‘No better place to transfer’: No. 12 Miami is leaning on transfers to an absurd degree
It was striking the three players the Miami Hurricanes made available to reporters Wednesday following practice in Coral Gables.
D’Eriq King, the Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback, was an obvious choice, and he was joined by offensive lineman Jarrid Williams and punter Lou Hedley. They share a few things in common: They are some of the oldest players on Miami’s roster, they have been some of the Hurricanes’ best players and they all are former transfers.
“There’s no better place to come and transfer than the University of Miami,” Hedley said. “We’ve got the weather and whatnot, the fans are amazing and it’s an awesome spot. Obviously, there’s always pressure to perform, but I think with the talent we’ve got now that won’t be an issue.”
Five of the seven players Miami (2-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) made available to reporters this week leading up to its rivalry game against the Florida State Seminoles joined the Hurricanes via transfer. Two starters on offense, three on defense and the starting kicker and punter all came to Miami as transfers in the past two years.
The No. 12 Hurricanes, off to their best start since their Orange Bowl season in 2017, are leaning on transfers to a potentially unprecedented degree.
King, who transferred to Miami from the Houston Cougars in January, is at the center of it all, and Pro Football Focus graded the redshirt senior as the Hurricanes’ top performer in their 47-34 win against the then-No. 18 Louisville Cardinals on Saturday. Williams, who followed King from Houston to Miami in June, has been the Hurricanes’ top-graded offensive linemen in each of their first two games, stabilizing a position group which struggled mightily last season.
“Jarrid has certainly met, if not exceeded, our expectations for him,” coach Manny Diaz said. “It’s still just a couple games in, but we’re very pleased with his progress and how he’s solidified that spot of our offensive line.”
It doesn’t stop there.
Safety Bubba Bolden, who transferred from the USC Trojans last year, was also among the Hurricanes’ 10 highest-graded players Saturday and led Miami in tackles in Louisville, Kentucky. Hedley, who came from a junior college in 2019, and kicker Jose Borregales, who transferred from the FIU Panthers in January, make one of the best specialist combinations in the country. The centerpiece of the defense is probably the defensive end tandem of Quincy Roche, who transferred from the Temple Owls in January, and Jaelan Phillips, who transferred from the UCLA Bruins in 2019.
So far this season, transfers have accounted for 97.1 percent of the Hurricanes’ passing yards, 18.4 percent of rushing yards, 18.8 percent of total tackles, 25 percent of sacks, 33.3 percent of tackles for loss, 50 percent of quarterback hits and 38.5 percent of total points.
No availability updates
Jeremiah Payton was the most notable contributor not to suit up for Miami on Saturday at Cardinal Stadium and Diaz didn’t provide any real update on the wide receiver’s status.
“Really, I’d say no news,” Diaz said when asked about the sophomore receiver’s status for Saturday. “Nothing to report. I think it’ll be all clear on Friday.”
Payton and tight end Larry Hodges were both new additions to the Hurricanes’ pregame unavailability report Saturday, and Miami did not provide an explanation for either absence.
The Hurricanes do not disclose when players test positive for COVID-19, but a source told the Miami Herald on Friday at least one player did not travel to Louisville because of a COVID issue and at least one other player was exposed to the coronavirus.
Why can’t Miami draw holding?
The Hurricanes didn’t draw a single offensive holding call against the Cardinals and Miami didn’t want to hide its frustrations after the road win.
Both Diaz and Phillips hinted at frustrations with the officiating in the immediate aftermath of the 13-point win. Diaz said Monday the ACC has a policy in place for teams to air their frustrations.
“They want all the teams after the game to send in the clips of plays that they feel like either the officials missed or called it a different way, or whatever, and what they’ll do is they review all the plays that we send in and then they’ll send us back their reply,” Diaz said. “They might say, ‘Oh, yes, this should’ve been this. Oh, no, this wasn’t that. Oh, here’s why we called this a certain way.’ That dialogue exists every week. Of course, it’s not going to change anything in the game, but it exists every week.”
