Are you dismissive of UM again winning the transfer market? Here’s why you shouldn’t be
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Monday:
▪ I know there are some cautious Canes fans who are skeptical about this narrative that Miami aced the transfer market, noting UM purportedly did the same last year, and it ultimately meant nothing in the won/loss record.
But here’s the big difference: These UM grad transfer additions (D’Eriq King, Quincy Roche, Jose Borregales and Jarrid Williams) are proven starters, players who have played a ton of snaps at a high level.
King, of course, had one of the most prolific seasons in college football in the past few years, passing and running for a combined 50 touchdowns for Houston in 2018 and posting Pro Football Focus’ second-best passer rating on plays when forced to scramble out of the pocket since 2018, behind only former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow.
Borregales hit 10 of 11 field goals from 40 yards or more for FIU last season, and was 3 of 4 from 50 and up.
Williams, Miami’s likely starter at right tackle, allowed only two sacks in his past 17 games for Houston.
But to appreciate the significance of luring defensive end Roche from Temple, where he had 13 sacks last season and 26 in three seasons, consider what Pro Football Focus said about him this month:
“We all know by now that [former Ohio State star and Washington Redskins No. 2 overall draft pick] Chase Young shattered PFF records and was the most valuable edge defender of the 2019 season in regard to PFF WAA [wins above average], but the man behind him in second was none other than Roche.
“In fact, he had the fifth-most valuable season we have ever seen at the position since PFF College began in 2014. Roche owned an absurd 93.3 pass-rush grade for the Owls in 2019, racking up the second-most pressures in college football (68) in the process.
“Miami’s pass-rush unit was their strong suit in 2019 — they ranked 12th among the 130 units in pass-rush grade in 2019 — and will likely remain that way in 2020 considering they have one of the nation’s top edge duos in Roche and Gregory Rousseau.”
Roche produced those 68 pressures on 392 pass rush snaps, an average of a pressure every 5.7 snaps, which is awfully impressive.
Keep in mind that aside from KJ Osborn, last year’s group of UM transfers either had to sit out (Jaelan Phillips) or had reputations built on mythic hype more than production (Tate Martell) or played modest snaps in their previous season of competition (Bubba Bolden at Southern California, Chigozie Nnoruka at UCLA).
And then there was quintessential bust Tommy Kennedy, the Butler transfer who the previous staff inexplicably thought would solve the left tackle problem and ultimately couldn’t get on the field.
So don’t compare this group of transfers (King, Roche, Borregales, Williams and freshman four-star offensive tackle Issiah Walker) to that group. Aside from Walker, this group has a proven college track record. And two members of that 2019 transfer group — Phillips and Bolden — should be solid contributors this season.
▪ Beyond the recent commitments of four-star receivers Jacolby George (Plantation High) and Romello Brinson (Miami Northwestern), UM received good news on the recruiting front last week when Plantation American Heritage five-star safety James Williams named Miami and Georgia as his top two choices on Instagram. Williams decommitted from the Hurricanes 13 months ago, but the Canes once again have a shot, though Rivals.com predicts he will pick Georgia.
▪ One respected recruiting analyst told me he considers Miami Northwestern four-star safety Kamren Kinchens a more polished safety prospect than the more ballyhoed James Williams. (Rivals rates Williams the 20th best player overall in the 2021 class and Kinchens 168th best.)
Kinchens plans to announce July 11 and told Inside The U that his finalists are Miami, Auburn, Texas A&M and Nebraska. Auburn is viewed as Miami’s biggest challenger. The evaluator said Kinchens is a better playmaker and further along than Williams and that Williams might end up eventually at defensive end.
▪ People involved in local recruiting have been raving about new UM offensive line coach Garin Justice on two fronts — his ability as a recruiter (luring Walker and Williams as transfers, securing two top 2021 linemen and holding onto previous 2021 commitment Laurence Seymore) but also as a teacher. Former NFL and UM standout offensive lineman Leon Searcy, who has interacted with Justice, raved about him — including his knowledge and ability to interact with players — in the Five Rings podcast with Larry Blustein and Alex Donno.
▪ UM said Monday that it would not reveal if any student-athletes have tested positive for COVID-19. But one offensive lineman was told not to report for workouts this week and is being tested, according to a school source.
One UM source said the school privately has indicated there had been no positive tests on the team, through late last week.
UM is permitted, legally, to reveal how many players have tested positive but has chosen not to do so, unlike some other major universities. But schools aren’t permitted, legally, to identify names of players who have tested positive.
One difference is that many of the schools who have confirmed positives tests — Clemson, Texas, Kansas State, among others — are public universities. UM is a private school, though that doesn’t preclude the Canes from disclosing their number of positive tests.
▪ In addition to his comments Monday, UM athletic director Blake James shared other news on an Instagram Live chat on Friday, as tweeted by WPLG-ABC 10’s Clay Ferraro.
James said Miami is preparing to play the Sept. 5 home opener against Temple without fans but still hopes to have some fans who are social distanced... Ferraro, paraphrasing James, said: “if need be, [the Hurricanes] will play games against teams up and down the eastern seaboard. [James would] like to play the current schedule, but they are preparing to be flexible if they need to limit travel for safety.”...
James said Miami would like to play the Gators more often, but UF cannot accommodate that... Per Ferraro, James - asked about whether student-athletes should be paid - said “that, in a way, UM student-athletes are already being compensated. [James] notes that a lot of non-athletes leave UM with huge student debt [and said] “we shouldn’t pay them a salary; they’re not employees. [James] noted that they must continue to evolve, however.”
And Ferraro said James’ views on that issue are different from his opinions on the pending legislation to pay players for use of their name, image and likeness, which James does not oppose.
Here’s my Monday Tua Tagovailoa six-pack with some news on the Miami Dolphins’ rookie quarterback.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 5:55 PM.
