NFL Draft: A Look At What Could Have Been for Miami

This year's NFL Draft features several prospects who were tied to Miami in their high school recruitment but ultimately ended up elsewhere.

We take a look at the potential draftees that Miami likely wishes they had a second chance with.

Davie University School (FL) duo Kenny McIntosh and Zay Flowers were supposedly trying to make their way to Miami before the staff decided Flowers was not a take in the 2019 class. That turned out to be a pretty awful decision, as Flowers is looking like a potential top-15 pick while McIntosh won multiple national championships at Georgia and has the potential to be a mid-round selection.

Looking back at that 2019 class, Miami did not take a single running back and former four-star wide receiver Jeremiah Payton ended up being a failure in Coral Gables and is now a Junior College product and will likely bounce back as a Division II player next season.

The issues at both wide receiver and running backs over the last few years likely could have been solved by taking both Flowers (200 catches, 3401 yards, 31 touchdowns) and McIntosh (2443 yards, 20 touchdowns).

Community school in Miami, elite production with an All-State resume, and multiple state titles usually create a seamless transition to Miami. Unfortunately, the failures of 2019 have come about again with likely first-round pick defensive tackle Calijah Kancey.

All Kancey did at Pittsburgh is go on to earn All-American honors, win ACC Defensive Player of the Year and finish as a finalist for every single defensive national award he was eligible for. Looking back at the signings of Jalar Holley, Jason Blissett, and Jared Harrison-Hunte, Miami probably could have used the talents of Kancey.

Miami was so close to landing five-star tight end and future NFL draft pick Darnell Washington and continuing the pipeline of Las Vegas tight ends to Miami. The 2020 class was solid and headlined by players like quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, wide receiver Xavier Restrepo and offensive lineman Jalen Rivers, but four-star tight end Dominic Mammarelli has been a flop in his three seasons at Miami, catching just one pass for negative yards.

Washington had a strong career at Georgia, combining with future first rounder Brock Bowers to create arguably the top tight end duo in college football. He had his best season as a Bulldog in 2022 with 28 receptions, 454 yards and two touchdowns while winning his second national championship. He has the chance to sneak into the bottom of the first round.

Much like the University Schools products mentioned earlier, St. Thomas Aquinas alum Jordan Battle was a player that should have ended up at Miami if not for the lack of evaluation prowess under former head coach Manny Diaz.

Battle and his family were long-time Miami fans that gave the Canes a shot but ultimately, the previous staff was slow to the punch and rumors float around that former co-defensive coordinator Ephraim Banda was not sold on Battle's talents.

Instead, Miami took no safeties in the 2019 class and just took USC transfer Bubba Bolden. Battle ended up a three-year starter for Alabama, winning a national title and being selected for multiple All-American teams over the past two seasons. He finished his college career with 252 tackles, six interceptions, and three touchdowns. He is projected as a mid-round pick.

Looking back, this was not as egregious a miss as the others due to hitting on first-round pick Greg Rousseau in the same class, but Miami overall missed on Yasir Abdullah. Coming out of Carol City (a school maybe 10 minutes from Hard Rock Stadium), Abdullah was a player without a position but with the athletic traits and frame to develop at multiple spots.

Louisville was able to capitalize on those traits and turn him into a 19.5 sack and 31 tackle-for-loss producer over the last two seasons. In that same time frame, Miami has failed to have any single-player top over seven sacks in a season.

Adullah was a first-team All-ACC selection this past season as he led the conference in sacks and ended up in the top ten rankings all-time at Louisville for getting to the quarterback. After running a 4.47 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine, Abdullah is projected to go as high as the fourth round.

Any time a player ends up starting at left tackle for Alabama and they came out of South Florida without an offer from Miami, that is a miss. On top of his time with the Crimson Tide, St. Thomas Aquinas product Tyler Steen started 33 consecutive games for Vanderbilt, immediately earning playing time out of high school.

The three offensive linemen Miami took in 2018 (Delone Scaife, Cleveland Reed and John Campbell) failed to pan out the same way Steen did, which ended up being an All-SEC type player. He has the chance to go as early as the second day of the draft, a feat no Miami offensive lineman has reached since Ereck Flowers in 2015.

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