Florida Receiver Mike Boone Switches To The Cincinnati Bearcats

Oct 5, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats helmet on the sidelines against the South Florida Bulls during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. South Florida Bulls defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats 26-20. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Bearcats’ 20th commitment in the 2014 class comes in the form of Florida athlete Mike Boone. He hails from Baker County Senior High School in Glen Saint Mary, FL. Boone was offered by Florida International University in Mid-June before verbally committing a week later. But over the following months Boone picked up scholarship offers from around the country, almost all coming from schools at the FCS level. Most recently he garnered a interest from the Cincinnati Bearcats, who offered him on October 22nd. A week later he switched his commitment to UC. This season the two-way player from Florida has caught 57 passes for 1,068 yards (18.7 avg) and 18 total touchdowns, even setting a high school record with 211 receiving yards in a game in early September. Clearly this your prototypical diamond-in-the-rough recruit the Bearcats are jumping all over.

Courtesy: Baker County Press: http://bakercountypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/michael%20boone%20touchdown%20catch.jpg

Overview

Highlights: Offensive and defensive via HUDL.

Highlight reels are what they’re called; a compilation of clips showing the player in his best moments. Sometimes it’s a nice catch over the middle or an impressive long run down the sidelines. Honestly, it’s quite difficult to project how these players will perform at the collegiate level just based on this video. So keep that in mind when I say that Boone’s highlight reel is basically 23 minutes of him scoring touchdown after touchdown after long reception after touchdown after long punt return after touchdown.

Boone isn’t a tall receiver, coming in at around 5’10” depending on the site you use, but that doesn’t deter him from beating defensive backs every chance he gets. It seems, based on limited video, that if he’s not bumped at the line of scrimmage he has the wheels to burn corners deep. It’s just Boone using his blazing speed to simply sprint past them. But even when he catches the ball and the defenders start bearing down on him Boone can elude them with his quick feet and flexible hips. Even in traffic the receiver knows how to use his roughly 200 lbs body to shield the DB from the football and reel in the pass. It’s an uncommon skill to have at that level.

Outlook

I really don’t care what rating this kid gets, it’s pretty obvious with my own eyes that he’s a playmaker. The numbers also seem to back that up. Part of the reason why he’s not garnering more attention could be the lack of prospects this school produces despite being in the fertile Florida recruiting grounds. They see a few players move on to FBS football programs every couple of years but in general it’s not the college football recruiting factory like many other high schools in the Sunshine state.

It seems like their loss is Cincinnati’s gain. Boone looks like a very impressive prospect who could potentially find time in the slot right away with the Bearcats. Again, it’s difficult to predict how the two-deep will roll out in 2014 with the 2013 season not even over but I wouldn’t be surprised if Boone played as a true freshman. If not, a redshirt year wouldn’t be all that bad to allow him the time to learn the system and give Cincinnati four full years to utilize his skills.