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Miami flips post-graduate center from Harvard, lands 19th commitment of 2024 class

Stephen Wagner covers recruiting for the University of Miami for On3 Sports and CaneSport. He can be found on Twitter at @stephenwag22 and reached at Stephen.Wagner@On3.com.by:Stephen Wagner•07/31/23•

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Nino Francavilla 2

If you had told Toronto (ON) Cheshire Academy center Nino Francavilla two weeks ago he was about to commit to Miami, he wouldn’t have believed you. But Monday evening, a week after receiving a committable offer from the Hurricanes, the 6-foot-3, 295-pound offensive lineman became Miami’s 19th commit in the 2024 cycle and third offensive line pledge.

Francavilla made his first contact with the Hurricanes’ staff at a Miami prospect camp June 8 where he quickly caught the attention of offensive line coach Alex Mirabal and head coach Mario Cristobal, who told him they wanted to continue to monitor him despite him never taking a formal unofficial visit to campus.

He had limited contact with the Canes’ staff over the next 45 days until Mirabal reached out with a committable offer last week, just a day after Francavilla verbally committed to Harvard. But after a few conversations with his family, his decision made itself.

“(Mirabal) kind of asked me about my commitment (to Harvard) and if there was any wiggle room,” Francavilla said. “I told him at a school like Miami I could get the best of both worlds with football and academics. He offered, and the last two-ish weeks I’ve kind of been going back and forth between Harvard and Miami, Harvard and Miami. But I just feel like after talking with all of the coaches at Miami and seeing how genuine they are, talking to my parents, it was kind of a no-brainer.”

Francavilla said he and Mirabal talked about needing a center in the 2024 class, which immediately caught his attention.

But what about his previous commitment to Harvard?

“The Harvard coaches told me, at my age, they don’t know if they would make a different decision,” Francavilla said. “That was kind of like a freak scenario, if you will. …I just felt like it was the best thing to let Harvard know so they could continue recruiting their class and let Miami know I was all-in on being a Hurricane, because if I had my decision made I didn’t see the point in dragging it out.”

Francavilla has shut down his recruitment and will not entertain other schools, he said. He hopes to return to Coral Gables for an unofficial visit sometime this fall depending how his fall football schedule works out and when he can sneak down for a weekend visit.

CaneSport’s Take

This commitment truly came out of nowhere, particularly considering few individuals in the recruiting scene were familiar with Francavilla before June, but this is a commitment the Hurricanes are enthused about and I’m a fan of. I won’t speak for my fellow CaneSport staff members, but I like taking a post graduate center who has an additional year of experience, is one year older and more mature and hasn’t started his eligibility clock.

Francavilla should be a prospect who arrives on campus slightly closer to being game-ready than some of the true high school recruits in the 2024 class thanks to his additional experience, and with time he’ll hopefully lead Miami’s younger offensive line prospects.

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