Grading the Hurricanes: What are Miami’s strengths and weaknesses for the 2022 season?
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College football 2022 season preview
The Mario Cristobal era has officially begun at the University of Miami after the Hurricanes threw a boatload of cash at the former Oregon coach in the hopes the former UM standout will be able to help Miami return to its glory days.
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The Mario Cristobal era begins with the same sort of expectations the Miami Hurricanes have faced for basically the entire time they’ve been in the Atlantic Coast Conference. If they can’t win the Coastal Division, it will be a disappointment to a long-suffering fan base.
The good news for the new coach is he has all the pieces necessary to make a run to the ACC Championship Game, starting with one of the conference’s best quarterbacks, a potential All-American left tackle to protect him and a star tight end for him to lean on, and — on the other side of the ball — a young, talented defense.
Miami’s strengths outweigh its weaknesses, and even those less established units have a chance to significantly improve in 2022 with a new coaching staff and an influx of transfers.
Quarterbacks | A-
In just nine starts last year, Tyler Van Dyke asserted himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Nine games, however, is a small sample size and the 6-4, 224-pound sophomore will be operating a less pass-friendly offense this year with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis replacing Rhett Lashlee. These are all nitpicks, though: Van Dyke’s six straight games with at least 300 passing yards and three touchdowns to end last year matched a run not seen in one of the Power Five conferences since Joe Burrow with LSU in 2019.
Running backs | B+
Injuries piled up during training camp, robbing the Hurricanes of their depth at running back. Now, they’re left with Jaylan Knighton, Henry Parrish Jr. and Thaddius Franklin Jr. to start the season.. On paper, this is still a solid group, but another injury would be devastating. Still, Knighton, 5-10 and 190 pounds, has a chance to be a breakout star after leading Miami with 561 rushing yards in just eight games as a freshman last season.
Wide receivers | C
The drawback of having two record-setting wide receivers last year is it left the Hurricanes with a massive void to fill after they left. With wide receiver Xavier Restrepo back, Van Dyke still has one of his favorite targets and potentially one of the best slot receivers in the country. The bigger problem will be finding those big, field-stretching targets on the outside. Wide receivers Romello Brinson, Key’Shawn Smith, Frank Ladson Jr., Jacolby George and Michael Redding III are all options; they just haven’t done much yet at this level.
Tight ends | A
Injuries are pretty much the only question mark for this position group. When healthy, Will Mallory is one of the best tight ends in the country, but he hasn’t always been able to stay on the field consistently. The good news for Miami is there’s a really strong group behind the 6-5, 245-pound senior, led by tight end Elijah Arroyo.
Offensive line | B-
If everyone is healthy, the Hurricanes will have back five offensive linemen who started at least one game in 2021.. The problem is that star tackle Zion Nelson, who earned preseason All-America recognition from Athlon and College Football News, had knee surgery in July and could miss the start of the season. Although Miami expects Nelson back at some point in September, the team will have to reshuffle the line once the 6-5, 316-pound junior returns. It then could take time for the unit to coalesce, especially if DJ Scaife Jr. — probably the second-best offensive lineman — has to move from tackle to guard in the middle of the season.
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Defensive line | B+
The defensive line is something of an unknown with five transfers — plus two elite recruits — all joining the unit in the offseason. While there aren’t any established stars in the group, Miami has so many experienced veterans it’s hard to imagine at least a few won’t pop, especially because the line drew constant praise throughout fall camp. There are some high-upside pieces, too: Sophomores Leonard Taylor and Jared Harrison-Hunte have both piled up tackles for loss in relatively limited snaps, and Cyrus Moss earned preseason true freshman All-America recognition from ESPN.
Linebackers | B
Even after adding senior Caleb Johnson from UCLA, linebacker is still the weak link of the defense. Miami is banking on major improvement from Corey Flagg Jr. and steadiness from Waynmon Steed, and also has some ways to work around its weakness at linebacker. Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele has three ultra-talented safeties and should find ways to play a lot of five-defensive back looks. At 6-5 and 224 pounds, James Williams has the look of a star outside linebacker, anyway.
Defensive backs | B+
The safeties get most of the attention here and deservedly so — James Williams, Avantae Williams and Kamren Kinchens all flashed major potential as freshmen last year — but don’t discount Tyrique Stevenson. The 6-foot, 214-pound junior is a potential lockdown cornerback and knows this new defense well because of the time he and defensive backs coach Jahmile Addae spent with Georgia. Cornerback DJ Ivey, with 21 starts under his belt, has impressed the new staff, too.
Special teams | C
Punter Lou Hedley regressed a bit last year after an All-American redshirt sophomore campaign, and Andres Borregales went through some of the growing pains expected from a freshman kicker, which means the specialists fit the profile of a unit potentially poised for a major jump forward. The bigger flaw is the Hurricanes still don’t have a clear standout in the return game and haven’t scored a special-teams touchdown since 2018.
This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 4:17 PM.
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