Avantae Williams’ first career interception was a must-see play for the Miami Hurricanes

Avantae Williams made the first interception of his college career one to remember.

The safety, who had the start of his career delayed because of a medical issue last season and a suspension stemming from a legal matter earlier this year, delivered his first highlight-reel moment as a Miami Hurricane in the first quarter Saturday against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets when he came reached his arms over Kyric McGowan’s shoulder right shoulder and plucked the ball away from the Georgia Tech wide receiver for a spectacular takeaway at Hard Rock Stadium.

Williams followed a caravan of teammates from Miami’s 35-yard line across midfield to the Yellow Jackets’ 33 to set up the Hurricanes in Georgia Tech territory with 1:30 left in the first. As the game eventually came down to the final possession, it was an important early moment in a 33-30 win in Miami Gardens

“It was great to see Tae make a play,” coach Manny Diaz said. “It’s a play we needed someone to make.”

Williams’ interception was the sort of play the Hurricanes (5-4, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) expected to see plenty of when they signed him as the top-ranked player in their Class of 2020. Williams was the No. 2 safety in the country, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings, and picked Miami over the Florida Gators on National Signing Day, although an unspecified medical issue kept him from playing at all in his first season.

Williams started practicing late last year and was expected to be part of the safeties rotation at the start of this season, but police charged him with three counts of aggravated battery on a pregnant woman in July. The Hurricanes dismissed him from the program, only to eventually reinstate him when the alleged victim, who was Williams’ ex-girlfriend, decided not to pursue charges. Instead, Miami handed him a six-game suspension and Williams finally debuted last month.

He didn’t record any stats in either of his first two games, then made one of the best plays of the season for the Hurricanes Saturday to don the turnover chain for the first time.

Nesta Silvera returns to lineup

Nesta Jade Silvera returned to the starting lineup for Miami on Saturday after missing their last game with an illness.

Silvera started back-to-back games last month before he missed the Hurricanes’ win against the then-No. 17 Pittsburgh Panthers last Saturday with an illness. The defensive lineman was back at practice Tuesday to get ready for Miami’s game against Georgia Tech.

The illness was not COVID-19, a team spokesperson said.

The junior was in the middle of the Hurricanes’ pregame huddle and started next to fellow defensive lineman Jonathan Ford at defensive tackle.

Miami was, however, missing a handful of other contributors against the Yellow Jackets (3-6, 2-5) for undisclosed reasons. Safety Gurvan Hall Jr., linebacker Bradley Jennings Jr. and offensive lineman Ousman Traore were all not in uniform Saturday. Hall began the season as a starter before losing his job to fellow safety James Williams, while Jennings and Traore have both been starters in the past before sliding into reserve roles this season.

All three remain listed on Miami’s roster.

Transfer portal issues

As the Hurricanes approach the first day of the early signing period on Dec. 15, they have eight commitments, with their signing class ranked a dismal 58th by Rivals.com and 60th by 247Sports.

UM coach Manny Diaz was asked this week about his vision for the team in terms of how he foresees splitting his upcoming new players between the transfer portal and high school recruits. Is the transfer portal just as important to Miami’s future as high school recruiting, Diaz was asked.

“I think that will be important for everybody’s success,’’ Said Diaz, who has done wonders with his success from the portal, including former players such as Jaelan Phillips, Quincy Roche, Jose Borregales and KJ Osborn, and current players D’Eriq King, Bubba Bolden, Tyrique Stevenson, Deandre Johnson and Charleston Rambo. “You have to evaluate it position by position. You have to understand where your needs are. I don’t see a great difference from the [NFL]. You look at what you have. You look at what you’ve recruited. You try to get a sense of what you are not going to have.

“The trick now, what no one really knows, is what your own attrition is, what numbers you might lose. That’s kind of across the board across the country. Because if you lose your depth because they want to go somewhere and try to have a chance to start, that can become very difficult. Because you may have an experienced guy and it’s hard to keep your backups around.

“No one really knows how that’s going to shake down. I don’t think we look at it as ‘Hey, we want to just go all transfers’ or ‘we want to go all high school.’ Maybe we want to go 50-50.’

At each position we ask the coaches, ‘Where do you feel your room is right now? Where do you feel like you have holes needed next year to try to get our team as competitive as we can next year?’ I think college football now affords you the opportunity to try to prove yourself on a year-by-year basis.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2021 at 1:45 PM.