign for The U. Additionally, he mentioned that the Canes and head coach Mario Cristobal expect the new athletic facility, one in which many aspects of it will be distinguished for Miami football, was definitely something that came up in conversation.
According to Cunningham, Cristobal told him that the new facility would be up before he left Miami if he were to attend The U. Of course there are other programs going after such a talented player.
A couple of schools were mentioned as being programs he’s built a relationship with.
The first school Cunningham discussed after Miami, “I’d say Oklahoma.”
Numerous OU coaches have started to build a good relationship with Cunningham. Defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis, defensive tackles coach Todd Bates, and even head coach Brent Venables were all mentioned by Cunningham. An SEC school was also mentioned.
“I’d have to say LSU.” Just like with OU, as well as Miami, Cunningham has been able to relate to a member of the staff.
For the Tigers, it was Jamar Cain. He’s been a coach that Cunningham felt he can talk to about anything.
As for when he’d like to make a decision, Cunningham had a well thought out answer.
“Honestly, whenever it feels best with the recruiting process.”
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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.