Top-50 EDGE Marquise Lightfoot signs with Miami in major addition to class: "Miami and Marquise? A match made in heaven"
Chicago (Ill.) Kenwood Academy four-star EDGE Marquise Lightfoot started the year as a three-star middle-of-the-pack recruit with a handful of Power Five offers and limited interest from a handful of Big Ten programs. He ended the year as the No. 43 prospect in the country, No. 5 EDGE and a Miami commit who chose the Canes over programs like Ohio State, USC, Notre Dame and Illinois.
He is confirmed signing his UM papers today.
Miami was one of the first major Power Five programs to show interest in Lightfoot in this recruiting cycle, extending an offer in January and quickly building a relationship with the 6-foot-5, 220-pound pass rusher. Miami head coach Mario Cristobal and co-defensive line coach Jason Taylor developed a rapport with Lightfoot, who gravitated toward Miami’s staff, city and community and announced his commitment July 3.
Lightfoot was Miami’s highest-ranked commit in the On300 before the Hurricanes added five-star defensive lineman Justin Scott (another Chicago product) in late November and spent the season as one of Miami’s three highest-rated commits in the On3 Industry Ranking, which compiles a weighted average of a recruit’s ranking from the four major recruiting databases.
His commitment to Miami didn’t stop Ohio State from pushing throughout the fall. The Buckeyes made multiple runs at Lightfoot but weren’t able to pull him away from Miami, which maintained his attention thanks largely to the staff’s continued recruiting efforts. The appeal of playing for a Hall-of-Fame pass rusher in Taylor and living in the City of Miami both played major factors in Lightfoot’s recruitment.
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“I’m 100% locked in,” Lightfoot told CaneSport following his in-home visit Dec. 1. “… I’m 100% with my decision, Miami answered everything for me my first couple of visits.”
When he shut down his recruitment, other schools largely respected his decision.
“He’s got Miami things everywhere, all over the place,” Kenwood Academy head coach Sinque Turner said. “He’s definitely a Cane. That’s home for him. That’s a great fit for him, him and Jason Taylor and Joe (Salave’a) and those guys, they’re going to do a really good job. Mario Cristobal is a rock star down there. They treat him like he’s family, like they’ve known that kid forever, and they haven’t skipped a beat since they first met him. Miami and Marquise? A match made in heaven.”
CaneSport’s Take
Turner said it best when he called Lightfoot and Miami a “match made in heaven,” and it should be hard for Hurricane fans not to get excited about the blue-chip EDGE. We’ll see him play in the All-American Bowl in early January before enrolling a few weeks later.
