It’s early, but Mark Richt’s Miami now has the No. 1 recruiting class

Recruit rankings early in the cycle are nowhere near as solid as those we’ll have on Signing Day, and anyone who’s committed in March has a good chance of signing elsewhere 11 months later. Yes, yes, we all recognize these things.

Still, Miami overtaking Penn State for No. 1 on the way-too-early 247Sports Composite is noteworthy. The Hurricanes this week added four-stars at QB and WR, giving them both the biggest class in the country so far and one with a solid emphasis on quality, at least as far as can be discerned by the partial rankings we have at this point. The Canes’ class includes seven blue-chippers among its 13 commits; that’s not quite as dense as PSU’s 10-of-11 ratio, but still an impressive start.

It looks like a classic Miami class as well, with three of the state’s top five commits verballing to the Canes so far (and four of seven if you count the QB, New Jersey native Artur Sitkowski, who’s at Florida’s IMG Academy for high school ball).

It’s so Miami, even some locals who aren’t committed (yet?) call back to The U of old. From the weekend’s South Florida Nike camp:

The most talkative prospect was, as usual, Al Blades Jr. The corner out of Ft. Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas School had some good reps at cornerback, and also had some good work at safety during seven-on-seven, which is intriguing. Blades is the son of the late Miami standout of the same name, the nephew of NFL Canes Brian and Bennie, and the cousin of former Pitt LB H.B. Blades. Blades is not committed to Miami, but he talks as if he is.

Blades to James Cook (Dalvin’s little brother) after a drop: “That’s why you need to be going to Miami. That FSU stuff makes you drop balls.”

I asked Blades if he has a leader, and he said no. But if he had to make a top five, the only school he knows would make it is Miami. He said Ohio State and FSU “might” make it. Blades earned an invite to The Opening Finals.

Last class, Mark Richt’s staff closed well and returned Miami to its recent standard of a ranking in the low teens, with a No. 13 finish. If current class rating averages were to hold — and that’s the most instructive thing to look at, this time of the year — Miami could have a top-10 group this time.