The buzz on every Miami Hurricanes position on defense entering spring football
We previewed Miami Hurricanes spring football, from an offensive perspective, in this piece on Tuesday.
Here’s how I would size up the defensive depth chart at each position (this is mine, not an official depth chart); we don’t include players who haven’t arrived yet on campus, such as elite recruits James Williams and Leonard Taylor.
DEFENSIVE LINE
▪ Defensive end: 1. Deandre Johnson. 2. Jahfari Harvey or Zach McCloud or Cameron Williams. 3. Chantz Williams. 4. Early enrollee Thomas Davis.
▪ Defensive end: 1. Harvey (front-runner) or McCloud. 2. Cameron Williams. 3. Chantz Williams. 4. Davis.
▪ Defensive tackle: 1. Jared Harrison-Hunte or Jon Ford. 2. Elijah Roberts or Jalar Holley or Quentin Williams.
▪ Defensive tackle: 1. Nesta Silvera. 2. The loser of the Harrison-Hunte/Ford battle. 3. Roberts or Holley or Quentin Williams.
First, a word on the tackles: Though I list Harrison-Hunte or Ford as an either/or, I would be surprised if Harrison-Hunte didn’t win the job after seizing it during the 2020 season before an injury sidelined him for the North Carolina debacle.
Harrison-Hunte is precisely the type of defensive tackle this program needs: strong enough to dislodge blockers and quick and shifty enough — with nimble feet — to maneuver past plodding linemen.
Silvera improved last year (eight tackles for loss, 23 pressures, a sack) but there’s still a big step needed to make the impact that Gerald Willis did in 2018.
New coach Jesse Simpson did excellent work with Willis and UM’s line in 2018 before leaving for the Atlanta Falcons, and his most important job is pushing Silvera, Harrison-Hunte and Harvey to higher levels.
Simpson sees Roberts as having the athleticism UM covets in its tackles. The tackle room sustained one loss when Jason Blissett recently retired due to head injuries, but gains a likely immediate rotation player — with star potential — this summer when Miami Palmetto’s Taylor arrives. Rated by Rivals as the No. 3 defensive tackle and 40th-best player in the 2021 class, Taylor should be a starter by 2022.
Freshman defensive tackle Allan Haye also arrives this summer.
As for defensive end, there’s no position — other than linebacker — that should give UM more reason for queasiness. It’s not that this group isn’t talented; the issue is the lack of body of work.
Nobody can predict if Harvey or any of the Williams (there are three of them) or Davis can become another Greg Rousseau, Quincy Roche or Jaelen Phillips. Nor is it clear if McCloud will be any more impactful at defensive end than he was the past five years at linebacker.
Harvey played well in the bowl game (including a sack and forced fumble) and there’s hope he can become a pretty good starter, if not better. He pressured the quarterback on 8.3 percent of his pass rush chances last season, which is above average. I make Harvey the favorite for the starting job opposite Johnson.
Cam Williams’ pressure rate was slightly behind Harvey’s but he has flashed potential.
Johnson, the Tennessee transfer who had 4.5 sacks in eight games last season, gives UM at least one starting defensive end with considerable experience at the position.
Freshmen defensive ends Jabari Ishmael and Tyler Johnson arrive in the coming months.
If this group doesn’t generate much of a pass rush, then coach Manny Diaz will need to blitz more — something he tends to do anyway — and that could leave the secondary exposed against teams with formidable passing games.
LINEBACKER AND STRIKER
▪ Middle linebacker: 1. Bradley Jennings or Corey Flagg. 2. Incoming freshman DeShawn Troutman.
▪ Weak-side linebacker: 1. Sam Brooks. 2. Tirek Austin-Cave or Waymon Steed or Avery Huff.
▪ Striker: 1. Gilbert Frierson. 2. Keontra Smith. 3. Early arrival Chase Smith.
With McCloud moving to defensive end, UM’s three most experienced returnees are the speedy Brooks (had 37 tackles in 2020 but was hampered by injuries), Jennings (capable of the big hit but also out of position at times) and Flagg — who had 15 tackles in 206 defensive snaps, graded out well in the bowl game, and showed flashes when given a chance to play as a freshman last season.
Jennings started 11 games in 2020 but allowed 9 of 10 passes thrown against him to be caught and consistently received poor grades from Pro Football Focus. It would be a disappointment if Flagg didn’t beat him out, because Flagg seemingly has more upside.
The Canes covet speed at linebacker, players who are athletic enough to change directions on a dime to pursue a running back who bursts through a hole on a run or gets downfield on a screen.
Brooks and Flagg, at the very least, have the physical skills to be those types of linebackers, but every one of these players has much to prove.
Huff apparently is so raw that he hasn’t been used much at all on defense in his first two seasons. That’s disappointing, because someone who attends practices said he has the physique and physical skills to become a quality ACC linebacker.
Diaz says Orlando Edgewater alum Troutman, who enrolled at UM in January, has very good instincts plus a ”great knack for the ball, great understanding of tackle angles.” So perhaps he can make a strong push for playing time immediately.
There’s no position where the quality of play dropped more last season than at linebacker — from the reliability of Shaq Quarterman/Mike Pinckney to the 2020 hodgepodge of players that wouldn’t crack the rotation at Clemson or a bunch of other top-15 programs.
The recruiting at linebacker must improve, too.
The feeling here is UM would have been better served adding a transfer at linebacker than receiver. But the right fit never emerged.
As for striker… Though neither played well in the UNC debacle, Frierson and Smith were generally competent last season and will compete this spring.
Diaz, in fact, said Frierson “played phenomenal” even though he relinquished 15 completions in 20 targets for 131 yards and a touchdown during the regular season, per Miami Herald metrics correspondent Daniel Gould. Smith allowed 3 of 5 passes in his coverage area to be caught for 22 yards.
New assistant Ishmael Aristide will coach the strikers, and Jon Patke will coach the linebackers.
CORNERBACK
▪ Boundary 1: Tyrique Stevenson
▪ Boundary 2: Al Blades (we’re awaiting clarity on his status for spring ball) or DJ Ivey or Te’Cory Couch
▪ Slot: Couch, with Marcus Clark potentially the top backup
Stevenson, the transfer from Georgia, is the likely starter at one of the boundary spots, but he won’t be gifted the job.
If Blades — who lost his starting job to Couch late in the season — can return from a cardiac issue as everyone hopes, then UM’s likely nickel package would be Stevenson and either Blades or Ivey on the boundary and the much-improved Couch in the slot.
Ivey has played well at times but must avoid the mistakes to which he is occasionally prone.
UM would welcome a situation in which those four corners are all so good in spring and August practices that it creates a tough call on which two to use when Miami is base defense, without a third corner on the field.
Second-year players Clark, Isaiah Dunson and Jalen Harrell (moved over from safety) will compete, but it would be a surprise if any of those four cracks the top four in 2021 barring injury or unavailability issues.
Freshman corner Malik Curtis arrives this summer. Miami now has eight corners on scholarship.
SAFETY
Likely depth chart: 1. Two starters among Bubba Bolden, Gurvan Hall, Amari Carter.
2. Loser of battle for starting spot.
3. Brian Balom. 4. Keshawn Washington. 5. Avantae Williams. 6. Freshman Kamren Kinchens, already on campus.
Avantae Williams, arguably the best safety nationally in the 2020 class, was sidelined all of last season with an undisclosed chronic, football-related medical issue but said on social media last week that he has been cleared medically. UM hasn’t yet said how much he will do this spring. He’s clearly talented enough to crack the rotation if he gets a full offseason of football activity.
Bolden, Hall and Carter are essentially competing for two starting spots, and Bolden — the most talented of the three — enters with the edge for one job, though it’s a somewhat flimsy edge. Even though he’s the best NFL prospect of the three, his tackling and coverage metrics must improve; he missed 16 tackles (most on the team) and allowed 21 of 33 passes thrown against him to be caught for 366 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception.
If Bolden wins one spot, the other starting job looms as a battle between a diligently-prepared hard-hitter (Carter) who seemingly can’t seem to avoid targeting penalties and another (Hall) who hasn’t yet developed into the standout that UM coaches expected. Hall has been OK; at least one UM coach expected great.
Carter missed the bowl game, and Hall didn’t start for disciplinary reasons.
Carter allowed 8 of 14 passes against him to be caught for 73 yards and a touchdown last season. Hall permitted 13 of 20 passes to be caught for 167 yards and a touchdown. Both were often out of position in the North Carolina game.
Balom showed the most of the three available freshman safeties last season (Balom, Washington, Harrell).
Elite safety James Williams, one of only three five-star Rivals.com UM recruits in the past five years, is talented enough to challenge Bolden/Hall/Carter for playing time if he catches on to the defense quickly enough after he enrolls in the months ahead.
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 3:51 PM.
