Miami Hurricanes 50-1 Countdown: Ranking the top 50 post-spring players … No. 25 Isaiah Horton
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
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. 25, Isaiah Horton.
NO. 25 MIAMI WR ISAIAH HORTON
Why he’s No. 25
Some might think we are ranking Horton too high at No. 25 considering he has all of 11 reps under his belt from last season as a true freshman. But we think he can be a surprise player this season given the new offense, his size (6-4, 205) and ability level. Miami has a lot of talented slot-type guys (Xavier Restrepo, Brashard Smith, Ray Ray Joseph) but there are more question marks on the outside where it was Colbie Young and Frank Ladson as main guys last year with neither really stepping up. Certainly others like Jacolby George and second transfer portal window additions Shemar Kirk and Tyler Harrell hope to have their say as well. But regardless the door is open for a big step from year 1 to 2 for Horton. This is a depth chart that is screaming for an outside receiver to step up who has size and the athleticism to go up above DBs to make catches. And Horton had a solid spring with the twos and is in line to push for the starting job. The former 4-star prospect out of Murfreesboro, Tenn., had 71 catches over his final two years of high school for 1,345 yards and 17 TDs. His offer list was extensive, including Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Oregon, Alabama and Tennessee.
What he needs to do to move up this list
Just keep earning the praise we saw from Miami personnel/coaches this spring. A sample: MARIO CRISTOBAL – “Isaiah Horton is a guy that stands out, doing really well. … Horton has taken another significant step, is an outside guy, we haven’t had much outside production other than Colbie (Young).” WR COACH KEVIN BEARD – “Very talented young man. Really excited about his future. Some people need to develop fundamentally, some need to develop emotionally, some need to develop psychologically. And I think with him it’s a little bit of all of it because he’s been so much bigger than everybody all his life he’s just been able to bully and do what he wants to do. Now everybody is his size so he has to learn the details, the technique and the fundamentals that are going to help him separate himself from the rest of the pack.” QB TYLER VAN DYKE – “He’s going to help us. He’s a big body receiver, fast, good hands, still a young kid. He’s definitely come a long way since he came in last summer. I’m excited to see how he grows and develops. He’s done some really good stuff in the spring.” WR BRASHARD SMITH – “He’s just going up and attacking the ball.” The pieces are there, Horton just has to show as a second-year player that he can be relied upon for a consistently high level of play.
Realistic season objective
We have Horton as the third outside receiver on this list behind George and Young, and Shannon Dawson’s offense should be friendly to a guy with Horton’s skillset. But with that said the team brought in Tyler Harrell and Shemar Kirk in the second portal window, which means the path to reps for Horton gets that much harder. He’ll have to battle for reps, and at this point we view him more as a rotation guy than a starter. But he should still get his opportunities and a season with 400+ receiving yards is certainly not out of the question. And guess what? That would have led Miami’s wideouts last year when Young had 367 yards.
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