The CaneSport On3: Ranking the top Miami Hurricanes in the NFL

The college football season isn’t alone in being just around the corner. So is the NFL season.

And the Miami Hurricanes continue to have and produce plenty of pro talent. So today, without further ado, we rank the top 10 Miami players that are now showcasing their skills at the next level (with honorable mention to OL Jon Feliciano and RB Gus Edwards):

10. WR Braxton Berrios, Miami Dolphins

Berrios was a sixth-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots (he won a Super Bowl ring that year but was on injured reserve), and after a quiet first season he spent 2019-22 with the Jets before joining the Dolphins for the coming season. He has 1,081 career receiving yards (high of 321 on 46 catches in 2021) and 160 rush yards in his five seasons with nine total TDs. He also has returned 67 kickoffs, averaging 24.9 yards with a 102-yard TD in 2021, and averages 11.4 yards per punt return on 67 returns. With the Miami Hurricanes he finished with 96 catches for 1,121 yards and 14 TDs, with his best season his final one in 2017 when he had 51 catches for 625 yards and nine TDs. As a senior he also served as Miami’s primary punt returner and averaged an impressive 15.9 yards per return on 13 returns.

9. WR KJ Osborn, Minnesota Vikings

Osborn was a fifth-round pick of the Vikings in the 2020 NFL Draft, and he has been solid in the last two years after serving mainly as a returner in 2020 (14 KOR, 303 yards; 7 PR, 27 yards). In 2021 he ended with 50 catches for 655 yards and seven TDs, then this past season had 60 catches for 650 yards and five more scores. Osborn played one season at Miami in 2019, transferring in from Buffalo (where he had a career-high 53 catches for 892 yards and seven TDs as a redshirt junior in 2018). In his lone season with the Canes, Osborn totaled 50 catches for 547 yards and five touchdowns. He ended that year with 1,018 total yards when you included his role as a special teams returner (201 kick return yards, 255 punt return yards).

8. TE David Njoku, Cleveland Browns

BEREA, OHIO – JUNE 07: David Njoku #85 of the Cleveland Browns looks on after the Cleveland Browns mandatory veteran minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on June 07, 2023 in Berea, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

Njoku was a first-round pick (29th overall) in 2017 by the Browns, and he has 19 career TDs. This past season, despite being hampered by injury and missing games, he put together a 58-catch, 628-yard season with four TDs. That marked his best showing along with 2018, when he had 56 catches for 639 yards and four scores. In his six-year career Njoku has tallied 2,382 yards on 206 receptions. At Miami he redshirted in 2014 and then played two seasons before leaving for the NFL. In 2015 as a redshirt freshman he emerged as the team’s top tight end target – he started four games and had 21 catches for 362 yards. Then in 2016 he enjoyed a breakout season with 43 receptions for 698 yards and eight scores.

7. RB Duke Johnson

Johnson may not currently have a team, but he’s also not retiring and it’s hard to leave a guy off this list that has 2,265 career NFL rushing yards and 2,870 career receiving yards. Johnson was a third-round pick in 2015 by the Cleveland Browns, and he’s also played for the Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills. Johnson’s biggest impact in the NFL is as a receiving/third down back type player, and he had 410 rush yards and 410 receiving yards in 2019 for the Texans and a career-high 693 receiving yards on 74 catches for the Browns in 2017 (along with 348 rush yards). He had five seasons from 2015-2019 with 400 or more receiving yards, and in four of those years added over 345 rush yards. He has 23 career NFL TDs. Johnson spent 2012-14 at Miami and ended with 3,519 rush yards and 719 receiving yards along with 30 total TDs. In 2012 he enjoyed arguably the greatest freshman season in Miami history, rushing for a freshman-record 947 yards and 10 TDs while setting a UM single-season record with 892 kick return yards. He ended with 2,060 all-purpose yards – second-most in program history.

6. DB Rayshawn Jenkins, Jacksonville Jaguars

Jenkins was drafted in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the L.A. Chargers and joined the Jaguars in 2021. Jenkins became a starter in 2019 and has been a solid player ever since. He ended 2019 with 51 tackles and three interceptions, then had 82 tackles in 2020 with a sack and two INTs, 67 tackles in 2021 and this past season had a career-high 107 tackles along with three interceptions (one taken back for a TD), a sack and 12 pass breakups. He started 33 games in his Miami Hurricanes career, and as a senior in 2016 had a career-best 76 tackles, 4.5 for loss, with two INTs and seven pass breakups.

5. P Pat O’Donnell, Green Bay Packers

O’Donnell was a sixth-round pick by the Chicago Bears in 2014 (the only punter selected in that year’s draft), and last season was his first punting for the Green Bay Packers. With a booming leg, he’s been a starter since his first year in the league and has averaged (in year order) 43.8, 44.2, 44.0, 47.0 (a Bears franchise record), 45.0, 44.8, 45.7, 46.2 and 44.5 yards per punt. For his career that works out to a very solid 45.1-yard average. Also of note: In 2015 his net punting average of 39.6 was the second-highest in Bears team history (a stat that dates to 1966). At Miami he was a second-team All-American in his grad senior 2013 season – he set a Miami single-season record that year with a 47.1-yard average. That was his lone year as a Hurricane – he transferred in from Cincinnati, where the year prior he was a second-team All-Big East selection and in 2011 was a first team pick.

4. DE Gregory Rousseau, Buffalo Bills

ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 11: Mike White #5 of the New York Jets throws around Greg Rousseau #50 of the Buffalo Bills in the fourth quarter at Highmark Stadium on December 11, 2022 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images)

Rousseau was the No. 30 overall pick by the Bills in the 2021 NFL Draft, getting taken after sitting out the year at Miami due to COVID concerns. He’s been a solid contributor at the next level, finishing 2021 with 50 tackles, 8 TFL and four sacks along with an interception, then last season adding 37 tackles, 10 TFL and eight sacks. He also had 10 QB hurries in 2021 and 14 more last year. Rousseau played safety in high school and was lightly recruited but Miami took a chance on him and converted him to the defensive line. He thrived in his one full year at UM, 2019, earning ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year honors after totaling a league-high 15.5 sacks (tied for second-most in Miami history) along with 19.5 TFL.

3. OLB Jaelan Phillips, Miami Dolphins

Phillips was the No. 18 overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Dolphins, an exclamation point on a once injury-riddled college career that saw some speculation he would retire. Phillips has already made his mark on the NFL in his two seasons, with 42 tackles and 8.5 sacks in 2021 and 61 tackles along with seven sacks this past season. Phillips arrived at Miami after two seasons at UCLA, and there was some question if he’d be able to fully recover from the aforementioned injury. He sat out 2019 rehabbing, then in 2020 broke out in a big way as a first team All-American. He ended that year with 45 tackles, 15.5 TFL and eight sacks.

2. LB Denzel Perryman, Houston Texans

A second round pick in the 2015 draft by the San Diego Chargers, Perryman has 586 career tackles and five sacks along with five interceptions while playing for the Chargers, Panthers, Raiders and now his new team, the Texans. His best season as a pro was in 2021, when he made the Pro Bowl after tallying 154 tackles for the Raiders along with five for losses. Last season he had 83 tackles and two interceptions along with a career-high 14 TFL and five QB hits. At Miami he started games in four different seasons and had 351 career tackles with 27 TFL and 4.5 sacks. He surpassed 100 tackles in each of his final two years (108 in 2013, 110 in 2014).

1. DE Calais Campbell, Atlanta Falcons

Campbell tops this list as one of the most accomplished NFL players you’ll find. Among his accolades: He’s a six-time Pro Bowler, was the 2019 Walter Payton Man of the Year and won the 2018 Bart Starr Award, and he also was on the NFL’s 2010 All-Decade Team. In his NFL career, Campbell has 809 tackles, 99 sacks, 57 pass breakups, 16 forced fumbles and three defensive TDs. He was drafted in the second round of the 2008 draft by the Arizona Cardinals and has also played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, and now the Falcons. He’s enjoyed double-digit sacks in three different seasons – 10.5 in 2018, 14.5 in 2017 and 10 in 2013. This past season, his 15th in the league, he showed he’s still “got” it with 34 tackles and 5.5 sacks for the Ravens. Campbell is currently on the Falcons’ non-football injury list.

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