For the better part of the past month, Fort Myers (Fla.) Bishop Verot four-star athlete Chris Graves thought Miami was going to be place that he called home for the next couple of years. It wasn’t until a phone call late Thursday night, however, did Graves realize Miami was indeed the place for him.
Graves said that he spoke for a few minutes with Carolina Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn, who outlined why Graves should play for his former coach, Travaris Robinson, at Miami.
“He’s my favorite corner,” Graves told 247Sports on Friday just a few hours before he went public with a commitment to the Hurricanes during a CBSSports HQ broadcast. “He gave me a call. We were just talking about a lot of things. He was telling me how T-Rob made him a better corner [at South Carolina] and I think T-Rob can do the same thing for me.”
Graves, who the 247Sports Composite pegs as the nation’s No. 16 athlete, picked Miami over his three other finalists: South Carolina, LSU and Florida. He also reported offers from Oklahoma, FSU, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Ole Miss and Boston College.
While some schools initially were recruiting Graves to play wide receiver for them, most schools – including Miami – view him as a cornerback at the next level.
“I have a great relationship with all the coaches at Miami and they have a great relationship with my mom,” Graves said. “It’s close to home and I feel like I have a chance to play early.”
If Graves does indeed get meaningful snaps early on in his college career it will likely be because Robinson and UM corners Demarcus Van Dyke are able to tap into his potential.
“They are really good coaches,” Graves noted. “I don’t even really look at them as coaches. It’s more like they are older brother’s to me. That’s our relationship. It’s like they are family.”
“It’s a fast, energetic defense,” Graves quickly added. “That’s the type of defense that I want to play in.”
Graves has a rather promising profile for a young defensive back prospect. He not only has some length and speed to him as he’s listed at 6-foot-1, 175 pounds and ran 11.01 in the 100-meter dash this spring, but he also happens to just be 16 years old. That means that he’s actually supposed to be in the class of 2023 and is young for his grade.
Assuming that Graves keeps progressing, he figures to eventually lock down one of the starting cornerback spots in Miami’s defense.
“I think we have a chance to win a championship and beat Clemson over the next few years because we got all that talent in the 2021 class and then all the talent in my class,” Graves.
Graves, surprisingly, is just commit No. 4 of the 2022 cycle for the Hurricanes, who are taking a more reserved approach after the COVID-19 pandemic according to head coach Manny Diaz. While Miami might be off to a slow start, Diaz and his staff are in the hunt to land blue-chip talents like five-star safety Kamari Wilson and Top247 tight end Jaleel Skinner.
“I need those dudes,” Graves said.
As a junior, Graves got snaps at both cornerback and wide receiver. He totaled 26 tackles, four pass breakups and an interception while catching 27 passes for 500 yards and four touchdowns on the other side of the ball. Graves also blocked a punt and blocked a kick for a Bishop Verot squad that made the Sunshine State’s 3A state playoffs.