Miami Hurricanes 50-1 Countdown: Ranking the top 50 post-spring players, starting with No. 50 Thomas Gore
CaneSport is breaking down the top 50 post-spring players on the Miami roster, a list that doesn’t include any post-spring roster additions. Today we start with No. 50, Thomas Gore. And, spoiler alert, guys that didn’t make the top 50 included LB Chase Smith, DE Chantz Williams, WR Mike Redding, OL Laurance Seymore, S Brian Balom, DE Cyrus Moss and a host of true freshmen (but not all of them). Those are guys that will really need to step up moving forward since the aforementioned six guys in particular have a lot of potential but have to show it.
NO. 50 MIAMI DT THOMAS GORE
Why he’s No. 50
Undersized at 6-0 and 280 pounds, Miami brought in Thomas Gore this spring as a Georgia State transfer defensive tackle. He picked Miami over North Carolina, Kansas State and other offers after spending four seasons playing for the Panthers. He was All-Sun Belt Conference honorable mention in 2021 and played in every game there since the 2020 season, tallying 93 career total tackles, 11 sacks and two forced fumbles as a defensive lineman. He also has 76 career pressures. He had a career high 2.5 sacks in a game against Old Dominion last season and had eight tackles for loss in 2022. He was a three-star high school recruit out of Brentwood Academy (TN) without a Power Five offer but developed at Georgia State. But now it’s his development at Miami this is in the crosshairs. Fellow transfer DT Branson Deen out of Purdue looked the part much more than Gore this spring, and with Leonard Taylor and Jared Harrison-Hunte returning from injury this summer it’s on Gore to prove he should be part of the rotation.
What he needs to do to move up this list
Show his size isn’t a liability. At just 6-0, Gore was used to being able to use his leverage to bully lower level offensive linemen when he was playing for Georgia State. He quickly found out this spring it’s not so easy at this level. Gore has to be able to use his low center of gravity and relative quickness to his advantage and not allow himself to be pushed around. If he can show that in fall drills he will be part of a rotation, and Miami desperately needs him to step up given the weak defensive tackle depth.
Realistic season objective
A rotation guy at defensive tackle, but an important piece at a position that has no real depth. Aside from Leonard Taylor, who should be one of the ACC’s top returning tackles, you otherwise have another transfer with question marks (Deen), an injury-prone returner who is unproven (Harrison-Hunte), a grad senior who wasn’t able to contribute last year (Jacob Lichtenstein), a second-year project with potential (Ahmad Moten) and an incoming true freshman (Joshua Horton). So yes, Miami needs Gore to help out at a DT spot that lost starter Darrell Jackson and key backup Jordan Miller to the transfer portal.
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