Miami Hurricanes 50-1 Countdown: Ranking the top 50 post-spring players … No. 23 Daryl Porter, Jr.
No. 50 Miami DT Thomas Gore … No. 49 Malik Curtis … No. 48 Kaleb Spencer … No. 47 Ahmad Moten … No. 46 Jaden Harris … No. 45 Logan Sagapolu … No. 44 Markeith Williams … No. 43 Frank Ladson … No. 42 Chris Graves … No. 41 Keontra Smith … No. 40 Robby Washington … No. 39 Emory Williams … No. 38 Jacurri Brown … No. 37 Brashard Smith … No. 36 Terry Roberts … No. 35 Samson Okunlola … No. 34 Dylan Joyce … No. 33 Jared Harrison-Hunte … No. 32 Jaleel Skinner … No. 31 Corey Flagg … No. 30 Ray Ray Joseph … No. 29 Don Chaney … No. 28 Anez Cooper … No. 27 Branson Deen … No. 26 Zion Nelson … No. 25 Isaiah Horton … No. 24 Rueben Bain
CaneSport is breaking down the top 50 post-spring players on the roster, a list that doesn’t include any post-spring roster additions. Today we break down No. 23, Daryl Porter, Jr.
NO. 23 MIAMI CB DARYL PORTER, JR.
Why he’s No. 23
Porter, Jr. arrived via West Virginia following a 2021 season in which he had 46 tackles, an interception and five bass breakups. The rising fourth-year junior also played in six games off the bench there as a freshman in 2020. The expectation when he arrived at Miami in 2022 was that he’d be the starter opposite Tyrique Stevenson. But Porter never emerged and wound up as DJ Ivey’s backup. For the season he had 11 tackles, two for losses, with a pass breakup. With Stevenson and Ivey gone, Porter will have another chance to win a starting job in 2023 … but the team’s added four transfer portal players this year which will create tremendous competition. As for Porter’s Pro Football Focus grades? He was at 64.1 percent overall in 2022 in 205 reps with a 61.7 cover grade (70 is considered good). In 2021 he graded out at 71.7 overall at West Virginia in 716 reps, including a 71.0 cover grade. Last season opponents targeted him 16 times and completed 10 passes for 110 yards with a long of 33, per PFF. So he had success with the Mountaineers; with Miami, not so much.
What he needs to do to move up this list
Just be more consistent in coverage. With Tyrique Stevenson and DJ Ivey starting last year (and now gone) this DB unit still struggled – the Canes ranked No. 101 out of 130 teams in team passing efficiency defense (142.52) and No. 79 in passing yards allowed (233.6 yards per game). So there is help needed here, and Porter did play better in a backup role as last season progressed. This fall he needs to really step up. He’s done it before with a solid 2021 season at West Virginia, so he has to recapture that in Lance Guidry’s new aggressive system. With that in mind it certainly helps that the is solid against the run (73.5 grade in run defense last year, 70.3 the year before). But his cover skills do need to be better. It’s a wide open competition with Miami bringing in Davonte Brown from UCF and Terry Roberts from Iowa before the spring and in the second portal window adding Jaden Davis from Oklahoma and Ja’Dais Richard from Vanderbilt. Plus young guys like Jaden Harris and Chris Graves (both redshirted last year) as well as true freshmen Damari Brown and Robert Stafford hope to have a say. And Malik Curtis is an older returner (Te’Cory Couch is only expected to play nickel). So the job won’t be handed to Porter, he’ll have to earn it. What he’s been strongest at so far at corner is run defense, but he will have to show he’s one of the two best cover guys on the team to earn that boundary CB job.
Realistic season objective
We were surprised when Porter didn’t emerge as the starter a year ago, with DJ Ivey beating him out. Now Porter will get another chance, but it’s going to be tough sledding given the portal additions all looking to win that starting job. The competition will be fierce but there’s no reason Porter can’t emerge and replicate his West Virginia numbers from a couple of years ago.
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