Miami Football: 5 takeaways from Hurricanes’ 2017 regular season

5. #Swag18 needs to stick in top five

Miami’s “#Swag18” recruiting class is sitting at No. 4 in the 247Sports recruiting rankings. Under Al Golden, the Hurricanes had finished up ranked 27th in 2015. Mark Richt took over and saved the 2016 recruiting class by finishing 22nd.

After a 9-4 season culminating in a bowl victory of West Virginia, the 2017 class was ranked 22nd in the country. Richt has rounded out the roster by adding talents that have had to start right away, like Shaquille Quarterman, but also using Golden’s guys well like Brad Kaaya in 2016, and Christopher Herndon IV and Braxton Berrios in 2017.

Mark Richt’s first class has been tainted by the departures of Sam Bruce, Jack Allison, and Dionte Mullins. However, it was loaded with starters like Quarterman, Ahmmon Richards who had a sophomore slump, and starters like Joe Jackson and Travis Homer. The 2016 class can really prove its worth if Zach McCloud, Michael Pinckney and Malek Young recover from tough sophomore seasons to have the All-ACC caliber seasons that they’re capable of.

Flash forward to 2017 and Richt got production out of Deejay Dallas, Navaughn Donaldson and Trajan Bandy. For 2017 to be a successful class, N’Kosi Perry and Jeff Thomas need to pan out over the next two or three seasons.

That takes us to 2018. This class is led by Lorenzo Lingard, the running back from Orange City. He is Miami’s only five-star in this class. Al Blades Jr. is a nice pick up in a legacy signing and Jarren Williams flipped from Kentucky. The latter is a four-star dual-threat quarterback, giving Miami a loaded position heading into the spring with Rosier, Cade Wilson, Perry and Williams fighting for playing time in orange and green.