:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/28136967/20120421_jla_sc5_155.0.jpg)
Chuck Martin had a tough row to hoe when he became head coach of the Miami RedHawks. The team was coming off seasons of 4-8, 4-8, and 0-12, and once Zac Dysert left for the Broncos, it was painfully obvious that one of the best quarterbacks in school history was about the only thing standing between four wins and zero those first two years. And recruiting had largely been at a standstill since Don Treadwell's dismissal after week five. Despite those obstacles, Martin and his staff hit the ground running, bringing in a class of 26 players after two months on the recruiting trail. Here they are:
| Name | Position | Height | Weight | Hometown (Previous School) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ikeem Allen | Power | 6-2 | 300 | Charlotte, NC (Mallard Creek) |
| Deion Cineus | Power | 6-3 | 300 | Miami Beach, FL (Miami Beach) |
| Sam Connolly | Power | 6-2 | 220 | Chicago, IL (Mount Carmel) |
| Kelvin Cook | Skill | 5-10 | 170 | Colerain, OH (Colerain) |
| Alex Demers | Power | 6-2 | 270 | Tipp City, OH (Tippecanoe) |
| Mack Duffin | Power | 6-3 | 220 | Avon, IN (Avon) |
| Bradley Earnest | Skill | 6-1 | 210 | Atlanta, GA (Lakeside) |
| Andrew Hendrix | Skill | 6-2 | 226 | Cincinnati, OH (Moeller) (Notre Dame) |
| Zach Hovey | Power | 6-5 | 235 | Eden Prairie, MN (Eden Prairie) |
| Chris Hudson | Skill | 6-6 | 235 | Hazard, KY (Hazard) |
| Trey Knes | Power | 6-5 | 225 | Chesterfield, MO (Parkway Central) |
| Sam Martin | Skill | 6-3 | 180 | Boulder, CO (Fairview) |
| Matt Merimee | Skill | 6-2 | 200 | Cleveland, OH (Benedictine) |
| Paul Moses | Skill | 6-0 | 220 | Toledo, OH (Toledo Central Catholic) |
| Mitch Palmer | Power | 6-4 | 275 | St. Louis, MO (De Smet Jesuit) |
| Nate Patterson | Power | 6-4 | 230 | Perrysburg, OH (Perrysburg) |
| Gus Ragland | Skill | 6-1 | 200 | Cincinnati, OH (Moeller) |
| Jordan Rigg | Power | 6-5 | 250 | Springboro, OH (Springboro) |
| Richard Schoen | Skill | 5-11 | 180 | Riverside, IL (Fenwick) |
| Ryan Smith | Power | 6-5 | 240 | Oak Park, IL (Fenwick) |
| Alonzo Smith | Skill | 5-11 | 200 | Palm Beach Gardens, FL (Dwyer) |
| Zach Swarts | Power | 6-2 | 275 | Ft. Wayne, IN (Homestead) |
| Daryus Thompson | Skill | 6-2 | 192 | Powder Springs, GA (McEachern) |
| Alex Welch | Power | 6-4 | 251 | Cincinnati, OH (Elder) (Notre Dame) |
| Lo Wood | Skill | 5-11 | 194 | Apopka, FL (Apopka) (Notre Dame) |
| Kenny Young | Skill | 5-10 | 182 | Tallahassee, FL (Godby) |
(Note: Miami's official release on the class identifies players only as "power" and "skill," and not by position. More on this below.)
IMMEDIATE TRANSFER HELP
The news about this class that's gotten the most nationwide news is the addition of three Notre Dame transfers -- Andrew Hendrix, Alex Welch, and Lo Wood -- who have already graduated and enrolled at Miami. The three of them came to South Bend highly touted, especially Welch, but injuries and the vagaries of college competition meant they didn't live up to the promise they showed as 18-year-olds. But that is no matter when it comes to Miami. With Hendrix, Welch, and Wood, Chuck Martin has three players he trusts a great deal (why would he have let them transfer otherwise?) and three players who can make an immediate difference in terms of team leadership. I have no idea if any of these three will start -- though you'd expect immediate lineup help from them, because why transfer otherwise -- but they can certainly provide a locker room presence that seems to have been sorely lacking last season, apart from the injured Austin Boucher.
STANDOUT FRESHMEN
When it comes to the freshmen who may be able to make an impact right away, my thought is that the impact will be most felt on the lines. While other recruits may have gotten more stars, anyone who has watched Miami football the past few years knows that the team's biggest problem has been losing the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball. And it's here that guys like Ikeem Allen, Deion Cineus, and Zac Swarts may see a chance to contribute right away: they already have the size to play in college, and based on their pedigrees, they have the talent on paper. Another recruit who may step into a role from day one is Paul Moses, who turned down an offer from Nebraska to be a running back for Miami.
REBUILDING THE LINES
As I noted above, Miami's release about the recruiting class doesn't list players by position. It simply says whether they are "power" or "skill." If you've been following Miami's recruiting closely (and who hasn't?), you'd know that Martin and his staff have recruited approximately eleventy-twelve tight ends. The vast majority of these guys are listed as "power" players. What this suggests to my untrained eye is that Miami recruited a number of "tight ends" who will redshirt, put on 75 pounds, and end up as linemen. There simply aren't enough openings at tight end for all of these guys to play that position in college. But I'm also not worried -- Miami has a long tradition of bulking up bigger tight ends and turning them into linemen, and it looks like that's something Martin plans to revive.
OVERALL
I'm admittedly a totally biased writer, but I am very happy with this class. At the beginning of Chuck Martin's tenure, it looked like Miami would end up with a class the size of Akron's. Instead, Miami hauled in 26 players (three of whom are transfers, and thus don't count against the 25-freshmen-per-year rule), many of whom turned down offers from BCS programs to come to Oxford. (For example, Paul Moses -- admittedly a Treadwell commit -- chose Miami over Nebraska, Sam Martin spurned Rutgers, and Zac Swarts picked Miami over Duke, Illinois, and Indiana.) This class is far above and beyond what I expected, especially when we're talking about an 0-12 program and two months' recruiting work. I give the RedHawks' incoming class a solid A: perhaps not an A graded on an absolute scale, but definitely an A on a curve that takes into account the team's state in late 2013.
