University of Miami Wins Best NFL Pipeline: Good Or Bad For Recruiting?

ESPN recently had a fictional tournament on their website where they pitted 16 of the nation’s best football programs against each other to determine which program was the best college to NFL pipeline.  The Miami Hurricanes were seeded second behind the USC Trojans, and faced off against Oklahoma St. in the first round.

According to ESPN the top five players to play in the NFL for the Hurricanes were (in order) Ray Lewis, Warren Sapp, Cortez Kennedy, Ed Reed, and Michael Irvin.  Now, this list—much like the 50 greatest Miami Hurricanes list I put together—can be debated forever, and no one will ever reach a consensus.

The Hurricanes defeated the Cowboys, who actually had an impressive list with Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas, and Kevin Williams, to name a few.  The Hurricanes moved on to face seventh-seeded Notre Dame in the next round, and defeated the Fighting Irish who boasted Joe Montana, Jerome Bettis, and Tim Brown in their top five.

After moving past the Fighting Irish the Hurricanes then moved on to face the third seeded Pitt Panthers. I have to say when I think of schools that put players in the NFL Pitt is not one of the top five schools that come to mind.  The Hurricanes won this round as well. Pitt's top five players were Dan Marino, Ruben Brown, Chris Doleman, Rickey Jackson, and Curtis Martin. 

The Hurricanes then moved to the final showdown with the USC Trojans. When I started following this, I knew that it would come down to these two schools in the end.  The Hurricanes beat the Trojans primarily because of the last decade where the Hurricanes have been to the Pro Bowl 42 times, and the Trojans have only been 13. 

USC’s top five was impressive, with Bruce Matthews, Anthony Munoz, Junior Seau, Ronnie Lott, and Marcus Allen. If you notice, hardly any of those players are still playing today.

We have all know that Miami has always been a place where NFL teams have looked to turn their teams into winners, and that has helped to keep top talent coming to the school.  Many Hurricane fans including myself wear it as a badge of courage anytime discussions come up, we point to the amount of Hurricanes making an impact in the NFL.

Is that necessarily a good thing though?  The easy answer is yes, but the real answer takes some digging, during the Larry Coker era the NFL pipeline was used as a big recruiting tool. 

The Hurricanes landed some of the top recruits in the country for that reason, and a lot of them did not pan out.  Many of these recruits can be blamed for derailing the program. Some will point to coaching and say these players were not coached to succeed.

But it may be another factor: players that go to a school just because the school gives them the best chance to make it to the NFL more often than not are thinking of themselves.  Selfish players will destroy a program, and Miami has always been able to get players who wanted to be a part of the tradition.  Some of the players brought in during Larry Coker’s tenure did not seem to have that type of mindset.

Ultimately, being known as the best NFL pipeline is a good thing, and something the Hurricanes should use to their advantage.  But it cannot and should not be used as the primary or sole selling point for coming to the Miami—it should be included in a bigger package of positives about coming to play for the University of Miami.  Will it bring recruits?  Of course it will, but the real question is, will it bring the right recruits?