Miami Football: Hurricanes' Hectic Day of Two Commitments and One Transfer

Followers of the Miami Hurricanes’ football program may have expected an ordinary Thursday, but it turned hectic before noon.

Head coach Al Golden and his coaching staff had gone nearly an entire 30 days without receiving a commitment for the 2014 class, but New Jersey defensive tackle Courtel Jenkins changed that Thursday morning.

Jenkins attended an Al Golden Summer Camp last Sunday, earned Defensive Line MVP honors and was offered a scholarship by Golden at the end of the day.

After pondering the decision to commit for four days, Jenkins made it official, according to Christopher Stock of 247Sports, which brought out the ever-popular “Brennan Bat Signal” from Miami recruiting coordinator Brennan Carroll.

"

#WelcomeToTheU !!!

— Brennan Carroll (@brennanpcarroll) June 6, 2013"

Jenkins becomes the Hurricanes' ninth verbal commitment for this recruiting cycle and is a promising 3-star whom Miami coaches may have caught at the right time. 247Sports lists only two offers from BCS schools (Pittsburgh and Maryland) for the 6’2”, 310-pounder.

His head coach alerted now-Miami defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio about Jenkins when he was a freshman, and ‘Canes defensive line coach Jethro Franklin stayed on top of the prospect according to Rivals.com behind a paywall.

With the well-documented struggles on the D-line, Jenkins has an excellent chance to contribute as a freshman in Coral Gables.

The good news didn’t stop there for Miami, though.

Dieter Kurtenbach of the South Florida Sun Sentinel broke the news of local running back Walter Tucker committing to the school.

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American Heritage RB & hurdler Walter Tucker has committed to play football and run track at Miami. Up @ SunSentinel: bit.ly/ZS1Iq6

— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) June 6, 2013"

Tucker, a member of the 2013 class, also ran track at American Heritage with Olympic aspirations. He had been committed to Clemson, but Tucker realized he would not be playing football for the Tigers, so he chose to attend Miami instead.

As Kurtenbach noted, Tucker’s dedication to track scared away big-name teams such as Alabama, Texas and Wisconsin. Their loss is Miami’s gain.

Tucker has a career-best time of 13.83 seconds in the 110-meter hurdle and can be considered a track star that plays football.

He, of course, will be focusing on track at The U, but having a little extra speed on the roster can never hurt a team.

Tucker can play both running back and linebacker and will add immediate depth and speed at both positions. The ‘Canes do have a history of football players running track—even this past season Duke Johnson and Phillip Dorsett participated in 60-meter dashes and Dorsett on the 4x400 relay team.

Hurlie Brown, Miami’s new running backs coach, was Tucker’s primary recruiter according to Kurtenbach.

There was some unlikeable news later in the afternoon, though. Jacoby Briscoe announced he will be transferring from Miami, as reported by Scout's Mike Bakas.

Briscoe took a redshirt season in 2012 and eventually switched to the offensive line during spring practice.

While Jenkins will help fill the void left by Briscoe’s position change, it won’t be until next season.

Concerning Briscoe’s current position, Miami’s potential 2014 class currently includes verbal commitments from 5-star Kc McDermott along with 4-stars Trevor Darling and Reilly Gibbons. Despite two starters graduating following the 2013 campaign, the ‘Canes will be just fine on the offensive line.

It was a day loaded with news concerning the Miami Hurricanes, and while not everything was great, overall, the ‘Canes had a good day.

But if Miami fans think today was crazy, wait until the impending hearing with the Committee on Infractions next week.

Like Ron Burgundy, it’s kind of a big deal.