Miami Football Recruiting: Did Loss of Matthew Thomas Close Local HS Pipeline?

The Booker T. Washington pipeline for the Hurricanes seems to be completely shut off as Miami lost its second local commit in 5-star recruit Matthew Thomas to Florida State on national signing day.

This came as no big surprise to me after Miami decided to pull the scholarship from Thomas' teammate Denver Kirkland just a few days ago.

The problem I have with it isn't necessarily the fact that Miami missed out on two very highly recruited players, but the fact that Booker T Washington is a local high school that produces some very talented players.

Don't get me wrong, each player has to make their own decision, but don't believe for one second that high school coaches don't help make that choice.

In this case, the head coach is Tim "Ice" Harris at Booker T Washington. An ex-Miami athlete who should be sending every recruit to the Hurricanes, Harris simply isn't happy with Miami.

It goes well beyond the Kirkland (signed with Arkansas) debacle as I honestly believe it started with the firing of good friend Randy Shannon a few years ago. Harris worked with Shannon on Miami's football staff before Shannon was let go.

Ever since Shannon was canned, the Hurricanes received just one player (Eduardo Clements) from BTW—coincidence?

I don't think so.

Thomas pretty much cemented what I had thought about for years in that the local pipeline from Booker T. Washington seems to be closed.

It's a shame considering the fact that most of these kids grew up Miami fans and could contribute in bringing Miami back to being a national powerhouse.