Miami Hurricanes 50-1 Countdown: Ranking the top 50 post-spring players … No. 18 Jahfari Harvey

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 … No. 23 Daryl Porter, Jr. … No. 22 Te’Cory Couch … No. 21 Davonte Brown … No. 20 Andy Borregales … No. 19 Nyjalik Kelly

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. 18, Jahfari Harvey.

NO. 18 MIAMI DE JAHFARI HARVEY

Why he’s No. 18

Harvey is a veteran end, and the former 4-star prospect out of Vero Beach (Fla.) High School has started 13 games in his Miami career that began in 2019. In that time he has totaled 19.5 TFL and 9.5 sacks. After playing four games off the bench in 2019 as a true freshman he started one game in 2020 and ended with 18 tackles and 1.5 sacks, then in 2021 started five times and had 26 tackles with 7 TFL and 2.5 sacks. This past season he was part of a heavy end rotation in Kevin Steele’s system and started seven times, ending with 31 tackles, 7.5 TFL and 5.5 sacks. His Pro Football Focus grades show 2022 was his best season – he graded out at 76.2 overall (70 is considered a good grade) with a 76.4 run defense grade, 74.9 tackle grade and 71.1 pass rush grade. That was in 412 reps. In 2021 he played 425 reps and graded out at 65.6 overall (66.9 run defense, 57.5 tackle, 65.2 pass rush), and in 243 reps in 2020 he graded out at 68.1 percent overall (70.9 run defense, 66.9 tackle, 65.4 pass rush).

What he needs to do to move up this list

First let’s start with this: Yesterday at No. 19 on this list was second-year DE Nyjalik Kelly. As we said in that writeup, “Right now on paper you have to say the most likely end starters will be Mesidor and Harvey, but Kelly really can be right there with Harvey in fall camp.” The real difference here is that Harvey has a ton of experience while Kelly’s got limited reps in one season. So if the two are pretty much neck-and-neck in fall camp, the edge will probably go to Harvey as the starter. And it remains to be seen how new coordinator Lance Guidry will split reps between starters and backups as well. Our guess is it won’t be as rotation-heavy as we saw under Kevin Steele, when it was an almost even split. So the first thing Harvey has to do to move up this list is win the starting job. And then he has to improve on what we’ve seen from him in the past. He’s never been the alpha guy on the line, serving more as a really good No. 2/3 end option. This has to be a year when he can emerge and show that Akheem Mesidor isn’t head and shoulders above him on the other side of the line and that defenses also have to worry about how to stop Mr. Harvey.

Realistic season objective

It will be a very interesting fall battle mainly between Harvey and Nyjalik Kelly/Rueben Bain to determine the starter opposite Mesidor (with guys like Chantz Williams/Cyrus Moss/Jayden Wayne/Collins Acheampong probably a bit behind them). We think Harvey has the edge to start opposite Mesidor, but it’s by no means a done deal. Harvey has to show up in fall camp and prove he’s going to be a playmaker. If he does that then he’s a guy who can be a really good pass rusher and there’s no reason he can’t have in the 6-10 sack range this coming season. Miami needs production up front in a big way given Guidry’s attacking mode defense that is predicated on pressuring the quarterback quickly.

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