Monday, November 12, 2007

The U!

Seeing as how The U played so well on Saturday in its final game at The OB, I felt the urge to help out poor Randy Shannon. How does an NFL talent factory go from back-to-back national title games to getting beat by Virginia (no offense Wahoos) 48-0 in less than 5 years?

Hmmm? Lack of talent maybe one of the answers. I am sure poor coaching, terrible fan support, gunfights and on-field brawls also probably aided in the demise too. However, I think I will stick with the talent angle. Larry Coker was a great guy. A very noble and respectable coach that any parent would love to have their kids play for. However, he lost his focus while recruiting southern Flordia. He went to national. Luckily for Miami fans, I have the solution.

Northwestern High School. Yes, it is that simple. Take a page from the Urban Meyer play book. Meyer landed 7 prospects from Lakeland High School in 2007. That is nearly half of a recruiting class supplied by one high school. In case you missed it last season here is the list (rankings according to Rivals):

Chris Rainey - RB 5-9, 165 (#11 in state of FL)
John Brown - DT 6-2, 285 (#15 in state of FL)
Maurkice Pouncey - OL/DL 6-4, 285 (#33 in state of FL)
Ahmad Black - DB 5-11, 180 (#35 in state of FL)
Michael Pouncey - OL/DL 6-4, 280 (#36 in state of FL)
Paul Wilson - WR 6-2, 190 (#84 in state of FL)
Steve Wilks - S 6-2, 200 (not in FL Top 100)

Miami did not even offer 4 of them. The Pouncey twins (but they really count as a package deal) and John Brown are the three that got offers. So what have we learned? While Urban Meyer is busy winning championships, The U is busy trying to recruit gaurds from the state of Idaho.

To Shannon's credit, he learned. Miami could pull off a similar feat this season. Here are the kids from Northwestern High School (Miami, FL):

Marcus Fortson - DT 6-2, 286 (#5 in FL) Miami commit
Aldarius Johnson - WR 6-2, 205 (#7 in FL) Miami commit
Brandon Washington - OL 6-4, 310 (#17 in FL) Miami commit
Tommy Streeter - WR 6-5, 200 (#36 in FL) uncommited
Sean Spence - S/LB 6-1, 190 (#38 in FL) Miami commit
Ben Jones - OL 6-6, 280 (#41 in FL) uncommited
Jacory Harris - QB 6-4, 180 (#46 in FL) Miami commit

The U is on their way to landing all of these kids. If Shannon can lock down all of these kids, not only would it be more impressive than what Meyer did at Lakeland last season (all these kids are ranked higher) but it would mean more to a program that has lost at least 11 games in the last two years. Northwestern HS is right in U of M's backyard. It would mean reclaiming the south Florida region that has seen teams like Rutgers come in and raid talent. It looks like Randy Shannon knows what he is doing.

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