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Miami lands 5-star WR Joshisa “JoJo” Trader: Why the South Florida recruit’s commitment is significant By Ari Wasserman Five-star wide receiver Joshisa “JoJo” Trader of Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna Prep announced his commitment to Miami on Thursday evening. Here’s what you need to know: Rated the No. 25 overall player in the 2024 class in the 247Sports Composite, Trader chose the Hurricanes over offers from Florida, Florida State, Georgia , Ohio State and others. Trader is the first five-star prospect coach Mario Cristobal has landed in the 2024 cycle after Miami signed two a year ago. With his commitment, the Hurricanes’ 2024 class jumped up to No. 21 overall in the country. The Hurricanes have 17 commitments and three top-100 players committed. I’m Home!🙌🏾@hayesfawcett3@canesfootball@coach_cristobal@dtrain2901@CoachPop_Cooney @realRodMack @Kevin_Beard9 pic.twitter.com/yh5h2M07Fn — Joshisa”jojo”Trader ¹ (@joshisathe1) July 13, 2023 The Athletic’s instant analysis: What is the significance for Miami? This commitment has to feel really good for Miami. The Hurricanes, of course, really wanted to land five-star receiver Smith, but he chose the Buckeyes. You can bet that Miami is going to continue to pursue Smith with Trader in the fold, but this is a significant commitment for Cristobal for a few reasons. First, Miami’s recruiting class was expected to take a huge step forward after cracking the top-10 a year ago, but the Hurricanes have taken more than 10 commitments from prospects who rate as three-stars or lower. Secondly, there is a long list of elite-level receivers who have left South Florida to star at other programs. That list consists of NFLers like Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy and Calvin Ridley and extends to more recent classes with Brandon Inniss, Hykeem Williams and (as of now) Smith. If Cristobal is going to activate Miami and get it back to being “The U,” he’s not only going to have to attract top-tier talent at the skill positions, he’s also going to have to stop the elite-level players from South Florida from leaving the area. Landing Trader meets all of those marks and the hope now for Miami is that it’ll kick off some big momentum in the second half of this cycle. Backstory Trader is 6-foot-1, 175 pounds with explosive athleticism. He’s teammates with five-star receiver Jeremiah Smith, the No. 2 overall player in the country. Smith is committed to Ohio State, but he has taken countless visits to Miami and he continues to communicate with other schools. Though the Buckeyes feel really good about their positioning with Smith, this is recruiting and he hasn’t shut it down yet.