Miami shocks incoming seventh grader with Hurricanes offer: ‘I didn’t think stuff like that was going to happen until high school’
In recruiting terms, Jamarion Evans is a 2029 6-foot-2, 250-pound offensive line prospect who received his first college offer in mid-July. But to the rest of the world, Evans is an incoming seventh grader and a 12-year-old with an offer to Miami.
The Hurricanes offered Evans along with fellow 2029 prospect Karsen Bell earlier this month after learning about the prospects through the Miami Gardens Ravens youth football team of the Florida Youth Football League, dropping by a practice this summer as part of the program’s community outreach and seeing enough to formally extend offers.
Evans was blown away after receiving the offer, and his father was equally shocked. Miami head coach Mario Cristobal is already starting on the 2029 recruiting class, and Evans’ father said the offer picked him up after the family experienced a recent tragedy.
“It was a big shock,” said Jamarion’s father, Abdul. “I didn’t think stuff like that was going to happen until high school. It’s good for him. His mother just passed away no more than a month and a half ago, so this kind of lifts his spirits. I’m proud of him.”
Cristobal called Ravens head coach Rod Mack to inform him the Hurricanes wanted to offer Jamarion, and Mack quickly informed Abdul of the development. The offer was Jamarion’s first form of recruitment from any coaching staff, and although he’s spoken to coaches before on campus visits with his team, “this is the first time something like this has happened.”
“I think he’s just pretty good for his position,” Abdul said when asked why the Hurricanes offered Jamarion. “He’s been playing football for a long time, since he was about 7, 8, 9 years old. I think he’s just good at his position. He’s 12 years old, and he’s a lot bigger than the other kids. He’s pretty huge. I guess they saw something in him and they were impressed.”
The Evans’ don’t know what the recruiting process will look like from here or what the next step will be for Jamarion. Nor do they have definite plans to visit campus in the near future. But with Miami already established as Jamarion’s dream school after growing up in South Florida, it’s safe to say the Hurricanes have firmly captured his interest. Jamarion’s dream is to play for the Miami Dolphins after playing for the Hurricanes in college.
“He’s just a hometown boy,” Abdul said. “He’s a hometown school kid. Period. I think a couple of the coaches out there, I think they made an impression on him.”
CaneSport’s Take
There’s no playbook for recruiting middle schoolers, and Jamarion’s offer won’t be committable for some time. But Cristobal’s decision to offer two 2029 prospects does more to send a message to the South Florida football community than it does to help Miami’s chances with a pair of seventh graders. Miami’s decision to offer a pair of 2029 recruits tells the South Florida youth football community that Cristobal wants to make Coral Gables the dream destination for all football players, regardless of age. It’s a move Cristobal hopes will place the Hurricanes in the minds of youth football players by delivering a positive shock he hopes will reverberate throughout Miami’s youth football community.
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