Hurricanes Clean Up During First Ever Early Signing Day
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A big day in the college football world on Wednesday and it comes right at the start of bowl season.
For the first time ever, high school players could sign with their selected schools before the traditional Signing Day in February.
Between Wednesday and December 22nd, high school football players can sign their letters of intent a couple months early.
And from the looks of it, the Miami Hurricanes have done very well with most recruiting websites giving Mark Richt and company a top five class.
"I'd like to take my talents to the University of Miami," said Southridge High School senior wide receiver Daquris Wiggins.
Across the country, student athletes took advantage of college football's new early signing period.
The Hurricanes had a monster day, getting 18 of their 20 commits to put pen to paper.
Miami pulled in 5-star wide receiver Mark Pope, Wiggins, and offensive lineman Delone Scaife.
The three players have been together since their pop warner days.
"I'm from Miami so why not go on and put on for where I'm from," Pope said.
"It's a blessing," Wiggins said. "They're my brothers we can work hard together. We already know about each other so it'll be easier for us to you know maneuver around."
Miami reloaded at running back, landing 5-star Lorenzo Lingard and 4-star prospect Camron Davis from Carol City, who was ready to take advantage of the new format.
"It wasn't a tough decision," David said. "I already had my mind set that I wanted to go to the University of Miami. Staying home with my family."
As signing days usually go, we also had a couple of surprises like defensive end Randy Charlton who had over a dozen offers, but has bought in to what Butch Davis is doing at Florida International University.
"He has something big coming," Charlton said. "Something big is going to change inside the program that i believe in."
For fans, this is Christmas come early, but for the families this is much more.
There were plenty of proud parents, big hugs, and even a few tears with these young men walking away with college scholarships.
"It's a big thing," Charlton said. "Nobody ever thought we'd be going to college right now. It's huge."
"It's a dream come true," Pope said. "It's something I've always wanted. It's a blessing."
If players don't sign over the next couple of days they still have the traditional signing day on February 7th.
Wednesday, Canes coach Mark Richt said they still expect to pick up a few more players in the 2018 class.
