Miami Hurricanes coaches dish on young football players who have them excited
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Tuesday, as everyone awaits a looming decision about whether the Atlantic Coast Conference will proceed with its football season as scheduled:
▪ It was just a small sample size, certainly not enough to form any grand conclusions.
But four spring practices left UM coaches encouraged about several of their early freshmen arrivals and second-year players.
We wrote here about how the second-year defensive tackles have impressed and here about how Class of 2019 linebackers Sam Brooks and Avery Huff have begun to develop and here about UM’s four freshmen safeties.
And UM defensive coordinator Blake Baker likes what he has seen from young cornerbacks Christian Williams and Te’Cory Couch, who who are pushing Al Blades Jr. and DJ Ivey.
“If I remember correctly going back to those four days [of spring ball], I’m not sure Christian didn’t start two, maybe three out of the four days. He was having a great spring camp and TC [Couch] was doing a lot of good things too,” Baker said.
“The thing for me is the competition and amount of depth we have across the board is much greater than last year. Whenever guys feel they have a fair shake to compete for a job they compete that much harder. I’m excited for those two; they’re nipping on the two older guys’ heels.”
▪ Baker also likes what he has seen from defensive end Jahfari Harvey; UM wisely preserved his redshirt last season by playing him in only four games.
If the season started today, Jaelen Phillips and Harvey likely would be the backup defensive ends behind Greg Rousseau and Quincy Roche.
“I think for sure when you talk about defensive end, right now Jahfari is in the two deep so he’s going to play,” Baker said. “He’s going to play a ton. He’s different than those other guys in a good way, is super twitched up.
“And he has a little bit different skill set than those other guys. When you talk about pure speed, he can run better than any of those other [defensive ends]. He uses that to his strength, his speed to power. I think Jahfari is going to have a big year, is going to contribute quite a bit to this defense.”
▪ Also, offensive line coach Garin Justise saw promising signs from his two freshmen linemen, Jalen Rivers and Chris Washington.
“The thing about Jalen first and foremost is people look at the fact he’s 6-5 and he’s big and he’s physical,” Justice said. “The thing that will make Jalen a really good player is he’s such a perfectionist. It bothers him when he doesn’t have success, bothers him if it’s not 100 percent right. They’re working hard to be good. It’s my job to figure out where to put those guys. With four practices I really don’t have answers yet.”
Rivers projects as a tackle eventually but worked at guard during the four spring practice sessions. Washington could eventually compete to start at tackle.
Incidentally, Houston grad transfer Jarrid Williams has said that Miami plans to use him at right tackle.
▪ Safety Bubba Bolden, who sustained a season-ending ankle injury when celebrating an interception against FSU on Nov. 2, will be ready for the start of the season, safeties coach Ephraim Banda said.
“He was recovering at a very fast pace and really probably for sure we would have got him the second half of spring,” Baker said. “He’ll be 100 percent ready to go for sure. We were just starting to see that glimpse of him last year, how good a player he can be. He’s much taller, longer than [safeties Gurvan Hall and Amari Carter]. Really does a great job with his hips, covering a lot of ground, and does it deceptively with how long he is. The sky is the limit for a guy like Bubba Bolden.
“With a full season and off-season, him getting comfortable we’ll see even bigger improvement out of him next year.”
▪ Cameron Williams, who projects as UM’s fifth or sixth defensive end after redshirting last season, has helped himself by getting in better shape.
He arrived at 255 pounds “but it was a lot of bad weight” and is now at “225, 230,” Baker said. “He does some good things coming of the edge and really has a mean steak that you wouldn’t necessarily know talking to him in the hallway.”
▪ We should have clarity by the end of next week about whether the ACC will start the college football season on time or delay the start.
Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich told The State (Columbia, S.C.) that the “ACC Board of Governors has two upcoming meetings on July 29 and August 5 and we hope to have more clarity around fall sports and the football season shortly after those meetings.”...
After several recent high-profile Hurricanes commitments, Rivals has moved UM to eighth in its Class of 2021 football rankings - three spots ahead of Clemson. 247 Sports has Miami 10th, one spot behind Clemson.
