Miami Misses out on Crucial Local Five-Star 2026 Recruit
In this story:
The last two decades have not been kind to the Miami Hurricanes when it comes to acquiring some of the best players in their area. Local stars like Jerry Jeudy, Calvin Ridley, Dalvin Cook, and, most recently, Jeremiah Smith have all left South Florida to play college football.
The cycle repeated itself on Saturday night with one of 2026's top recruits. Running back Derrek Cooper from Chaminade-Madonna chose Texas over both Miami and Ohio State. Cooper was a five-star player and the #1 RB by ESPN, and a four-star and the #2 RB by Rivals' industry rankings.
Recently, rumors had swirled that Cooper was looking to leave Florida for college, with Texas and Georgia being listed as frontrunners to land him. That ended up being true, and Miami fans are seeing another major recruit leave South Florida for another destination.
Cooper is another excruciating miss from Chaminade-Madonna in the last couple of years. Miami was in the running for Smith and kept pushing for him until signing day. Of course, he would commit to Ohio State in the end, and Smith proved to be the best receiver, if not the best overall player, in the whole country last year as a true freshman.
Miami also failed to land Miami Northwestern WR Calvin Russell, a Rivals' industry five-star recruit who chose Syracuse over the 'Canes.
Landing Cooper would have indicated that Miami is starting to keep local talent right here at home. Unfortunately, it appears that Mario Cristobal will have to start turning the talent he has into more wins if he's going to start holding onto local talent.
Jacob Husson covers the Miami Hurricanes and UNLV Runnin' Rebels for the OnSI Network. He attended the Univeristy of North Carolina at Pembroke where he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism. He's previously wrote for other sports media outlets covering NFL, MLB, and College Sports