How did Miami land 5-star WR Joshisa Trader? Rod Mack, youth football connections key

Rod Mack didn’t sign with Miami when the Hurricanes were in the middle of winning championships.

He signed in 1995, right when Butch Davis was taking over a program that was going on probation and getting stripped of scholarships. He wanted to be a Hurricane bad enough that he spurned Notre Dame and Florida and ignored the newspaper clippings left in his locker his senior year suggesting he should probably reconsider.

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So, it’s almost poetic, nearly 30 years later, that Mack is sort of helping Mario Cristobal and Miami get through some rough times.

As the coach of the Miami Gardens Ravens for the past eight years, Mack has become a father figure to some of the best high school football players in the country, including Miami’s latest five-star recruit: Joshisa Trader, who committed to the Hurricanes on Thursday night.

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

Trader, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound talented receiver and defensive back at Hollywood’s Chaminade-Madonna, has been coached by Mack since he was 9 years old and has lived with Mack since he was 11.

Mack’s son, Ryan, a three-star Miami cornerback commitment, who plays at nearby St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, is like a brother to Trader. In the end, family played a role in why Trader decided to pledge his future to Cristobal and a Miami program that hasn’t signed a five-star receiver since Lance Leggett in 2004.

“He’s like my son, not a kid I coach,” said Mack, who started at middle linebacker for Miami as a redshirt freshman in 1996 and at different spots throughout his career when Nate Webster and Dan Morgan were also on the roster.

“Obviously everybody has to make the best decision for themselves, but Ryan and him are close and they felt like Miami was a place they could win. They’re fond of (receivers) coach (Kevin) Beard, Mario and what they’re saying. … (Assistant receivers coach David) Cooney did a good job of bridging the gap in the relationship until Beard came on and they did a good job of making him feel good.”

GO DEEPER

Miami lands 5-star WR Joshisa “JoJo” Trader

For what it’s worth, Mack said he never put pressure on Trader to commit to Miami. He’s coached a lot of great players who have committed and signed elsewhere over the years. His star quarterback and running back on those Ravens squads — NC State three-star quarterback Cedrick Bailey Jr. and North Carolina four-star running back commitment Davion Gause — are headed to other ACC programs.

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And just because Trader is committed doesn’t mean things couldn’t change down the road. The Hurricanes still have to go out and put last year’s ugly 5-7 season behind them to convince Trader and others to sign a national letter of intent come December. His commitment, though, was one Miami badly needed — not only because he’s one of the best receivers in the country, but because this could create the tidal wave needed to land more Miami Gardens Ravens.

Them members!💯 https://t.co/HwBSyicO4g

— Joshisa”jojo”Trader ¹ (@joshisathe1) July 14, 2023

The Hurricanes have five committed in the class — Trader, Mack, four-star receiver Chance Robinson, three-star cornerback Romanas Frederique Jr, and three-star linebacker Vincent Shavers — and could potentially work their way into flipping five-star receiver Jeremiah Smith Jr. from Ohio State, too.

Trader is Smith’s teammate at Chaminade, and the two played together on the Ravens since they were 11. Smith has been staunch in his commitment to Ohio State. FSU four-star receiver commitment Lawayne McCoy was also a Miami Gardens Raven. Both Smith and McCoy tweeted photos of themselves on the Ravens after Trader’s commitment.

Whether it was simply a show of support or there’s more to it, Miami at least has an interesting carrot to dangle.

“We won five national championships together,” Mack said of his Ravens. “Those kids played for the championship pretty much every year since they were eight as part of the Florida Youth Football League. They beat a bunch of good kids.”

Trader, quiet and reserved by nature, told The Athletic last year he has three older brothers and that his mother lives in Delaware. Football has been his passion and he’s traveled the country with the South Florida Express 7-on-7 team doing it. He didn’t take a single official visit, but he has been on the campus of all the schools he was strongly considering, including Florida State, Florida and Ohio State. In June, he attended Miami’s Legends Camp and worked out for coaches.

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“I’d like to make the crib great again for sure,” Trader said 13 months ago when he and the South Florida Express won the inaugural OT7 tournament in Las Vegas. “It just feels like home. Representing my city, I’ve been doing that since I was a kid.”

Trader said then he wanted to “surprise people” with his college choice.

Mission accomplished. Few, if any, really saw it coming right now.

(Photo: Manny Navarro / The Athletic)

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