Florida Missed On Cormani McClain. It Was A Very Bizarre Environment.
Updated: Oct 28, 2022
“For anyone who didn’t hear,” said McClain’s mom to the confused. “He is going to Miami.”
By KYLE CURTIS
LAKELAND -- Cormani McClain, the No. 2 overall player in the nation, chose to take his talents to the University of Miami over the likes of Florida and Alabama on Thursday night.
In quite possibly the biggest recruiting whiff in a decade, the Gators missed, leaving their fan base in shock because McClain was projected as a UF lock. Miami now hops over Florida in the latest update of On3’s recruiting updates to No. 8 nationally.
By KYLE CURTIS
GATORBAIT MEDIA
To put it in perspective, the five leading experts (who are right 75% of the time) made a crystal ball projection on McClain’s future, all five predicting he was going to the Florida Gators.
On3 had Florida listed as a 96% chance to land McClain while Alabama held a 3% chance with Miami only sitting at 1%. Why Miami?
“Miami was my dream school growing up,” McClain said.
While this was an all-time miss for the Gators, they still possess one of the strongest defensive back classes in the nation. Four-star defensive backs Dijon Johnson, Ja’Keem Jackson, Jordan Castell, Sharif Denson, Aaron Gates and Bryce Thornton round out a class that is well above average for Corey Raymond and company.
Florida has been in on McClain since he began playing corner when he was a sophomore in high school. Since then, he has grown up right in front of our eyes and has had a season of nine and ten interceptions.
Nonetheless, McClain chose to spend his college years in Coral Gables.
The vibe was a bit off at the signing. Leading up to the event, music was being played along with a video highlighting Cormani’s youth career.
McClain then walked out a few minutes before 6:45 for his scheduled 7 o’clock announcement to the song “Rags to Riches” by Roddy Rich. With little to no buildup, he announced he was going to attend the University of Miami.
With only a few noises in the crowd, there was one lone cheer from a singular Hurricane fan.
“For anyone who didn’t hear,” said McClain’s mom to the confused. “He is going to Miami.”
That is when everyone realized it wasn’t a joke, some clapping with an odd sense of bewilderment.
A few minutes pass, and Cormani realized he needed to reannounce his commitment because the CBS and other tv stations there had not prepared for him to announce that quickly. Again, solidifying his choice to Miami.
Following the announcement, camera crews zeroed in on McClain. One picture stood out: McClain was posing with a young Miami fan, pointing to his shirt that said “Gator Hater”.
The nail in the coffin.
In a week where the Gators face the No. 1 team in the country and one of our biggest rivals, it felt like Thursday night was a bigger loss than what Saturday could hold.
So, the "experts" who are right 75% of the time all said he was a lock to UF? McClain said SCum was his dream school growing up. Didn't they know that? Do they do any research save reading one another's predictions? I'm sure the UF staff recruited him as hard as any other recruit we wanted, but UF didn't "whiff" on this kid, the "experts" did...