Miami’s recruiting ledger has no shortage of near-misses, but a few stand out because of how dramatically they could have changed the Hurricanes’ path. Some were local stars who got away.
Others were early commitments who drifted elsewhere. And one is still writing his college story right now.
A couple of names belong in the conversation even if they didn’t make the top three. Patrick Peterson once committed to Miami before becoming a standout defensive back at LSU, while Amari Cooper left Miami Northwestern for Alabama and turned into a Biletnikoff Award winner and Heisman Trophy finalist.
The three biggest what-ifs, though, hit even harder.
Dalvin Cook sits near the top of the list for obvious reasons. The Florida State running back was a Miami-area star, and his recruitment took a winding path from Clemson to Florida before he landed on the Seminoles. Because he intended to enroll early, NCAA rules allowed him to sign nonbinding financial-aid agreements with multiple schools, and Cook signed with Florida, Florida State and Miami before choosing FSU on New Year’s Eve in 2013.
His connection to Miami only deepens the sting. Miami Central teammate Joe Yearby did end up with the Hurricanes.
Cook, meanwhile, became one of the biggest problems Miami faced in the rivalry. As a freshman in 2014, he scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3:05 left in Florida State’s 30-26 comeback win after the Seminoles erased a 16-point deficit.
The next year, he shredded Miami for 222 rushing yards, 269 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns in a 29-24 FSU win, including the deciding 23-yard touchdown run with 6:44 to go. He followed that with 150 rushing yards and a 59-yard touchdown catch in Florida State’s 20-19 victory in 2016.
Florida State beat Miami in all three seasons of Cook’s career, and each game was decided by five points or fewer. Cook left Tallahassee as the school’s career rushing leader with 4,464 yards and 46 rushing touchdowns. Put that production in Miami’s backfield, and some of those defining losses in the Al Golden and early Mark Richt years might have looked very different.
Teddy Bridgewater is another one that still stings. The Miami Northwestern quarterback committed early to the Hurricanes and built a strong bond with Randy Shannon. But after Shannon was fired in November 2010, Bridgewater started to reconsider, decommitted in early December and ultimately chose Louisville, partly because he believed he could compete for the starting job right away.
That decision gave Louisville one of the best quarterbacks in its history. Bridgewater finished with 9,817 passing yards and 72 passing touchdowns, led the Cardinals past No.
2 Florida in the Sugar Bowl after the 2012 season and went 12-1 as a junior in 2013. His final college game was especially brutal for Miami: 447 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and a rushing score in Louisville’s 36-9 rout in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
Miami was 6-6 in 2011, 7-5 in 2012 and 9-4 in 2013. Bridgewater would have arrived as Jacory Harris was nearing the end of his college run, giving the Hurricanes a top-tier quarterback during the first three seasons of Golden’s tenure.
Then there’s the one that feels biggest of all: Jeremiah Smith. Miami pushed hard to keep the Ohio State wide receiver home during the 2024 recruiting cycle, but he stayed committed to the Buckeyes and quickly became one of the sport’s elite players.
As a true freshman, Smith put up 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns while helping Ohio State win the national championship. In 2025, he followed with 87 receptions for 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns. Through two seasons, he has 163 catches for 2,558 yards and 27 receiving touchdowns, the most receiving yards and touchdowns by a Big Ten player over his first two college seasons.
That kind of production makes the “what if” even more vivid. Miami finished the 2024 regular season 10-2 and led the nation in scoring and total offense, but losses at Georgia Tech and Syracuse ended the playoff push.
The Hurricanes didn’t miss the postseason because of their offense, so Smith wouldn’t have solved everything. Still, dropping one of the best freshman receivers college football has ever seen into an attack already featuring Cam Ward would have been something special.
And in 2025, with Miami pushing toward the national championship game, Smith might have been the difference against Indiana. He still has this season left to keep piling up numbers, but the idea of him doing it in Coral Gables is the kind of what-if that towers over the rest. Smith may be the greatest Miami recruiting miss of them all.
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