Al Blades Jr. has Miami in his family tree. He’ll continue his family’s legacy with the Canes’ football program, now that he’s signed with Miami on Wednesday.
4-star Al Blades Jr. will be the latest in his family to play football at Miami
His father and uncles were stars for The U, and Miami just signed the 2018 four-star corner.
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His father, Al, played safety at The U from 1998 to 2000 and spent a few years with the 49ers. His uncle Bennie was one of the most feared hitters on the Miami defense in the ’80s. And uncle Brian was a receiver for the Hurricanes around the same time, before a decade-long career with the Seahawks.
Blades Jr. is a four-star cornerback in the class of 2018, from South Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas. He committed to Miami himself in early 2015, but he backed off that pledge later in the year. The school had just fired head coach Al Golden, and Blades was still three years shy of his enrollment in college anyway. Today, Blades Jr. signed, and he’ll be following in his father’s footsteps.
He verbally re-committed on Father’s Day, which was a nice present to dear old dad.
The Canes were considered the favorite to land him, with Mark Richt’s staff pushing to close the deal against competition from a range of national powers: Alabama, Florida State, LSU, Georgia, Auburn, and the like.
“I’m real aggressive,” Blades Jr. told SB Nation’s Bud Elliott earlier this year. “I play smart, patient, instinctive.” Film on Blades Jr. checks all of those boxes, too.
He is the No. 10 cornerback and No. 57 overall prospect in the class of 2018, according to the 247Sports Composite. This year is a big one for sons of former star DBs who are now star DBs themselves. Florida State has a commitment from four-star cornerback Asante Samuel, and the No. 1 corner in the country is Patrick Surtain Jr.
The elder Al Blades was a key DB for the Canes in the late ’90s, as well as one of the team’s most vocal leaders. He unfortunately died in a car crash in 2003.
Not every Blades went to Miami. Bennie’s son, H.B., decided to play at Pitt, where he was a stalwart at linebacker before spending a few NFL seasons with Washington.
Blades Jr. is a complete cornerback prospect. He’s a shade over 6’0, with the size and agility to play any cornerback spot or safety, if his college coaches want him there. His footwork is smooth, his closing speed is devastating, and he has no obvious holes in his game. The trick for Blades going forward is just to refine himself.
“What I have to work on the most is just a lot of stuff. DB is technician-based, so you’ve gotta work on a lot of things. The thing I’ve probably had to work on the most is eye discipline. It’s a lot of eye discipline in being a defensive back.”
