Miami adds talent and speed to the receiver room.
In this installment of The Recruiting Notebook, we meet a talented receiver with tons of production and playmaking ability: Phenix City (AL) Central 3-star WR Daylyn Upshaw.
Bio
Miami continues to retool the receiver room through year over year recruiting. To help continue to move that further, Miami turned their recruiting attention to Phenix City (AL) WR Daylyn Upshaw.
A 5’11” 180lb receiver, Upshaw has been incredibly productive through his HS career. Playing with current Auburn superstar freshman WR Cameron Coleman for several years in HS, Upshaw has shown himself to be an elite playmaker in his own right.
Upshaw started attending camps and earning scholarship offers after his sophomore season at Phenix City Central. Local Auburn (about a 45 minute drive from Phenix City), saw Upshaw visit at least 3 times and offered him a scholarship. Penn State, Georgia Tech, and Florida State were the other headliners in the first group of offers for the talented receiver.
A three sport athlete who also competes in Basketball and Track & Field, Upshaw stepped into the spotlight for Phenix City playing opposite 5-star recruit Coleman and showing his own skills. Upshaw caught 59 passes for 1,185 yards (20.1 YPC) and 15 TD for a 13-0 Phenix City Central team that won the Alabama class 7A State Championship.
With that performance in the bank, and the visibility of that performance for doing it with a 5-star recruit on the same team (and at the same position, no less), Upshaw saw his offer list continue to grow through and after the 2023 campaign. Florida, Miami, UCF, Ole Miss, and Georgia were among the teams who jumped into the fray of Upshaw’s recruitment.
After a junior day visit to Alabama, Upshaw took an Unofficial Visit to Florida State. He quickly ruled out the Seminoles (smart) and took Official Visits to UCF, Miami, and Florida. After considering his options, Upshaw committed to Miami on July 13th.
Upshaw continued his strong play as senior. Through the State Semifinals, Upshaw caught 62 passes for 1,008 yards (16.3 YPC) and 16 TD. Upshaw and Phenix City Central face off against Thompson in the Alabama 7A State Championship Game on the first day of the Early Signing Period, December 4th.
Recruiting Ranking
On the 247sports composite, Upshaw is a 3-star prospect, the #74 WR nationally, #21 in the State of Alabama, and #481 player overall in this class.
Upshaw committed to Miami over a list of 23 scholarship offers from around the country, which included Auburn, Florida, Florida State, and Texas among many others.
As A Player
At 5’11” 180lbs, Upshaw has a decent build for a receiver. He’s not the tallest or biggest player, but he still has the ability to make plays at all 3 levels of the passing game.
Upshaw has the ability to play both inside and outside in the passing game. He uses a lethal combination of speed and quickness to beat defenders and make explosive plays. Upshaw is adept at getting up the field and stacking his defender, making it an easy throw over the top for his QB. He also shows solid route running in the short and intermediate ranges as well, creating separation with ease.
Once in the open field, Upshaw’s speed does the work for him. He routinely runs away from defenders, making even other FBS recruits look slow. Any offense would be wise to get him into space and let his natural athleticism take over.
Upshaw doesn’t run many routes from the route tree, but the ones he does run, he runs really well. But, at the college level, you can’t be a one trick pony, so development as a route runner will need to happen. Upshaw is the kind of athlete who should be able to improve in this area given enough time and repetitions. And, again, it makes sense at the HS level to have him run only vertical routes. Other teams can’t run with him, and you see the stats above that show his impact when letting him do what he does best.
Receivers have to block at the college level to see the field, and this is something Upshaw will need to improve in his game. He’ll never be an extended offensive lineman, but there is plenty of room for growth here for Upshaw.
Strengths
- Explosiveness/Speed
- Very productive
- Strong hands
- Can play inside and outside
Weaknesses
- Slight build
- Run blocking
Miami Outlook
Note: changed this up from just a freshman-season outlook to a career outlook for each player a few years ago and we’re continuing that style this year as well.
Miami continues to add improved depth, talent, and performance at wide receiver. Getting Upshaw out of the heart of SEC country is another positive step along that path.
There is plenty of room for Upshaw to have a positive impact on the Miami passing game, but that will not come easy. Miami has recruited several blue chip players at this position group recently, so there are plenty of options to go to here.
Upshaw should, at a minimum, be a rotational player whose speed is able to take the top off of the defense. Upshaw has been a terror as both the #2 and #1 option for a top tier HSFB passing attack, so he’s a player who could grow into that role at the college level as well.
If everything goes to plan, Upshaw should be a solid rotational player or starter who creates chunk plays on a regular basis. Beyond that, his individual development will create the chance for a larger impact, but his speed makes that entirely possible.
That’s it for this installment of The Recruiting Notebook.
Go Canes