Frankie Tinilau is Officially a Miami Hurricane
It's been an unusual recruitment for one of the Miami Hurricanes' first commitments of this recruiting class, and it ended today with his signed letter of intent.
After committing to the Hurricanes on April 11, 2022, Frankie Tinilau was no longer a prospect that flew under the radar. No, in fact, he was suddenly a prospect that other programs wanted to know more about.
Among the programs that eventually extended an offer to the former Australian that came to America and played for Miami (Fla.) La Salle would be Oregon, Arizona State, Hawaii, BYU, Florida and Maryland, among others.
He decided he wanted stay closer to his knew home and play for The U. During an interview earlier this year with All Hurricanes, Tinilau had the following to say about Miami head coach Mario Cristobal:
“Oh, he just feels like an uncle, man. It really is just about family," Tinilau said. "You know, when it comes to football, he definitely has that coaching vibe. You know, off the field, he feels like family.”
Not to be outdone, and from the same interview, Tinilau made the following comments about Miami offensive line coach Alex Mirabal:
“Obviously, an offensive line coach like [Alex] Mirabal, it doesn’t get better than that. The numbers don’t lie. So, he definitely helped out with the recruiting.”
Miami fans can read the entire Tinilau interview by going here.
As for how the 6-foot-5 and 315-pound offensive lineman plays on the gridiron, there were a few notes to consider from his senior film that Canes fans can read below, with the full report being found here.
"Tinilau has an aggressive nature to his style of play. With his big-bodied frame, he already shows the ability to move defenders 10-plus yards down the field. Beyond the big body, he does possess a good first step to gain an edge on the player in front of him.
Once out in space during an outside run or screen, Tinilau is also adept at blocking much smaller moving targets. Many offensive lineman struggle with this category. When it is time to mash, that’s also a quality Tinilau provides."
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