Miami Hurricanes LB KJ Cloyd ready to do his part: “We are going to be able to compete with whoever we want to”

If you want pound-for-pound strength, versatility and experience in a linebacker, look no further than KJ Cloyd. The 6-2, 228-pounder chose to transfer to Miami from Louisville, where he was a backup linebacker last season and had 15 tackles with 2 QB hurries and a fumble recovery.

At Miami he can work in the middle or outside, and he’s already very familiar with new LB coach Derek Nicholson, who coached him at Louisville. That – and his teammates – has made for a very smooth transition.

“There’s normally a rough patch where you are meeting coaches, players, but here it’s truly a family-oriented team,” Cloyd said. “Everyone made the transition as smooth as possible.

“The crazy part is my teammates are willing to make sure I’m good this call, on that call. There is no middle man – we go straight to each other and can go to coaches at any time. That allows us to compete with anybody.”

Cloyd’s background heading into this season at Miami?

During his sophomore year of high school he suffered a devastating injury during an Oklahoma drill. Some thought it was career-ending. But Cloyd clawed his way back with a grueling rehab process and was back to full strength by his senior year. But he only had one offer after that season, from Jones County Junior College in Mississippi. He played there for one season, then landed offers from programs like Mississippi, Mississippi State, Minnesota and, of course, Louisville.

In 2020 at Louisville he played off the bench in 11 games and had 12 tackles. In 2021 he started one game and came off the bench in 12 others. He had 12 tackles on the year. That brings us to this past season, when he was again in a reserve role.

As for his Pro Football Focus grades?

In 140 reps last season he graded out at 61.9 overall (71.8 run defense, 51.9 tackling, 70.0 pass rush and 48.0 in coverage). In 2021, his other decent amount of reps with 157 (he had 29 reps in 2020), Cloyd graded out at 58.0 percent overall (42.7 run defense, 33.2 tackling, 65.1 pass rush, 68.2 in coverage). PFF also noted him with two QB hurries last season and four hurries in 2021.

At Miami Cloyd will be injected into the competition at linebacker competing with everybody, and right now it appears most likely that Francisco Mauigoa (out of Washington State) will start in the middle with Wesley Bissainthe a likely starter at WLB after he flashed last season as a true freshman.

“We all are just competing for a job,” he says. “And we are all brothers.”

Wherever Cloyd winds up and whatever role he plays at Miami, he’ll bring what teammates say is a freakish level of pound-for-pound strength.

He benched 335 pounds in testing and had a 525-pound squat (“I can squat 600 pounds but we didn’t want to risk it going into camp,” he says).

“I used to not be able to gain weight to save my life, left high school at about 175,” Cloyd said. “I went to a JUCO and left at 190, barely put on any weight. I’ve always worked out more than I probably should and I changed my eating habits. Once I changed my eating habits I started gaining weight. Now I can do anything I want to.”

So what does Cloyd see for his role on this Miami team?

“Staying in the ACC, one thing I feel I bring to this team is the experience,” he said. “I think we’ll compete with a lot of people, and that’s all you can ask for. I’ll try to be the best I can at whatever my role will be. I’ve done a lot of studying, and I know all of the linebacker spots.”

He adds that “I’m eager to see how the season turns out, because we are going to be able to compete with whoever we want to.”

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