Snagging the top high school players in the tri-county area has been priority No. 1 in UM recruiting ever since Howard Schnellenberger spoke of “building a wall” around South Florida.
But it’s an objective that will again go unfulfilled this year.
Of the 16 players from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties that are rated among ESPN’s top 300 Class of 2019 prospects, UM has commitments from just two — and they’re No. 15 and No. 16 on that list: Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna cornerback Te’Cory Couch (rated 230th overall) and his teammate, safety Keontra Smith (rated 235th).
As for the other 14 of those top 16, 11 have committed elsewhere and three remain undecided.