The CaneSport On3: Miami Hurricanes second team defensive deficiencies that need addressing
The Miami Hurricanes are not a perfect team. We know this coming off a 5-7 season and with gaping roster holes that were left from the Manny Diaz years that saw Mario Cristobal fill up this roster with 25 transfer additions in a two-year span.
When you see that kind of transfer action, it points to either a lack of top end talent or a lack of depth.
As we look at the Miami defense, you can see some top end talent for sure. But a lack of proven depth could be the season’s undoing. So what has to go right depth-wise for Miami to not just thrive in 2023 but also show promise for 2024? Instead of projecting starters, today we’re looking at defensive depth-fillers and who needs to step up where to help out this team.
DEFENSIVE LINE
There are a couple of proven playmakers up front in DT Leonard Taylor and DL Akheem Mesidor, and we project the other likely starters right now as either DE Nyjalik Kelly or Jahfari Harvey along with DT Branson Deen. That trio still has plenty to prove, with Kelly getting rave reviews from inside the building but only in year 2, Harvey a veteran coming off injury who has never been a real standout, and Deen a transfer from Purdue who is serviceable but isn’t going to wow you. But this analysis isn’t breaking down the starters. It’s looking at the depth. And there really is not much of it, and Miami badly needs guys to step up.
At tackle you saw the team ask Jacob Lichtenstein back after he participated in Senior Day – he’s a depth filler. Jared Harrison-Hunte? He’s shown promise at times but has struggled with injury and hasn’t put it all together. Thomas Gore is undersized and didn’t look like a dominating guy in the spring. Ahmad Moten is a second-year guy who came in as a bit of a project last year. And then it’s tough to expect true freshman Joshua Horton to have a big impact, although he certainly has a bright future and he has the talent to help out in some capacity right away. The team also brought in Anthony Campbell as a second portal window guy because of the depth issues laid out at tackle, and he could also work at end. That move shows how badly Miami coaches know they need some help behind the starters, and of the above a couple of these guys MUST show this fall they are ready to fill in adequately when called upon. The hope is that Harrison-Hunte and Campbell can do that, since they seem the most likely DT backups. ANother issue: Aside from Taylor do you see anyone that’s really a major difference-maker? It’s also not like this is a building year for young guys looking ahead – it’s not a young group, with no freshmen or sophomores other than Horton and Moten.
The end depth is better with Harvey and Kelly ready to battle it out this fall and Mesidor on the other side, and we think the edge goes to Kelly right now as a starter. Harvey would be a great piece spelling guys off the bench as a veteran end. We also loved what we saw from Rueben Bain in the spring. The true freshman had 3 sacks in the spring game and has future star written all over him. If he pans out and shows he’s ready in Year 1 then he could also work inside to help the tackle depth, as could Mesidor. Chantz Williams is the only other veteran here, and he’s probably not going to be an impact. But unlike at tackle this is a team well stocked for the future with young ends – along with Bain the other true freshmen are highly touted Jayden Wayne and Collins Acheampong. So while the interior of the line is suspect on the two deep, the end spot is well stacked among the classes and has plenty of talent.
LINEBACKER
There’s a reason Miami brought in Francisco Mauigoa and KJ Cloyd out of the transfer portal despite having returning MLB starter Corey Flagg and another guy who flashed last year, WILL Wesley Bissainthe. This unit had a lot of missed tackles in 2022 and is a reason Miami didn’t rank in the No. 50 in the nation in any meaningful defensive category (No. 54 rush defense, No. 79 pass defense, No. 97 third down conversion defense, No. 61 red zone defense). While there were no major personnel losses here, something had to change. Mauigoa looks like a much taller, more physical and athletic presence inside compared to Flagg, and he should start this season. At WILL the team wants more from Bissainthe, who had no tackles for losses as a true freshman. If he doesn’t step up then you’ve got Cloyd, who was a backup at Louisville but was coached for three years there by Derek Nicholson and can be a solid veteran presence. Senior Keontra Smith and junior Chase Smith just have never broken through, the latter due to injuries. And then you’ve got the highly touted four freshmen: Malik Bryant, Raul Aguirre, Bobby Washington and Marcellius Pulliam. Of the four it appears Pulliam will be most ready for an immediate role, but with that said it’s hard to rely on a true freshman at a position that requires not just tremendous knowledge of what the offense is trying to do but also physicality and tackling technique. That can take some time.
What happens when Guidry wants to go with a SAM in run situations instead of a small nickel guy like Te’Cory Couch? There just aren’t a lot of options here. So the bottom line is there really isn’t the top end guys that can dominate, as it stands now, and the depth isn’t great aside from the four true freshmen being potential bigtime playmakers in the future. So there are definitely question marks here entering 2023.
DEFENSIVE BACK
A huge question looking ahead to fall camp is who will start at cornerback and replace Tyrique Stevenson and DJ Ivey. Note that in the spring it was mainly Davonte Brown and Daryl Porter, Jr. with the first team. But it spoke volumes that coaches went out after the spring and added Ja’Dais Richard, Jaden Davis and JUCO arrival Demetrius Freeney. Adding CBs number 9, 10 and 11 to the roster shows this coaching staff knows it has some issues here and wants to find guys that will step up. So who starts? It’s going to be a wide open competition, but the big question is if any of these guys are really going to be bigtime playmakers. Best guess right now it’s Davis and Brown that start, with Davis coming from a struggling Oklahoma D but having a lot of athletic upside … and Brown having the speed to stick with some of the faster wideouts Miami will face. The depth here? Well you’ve got the transfers plus second-year Chris Graves coming off injury and junior Malik Curtis, who struggled last year and just hasn’t shown much to this point. The team did bring in true freshmen Damari Brown and Robert Stafford and will work to develop them. But there are a lot of question marks not just with top end talent but depth at boundary corner. At nickel? Te’Cory Couch will be pushed by the transfer arrival Richard, who will also work at the boundary spot. Couch has been solid at a STAR position and that role hasn’t changed a lot under Lance Guidry (although with more blitzes probably). But like at boundary corner, there is questionable depth at nickel.
At safety All-American Kam Kinchens and former 5-star James Williams should form one of the nation’s best duos. But there are issues behind them. The only other safeties on the roster are Brian Balom, who was in the transfer portal before the spring but withdrew, second-year freshman Markeith Williams and true freshman Kaleb Spencer. Spencer looks the part as a big, imposing, relatively fast safety roaming the secondary, but it’ll probably be Williams as the third safety unless Balom can flash this fall. Regardless, we don’t love the safety depth simply because of the lack of numbers. Williams and Spencer could be really good down the road, but think about it this way – if Kinchens and James Williams go pro after this year, are you comfortable with any of these returners as your starters next year?
So yes, there are issues across the secondary depth-wise, a microcosm of the issues Mario Cristobal faced when he took over a depleted roster last year.
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