Veteran Hurricanes player changes positions. And coach admits past problem around program
Zach McCloud was talking to Jess Simpson, UM’s new (and former) defensive line coach, earlier this week when the veteran Hurricanes player cracked: “I’ve been here longer than most of the coaches.”
Simpson agreed.
“He’s been here forever,” Simpson noted to WQAM’s Joe Zagacki. “He’s that old hat.”
But while McCloud is old by college football standards — born in 1998 and about to enter his sixth college season — there will be something new about his bonus season at UM.
He’s changing positions.
After spending nearly five seasons at linebacker, McCloud is moving to defensive end.
He played his first game at defensive end in UM’s bowl game loss to Oklahoma State, and his performance in that game and bowl practices — combined with Miami’s lack of veteran experience at the position — convinced Manny Diaz and McCloud to make that position switch permanent.
“Looking at him playing on the edge for me [and] fired up about having him in the room,” Simpson told Zagacki this week on Hurricane Hotline. “We think this can be a great move for him, and he can add some real value by moving to defensive end this spring. Seeing where he can take his game. He’s that guy you can lean on from a tangible and intangible standpoint. He’s going to do things right. He’s tough, he’s competitive, he’s athletic.”
McCloud had 27 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble in nine games last season but seemed out of position at times. His leadership, intelligence and diligent preparation are valued by coaches.
McCloud, who has 5.5 sacks in his career, initially suggested the position switch to coaches before the bowl game, after Quincy Roche and Jaelan Phillips opted out of the bowl game to turn pro.
“Zach brought it up to me and said, ‘I could go play defensive end,’” defensive coordinator Blake Baker said. “He obviously has experience dating back to his high school days [at Santaluces in Lantana]. I’ve been pleasantly surprised just with his natural instincts there. A guy that is very quick twitch, hard to block, plays with tremendous effort. That always gives you a chance.”
Diaz said McCloud — who is listed at 6-2 and 235 pounds — “has a future at defensive end just looking at what he’s done in practice coming off the edge, low pads.”
McCloud is getting a sixth year at UM because the NCAA is giving players another season of eligibility because of the impact of COVID-19 on the 2020 season.
With Greg Rousseau (who opted out of playing in 2020), Phillips and Roche moving on to the NFL, UM has only one defensive end who has much starting experience at the position: Tennessee transfer Deandre Johnson, a former three-star player out of Miami Southridge. Johnson had 28 tackles and 4.5 sacks for the Volunteers last season.
Besides McCloud and Johnson, here are the other defensive ends on UM’s roster, with their 2020 regular-season defensive snap count totals: Jahfari Harvey (174), Cameron Williams (155), Jason Blissett (90), Quentin Williams (52), Elijah Roberts (46) and Chantz Williams (30).
Freshman Thomas Davis enrolled this week and also will join the competition. Another incoming freshman defensive end, Jabari Ishmael, will enroll in the months ahead.
Of that group, Blissett and Roberts can play both defensive end and defensive tackle.
Harvey is the most accomplished of those eight young players; he had 15 tackles — including 3.5 for loss — and half a sack and five quarterback hits in 2020.
“There’s talented young guys and talented old guys,” Simpson said. “There is going to be competition. I can’t wait to see these guys get after it in the weight room.”
Simpson, who was UM’s defensive line coach in 2018 before spending the past two seasons in that role with the Atlanta Falcons, is excited about what he has at defensive tackle, with Nesta Jade Silvera, Jon Ford, Jared Harrison-Hunte, Jordan Miller, Blissett, Roberts, Jalar Holley and freshmen Leonard Taylor (considered a top 30 recruit nationally) and Allan Haye.
Simpson told Zagacki that Harrison-Hunte, whom he recruited during his first stint at UM, is a “special talent. Now it’s about taking his game to another level.”
Taylor has the talent to eventually become one of UM’s best defensive tackles in many years.
“We’re all super excited to see a young athletic d-tackle come in,” Simpson said of Taylor. “He’s a guy with size and speed. As you develop him, you can see him becoming that disruptive type player we’re always trying to recruit at Miami.”
▪ During his chat with Zagacki, Simpson said something else that’s spot on.
When he was talking to Diaz about returning, Simpson admitted there was “a sense” that some players were “maybe leaving early that shouldn’t.”
Simpson believes that has changed.
In fact, the only non-seniors who turned pro in this cycle - Rousseau, Phillips and tight end Brevin Jordan - are considered quality NFL prospects. Rousseau and Phillips are projected as potential first-round picks, while Jordan could go in the second, third or (at worst) fourth rounds.
Over the past decade, UM had several players who turned pro with college eligibility remaining and had trouble sticking in the league. Among them: Joseph Yearby, Jeff Thomas (failed to make the Patriots last season and is not on an NFL roster), Trajan Bandy (bounced around AFC North practice squads as a rookie in 2020) and Brad Kaaya (never took an NFL regular-season snap and now out of football).
Simpson said he’s “fired up to be back. Knowing Manny, some of the kids, some of the other coaches, knowing this place, when you’re with people you know and love and respect. I know Manny’s vision for this thing, and how much I enjoyed being here when I was here, that’s what made it [an easy] decision.”
Here’s a look at what the former defensive line coach, Todd Stroud, is up to.
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 12:38 PM.
