OPINION: Evaluation of Miami Hurricanes football team, position by position, with summer workouts ongoing

With all of the focus on recruiting right now and the start of training camp still seven-plus weeks away, there is one very important element of the Miami Hurricanes football program that is being overlooked.

That’s the ongoing summer workouts.

Training camp will be condensed into a mad rush four weeks in August. But the foundation of the 2023 Hurricanes is forming right now.

Here are my thoughts on what is significant this summer as the countdown to kickoff evolves with force.

QUARTERBACK

As brutal as it is and as difficult as it is to believe, Tyler Van Dyke is an afterthought heading into the 2023 college football season. Nobody is touting him as a top returning quarterback after an injury-riddled 2022 season. This time around, there are no first round draft projections. These two months are a critical time for Van Dyke to continue mastering Shannon Dawson’s offense and building chemistry and timing with his backs, tight ends and receivers. If Miami can enter the season without an adjustment period, it will strongly benefit Van Dyke’s efforts to show up on the radar and emerge on the other side with decent draft status. I am guessing today he would fall somewhere around third round status. Equally significant as we learned last season is the development of the backups and their clear battle for the No. 2 spot. Emory Williams may be a true freshman, but don’t rule him out just because Jacurri Brown got some playing time last season. Brown remains a potential star down the road. He might be the best pure athlete on the team. But he must continue to develop as a passer or it won’t likely happen at Miami. He is entering year three and simply is not there just yet. A redshirt season would probably be the ideal outcome for him. In fact, if a backup had to go into a game right now, I’m not sure Williams would not get the call because he simply is better at getting the ball from point A to point B. So this is a big time for Brown to continue to progress mechanically. He tirelessly works at it and showed nice progress this spring until a very uneven spring game performance. Williams just has to keep doing what he is doing. He is not close to Brown as an athlete, but he brings a lot to the table in his ability to understand and run the offense. He is a true quarterback. So there are interesting subplots all over the place here and this position will unquestionably be one to watch.

RUNNING BACK

All the focus this spring was on Henry Parrish and Don Chaney. But my focus as training camp approaches is on one guy. That’s true freshman Mark Fletcher. Playing college football at any position as a true freshman is not an easy task. But Miami needs Fletcher to be up to it. Parrish is a very serviceable back, just can’t carry the load by himself. He wore down physically very quickly last season. You just don’t know how much you can count on Chaney because he has always been hurt. Fletcher just arrived on campus this summer, so the work he is doing in the off-season program is as critical as anybody on the football team. Unless we include Nebraska transfer Ajay Allen, who might prove in August that he too is better than Parrish and Chaney. The running back position is wide open and that makes every second of off-season workouts important.

We hear Elijah Arroyo is doing very well in off-seasaon workouts (Photo by Neil Gershman)

TIGHT END

Elijah Arroyo is back from injury and we hear he is doing very well in the off-season workouts. It will be interesting to see who wins the battle to start, as super vet and Oregon transfer Cam McCormick is an exceptional blocker who might be the best suited to be on the field on first down. But the talent at this position opens up all kinds of possibilities for Dawson. These off-season workouts are an opportunity to keep expanding on that. It also is a critical time for Jaleel Skinner to develop fast or get passed because we hear freshman Riley Williams is right on his heels as a quality option down the field in the passing game.

WIDE RECEIVER

This is a big time for arriving transfer Tyler Harrell to learn the offense and position himself for fall camp. Harrell was acquired to stretch the defense with his speed. He has never been a No. 1 receiver in his career and if he can emerge in that role in time for the season it will make the football team enormously better. We are hearing also explosive freshman Ray Ray Joseph is 100% and performing at full speed in workouts, begging for a sizeable role. This period of time is very critical for the individuals at this position to carve out their place on the depth chart. It is crowded now. Just in the slot, for example, Dawson has Joseph, Breshard Smith and Xavier Restrepo and maybe also Robby Washington at his disposal. Competing with Harrell on the outside are Colbie Young, Jacolby George, Frank Ladson, Michael Redding and Isaiah Horton. Everyone can’t play and one or two could be fighting for their place on the roster in these off-season workouts as Miami needs to get down to the 85 scholarship limit.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Miami hopes Samson Okunloa streps up, which would mean along with Francis Mauigoa the team could start a pair of 5-star true freshmen (Photo by Neil Gershman/CaneSport)

The clock is running for the guys at this position, which is one of the keys to an improved football program. Who is going to play left tackle? Jalen Rivers is a very good offensive lineman, but he didn’t look great on the outside in the spring game. Can prized freshman Samson Okunlola develop this summer to the point where he can become a starting option going into camp? Many inside the program think he can. That would allow Rivers to slide back inside, making the unit stronger. Every practice is also critical for fellow freshman Francis Mauigoa, who has been penciled in as the starter at right tackle. And as much as anything, all decisions at this position must be made by the start of training camp so that the starting group gets four weeks to fine-tune chemistry.

DEFENSIVE LINE

There are so many talking points here but none are bigger than who starts at tackle opposite Leonard Taylor. We will be watching all season whether Taylor can become more than an occasional wonder. But that’s not really applicable to our conversation right now about the summer workouts. The competition between Purdue transfer Branson Deen and Jared Harrison-Hunte is real, and new acquisition Anthony Campbell as well as Jacob Lichtenstein also will be looking to factor in. So this pre-camp work is very significant for those guys. Deen has a mean streak that coaches would love to take advantage of. You don’t know him, but don’t be shocked if he shows up as a opening day starter. On the outside, the big question will be Nyjalik Kelly’s quest to unseat Jahfari Harvey at the starting end spot opposite Akheem Mesidor. Kelly has as much elite potential as anybody on the roster and his extended time with Jason Taylor promises to make him better by September. And let’s not forget true freshman Rueben Bain, who unquestionably is going to play a lot in his debut season. These two months are huge for Kelly and Bain.

LINEBACKER

The Hurricanes saved the position by picking up Francisco Mauigoa from Washington State. But more than one linebacker has to play which is making every moment of these off-season workouts critical. There was an assumption going into spring that Wesley Bissainthe was that dude. But Bissainthe disappointed a bit and these off-season workouts are critical for him since no other solution has emerged in the transfer portal. Keontra Smith and Corey Flagg are also in the mix, but neither of those guys moves the football team forward at this point.  Remember you are not trying to win five games again. So this is a real interesting situation here. Freshmen like Malik Bryant and Bobby Washington are working hard and trying to get in the competition in time for training camp. But the name I keep hearing among the freshman is Marcellius Pulliam, who has been popping in these workouts. If he maintains that momentum, training camp will be huge for him. Either way, I still think we will continue to see a lot of James Williams in the box this fall. If you want to summarize how the coaches clearly feel about their depth at linebacker, simply look at the pickup of Louisville transfer KJ Cloyd. Cloyd is a 6-2, 229-pounder who played his first year out of high school in junior college. Then 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. And then he played middle linebacker at Louisville last season as backup who earned just 140 reps. He ended with 15 tackles, 2 QB hurries and a fumble recovery. You have to assume he was not brought in to sit on the bench. Enough said.

CORNERBACK

Davonte Brown was among the corners that had a decent spring, but Miami went out and got more portal help (photo by Neil Gershman)

The gauntlet has been laid out at this position with the post-spring addition of transfers Jaden Davis, Ja’Dais Richard and Demetrius Freeney. Could a louder statement have been made by coaches here as well that they are not overwhelmed by the talent base on the outside, even with presumed starters Daryl Porter, Davonte Brown and Te’Cory Couch looking decent this spring? So these off-season workouts are extremely critical for everybody who plays corner. Hello Chris Graves, Jaden Harris and Malik Curtis. Every single rep is going to be scrutinized and the jockeying for depth chart space will be real.

SAFETY

With the Hurricanes having the presumed top safety tandem in the nation in pre-season All American Kam Kinchens and James Williams, you would not think there is much to be concerned with at this spot. But who are the backups going to be? And who will be on the field when Williams goes in the box? The battle begins with Markeith Williams and Brian Balom. All of this competition is exactly what Mario Cristobal has in mind for the entire roster.

KICKERS

As he enters his third season, this off-season is important for Andres Borregales also. He has not always been as consistent as you would like. The off-season is a time to perfect his stroke and continue to build leg strength to increase his range on field goals and kickoffs. As an aside, coaches are very pleased with newly acquired 23-year-old Aussie punter Dylan Joyce. There is the quiet hope that he can be as efficient as Lou Hedley turned out to be in his time at Miami.

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