Miami's Offense Can Be Explosive Once Again Thanks To This Key Transfer Portal Addition
One thing the Miami Hurricanes didn't have last season was explosive plays down the field. No matter how many times they tried, Carson Beck and the receivers didn't have the connection to get it done on a consistent basis.
This season, the Hurricanes have a better arm under center, as Darian Mensah looks to have an offensive style similar to Cam Ward's in 2024. The Hurricanes had the No. 1 offense in the country, and now, with new targets, the talented wide receiver room looks to repeat it.
"Of course, it's a lot of guys out there who can go and make plays," Wide receiver Vandrevius Jacobs said. "Our emphasis is just get better every day. We know it's competition in the room, of course, but we just want to see each other get better. So that's our main focus for real. We let the competition do what it do. We just go out there and try to be the best of us, try to master our craft."
The competition is what drives him and the others to improve and shake the others' feathers in the right way.
"That's a real brotherhood," Jacobs said. "We get after each other. We hold each other accountable. It's just a brotherhood. I feel like we're player-led. I feel like we have players that we don't need the coaches to tell us, hey, go in the locker room and talk about this or talk about that. We have the players and the leaders on our team to just put us all together and just have a conversation man-to-man, player-to-player, teammate-to-teammate."
The Hurricanes' receiver room is deep. Malachi Toney is the best wide receiver not named Jeremiah Smith, and Cooper Barkate has an underrated connection with Mensah. However, the Hurricanes' roster did take a hit with Josh Moore suffering an injury during the spring game.
"He tweaked a soft tissue type injury," Cristobal said. "[Moore] should be okay within, probably two weeks or whatnot. So nothing major."
Even with one player down, the Hurricanes still have many other talented players to work with. Jacobs is just the tip of the iceberg of what the Canes can be and do for the future.
Like, I don't have to try to mold myself to be a different receiver," Jacobs said. "I'm not the biggest guy. I'm the tallest guy. So [Coach KB] just told me, like, he just wanted me to master whatever I'm good at, and that was any receiver wanna hear that. Like, I can't do some of the things that another receiver might do with a different body type, but if I master the things that I'm good at, then I'm just as deadly."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/miami as Miami's Offense Can Be Explosive Once Again Thanks To This Key Transfer Portal Addition.
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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 4:58 PM.