Staying together, playing through pain, a new center: Tales of UM’s offensive line
Listen to Miami Hurricanes offensive line coach Alex Mirabal speak, and it’s difficult not to get pumped up.
Even at just 5-4, Mirabal can be an intimidating presence. He’s vocal. He’s lively. He’s wired.
“His passion for everything really stands out, and it’s not something I’ve really ever been around, to be honest, at that level,” said center James Brockermeyer, a transfer from TCU. “He’s super, super intense in everything he does. He comes to meetings the same way he’d come out to practice. He’s in everyone’s faces. He’s always barking and he’s ready to go. He brings a lot of brings a lot of fight to the party.”
That’s exactly what he wants from his players. He preaches excellence and work ethic and improvement.
His commitment to his craft has rubbed off on the Hurricanes’ offensive line, which is expected to be one of the team’s clearest strengths and projected to be one of the top units at the position in the country.
But Mirabal on Monday stressed that there’s a lot of work left to do between now and the start of the season on Aug. 31 against Notre Dame.
“We’re far from a finished product, and we’ll never be a finished product,” Mirabal said. “Just as long as they work, give effort, finish, chase the ball, we’ll continue to grow as an o-line. We’re growing.”
That growth comes both from an individual standpoint and the collective as a team. Here are four such instances surrounding the Hurricanes and their offensive line.
Minimal turnover
One area that Mirabal and head coach Mario Cristobal have praised is the lack of turnover on the offensive line due to transfers.
While the line lost a pair of starters in left tackle Jalen Rivers (NFL draft) and center Zach Carpenter (eligibility exhausted), essentially the rest of the starters and backups returned. The team then fortified its O-line depth with the addition of Brockermeyer through the transfer portal and the signing of four freshmen.
In the day and age of players being able to transfer at a whim, Mirabal praised players such as Samson Okunlola, Ryan Rodriguez, Max Buchanan and Tommy Kinsler, among others, who chose to stick around despite not getting steady playing time instead of transferring when they would likely be starters elsewhere.
“These are kids that obviously stayed here because they believe in the program and because the program believes in them,” Mirabal said. “They’re developing, and that’s how you create depth, right? You create depth through development, through belief, through trust.”
Matt McCoy toughs it out
One of those players who got his opportunity last season: Left guard Matt McCoy, who played in all 13 games despite dealing with a torn labrum in his right shoulder that he sustained in fall camp and eventually needed surgery.
The option for surgery was given to him early, but McCoy opted against it until after the season finished. Why?
“It was my chance to play, and I just knew I couldn’t give it away,” McCoy said. “I knew whatever it takes to block and do my job is just what it is. I get paid to do what I do, and I gotta make sure I do it.”
Added Mirabal: “That’s toughness to me. Toughness is when you continue to show up, when you continue to produce, when you continue to play while your body is not feeling 100%. It’s easy to play football when your body is feeling 100%. It’s tough to play when you have the bumps and the bruises and the tears and stuff like that. He fought through it. ... What he did was he he told us, A, that I’m tough enough, and, B, you can trust me.”
Markel Bell becoming a complete player
Left tackle Markel Bell’s calling card is his size. At 6-9 and 345 pounds, that has to be a strength.
But with a full season at Miami under his belt after starting his college career at Holmes Community College in Mississippi, Bell has become more than just his size.
“Markel Bell is no longer 6-9 to anybody now; he’s just a good football player,” Mirabal said. “Now, people don’t ask him, ‘Hey, do you play basketball?’ Now, it’s ‘Man, this kid’s pretty good.’ He’s worked himself and prepared himself into being the player that he is.”
Bell was thrust into action early last season when Rivers was hurt in the season opener against Florida. When Rivers returned following a five-game absence, the Hurricanes found ways to keep Bell on the field in certain packages because of how he performed.
“It’s been a long journey just leading up to this point,” Bell said. “I still have more work to do.”
His biggest piece of advice for someone in his position?
“Just take it one day at a time,” Bell said. “You’re not gonna be perfect. You’re not gonna be a Hall of Famer in one day. ... You’re gonna find yourself.”
The latest transfer center
This is the third consecutive year the Hurricanes starting center is coming from outside the program.
In 2023, it was Matt Lee, who transferred from UCF.
In 2024, it was Carpenter, who transferred from Indiana.
And now it’s Brockermeyer, who comes from TCU.
Brockermeyer entered spring practices with the playbook essentially memorized, which he said was integral in being prepared as a transfer.
“You’ve got to come ready to learn and ready to work,” Brockermeyer said. “Every time you install something new, you’ve got to be able to know it better than anyone else as a center, because you’ve got to send guys in the right direction, and you’ve got to be on the same page with the quarterback and the offensive coordinator.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2025 at 2:02 PM.
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