Miami Hurricanes ‘needed to make some changes’ on defense. Will they pan out?
When the Miami Hurricanes begin the 2025 season on Aug. 31 against Notre Dame, all eyes will be on their overhauled defense.
Coach Mario Cristobal wasted little time reforming the group that handicapped his team a year ago.
It started at the top with a change in defensive coordinator, with Corey Hetherman replacing Lance Guidry.
It continued with the rest of the defensive coaching staff, with defensive line coach Jason Taylor the lone holdover from the group. New to the staff are defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach Zac Etheridge, safeties coach Will Harris and defensive tackles coach Damione Lewis.
And it is seen in the roster, with Miami digging deep into the transfer portal to find reinforcements. The Hurricanes have nine new additions on defense this year via the portal, including six defensive backs to shore up the team’s weakest position from a year ago. Safeties Zechariah Poyser and Jakobe Thomas plus cornerbacks Xavier Lucas, Charles Brantley and Keionte Scott lead that group.
“All in all, we felt like we needed to make some changes in that department,” Cristobal said, “and we made them.”
And for good reason.
Miami’s offense was the best in the nation last year, leading the country in scoring (43.9 points per game), yards per game (537.2), yards per play (7.57) and third-down success rate (56.25 percent).
The defense? Not so much.
It regressed significantly in Guidry’s second season and was a major reason the season ended with a 10-3 record and Miami missing the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game and a chance to compete in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
The Hurricanes ranked 68th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 25.3 points per game — a number that ballooned to 30.8 points per game in conference play. In Guidry’s first season as defensive coordinator, Miami allowed an average of 22.8 points per game but only gave up more than 40 points in a game once compared to three times last season.
Miami ended the season losing three of its final four games after a 9-0 start, including giving up 42 points apiece in its final two games to Syracuse and Iowa State, which averaged 34.1 and 31.1 points per game respectively. Miami led 21-0 in the second quarter of the Syracuse game and 38-28 midway through the third quarter of the Iowa State game before eventually losing both contests.
UM also lost 28-23 to a one-dimensional Georgia Tech team that ran for 271 yards — the most Miami has allowed in a game since giving up a school-record 554 rushing yards on Dec. 12, 2020.
“After Week 4 last year, we took a downturn,” Cristobal said. “We slipped defensively. I don’t want to blame anybody. I always look at myself and say, ‘What could I have done better?’ We had some injuries that led to some schematic changes that weren’t the best for our football program.”
Enter Hetherman and the slew of other changes on defense. Players have praised Hetherman’s aggressive style of coaching and the relentless pressure he wants them to force up front. It was a big part in how he turned Minnesota’s defenses into one of the top in the country last year before joining the Hurricanes.
“I love coach Hetherman,” sixth-year senior defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor said. “He’s a great teacher. He’s just an aggressive guy, as you guys can see in his interviews. But he really just gets it down to the point. He’s a technician; anything you have, he’ll probably answer your question before you ask it. But he’s an amazing person, a great coach, and he just lets us play free, play fast.”
But with that comes lessons that need to be learned. The Hurricanes defense struggled with communication issues a year ago, which led to a lot of the opponents’ chunk plays. That became a priority for Hetherman right from the start.
“If you don’t communicate,” Mesidor said, “your defense is going to get just torched.”
A foundation was laid during spring practices. It will continue when fall practices begin on July 31. And then it will be put to the test a month after that.
Players to watch
While the Hurricanes have their share of established guys, Mesidor and senior linebacker Wesley Bissainthe have a few teammates — some returnees, some new — they’re looking forward to seeing take the field this season.
Mesidor pointed out sophomore defensive lineman Armondo Blount (“If you’re looking for a guy who’s going to run to that ball and just has maximum effort, he’ll pop out on film”) while Bissainthe mentioned Miami’s two linebacker transfers in Mohamed Toure and Kamal Bonner, both of whom committed to Miami during the spring transfer window.
Other names they mentioned included cornerback transfer Ethan O’Connor and linebacker Raul “Popo” Aguirre.
“I’m excited to show the world what we’ve got,” Mesidor said.
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