Miami Football Recruiting: Top Targets, Positional Needs and Predictions

Although the Hurricanes already have 31 verbal recruits, there are still more players that have Miami on their short-list.

Al Golden and staff have done a tremendous job considering they are still under NCAA investigation.

The NCAA has made a promise to Golden that there will be no sanctions to the 2012 class. 

Here is the latest from the 2012 recruiting season.

Top Targets

According to Scout.com, there are 5-star prospects that have Miami on their list: Darius Hamilton, Avery Young, Eddie Goldman, Josh Harvey-Clemons, Jameis Winston, Tracy Howard and Joshua Garnett.

All of them are most likely going to wait until National Signing Day (Feb. 1) to make their final decision.

Overall Miami is on the short-list of 13 Top 100 recruits.

I believe most of them will go with other schools, but if Miami can steal a couple of them, it will make a huge difference.

Miami doesn't necessarily have any top targets right now, but they do have a few possible de-commits they have to watch.

LB Reggie Northrup and Tyriq McCord are still making visits to other schools. 

Northrup has even stated that although Miami is his primary choice, he still has North Carolina, Florida State, Arkansas and Ohio State on his list.

McCord on the other hand is a new Miami recruit but still says he is not counting out USC as he had recently visited the Trojans on Jan. 13.

Al Golden and the coaching staff needs to make sure they can keep these two high-profile recruits.

Positional Need No.1: Defensive Line

The Hurricanes defensive line was an issue all season long, giving up a lot of rushing yards and putting hardly and pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Even when the linemen snuck through, they missed tackle after tackle. 

Then after the season ended, two of their best starters, Marcus Forston and Olivier Vernon, decided to leave Miami early.

That means that Jelani Hamilton and/or Tyriq McCord have a very good chance of not only contributing, but starting next year for the Hurricanes.

There are total of seven defensive linemen that Miami recruited.

Positional Need No. 2: Wide Receiver

The Hurricanes lost their two best wide receivers after last season, Tommy Streeter (left early) and Travis Benjamin (graduated).

The two combined for 87 catches for 1,420 yards and 11 touchdowns. Next year the Hurricanes returning receivers have a combined total of for 47 catches.

That means the recruits, led by 4-star recruit Angelo Jean-Louis, will have to step up and fill the depth chart.

Miami has a total of six receivers coming in the 2012 class.

Positional Need No. 3: Cornerback

The Hurricanes lost Mike Williams, JoJo Nicolas and Lee Chambers to graduation last year. That leaves only Brandon McGee as the only returning starter.

That is not great news for the Hurricanes considering how much the defensive backs struggled last year.

Last year's true freshman, Thomas Finnie, saw action in all 11 games, but didn't record an interception  or pass deflection.

This year the Hurricanes recruited eight defensive backs, and it will be interesting to see who is going to be converted to safety or vice versa.

The 2012 recruits will play a huge role for this upcoming season.

Prediction No. 1: Miami Gets Five More Recruits by February 1

Miami already has 30-31 (depending on what website you read) recruits, well over the NCAA's limit of 28 per signing period.

What makes them able to have that many is that seven of them started school already and account for last season's recruiting class of 16.

That allows Miami to technically get four or five more recruits, which they should fulfill easily. Like I stated in a previous slide, many recruits have Miami as one of their top schools.

I honestly believe Miami will get the maximum it is allowed and walk away with a full recruiting class.

Prediction No. 2: Two of the Recruits Will Land on Freshman All-American Teams

The Hurricanes produced two freshmen All-Americans last year, Anthony Chickillo and Denzel Perryman. The two combined for 107 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and six sacks.

This year there is another possibility that Miami has another two on the 2012 Freshman All-American team.

The first one should be Norland High School's Duke Johnson. Johnson is a tremendous talent, and with the early departure of Lamar Miller, Johnson should see a lot of playing time.

The second pick would be Jelani Hamilton. Hamilton is a 6'5", 250-pound defensive end that is as agile as they come.

He is very strong and extremely quick for his size. Again, with a depleted defensive line, Hamilton will have the opportunity to impress the entire country.