The Player

The Class

The Team

2019 Sumpter (SC) offensive tackle Zion Nelson flipped to Miami yesterday coming off his secret UM official visit this past weekend, flipping his pledge from Appalachian State.The 6-5 240 pounder is a consensus 2-star prospect right now. According to the 247Composite, Nelson is the #2,622 player overall, the #211 ranked OT in the country, and the 49th best player in South Carolina. His commitment moves Miami’s 2019 class ranking to #32 on 247Sports and #37 on Rivals.Nelson was recruited by UM with little fanfare and, although he had been hearing from Miami for weeks, nobody in recruiting circles ever brought up his name. The Canes brought him in on a secret official visit last week, and Nelson landed an offer. After taking a few days to mull things over back home with his family, Nelson decided to flip his commitment to UM from App State.Taking a look at his film, there’s no way to avoid saying this: Nelson is an absolute project at this stage of his development. At a listed 6’5” 240, he has nowhere near the size or strength needed to play offensive line at the college level right now and it is going to take him some time to get there. Nelson played left tackle for his high school team, so he does have experience at a big position of need for the Canes.Despite looking like a tight end, Nelson actually plays with an overly aggressive demeanor, a Stacy Searels specialty, and doesn’t back down when challenged. Nelson’s frame works to his benefit in some scenarios, as he shows he is an asset in the screen game by using his athleticism to get downfield and pummel linebackers and DB’s. His length is also something that stands out as well, and Nelson knows how to extend his arms to keep defenders away from his body. It won’t happen right away, and Nelson certainly has the physical traits and frame to turn into a quality left tackle, but it is going to take a lot of hard work and coaching to get him there. He is the definition of “boom or bust” prospect.Nelson is the 14th commit overall in the 2019 class, the second offensive lineman (also OC Jakai Clark), and the first tackle. Nelson may have beaten Christ the King (NY) 3-star Adam ElGammal to the punch as the undersized tackle project for this class. ElGammal is slated to be on campus for a Miami official visit this weekend, but it’s certainly fair to question if he is even a take at this point.Miami’s top target at any position this cycle has been IMG Academy 5-star Evan Neal, who made his official visit to Miami last month and seems down to a final five of Miami, Oklahoma, UGA, FSU, and of course Bama. Each has already received officials, but the Canes still seem to be running a distant second behind the Crimson Tide for now. Miami is trying to see if bringing in his brother as a PWO will help sway Neal, but I was told not to expect that to have any real impact on Neal’s decision. Neal will sign early next week and there are no signs that the choice will be Miami.Next up, the Canes have been pushing for a flip from Mississippi State commit Darius Washington for a few months now and Washington made an OV to Miami back in October for the FSU game. Washington is a quiet kid that doesn't do many interviews and is hard to get a read on. While some believe the Canes have a better shot than is being reported, Miami will certainly have to get Washington back on campus to feel confident in making the flip. As of now, Washington is not planning to sign early, but the fact that he doesn’t regularly talk to the media makes me wonder if he might just quietly sign next week without any fanfare. If this recruitment goes into the New Year, it is certainly a positive sign for Miami’s chances, and with the state of the tackle board right now, Washington almost seems like a must-get.Miami has struggled with their play up front for years, and they’ll be losing a three year starter at tackle this season. Tyree St. Louis was one of the only true tackles on the roster, and although he was solid overall, St. Louis’ play seemed to regress over time, and at best showed no real improvement by the end of his UM career. He has no clear successor at left tackle; although Delone Scaife started at RT with mixed results, he’s really more of a guard type and is better suited to stay on the right side if anything. Rising senior George Brown is coming off injury and barely looked serviceable before that. Second year tackles Kai-Leon Herbert and Zalon’tae Hillery have shown absolutely nothing yet. John Campbell was a true freshman this season and may have more upside than any of these names, but needs to continue to add to his frame and become adept at the mental side of the game.So, while there’s playing time available and Miami really needed to get a tackle in this class that could at the very least contribute on the two deep in 2019, Nelson is not going to be that guy. Due to being so underweight, Miami likely won’t know what it has in Nelson until year 3 and Nelson is a certainty to redshirt his freshman season at UM. By his redshirt sophomore season, Nelson will either be starting or transferring from the program; I feel like there’s no in-between.