Darius Hamilton to Rutgers over Miami: What Are Hurricanes Really Losing?

Despite having to replace head coach Greg Schiano at the last minute, Rutgers was still able to get 5-star defensive end Darius Hamilton to join the team.

Hamilton had offers from almost every school in the country, but he had narrowed his chose down to Miami and Rutgers before choosing the Scarlet Knights.

This one could hurt for the Hurricanes, as they should never be losing a battle for a top player to this type of program.

During recent seasons, former coach Schiano was able to use his connections in South Florida to steal recruits away from Miami while the school was hitting its low point. Al Golden was trying to return the favor this week by grabbing a highly touted player out of New Jersey.

Not only was he unsuccessful, but he could not get Hamilton to commit despite Schiano leaving the school to coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Scarlet Knights promoted their offensive line coach, Kyle Flood, to head coach, and about four hours later received the verbal commitment from one of the top defensive ends in the country.

Miami used to be able to get anyone it chose, but now it cannot even beat a team without a coach.

On the field, the loss of Hamilton will hurt even more.

Although he is a bit undersized at 245 pounds, Hamilton has great technique as a defensive end and will become one of the premier pass-rushers in the nation. After a few years with a collegiate strength coach, he should also be able to put enough mass on his 6'4" frame that he will become a nightmare for opposing linemen.

This would have been a huge boost for the Hurricanes, who often struggled to get to the quarterback with its defensive linemen. No one on the team had more than five sacks all year long.

In addition, the team is graduating a lot of the skilled players from a season ago. Anthony Chickillo is the only returning player with two or more sacks in 2011. Hamilton could have stepped in and played immediately for Miami while wrecking havoc on opposing quarterbacks.

Coach Golden wants to build a great defense in Coral Gables. Although it was good last season, Miami missed out on a player that could have made it that much better.

Similarly, this recruiting class for the Hurricanes is solid but not elite.

Miami was once an elite program, and it will need to start locking down these types of players if it wants to return to that level in the future.