ANALYSIS: Top 5 Miami Hurricanes breakout players for the coming season … No. 2

Miami breakout player No. 5 Isaiah Horton … Miami breakout player No. 4 Jacolby George … Miami breakout player No. 3 Daryl Porter, Jr.

With spring practice in the rearview mirror, we are taking a look at five players who have not yet broken out at Miami but appear poised to do so. Today we are on No. 2, Nyjalik Kelly.

NO. 2 MIAMI HURRICANES BREAKOUT PLAYER, DE NYJALIK KELLY

The Miami Hurricanes’ defensive ends room has some talent and depth, led by returning star Akheem Mesidor off his 10.5 TFL, seven sack 2022 season. The other returner who started game last year? Jahfari Harvey, who had seven starts and 5.5 sacks. With Mitchell Agude (six starts, four sacks), it might seem obvious that Harvey is next in line to put up some big numbers along with Mesidor.

Not so fast.

Second-year end Nyjalik Kelly might have something to say about that.

The former four-star out of Ft. Lauderdale Dillard, Kelly made a nice contribution as a true freshman off the bench with 11 tackles and four sacks while playing in every game.

Per Pro Football Focus he graded out at 63.5 on the year (70 is considered a good grade) with a stellar 82.7 tackle grade, a 63.1 run defense grade and 65.4 pass rush grade. PFF also credited him with 10 QB hurries in his 183 reps.

“I feel I’m getting better,” Kelly said during spring drills. “Last year I felt I was moving scared because it was college, I was moving a little slower. This year I have more confidence, so I’m able to know stuff faster. I’m ready to key off what I did last year to this year.”

Harvey, by the way, played 412 reps last year and was credited with 18 QB hurries.

So … if you do some math … if Kelly had kept up the same production in his limited reps as a true freshman and had the 412 reps like Harvey, he would have finished with nine sacks and 23 QB hurries.

Not too bad.

As Mesidor put it this spring regarding Kelly, the 6-4, 250-pounder (up 12 pounds from last year) “should be electric this season.”

The bottom line?

Don’t be shocked this fall if Kelly beats out Harvey for the starting job based on what we saw last season and the strides he’s making. That will be one of the more interesting battles to watch, and perhaps a freshman like Rueben Bain or a Chantz Williams or Cyrus Moss will push into the mix as well.

“Nyjalik, I’m a huge fan of Nyjalik’s,” DL coach Jason Taylor said this spring. “He’s approaching it a lot differently, trying to be a leader. It’s a great group of young men that are understanding the culture, the standard in the room and how it has to be every time we touch the grass.”

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