College Football Recruiting 2012: 5 Players Miami Should Focus on from Florida

With the recruiting class of 2012 for the University of Miami looking almost full now at 23 commits, and a ranking of sixth best in the class of 2012 by ESPN, Al Golden's "first true" recruiting class is looking pretty good right now.

As always, the best prospects tend to come out of the Sunshine State.

UM is already looking pretty good for 2012 with five commits out of their 23 total ranking in ESPNU's 150 list.

There's always room to get better, and recruiting is no different. Here's looking at the top prospects from Florida who have yet to commit, but Miami should target based upon the prospect's interest in Miami and the team's needs following this season.

CB Tracy Howard

With current starting cornerbacks Jojo Nicolas and Lee Chambers graduating this year, Miami will have a void to fill at cornerback.

Enter in Tracy Howard. Howard has good height for a CB at 6'0"—he plays just a little north of Sun Life Stadium at Miramar High and has already received an offer from Miami.

He is the top-rated cornerback in the nation, the fifth best prospect from the state of Florida and the 25th best player in the nation according to Rivals.com.

Howard has plenty of offers from other in-state schools such as Florida, Florida State and Florida International.

However, with Howard's close proximity to Miami's home stadium and campus and with top backup CB Brandon McGee entering his senior year upon Howard's potential arrival in 2012, it wouldn't shock anybody to see Howard skipping his redshirt season and making an immediate impact upon arrival for the Hurricanes.

DE Tyriq McCord

Tyriq McCord is a hybrid defensive end/OLB who plays on the weakside and is from Jefferson High School located in Tampa, Florida.

With UM's top defensive-end backups, Marcus Robinson and Andrew Smith graduating this year and Adewale Ojomo and Olivier Vernon potentially leaving after their junior seasons this year, there is a potential void to fill at DE.

With McCord's solid size for a DE, and even better size for an OLB at 6'3", McCord would be a versatile presence for the Hurricanes.

McCord enters his senior season of high school as the seventh best recruit at his position in the nation, the 60th best overall and 13th best in the state of Florida.

CB Deon Bush

As previously noted before, UM has a void to fill at CB with the impending departures of their two starting CBs following 2011.

Deon Bush fits perfectly into UM's plans.

Bush already has an offer on the table from UM and currently has six schools on his list that have an interest level of "high." Miami is one of them.

Bush currently attends high school at Columbus High in Miami and, like his fellow CB Howard, has good size at 6'1" and 185 pounds. He already has the size for a collegiate CB entering his senior year of high school.

Bush runs the 40-yard dash in 4.44 seconds and he ranks fourth at the position in the nation, 65th nationally and 14th in the state.

Amongst both Howard and Bush, it's more likely to see Bush in a Hurricanes uniform come 2012.

QB Faton Bauta

With starting QB Jacory Harris and QB Spencer Whipple graduating after this season, and UM having yet to land a commit at QB position in the Class of 2012, Faton Bauta comes into play.

The Hurricanes like using dual threat QBs in their offense, hence the reason Harris has been featured prominently ever since his arrival in 2008 and hence the reason Stephen Morris had a decent showing as a true freshman in 2010.

The departure of Harris and Whipple would leave UM with two QBs on their roster. Bauta would be the perfect QB to play in UM's offense.

Bauta stands at 6'3" and already has a QB's frame at 225 pounds. He runs the 40-yard dash at 4.54 seconds and he's from nearby Dwyer in West Palm Beach.

UM has already offered Bauta a scholarship and it's unclear who exactly is the favorite to land this dual-threat QB.

ATH Nelson Agholor

This is a bit of a long-shot. Although Agholor goes to Berkeley Prep in Tampa, Florida, he has so much interest from so many schools (26 offers in total) that it's hard to see Miami being the one to land him.

The one positive for UM is that, according to Rivals.com, there is no clear favorite, so there's always hope.

If UM were to land Agholor, they would have the option of plugging him at RB or at DB. Agholor posted 970 yards and 15 TDs rushing in his junior season while posting three INTs.

He is the No. 1 player at his position, ninth nationally overall and the second best player in the state.