Miami Hurricanes 50-1 Countdown: Ranking the top 50 post-spring players … No. 46 Cam McCormick
The Miami Hurricanes have massively reshaped the roster from a year ago with five primary offensive starters gone (QB Tyler Van Dyke, RB Henry Parrish, WR Colbie Young, OL Javion Cohen and Matt Lee) along with seven on the defensive side (DT Leonard Taylor, DT Branson Deen, DL Jared Harrison-Hunte, S Kam Kinchens, S James Williams, CB Jaden Davis and CB Te’Cory Couch).
50. RB JORDAN LYLE … 49. RB CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON … 48. DE COLE MCCONATHY … 47. S ZAQUAN PATTERSON
Which brings us to our annual series breaking down the top 50 players on the current roster. As we go along on this list you’ll get an idea of the overall depth of talent on Mario Cristobal’s team this year as he seeks Miami’s second 10-win season in the last two decades.
Today we are at No. 46:
NO. 46 TE CAM MCCORMICK
Why He’s No. 46
The grandfather of the team in an unprecedented 9th year due to COVID and injuries, McCormick considers himself a do-everything tight end but to this point has been mainly used as a blocker. He started last year after Elijah Arroyo was injured and ended with eight catches for 62 yards, dropping three passes per Pro Football Focus. And while he played the most reps in the room last year with 564 (true freshman Riley Williams had the second-most with 316), that’s likely to change quite a bit this season with Arroyo back healthy, the emergence of true freshman Elija Lofton this spring as a running/receiving threat as well as the progress of Williams in year 2. So why is McCormick on this list at all? Well, because Mario Cristobal loves a physically attacking front, and that means a hard-working run-blocker like McCormick will still be getting his share of the work (he graded out at 60.2 percent as a pass blocker and 56.4 percent as a run blocker last season per PFF). Is McCormick going to wow you or be a real difference-maker? Probably not. But he will put in the work, is a lead-by-example guy on offense and can contribute with his maturity and physicality.
What he needs to do to move up this list
Prove he’s made huge strides as a pass catcher. He was noted with eight catches and three drops last year, a pretty poor ratio. So unless he can really convince coaches he can be a big target even on short and intermediate routes his main role will simply be to beat up the man in front of him. Other than that it would have to be a case of Arroyo again struggling with injury to really give McCormick a chance for near the kind of reps he saw a year ago.
Realistic season objective
McCormick is probably pretty much what he is at this point in Year 9. He’s a good enough blocker, a not-very-good receiver but an excellent team role model as an older guy who has seen it all. So we’d anticipate probably less reps than he saw a year ago, maybe it will be in the 200-300 range, and we don’t expect him to have much of an impact in the passing game. He’ll be in that role as an extra blocker we saw from him so much a year ago. And even though you may not notice him much, that role can’t be overlooked. Sometimes it’ll be a McCormick block that helps spring a run or gives Cam Ward that extra split-second to find an open man streaking free downfield. So yes, he’s an important part of this year’s team.
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