‘Freak of nature’: What Miami’s veteran D-linemen are saying about freshman Nyjalik Kelly
The Miami Hurricanes still don’t have clarity on who might start on the defensive line when they open the season next month against the FCS Bethune-Cookman Wildcats and they like it this way.
The defensive line, by all accounts from people there, was one of the highlights of Miami’s first preseason scrimmage Saturday in Coral Gables, with enough bodies to rotate three full lines worth of potential contributors and Chantz Williams said not to discount one freshman trying to bust his way into the rotation.
Nyjalik Kelly, the defensive lineman said, is “very young, but he’s a freak of nature.”
“I see Nyjalik making noise sooner than most people expect,” added Williams, who’s playing the same position as Kelly in training camp.
The 6-foot-4, 240-pound freshman from Dillard was one of the prizes of the Hurricanes’ Class of 2022 and coach Mario Cristobal’s first major recruiting win after he returned to Miami late last year. On the first day of the early signing period in 2021, Kelly picked the Hurricanes over the Oregon Ducks during a ceremony at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale and immediately became the top-ranked player in Miami’s 2022 recruiting class.
After the dust settled in the 2022 recruiting cycle and Cristobal added a few more prospects, Kelly still wound up as the No. 2 player in the Hurricanes’ class — he was the nation’s No. 90 overall player, according to the 247Sports composite rankings for the 2022 class — and now he’s on the short list of freshmen fighting to play a major role for Miami this year.
“He’s fast and long, and just twitchy and just lanky,” said fellow defensive lineman Jared Harrison-Hunte, who made a point to emphasize Kelly’s speed. “He’s going to be a freak in the future. Just give him a few years. He’s going to be good.”
Right now, Williams and fellow defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor seem to be a clear top two at strong-side defensive end, but Kelly could be third on the depth chart and contribute if the Hurricanes really commit to their deep rotation across the line.
“I’m not the coach, so I can’t say who’s going to play, but we’re going to have a nice heavy rotation, that I know for sure,” Williams said. “We’re trying to get a lot of guys in. I feel like with the group of guys we have, any and everybody can play at any position they want, so I feel like we’re going to be very deep this year.”
Gattis adds complexity to blocking
Improving its rushing attack has been a priority for Miami this preseason and Jakai Clark believes his unit’s run blocking has made major strides throughout camp.
“The more reps we get, the more our run game starts to develop,” the offensive lineman said. “We just continue to hone being physical, being aggressive, good hat placement, good technique. Every day in individual, we kind of focus on perfecting our technique and carrying that over into team, and it’s starting to show the more practices we have.”
The change in scheme is a big part of it.
As good as the Hurricanes’ offense was last year with Rhett Lashlee in charge, the former offensive coordinator skewed toward a focus on passing and mostly stuck to a simple run-blocking scheme.
Josh Gattis is different. Last year, Gattis’ offense with the Michigan Wolverines ranked in the top 25 in rushing yards per game and yards per attempt, and now, as the offensive coordinator at Miami, he’s hoping to bring the same sort of production to South Florida.
Clark, who’s entering his first full season as the starting center, said the run-blocking scheme is more varied than last season.
“It’s a little bit of everything, to be honest with you. It’s a lot of gap scheme, a lot of zone, getting out into space around the edge — it’s a lot of everything.”
This and that
▪ Freshman wide receiver Isaiah Horton missed another day of practice Thursday after getting injured in Saturday’s scrimmage. Horton, listed as 6-3 and 205 pounds, is out of Oakland High in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. UM’s Tuesday and Wednesday practices were closed to the media, but Cristobal said Monday he expected him back in three to four days. His injury was not revealed.
▪ Redshirt junior defensive tackle Jordan Miller was not at practice the first 30 minutes during media viewing.
▪ Starting tight end Will Mallory, who had shoulder surgery in the offseason, was again in a red noncontact jersey during media viewing on Thursday. He also wore one Monday.
▪ The quarterbacks looked especially sharp, and receivers looked much crisper, with no drops.
