FootballRecruitingOctober 20, 2026
By Hype & Honor
Miami’s Next Recruiting Wave Was in Oxford for the Akron Win
A crowded group of 2028 and 2029 prospects left Yager Stadium talking about return trips, stronger relationships and new opportunities. Miami’s future recruiting board is beginning to take shape.
Miami beat Akron comfortably, but the more durable result may have been the number of young prospects who left Oxford publicly discussing another visit, a stronger relationship or a Miami offer. The RedHawks won 34-14 on Oct. 17, rushed for 324 yards, intercepted four passes and improved to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the MAC. The game still lives in our Akron postgame. The recruiting consequence is what happened around it.
Hype & Honor’s Recruiting Board now gives those developments a permanent place to live. The destination tracks Miami commitments, confirmed offers, reported offers, visits and watchlist names without turning every weekend post into a separate article. This feature exists because the Akron visitor group was large enough, public enough and young enough to show the next cycle beginning to take shape.
The Win Recruits Saw
The visitor group did not watch a coin-flip MAC game that needed last-minute invention. They saw Miami’s best combination of rushing production and defensive disruption this season, and they saw it against a conference opponent in a comfortable home win. That is the version of the program a staff wants on the field when 2028 and 2029 prospects are in the stands.
A young recruit cannot reasonably treat one afternoon as a complete evaluation of a program. Recruits can still take a clear picture home: a running game that actually produced, a defense that created takeaways, and a stadium several of them later described as a place they wanted to see again. Those public reactions do not tell us how Miami graded any individual prospect, and they do not tell us how any prospect graded Miami in private.
The afternoon still matters as a recruiting environment. Oxford looked like a place where the product on the field matched the pitch, at least for one Saturday in October. That is a useful starting point for relationships that still have years to develop.
Akron Weekend Recruiting Snapshot
Public recruiting databases and later recruit posts documented a larger Oct. 17 visitor group than the first published set of names. The list below is derived from those canonical records. Offered prospects remain Offered on the Big Board and still appear here when a documented visit exists for that date.
Event Snapshot
Miami vs Akron · October 17, 2026 · Yager Stadium
23 verified visitors on October 17, 2026. Class breakdown 2027: 1 · 2028: 18 · 2029: 4. 5 already hold confirmed Miami offers. Primary Big Board statuses are unchanged.
- Verified visitors
- 23
- Class breakdown
- 2027: 1 · 2028: 18 · 2029: 4
- Confirmed Miami offers
- 5
| Recruit | Class | Position | School | Board status | Public signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anquan Clemmons | 2028 | OLB | Grand Blanc | VISITED | Visit post |
| Antonio LaLama | 2028 | LB / MLB | Romeo | VISITED | Visit post |
| Austin Kehr | 2029 | QB | York High | CONFIRMED OFFER | Visit post |
| Brayden Hunt | 2028 | EDGE | William Amos Hough | VISITED | On3 2028 visits board |
| Caden Kramp | 2028 | OT / DE | Central Catholic | VISITED | Visit post |
| Cooper Kisgen | 2028 | RB | Freeburg | VISITED | On3 2028 visits board |
| Darrylron Guy | 2027 | ATH | Jeffersonville | VISITED | On3 2027 visits board |
| Esdras Gonzalez | 2028 | WR / DE | Holy Name | VISITED | Visit post |
| Evan Rediehs | 2028 | LB | Lemont | VISITED | On3 2028 visits board |
| Finn Macken | 2028 | QB / S | Rosemount | VISITED | Visit post |
| Gunnar Holmes | 2028 | LB | Parkway West | VISITED | Visit post |
| Henry VandenBerg | 2028 | WR / OLB | Comstock Park | CONFIRMED OFFER | OFFER + VISIT POST |
| Jacob Mikin | 2028 | QB | St. Ignatius | CONFIRMED OFFER | OFFER + VISIT POST |
| James Krebs | 2028 | OL | St. Francis de Sales | CONFIRMED OFFER | Visit post |
| Jeron Matthews | 2029 | WR | Waukegan | VISITED | On3 2029 visits board |
| Kaidan Schmelmer | 2028 | WR | Olentangy Liberty | VISITED | Visit post |
| Landon Charbonneau-Martinez | 2028 | WR / CB | Lincoln-Way East | VISITED | Visit post |
| Luke Bruggeman | 2028 | RB | Adrian | CONFIRMED OFFER | Visit report |
| Nicholas Christino | 2028 | WR | Coatesville | VISITED | On3 2028 visits board |
| Quincy Fulton | 2028 | WR | Newton Community | VISITED | On3 2028 visits board |
| Ric’Khy McCaw | 2029 | WR | St. Mary's | VISITED | On3 2029 visits board |
| Romello Harris-Blanchard | 2028 | ATH | Avonworth | VISITED | Visit post |
| Trayonn Hill | 2029 | WR | St. Mary's | VISITED | On3 2029 visits board |
Anquan Clemmons
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- OLB
- School
- Grand Blanc
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- Visit post
Antonio LaLama
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- LB / MLB
- School
- Romeo
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- Visit post
Austin Kehr
- Class
- 2029
- Position
- QB
- School
- York High
- Board status
- CONFIRMED OFFER
- Public signal
- Visit post
Brayden Hunt
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- EDGE
- School
- William Amos Hough
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- On3 2028 visits board
Caden Kramp
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- OT / DE
- School
- Central Catholic
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- Visit post
Cooper Kisgen
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- RB
- School
- Freeburg
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- On3 2028 visits board
Darrylron Guy
- Class
- 2027
- Position
- ATH
- School
- Jeffersonville
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- On3 2027 visits board
Esdras Gonzalez
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- WR / DE
- School
- Holy Name
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- Visit post
Evan Rediehs
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- LB
- School
- Lemont
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- On3 2028 visits board
Finn Macken
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- QB / S
- School
- Rosemount
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- Visit post
Gunnar Holmes
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- LB
- School
- Parkway West
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- Visit post
Henry VandenBerg
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- WR / OLB
- School
- Comstock Park
- Board status
- CONFIRMED OFFER
- Public signal
- OFFER + VISIT POST
Jacob Mikin
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- QB
- School
- St. Ignatius
- Board status
- CONFIRMED OFFER
- Public signal
- OFFER + VISIT POST
James Krebs
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- OL
- School
- St. Francis de Sales
- Board status
- CONFIRMED OFFER
- Public signal
- Visit post
Jeron Matthews
- Class
- 2029
- Position
- WR
- School
- Waukegan
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- On3 2029 visits board
Kaidan Schmelmer
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- WR
- School
- Olentangy Liberty
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- Visit post
Landon Charbonneau-Martinez
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- WR / CB
- School
- Lincoln-Way East
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- Visit post
Luke Bruggeman
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- RB
- School
- Adrian
- Board status
- CONFIRMED OFFER
- Public signal
- Visit report
Nicholas Christino
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- WR
- School
- Coatesville
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- On3 2028 visits board
Quincy Fulton
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- WR
- School
- Newton Community
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- On3 2028 visits board
Ric’Khy McCaw
- Class
- 2029
- Position
- WR
- School
- St. Mary's
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- On3 2029 visits board
Romello Harris-Blanchard
- Class
- 2028
- Position
- ATH
- School
- Avonworth
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- Visit post
Trayonn Hill
- Class
- 2029
- Position
- WR
- School
- St. Mary's
- Board status
- VISITED
- Public signal
- On3 2029 visits board
The list is not a commitment board and it is not an offer board. It is the verified Akron-weekend visitor group as it currently sits in the data, including names whose strongest primary status is already Confirmed Offer.
Their Own Words
The public posts were short, specific and consistent enough to quote without reproducing entire threads. The excerpts below are limited to a few words each, attributed to the recruit and linked to the original post.
What they said after Oxford
View original post“top 3 best visit experiences”
View original post“continuing to build the relationship”
View original post“Cannot wait to be back”
View original post“Can’t wait to be back!”
Those lines are useful because they cluster around the same ideas: the visit itself, the relationship and the desire to return. They are not independent rankings, and they are not commitments. Antonio LaLama’s own social profile language is not treated here as a verified national ranking. Self-description is not a recruiting service.
What the Weekend Tells Us
The Akron visitor posts do not prove that Miami has already won the 2028 class. They do show the early shape of the next cycle: a visible Midwest group, continuing work after offers are already on the table, and a public appetite for another trip to Oxford.
THE 2028 FOUNDATION
Miami is building a visible early group in the 2028 class, particularly across Ohio and the surrounding Midwest. The Akron weekend did not invent that work. It made the work public.
Several of those names are still years from a signing class. The value of the weekend is that the relationships are already specific enough to appear on a board instead of remaining a pile of isolated visit posts.
RELATIONSHIPS AFTER THE OFFER
Kehr, Mikin, VandenBerg, Krebs and Bruggeman show why offer tracking and visit tracking should not live in separate universes. An offer can begin a recruitment. Another trip to Oxford can deepen it.
Those five remain Offered on the Big Board because a confirmed offer is the stronger primary status. They still belong in the Akron-weekend visitor story because the visit is attached to the same record.
THE NEXT RETURN TRIP
Several recruits publicly discussed returning, attending Junior Day or continuing conversations with the staff. That language is a real signal. It is not a commitment calendar.
The next meaningful test is not whether another round of posts appears after the next home game. It is whether Miami gets these prospects back on campus and moves the relationship forward.
Why the Board Matters
Hype & Honor’s Recruiting Board is built to hold this kind of story without forcing every name into a new article. The board separates COMMITTED, CONFIRMED OFFER, REPORTED OFFER, VISITED and WATCHLIST, and it will add transfer-portal statuses when that market opens. Football and men’s basketball remain separate. Rankings, counts and primary statuses stay attached to the canonical records rather than to the latest social-media wave.
Every recruit receives one strongest primary board status. Additional events such as visits remain attached to the same record instead of creating a second card. James Krebs is the cleanest example from this weekend. He has a confirmed Miami offer dated June 19, returned for the Oct. 17 Akron game, appears once under Offered, and still belongs in the Akron-weekend visitor story because the visit is documented on that same Offered record.
That is why the Big Board can stay the dominant feature of the Recruiting destination while coverage like this still has a place beneath it. The board is the tracker. The article is the argument around one weekend. Readers who want the live list, not the narrative, can go straight to the destination.
Honest Perspective
Public visit posts are positive signals, not commitments. Many of these early prospects will accumulate additional offers, and staff evaluations and recruit priorities can change before a class is finished. Miami still has to convert return visits and continuing conversations into priority recruitments and, later, commitments.
The optimistic reading is still available, and it does not require pretending Miami owns these recruitments. A productive home win put a large 2028 and 2029 group in Oxford at the same time, and several of those prospects left talking about coming back. That is how a future board starts to become visible. The next step is whether Miami can keep them moving across it.
Hype in 30 Seconds
- 1
Miami’s 34-14 win over Akron gave a large group of 2028 and 2029 prospects a productive, defensive-minded version of the program to watch in person.
- 2
Several visitors publicly discussed returning, attending Junior Day or continuing relationships, while offered prospects such as James Krebs returned to Oxford after Miami had already entered their recruitments.
- 3
The weekend created genuine momentum, but the next test is whether positive visits become return trips, priority recruitments and commitments.
Reporting Note
Recruiting statuses reflect publicly available announcements and attributable reporting as of Oct. 20, 2026. A visit does not necessarily indicate an offer, and an offer does not indicate a commitment.
Sources
- Antonio LaLama visit post
- Austin Kehr visit post
- Austin Kehr offer announcement
- Finn Macken visit post
- Caden Kramp visit post
- Esdras Gonzalez visit post
- Landon Charbonneau-Martinez visit post
- Gunnar Holmes visit post
- Jacob Mikin offer and visit post
- Henry VandenBerg offer and visit post
- James Krebs visit post
- James Krebs offer announcement
- Luke Bruggeman Miami-OH offer report
- Luke Bruggeman Oct. 17 visit report
- Romello Harris-Blanchard visit post
- On3 Miami (OH) 2028 visits
- On3 Miami (OH) 2029 visits
- On3 Miami (OH) 2027 visits
- Miami University Athletics: 'Keep Pounding': RedHawks Pick Off Zips 34-14
- Miami University Athletics: Miami vs. Akron Box Score