Delaying a Commitment, and the Price You May Pay

Thursday, February 19, 2009

The Palm Beach Post reports February 17th that the University of Miami, Florida may be prepared to pull out of its side of a verbal commitment received from running back Bryce Brown, top-rated high school recruit from Wichita East High in Kansas, to play for the Hurricanes starting next season.

The articles notes that the move comes in wake of Brown’s apparent failure to sign a national letter of intent faxed to him by the university on February 4th within the allotted time span, a period which includes a deadline of midnight February 19th.

Brian Butler, lead man in charge of Brown’s recruiting process, claims that the University of Miami has not shared with him or the Brown family information pertaining to a lack of further interest in the running back, and explained to reporters earlier this week that recent discussions had with Hurricanes’ coach Randy Shannon confirmed a planned visited by Brown and his family to the campus on March 3rd.

A source close to the University of Miami’s athletic department tells the Post, however, that the aforementioned visit is “not going to happen.”

Rumors surrounding the current status of Brown’s recruitment by the Hurricanes suggest that the running back’s refusal to sign a letter of intent by the February 17th deadline stems from issues with UM’s coaching staff which apparently arose after conversations were had by Brown with new offensive coordinator for the University of Miami, Mark Whipple, just a few days after Whipple was hired on by the school’s football program.

Brown is quoted by Rivals.com as saying following the meeting with Whipple in Omaha, Nebraska, “We basically talked Xs and Os. It’s kind of hard for me to say what the offense is going to be like. Some of the stuff he was talking about – putting me out in space, and allowing me to get matched up with linebackers and cornerbacks one-on-one – sounds good, but inside something tells me that [Whipple’s] philosophy or the way he does things isn’t what I really like.”

Brown, it should be pointed out, verbally committed to the University of Miami last year. Yet despite such a pledge, the running back has made no secret of additional visits made to other schools since that point in time, programs which include Clemson, Auburn, Kansas State, Tennessee, Southern California, and Oregon, whom many privately feel will eventually land a signed letter of intent from the outstanding ball-carrier.

Brown has reiterated numerous times that he would not sign a letter of intent to any program prior to March 16th of this year. He currently has a visit to LSU scheduled for February 27th, followed by the trip in question to Coral Gables and UM some four days later.

Given that the Hurricanes have already received written promises from two other top running backs (Davenport’s Mike James and Miami-Killian’s Lamar Miller), the reality of the situation is that Brown may have waited too long to act – this even though Arthur Brown Sr., Brown’s father, maintains that the family’s “ideal preference” would be for his son to play at the University of Miami, where Brown’s brother also plays linebacker. Miami could potentially reissue a second letter of intent to Brown, but that seems less and less likely to happen as the week moves forward.

“No one player is bigger than the University of Miami,” a source close to the UM athletic department is quoted in the Post. A similar unidentified spokesperson explains to Rivals.com, “Everything that Coach [Randy] Shannon is doing here is about team. There is always going to be concern about a player or a prospective player who isolates himself as an individual.”