ANALYSIS: Cristobal experiment building simultaneously through recruiting and portal at Miami could get some answers this year

Alabama, Clemson and Georgia are three programs that have enjoyed sustained success at the top of the college football world. A quick question: If you add up all the transfers those three programs collectively took this year vs. how many the Miami Hurricanes took, which has the greater number?

Yes, that’s probably about the only statistic in which Miami is beating any of those three programs right now. The Canes have grabbed 12 players out of the portal since last season; ‘Bama, Clemson and UGA have taken a collective nine (five for Alabama, three for Georgia, one for Clemson).

So year 2 of how Mario Cristobal is attacking the Miami roster looks a lot like his approach Year 1 – going after some of the nation’s top talent in recruiting and enjoying success doing so, while trying to quickly revamp the roster with older talent through the portal. Prior to last season Cristobal brought on 11 more players from the portal, and that met with mixed success as there were “hits” on guys that started like DL Akheem Mesidor, DE Mitchell Agude, DT Darrell Jackson and RB Henry Parrish while you can argue that there were spots that could have been used differently with backups LB Caleb Johnson, OL Jon Denis, OL Logan Sagapolu, WR Frank Ladson (did start games but primarily a backup role), CB Daryl Porter Jr., DL Jacob Lichtenstein and DT Antonio Moultrie (of course, returning transfers could perhaps wind up having bigger roles this coming season).

Regardless, that’s 23 players in a two-year span that came in from other programs, a significant number given the roster cap of 85 imposed by the NCAA.

Numerous also departed Miami through the portal, helping make room for the new faces.

So where do things stand roster-wise now for Miami?

For that we turn to CaneSport’s eligibility tracker.

By our count the players signed on scholarship stands at 86, one above the limit. And that doesn’t include any former walkons that are being considered for scholarship spots. So yes, there will be more paring, and without naming names there are guys that have graduated that even with the portal window closed can transfer to the school of their choice without having to sit out a year.

Cristobal is working with a very young roster this season as well, which could mean a few more growing pains off last year’s difficult 5-7 season. Thirty-five players are either true freshmen or redshirt freshmen, and another 16 qualify as sophomores.

There are 25 juniors and just 10 departing seniors at Miami. That latter number means there is likely to be a high turnover rate after this coming season to make room for what we have to think will be another large and talented recruiting class for Cristobal & Co. To fit 25 new signees, for example, the team would currently need 16 players with eligibility after this season to depart to the pros or another program.

But that’s a conversation for another day.

The good news right now is this team’s got a ton of young talent that will be pushing older players for reps virtually across the board.

Roster management is always a balancing act for a coach taking over a program, and given the dearth of talent on this one when Cristobal took over you have to be encouraged by the direction of things.

It just might take a couple of more years to really get this roster to a championship level across the board.

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