Sting Factor: Jaden Rashada's flip from Miami to Florida
When a major program loses a key recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a local and national level. To quantify the “sting” of each decommitment, we assign a score from one to 10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.
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THE STORYLINE
When Jaden Rashada committed to Miami in June, it was a major recruiting victory for the Hurricanes as first-year coach Mario Cristobal beat Florida, Oregon and others for the four-star quarterback.
Rashada knew Cristobal from his time in Eugene. The Pittsburg, Calif., standout played with some Miami commits on the Miami Immortals 7-on-7 team. He took a mid-week visit to Coral Gables and a couple weeks later he was locked in with The U.
Florida was the second-place finisher but in recruiting there could only be one winner. But on Thursday night, Rashada announced that he was flipping his commitment from Miami and to the Gators, citing his lifelong dream of playing in the SEC.
Miami’s struggles this season - especially coming off a 45-3 loss to Florida State - played a role in Rashada’s decision, according to sources. The Gators have now won out landing their second quarterback in the class which also includes in-state three-star Marcus Stokes.
The Canes still have Milton, Fla., three-star quarterback Emory Williams committed.
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LOCAL REACTION
Rashada’s decommitment hurts more than others because he flipped to the hated Florida Gators. When the four-star made his commitment to Miami in June, he spurned the Gators then, but now the shoe is on the other foot. Miami is having an underwhelming season in 2022, especially on offense, and it is safe to say that was a factor in Rashada’s decision to flip. That part hurts, too. The hope is that this is not a domino effect for other commits to decommit as Miami is on track for its worst season since the 1970s.
Fortunately, Miami has another quarterback already committed to the 2023 class in three-star Emory Williams. Williams, by many accounts, performed better than Rashada at the Elite 11 last summer, so how both finish their careers will be constant banter between Canes and Gators fans. Miami and Florida will play against each other in 2024 and 2025 with the potential for both prospects to duel it out on the field. - Marcus Benjamin, CanesCounty.com
Sting factor: 7
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NATIONAL REACTION
Losing Rashada is definitely not ideal nor was it part of the rebuilding plan but Miami still has more five-star commitments than any team in the country and that’s a big credit to Mario Cristobal and his staff on selling a vision for the future. One decommitment cannot spiral into losing a lot of the Miami class and there needs to be more success on the field because it looks like the team is getting worse as the season goes on. Rashada is a talented quarterback who has lots of potential down the road so this one definitely hurts. It will be even worse, though, if others start departing as well. - Adam Gorney, National Recruiting Director
Sting factor: 8