Davis eyes bounce back, Daniels’ impact and more Miami Cotton Bowl media day notables

Carter Davis has already moved on from his worst performance with the Miami Hurricanes.

The kicker missed three of four field-goal attempts — from 47, 40 and 35 yards — in No. 10 Miami’s 10-3 win against the No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Dec. 20 (he did make a 21-yard attempt in the third quarter of that game). The wind was whipping throughout Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, that day, which had a massive impact on the kicking game.

So while the game was “a little irritating,” in Davis’ words, in no way was his confidence shaken by the outing.

“I don’t have to change anything,” Davis said Monday. “Those were extreme conditions. I trust my processes, and I trust the guys I have. ... You have to know what you’re doing. Nothing in my head wavered like ‘Oh, I don’t know if I can make this.’ It was just like, ‘All right, I have another shot. Let’s go for it.’”

Davis will have another shot Wednesday when the Hurricanes (11-2) play the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-1) in the Cotton Bowl, which doubles as a playoff quarterfinal. Kickoff from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — a domed stadium, which will negate any external weather factors — is set for 7:30 p.m.

“There’s no factors or anything,” Davis said from a table near midfield of the stadium during Miami’s media day ahead of the game, “so it’s a cool place to play.”

Prior to the Texas A&M game, Davis has been steady for the Hurricanes. He made 14 of 16 field-goal attempts in those first 12 games, including the game-winner in Miami’s season opener against Notre Dame.

“It’s almost like a dream at this point,” Davis said. “Obviously, yeah, I get the caliber of team that I came into, and I was just hoping to hold up the standard that everybody has.”

CJ Daniels’ impact

Wide receiver CJ Daniels was among Miami’s top playmakers through the first half of the season. He had a team-high six touchdown catches through the Hurricanes’ first seven games and made his share of highlight-reel catches in that span.

And then he was sidelined for three games by injury.

While he missed Miami’s games against SMU, Syracuse and NC State and was limited against Virginia Tech, the veteran did what he could to still impact the game from the sideline.

So much so that Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal joked that Daniels was essentially an extra assistant coach in that span.

“Just still being a leader while I’m not able to be an impact,” Daniels said. “I try to use what I can do as far as giving knowledge to the younger guys, and help them strive to get to where they want to be. I don’t think it was a loss that I wasn’t able to play. It was more of, how else can you impact these guys? So it was great being able to do that.”

Players stepped up in his absence. Keelan Marion, another veteran transfer, has 414 yards during the past six games after logging 176 yards in Miami’s first seven. Freshman phenom Malachi Toney has continued to thrive and is closing in on 1,000 receiving yards. Elija Lofton has caught three touchdowns.

And now Daniels is back.

“At the end of the day, guys have got to make plays,” Daniels said. “No matter who the ball gets to, I think each and every one of these guys are capable of making plays. I’m extremely proud of them, guys that stepped up.”

Samson Okunlola thriving

Samson Okunlola, a former five-star prospect and consensus top-25 recruit in the Class of 2023, had to bide his time before eventually getting consistent playing time.

After two seasons of waiting, he has finally broken through and taken advantage of his opportunities.

Okunlola has split reps at left guard with redshirt junior Matthew McCoy all season — McCoy has played 485 offensive snaps, Okunlola 392 —and has not taken the opportunity for granted.

“It’s meant a lot,” Okunlola said. “I’m very grateful for the Lord, the place He put me in and the time I needed to spend to get better. It’s definitely paying off and showing off.”

Hurricanes offensive line coach Alex Mirabal said Okunlola should be praised for the route he took. Nowadays in college sports, instant gratification is the expectation. If a player doesn’t immediately succeed or get steady playing time, the assumption is he should go to the transfer portal to find an opportunity elsewhere.

Okunlola stayed the course, and it’s paying dividends for him now.

“We believed in him and he believed in us,” Mirabal said. “That’s why he’s where he’s at. I don’t think he waited his turn. I just think he took two and a half years to develop, and he did. Now he’s he’s benefiting from his development his work ethic and his trust in the process.”

Quotables

▪ Cristobal on being back in Dallas for a playoff game nearly two months after the loss to SMU that could have ended their playoff hopes: “Yeah, that was a low point for us in the season, and in that locker room, it was as simple as a decision has to be made. As that set in and we traveled back, it was important to collect our thoughts as to how we were going to approach this going forward, where the messaging was going to be direct, right between the eyes, right in the gut, because we had to change and get better. And it came down to the simplicity of taking all the clips of us in our first five games and putting it on a reel and just letting it play. No audio, no one talking, no nothing. Just shut the lights, remind ourselves of who we are. And there’s nothing more powerful than the power of choice. So, we chose to regain our form and actually improved down the stretch and played our best football those last four weeks, and that’s where things changed. As simple as just choosing to do better.”

▪ Edge rusher Akheem Mesidor on playing at AT&T Stadium: I love 100,000 deep rooting against you. I love that feeling. I love the adversity. I love silencing a crowd. I just love knowing that I’m in enemy territory and there’s 100,000 of them rooting against us.”

▪ Edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. on what Miami’s defense needs to improve upon from the Texas A&M game: “One is just finishing. We did finish, but first to last. We got to communicate better, trust in one another, and finish what we say. Trust in each other that we get the job done.”