Tim Burns Jr. Decommits From Miami: What This Means

While the Miami Hurricanes have been winning on the field, their recruiting hasn’t.

After their tear over the pandemic filled summer, in which they garnered a plethora of verbal commitments from some of the top players in South Florida, it’s been 74 days since they received their last pledge.

Tim Burns, a three-star cornerback from Miami Northwestern High school, announced on Monday that he’s de-committing from Miami and reopening his recruitment.

“At this time I am de-committing from the University of Miami and reopening my recruitment portal,” Burns said on Twitter. “I look forward to exploring other universities while completing my senior season.”

Burns had been committed since July 27, 2019, and was a part of the highly touted ‘Northwestern Five,’ which included four-star WR Romello Brinson, four-star safety Kamren Kinchens, three-star tight end Khalil Brantley, three-star linebacker Ja’Corey Hammett and Burns.

Hammett flipped his commitment to West Virginia in August and Burns is the latest to part ways with UM.

His de-commitment leaves Miami with zero cornerbacks committed in the 2021 class, which is something that the coaching staff will need to address. That’s because UM has just five scholarship players at the position after former four-star Christian Williams left the program in September. Juniors Al Blades Jr. and DJ Ivey, sophomore Te’Cory Couch and freshmen Isaiah Dunson and Marus Clarke are those remaining.

The Hurricanes’ secondary has given up 245.9 passing yards per game this season, which is more than what they gave up last year (204.5) with Trajan Bandy as the leading corner.

Miami is still in the mix for Markevious Brown, a four-star cornerback from IMG Academy. Brown, 6-foot, 170-pounds, has had an offer from UM since April 2019 and has them in his ‘top five’ schools list. The Hurricanes also offered Marvin Covington, a three-star cornerback from Lake Ridge High School (Mansfield, TX) on October 26.

Miami was Covington’s first D1 offer and could have served as an early indication that they moved on from Burns, given how recent the offer is. Covington, 5-foot-11, 180-pounds, had his 100-meter dash time clock out at a 10.84 in the spring. Since receiving the offer from UM, he’s garnered more from North Texas, Mississippi State, and TCU.

A commitment from Brown or Covington would go a long way for cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph, who missed out on the decision of five-star corner Jason Marshall, a Miami native who chose the Florida Gators instead.

This isn’t the first time Rumph has had cornerbacks decommit, in 2019, four-star Jaiden Francois and three-stars Daran Branch and Justin Hodges all decommitted from the 2020 class in the span of two months.

The first day of the Early Signing Period for the class of 2021 is on December 16, 2020. Until then, we’ll see how the Hurricanes address their lack of cornerbacks.

Anthony Yero

Born and raised in Miami, Anthony is the Editor-In-Chief of Immaculata-La Salle High School’s student newspaper. As the Founder and Owner of 305Sports, Anthony covers all Miami Sports.