Miami signees building bonds at All-American Bowl

Miami’s five signees participating in this week’s All-American Bowl in San Antonio have soaked in the chance to be in the spotlight one final time as high school recruits before enrolling at Miami this spring and summer, but the future Hurricanes have also used this week’s all-star festivities to begin forging the connections they know they’ll need to rely on at the next level.

Five-star defensive lineman Justin Scott, four-star EDGE Marquise Lightfoot, four-star receiver Ny Carr, four-star safety Zaquan Patterson and three-star offensive lineman Deryc Plazz have taken advantage of opportunities to spend time with each other during this week’s All-American Bowl practices and events before playing in the game at the Alamodome in San Antonio Saturday at 1 p.m. EST on NBC. Lightfoot and Scott, both of whom are from Chicago, flew down together and are roommates and teammates on the West All-American team while Carr, Patterson and Plazz are teammates on the East team, but they’ve still found opportunities to interact.

“It’s just been cool connecting with the other guys,” Scott said. “We’ve all got a lot more similarities than differences, so it’s been cool being around guys like me. We’ll chill in the hotel, play video games, just do stuff to have a good time.”

Carr said the players have had meals together, talked about the 2024 signing class and have done what they can to get to know each other since they’ve arrived, and he believes they’re building a foundation for their relationships, although they still have plenty more to learn about each other. Lightfoot said he still wants to get to know Carr better but is excited to be his roommate once the two arrive on campus Jan. 14.

“Really, we’ve been talking about our class,” Carr said. “We’re here with a lot of people on other teams, so they’ve been throwing shots and we’ve been defending ourselves. Really, we’re just telling everybody what we’re fixing to do. We believe. Everybody else doesn’t. So we’ve just been trying to make them believe and let them know they’re going to feel us.”

Plazz has taken note of the amount of early enrollees Miami has and that four of the five Hurricane signees participating in the All-American Bowl will arrive in January (Scott will arrive this summer). He said they’ve mentioned they feel having 16 high school signees and five junior college and transfer portal additions arrive early will give the Canes a leg up on competition.

“I think 20 (signees) are coming in early or something like that, so that just tells you the type of guys that are coming in,” Plazz said. “Nobody’s trying to lag or linger around. Everybody’s coming to put the work in. So I think this class is going to be just like the 2023 class: come in early and make an impact.”

CaneSport’s Take

All-American events are always great opportunities for future teammates to start their relationships on the right foot, and Miami’s commits have taken advantage of the opportunity this week. The players will head their separate ways Sunday before Lightfoot, Plazz, Patterson and Carr reunite Jan. 14 for their early move-in.

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