Menocal talks Miami, Golden

Miami (Fla.) Belen Jesuit Prep linebacker Nick Menocal is a Miami Hurricane commitment. Despite that commitment, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound linebacker was scheduled to take an official visit to Virginia this past weekend but that didn't occur. He spoke about the change in plans on Monday evening.

"No, I didn't go up there," Menocal said. "I had planned to take an official up there and I was going to be going up by myself because neither of my parents had the money right now to go, so we decided to change it to January so that maybe one of my parents can go up with me."

That trip to Virginia won't be his only official visit in January.

"I want to take my official visits," Menocal said. "I think I am going to be taking all of my official visits in January. I plan to go to Virginia, Georgia Tech, obviously I am going to take one to Miami, and I think UNC wants me to take one."

Menocal said he remains confident in his commitment to the Hurricanes, but just wants to make sure between now and the first Wednesday in February.

"I am just keeping my options open and making sure I made the right decision," Menocal said.

He talked about the reasons behind his decision to pledge to the Hurricanes back in June.

"The number one thing that attracted me is the tradition that they have had there," Menocal said. "The winning tradition and the tradition at the linebacker position. They produced some of the best linebackers to go onto the next level. It is known around the country for that. Other than that, I felt a sense of a second home there. I felt a great atmosphere there. I liked the coaches, obviously I liked Coach (Randy) Shannon, he seemed like he was straight-up, and all the other coaches there.

"Now with Coach (Al) Golden coming in, I am going to have to get to know all the coaches again," Menocal added. "I have to get to know my position coach, that is one of the most important things that people forget about."

While he waits to get to know Coach Golden, Menocal has stayed in contact with assistants on the Miami staff including his primary recruiter.

"I spoke to Coach (Rick) Petri, who is the coach that has been recruiting me, today," Menocal said. "He called me to find out what was going on and to find out how I was doing. We didn't really talk that much about the hire."

Golden was formally introduced at Miami today with a press conference. Menocal was unable to keep up with the event as it happened but caught some highlights on the evening news.

"I didn't see his press conference. I saw some of the things he mentioned at the press conference because they showed it on the news," Menocal said. "I honestly don't know that much about Coach Golden. I want to meet him and get to know him. I want to know what he is looking for and what he plans to do with the program in the future."

Academically, Menocal has earned a qualifying SAT score.