Florida, Ohio State using family ties in a fight for a top CB recruit

Elam is one of the most talented and hardest-working corners in the country.

FT. LAUDERDALE — Recruiting is all about floor and ceiling and the balance between them. Floor is the minimum level at which a prospect should be projected to play. Ceiling is the maximum. Some prospects have a narrow gap between their floor and ceiling, while others, like those which involve a lot of projection, have a significant gap.

Cornerback Kaiir Elam, though, has the best combination of both.

Out of the Palm Beach Benjamin School, Elam is an elite talent. He is 6’1.5, 180 pounds, and has top-notch athleticism. That sets the ceiling for a cornerback.

But it’s his floor which also is so impressive. At Under Armour All-America Game regional camps, invites are limited. This means prospects get a lot of reps. Many times, I’ve seen recruits give less than maximum effort during the positional drills, instead saving themselves for the 1v1 portion.

Not Elam. He went max effort on every rep I observed, actively looking to make himself better. Camp coaches who played in the NFL noticed as well, and combined with an elite performance in the 1v1 period, Elam earned an invite to the Under Armour All-America Game next winter in Orlando.

When a prospect with as much talent as Elam has works as hard to better himself as he does, the term “can’t miss” fits.

Oh, and he has great bloodlines, as his father Abram played seven years in the NFL, and his uncle Matt was a star at Florida and played four years with the Ravens.

If he stays healthy and on the right path, it’s almost impossible to see Elam not panning out.

Elam was the only cornerback to check elite receiver John Dunmore all day:

Dunmore is perhaps the best receiver in Florida and was torching the many elite defensive backs at the camp until Elam bested him.

Elam spoke with SB Nation about his recruiting process.

Elam has no plans to commit early, preferring to take his visits and make sure he is making an informed decision. He does not have an official top list of schools, either.

But relationships do matter in recruiting. And the Gators have a good connection to the Elam family via new head coach Dan Mullen, who recruited his father at Notre Dame. And his uncle Matt previously starring for the Gators doesn’t hurt, either.

“Coach Mullen recruited my dad when he was at Notre Dame,” he said, acknowledging the family connection.

But while Mullen was off to Mississippi State by the time Matt was being recruited, Urban Meyer was still there, and that relationship also carries weight now that Meyer is at Ohio State.

“They recruit me real, real hard,” Elam said of Ohio State. “We FaceTime every other day, the DBs coach texts and calls me, and they recruit me very hard.”

Other than Florida and Ohio State, Elam also said Oregon, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Florida State, and Stanford are also recruiting him hard.

Elam does know what he is looking for in a school. He’s “looking for a good home environment, a place where I feel the coaches recruit me hard, a place I can go play early, and coaches who put players in the league,” Elam said.

And he has some trips coming up during his spring break next week. He and his dad will be visiting NC State, Georgia, Clemson, Alabama, and Auburn.

All of those schools have offered except for Alabama. What would a Tide offer mean?

“Pretty big” Elam said. “It would show that my hard work is paying off.”