Miami's Transfer Pitch to Star Defensive Back Is no Longer a Pipe Dream
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The Miami Hurricanes fan base owes a debt to head coach Mario Cristobal and his recruiting staff for their ability to recruit from high school and the transfer portal. Not only has it changed the trajectory of the program, but it has helped the team become national championship contenders in five years.
Cristobal was known as an elite recruiter, but his talent eye has been through the roof. Look at this season and the addition of star defensive back Kieonte Scott.
Scott, at times this season, has played like the best player on the entire team. This team has two potential top-ten picks in the 2026 NFL Draft and other players that will be high draft picks in the next few seasons. Moreover, when it was pitched for him to come to Miami, those dreams and goals that were thrown to him have come to fruition on the field.
"I definitely feel like you can never say too much anticipation," Scott said. "My biggest thing was to focus on the outer things, the things I can control and the situation, and making sure it was a good opportunity, stuff like that. And I feel like all those boxes have been checked. Everything the coaches have, their main pitches to me while I was in the portal, and all the things that were happening have come alive. So I'm definitely grateful for the situation. I'm grateful for the coaches. Grateful for the university. And I'm just blessed."
Scott went down in the final three games of the season, and, while his presence wasn't fully missed, his return against Texas A&M was instantly impactful, playing his best game of the season.
Against the Aggies, he finished with 10 total tackles, two sacks, and a forced fumble. He was instrumental in the defensive masterclass displayed in one of the highest-rated games of the year.
This highlights the start of what Cristobal has seen out of him this season and what he has seen out of him ever since he tried to recruit him to go to Oregon.
"Keionte Scott, the epitome of a competitor, of a great teammate, Lord, of a performer, of a guy that when the lights come on, there's there's zero flinch," Cristobal said. "Sometimes in football you come across guys that find a way to stay in the training room or find a way out of the training room. That guy was, he mentally, his approach from day one, when he was injured. He mentally, just was decisive, was hell-bent, was determined to come back stronger, faster, healed up completely before most people thought he would. And then to go out there and perform at the level he did with limited practice reps. I haven't been around a guy like that at that position, or maybe any position."
"That guy, he's different," Cristobal continued. "He's different. And he is an absolute honor and joy to be around at all times, a great example for our team, for our program, for people in athletics, in general. I kind of like the guy a little bit, right? So he's awesome. I recruited him for a long time. I actually recruited him when I was coaching at Oregon. He sent me a picture the other day during one of his unofficial visits. So we go back a long, long way.
"So, I told him I had to move across the earth to finally get him to come play for us. And it's great, in football, you always cross paths at some point or another with people that maybe saw, came across once before, but to be able to be across paths with him again and be on the same team is awesome."
The Hurricanes will need him to have another elite game this time against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl Classic. The receivers on the opposite end of him are elite, and he will need to be at his best to combat them.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.