What could have been for UM: A look at local stars in this year's NFL Draft

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A big focus every year is how the Miami Hurricanes fare in the draft. The fortunes aren't just about watching UM players ensure their - and their families' futures. It's also about the Canes' future. Because recruits pay close attention to how college programs fare in putting guys in the first rounds of the pros. It shows how coaches develop talent. Every high school prospect with major offers has pro aspirations, and right now a major area in which Miami gets negatively recruited against is the results in recent drafts.

You look over the last three years and no Cane has gone before the third round. In 2018 the highest pick from UM was third rounder Chad Thomas, in 2019 it was fourth rounder Sheldrick Redwine and this past season no Cane went until Shaq Quarterman was taken late in the fourth round.

That will change this year with DE Jaelan Phillips expected to be a first rounder, DL Gregory Rousseau likely in the second and TE Brevin Jordan perhaps going as high as the third round.

That's a start.

But you look back at 1990 with five Cane players in the first three rounds, 1991 with four, 1993 with four, 1995 with three ... or 2001 with four first rounders, 2002 with five going in the first round, 2003 with four more, 2004 with a ridiculous six players in the opening round from Miami.

That's a championship team.

And it was built with mainly area talent that was impeccably evaluated out of high school and then developed on campus.

So today we take a look at the guys in this year's draft that are from the Miami area and how the Cane recruitment with each went down.

Maybe Miami can glean something from the misses.

Or maybe it's just a sign of the times that some of these kids nowadays simply want to go away for college.

The breakdown, alphabetically:

Tutu Atwell is expected to go in rounds 4-7 after enjoying an outstanding career at Louisville, where he enjoyed first team All-ACC honors the last two years and had 1,276 yards with 12 TDs two years ago. Coming out of high school Atwell was well known locally and ranked as a top 75 player in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. But because of his size issues Miami never seriously recruited him.

DiCaprio Bootle played at Killian and Southridge in high school and started 32 straight games at Nebraska. Expected to be a late round pick, UM never recruited him in part because of his height - he doesn't top 5-10. He was ranked in the top 80 in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach as a senior ... a list headed by St. Thomas Aquinas' Nick Bosa who was the No. 2 overall pick in 2019 and never gave the Canes much of a look.

Cane fans know the story here. Jose Borregales never got a Miami offer out of high school, and the Canes' kicking woes while he was succeeding at FIU are well documented. Borregales always wanted to be a Cane and transferred to UM for a final season in 2020 and all he did was win the Lou Groza Award as the nation's top kicker. He's expected to be the first kicker taken, likely in the latter rounds.

There weren't bigger names in 2018 that were missed by UM than American Heritage teammates Patrick Surtain II and Tyson Campbell. Miami tried hard to get both to stay home, but both went away for college (Surtain to Alabama, Campbell to Georgia). Surtain is considered a top 15 pick and Campbell should go in the round 1-3 area. Making this tougher to stomach: then-CB coach Mike Rumph coached him in Optimist ball and at American Heritage. And UM was in Campbell's final 3 with 'Bama and Georgia, and he took an official visit to UM the weekend before signing day with Surtain. But it didn't make a difference.

Noah Curtis wasn't heavily recruited by major programs out of high school and wound up at FIU, and this wasn't really a miss of local talent by Cane coaches considering the linemen UM wound up with the last few years. He's not going to be a high draft pick but should sneak into the later rounds.

Projected as a middle or late round pick, Shawn Davis wanted to be a Hurricane early in his recruitment, but UM wound up slow playing him and he chose Florida in the end. The Feb. 16 before signing day he had a plan to commit to Miami at a Junior Day event, but that never came about. It came down to Miami and Florida, and with the Canes not pushing hard he committed to UF before his senior season and enrolled there early. Davis had an injury-riddled career for the Gators but was excellent when on the field and had 40 tackles with two interceptions his final season.

Nick Eubanks was targeted by Miami late, and the Canes tried to get him on an official visit two weekends before signing day. He had that tentatively set up but then canceled it and committed to Michigan Jan. 28. He's expected to be a late draft pick and his best year was 2019 when he had 243 yards and four TDs. With Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory on board there really was no miss here.

Trevon Grimes could sneak into the middle rounds, and he had 589 yards and nine TDs for the Gators this past season. Could UM have used him? Probably. Believe it or not he was ranked by many ahead of Jerry Jeudy in his recruiting class as a Broward wide receiver and given five-star status by Rivals.com. So how'd his Cane recruitment go down? Well first let's point out he moved from Indiana as a high school freshman to try to get recruited, so he wasn't raised in the local area. And the Canes didn't come at him with an early offer, helping Ohio State jump into the lead early for him. Phillip Dorsett's father was his track coach, but he never had Miami on top at any point in his recruitment even after the Canes started to recruit him. At one point Grimes said if UM had offered him earlier it could have made a difference.

Khalil Herbert played at Stoneman Douglas until his senior year, and at Virginia Tech his best year was 2020 with 1,182 rush yards. He's expected to be a late round selection and it's unclear if he would have been a top back at Miami given some of the talent and depth at UM the last several seasons. He was never offered or seriously recruited by Miami out of high school.

Shemar Jean-Charles didn't catch the eye of major programs out of high school and wound up at Appalachian State. An anticipated late round draft pick, it's hard to call him a recruiting miss, and UM never offered or seriously recruited him. But Jean-Charles didn't make a secret of the fact he wanted to be a Hurricane when he was in high school.

Greg McCrae was never seriously recruited by UM and eventually wound up at UCF. He may sneak into the late rounds of the draft, but he can't be considered a recruiting miss.

This one stings a bit for the Canes. UM really could have used Elijah Moore, who wowed at camps as a senior with his smooth route running and outstanding catch radius. But the Canes never got on him until late, and treated him like a backup plan pretty much throughout his recruitment. So yeah, this was a huge miss. Moore would have enjoyed a tremendous Cane career, we believe, and is projected as a round 2-3 pick. Moore had committed at one point to Georgia before winding up at Mississippi. in 2020 he set a school record there with 86 catches for 1,193 yards and eight scores (he also had 850 yards as a sophomore). Literally in our recruitnig notes from the Class of 2018 the words are written "Miami dropped him." It's a shame, because there was every likelihood he would have been a Cane if UM stayed on him hard throughout. He loved the program, was good friends with Ahmmon Richards and had the Canes in his top three even when he wasn't hearing from Miami for weeks at a time. Instead UM was spending its time recruiting Marquez Ezzard, Brian Hightower, Mark Pope and Dee Wiggins. Ouch.

Josh Palmer is considered a mid to late round pick and was never seriously recruited by Miami as a 3-star recruit. He wound up at Tennessee, where he totaled 1,514 yards over four seasons. Palmer didn't have a single offer the January heading into his junior season, so it's not like this was a major miss.

John Raine signed with FAU and then transferred to Northwestern for this past season and could be a late draft pick. As primarily a blocker he wouldn't have really fit into what Miami wanted to do on offense the last few seasons. At one point he thought he might get a Cane offer but that never transpired and major programs passed on him out of high school.

Aaron Robinson is projected to go on Day 2 and signed with Alabama out of high school before transferring to UCF. He had a bit of a strange recruitment. The Canes got on him late and were pushing for a midweek visit a couple of weeks before signing day. But he never took it. At one point he was a Florida commitment, then visited Alabama two weeks before signing day and wound up there.

Yes, Cane fans know Gregory Rousseau well. UM did a great job offering him early when he was primarily playing safety at tiny Champagnat Catholic (the Canes were his eighth offer in June of 2016) and he turned into one of college football's most fearsome pass rushers in 2019 when he had 15.5 sacks. He opted out this past season, and that combined with a subpar Pro Day has him projected by most as a second rounder. He was listed as a four-star athlete by Rivals.com in the Class of 2018, and he chose the Canes over LSU, Georgia, USC and Oregon State. Ephraim Banda and Manny Diaz took the lead in his recruitment and did a great job building a bond and keeping him home. He only wound up visiting Miami officially and was an early enrollee.

A four-star prospect who signed with FSU in the Class of 2018, Asante Samuel could go in the top 20 picks of the draft. This came down to a UM-FSU battle, and it again was a shame the Canes missed out considering Mike Rumph had a relationship with the family dating to when he was an eighth-grader. He wound up committing to FSU early - in April - and UM tried to get him on an official visit but he never took one. So this was a big miss.

Anthony Schwartz wowed on the local camp circuit as a junior, so it was a bit strange that the Canes showed mostly lukewarm interest to this speedy 4-star wideout who was the 2018 Gatorade National Track Athlete of the Year. He ran a 4.26 40 at his Pro Day - think UM could have used that speed at wide reeiver? He's projected to go in rounds 2-4 out of Auburn.

Expected to be a late round pick out of Florida, Tedarrell Slaton played alongside Kai-Leon Herbert and had Miami as one of his early offers. Slaton just was never high on Miami, going so far as to tell reporters the Canes were No. 7 on his list the summer before his senior year. He stressed that winning games was an issue he had with the Cane program. At one point Miami set up a Jan. 21 official visit with him, but then the Canes cooled on him and stopped recruiting him hard. Georgia and Florida were his final two.

As mentioned earlier, landing highly touted DB teammates Tyson Campbell and Patrick Surtain would have been absolutely huge for the Cane program. But both went elsewhere. The 5-star Surtain chose Alabama and started there from his freshman year, and he could go in the top 10 picks of the draft. Miami did a great job getting Surtain on campus for an official visit the weekend before signing day but it didn't make a difference in the end as he chose 'Bama over UM, Clemson and LSU (flashback to his final days of Cane recruitment here). As for his Cane recruitment, Miami was his second offer after Louisville in March of 2015 (he was a Class of 2018 prospect). And Miami stayed on him hard, plus he was coached by then-CB coach Mike Rumph who also had a relationship with Surtain's father who played in the NFL.

Rashad Weaver was ranked a lowly 2-star in the Class of 2016 as a 6-5, 245-pound TE/DE prospect. He wound up signing with Pitt, where he became a standout (he had 14.5 TFL and 7.5 sacks his final season). Considered a mid-round pick, UM never seriously recruited him.

Miami fans likely recognize this name, since James Wiggins got UM as his first offer and wound up committing to the Canes the Feb. 13 before his senior year. Oh, and Miami was still his lone offer at that point. As his recruitment progressed the Canes wound up talking to him less and less and essentially dropped him by Jan. 1. But then it became a topsy-turvy recruitment when then-CB coach Mike Rumph reached out again in mid-January with guys like Patrick Surtain and Tyson Campbell looking less and less likely to come to Miami. He wound up setting an official visit for two weekends before signing day ... but then UM dropped him again and the visit was canceled. Wiggins wound up at Cincinnati and is considered a late round selection. Given UM's CB depth issues he certainly could have helped the program. He was a first-team All-AAC pick this past season.

Rachad Wildgoose was never seriously recruited by Miami and wound up at Wisconsin. He could be a late round pick. The former three-star recruit, he did have other offers from the likes of Georgia, Florida, Michigan and other major programs. Given the Northwestern ties maybe it's a bit surprising the Canes didn't at least go after him harder. But the Canes were focused on guys like Surtain and Campbell. Of course, it would have been nice to see the team go after a guy like Wildgoose ahead of 2018 CB signee Nigel Bethel, for instance.

Marco Wilson preceded Patrick Surtain and Tyson Campbell by a year in the Class of 2017, but he was likewise highly regarded as a four-star prospect. The son of former Cane Chad Wilson, he played for then-CB coach Mike Rumph growing up. And this came down to a Cane-Gators battle but he wound up committing to UF early (August 1, 2016) and stuck by it. Wilson is generally projected to go in the third to fifth rounds.

The takeaway from the above?

That there was a tremendous amount of area talent that got away. How much different would UM's fortunes have been with a couple of those St. Thomas or American Heritage kids on board?

How would that have changed the perception of current prospects if guys like Surtain, Campbell and others had taken a chance and played for the hometown team?

The headwinds Manny Diaz & Co. are battling against are laid bare above.

If these NFL draft talent kids keep getting away - whether it's a miss in evaluations or simply not showing enough interest/convincing a prospect why they should play at UM - it's simply going to be difficult to build the program back to the top of the nation through recruiting.