Podcast: Stock up, stock down for the Miami Hurricanes through three weeks training camp
Keontra Smith is rising up the depth chart, Tyrique Stevenson still isn’t and Zion Nelson’s absence is a new cause for concern for the Miami Hurricanes.
With its season-opener only a little more than two weeks ago, Miami is starting to figure out just what it will look like when it begins the season next month against the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, as young players boost their stock and some veterans are slipping into lesser roles.
With training camp entering its third week, David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes beat writer for the Miami Herald, discuss whose stock is rising and whose is falling in preseason practices.
The most obvious riser is Smith, who was a top performer in the No. 14 Hurricanes’ first scrimmage Sunday and has solidified himself as the frontrunner to start at weak-side linebacker. Inside linebackers coach Jonathan Patke said as much Tuesday when he praised Smith in his move to linebacker from striker.
Other players on the rise include receivers Key’Shawn Smith, Xavier Restrepo, Jacolby George and Elijah Arroyo. Smith and Restrepo have both gotten opportunities with the first-team offense in fall camp, while George’s 127-yard outing in the scrimmage prompted coach Manny Diaz to say on Monday the team would “probably re-evaluate” where its freshman wideouts stand and Arroyo’s play has offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee “optimistic he can be a guy who can help us win this year.’’
The risers have outnumbered the disappointing players this preseason, but there are still a few question marks emerging based on practice in Coral Gables.
There’s no clarity on when Nelson might return from his undisclosed issue. Stevenson is still spending more time with the second-team defense than the first-. Linebackers Bradley Jennings Jr. and Waynmon Steed, the two most experienced players at the position, have seldom looked like starters at Greentree Practice Fields.
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