Miami Hurricanes 50-1 Countdown: Ranking the top 50 post-spring players … No. 29 Don Chaney
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
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. 29, Don Chaney.
NO. 29 MIAMI RB DON CHANEY
Why he’s No. 29
Miami had only two healthy scholarship running backs this spring, returning starter Henry Parrish and Don Chaney, who missed almost all of last season injured. With TreVonte’ Citizen unlikely to be ready this fall off a major knee injury and the addition of two new freshmen, Mark Fletcher and Christopher Johnson, it’s going to be a very interesting battle for running back reps this fall. Which brings us back to Chaney. He has what you want in a top back with the size, power and good enough speed. But he just hasn’t been able to break through and spent the spring behind Parrish, who didn’t exactly wow last season as starter with 616 yards and four TDs. As for Chaney’s background? A consensus four-star prospect out of Miami Belen High School, Chaney’s only relatively healthy season was his freshman year in 2020 when he played off the bench and had 68 carries for 322 yards with three TDs (adding 143 receiving yards on 11 catches). In 2021 he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Game 2, then was injured again heading into this past season and didn’t return until the final Pittsburgh game in late November. He ran twice for eight yards in that game. This spring he didn’t really consistently stand out, although he did have a nice TD run up the middle in an early scrimmage. A big question is if he can stay healthy coming off a pair of shoulder injuries. As for his Pro Football Focus grades, Chaney graded out at 66.2 percent on 206 reps in 2020, 65.4 on 41 reps in 2021 and 61.1 percent on 15 reps this past season. He’s struggled in pass protection, a must for a back, with a ridiculously low 9.5 percent grade as a freshman and 30.9 percent in ’21. So that has to improve and he has to stay healthy.
What he needs to do to move up this list
Stay away from the injury bug, and prove he can use his physical style of running to gain tough yards. Chaney also has to be better at pass protecting, something Henry Parrish has the edge over him on right now. Chaney will need to show coaches he is a better option on the field than highly touted incoming true freshmen Mark Fletcher and Christopher Johnson. So he has his work cut out, and if Chaney doesn’t show up and play really well in fall drills he could wind up a third-teamer instead of moving up on this list.
Realistic season objective
With such a thin depth chart in the running backs room and Chaney one of only two experienced backs expected to be healthy, there should be plenty of opportunities for him to get carries and prove himself. Do we see Chaney winning the starting job? Well, at the end of the day we think it’s more likely that Parrish hangs onto it, with perhaps the next most likely scenario being that Fletcher impresses so much in fall camp that he gets the job. Chaney and Fletcher are the real power/speed combination guys, so we can see a year in which Chaney runs for 300+ yards with some receptions thrown in as well. He can be a valuable part of the offense if he remains healthy.
A look at some of his on-field highlights from his early Miami career when he was healthy:
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