Feedback on where Miami Hurricanes stand in battles at four key positions
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Friday:
▪ The Canes have a handful of receivers who are fairly comparable in talent. The question is whether any one will emerge as a clear-cut No. 1, a distinction that matters to many who play the position, including third-year UM receiver Key’shawn Smith.
“If I can be receiver one, I’d love to be in that position,” Smith said Thursday. “No one knows yet. We’re still competing every day. We’ll have to wait until fall happens.”
Among UM’s returning receivers, Smith has the most career catches, with 33 receptions for 405 yards last season, after catching two passes for 58 yards as a freshman in 2020.
Smith has spent much of spring practice with the first team, often alongside slot receiver Xavier Restrepo (who has been the Canes’ most impressive receiver this spring, according to one regular practice attendee) and Jacolby George.
But Clemson transfer Frank Ladson is pressing Smith for playing time.
Romello Brinson (sidelined this spring), Michael Redding III and multipurpose weapon Brashard Smith also are factors.
Daz Worsham, who has rarely played in two years, has hung around and shown growth.
So nothing is assured for Smith, whose mix of speed and decent size (6-1) make him an ideal candidate for that WR 1 distinction.
Smith told me he studies tape of NFL receivers Stefon Diggs and Jarvis Landry.
New offensive coordinator/receivers coach Josh Gattis has “made a lot of changes technique-wise” with Smith and the other receivers, Smith said.
“Sometimes we don’t do the drill right, he’ll send you back and have you just watch to make sure you do it right the next time,” Smith said.
With Charleston Rambo and Mike Harley Jr. no longer around, there are no seniors to lead the way. Of the seven veteran scholarship receivers competing, those who make the biggest jump presumably will play the most. (Freshman Isaiah Horton joins the competition this summer.)
Smith assuredly will be in the rotation, but he’ll need to hold off Ladson and others to remain a starter.
▪ Here’s the issue with UM’s linebackers: If any one among Corey Flagg Jr., Waymon Steed and Keontra Smith started alongside an elite player or two, that would be fine.
Each of the three has strengths; all are Power 5-caliber players.
The challenge is starting all three (or two when you’re in nickel), because then it’s a unit with three decent players but nobody at an All-ACC level, nobody who can help elevate a defense that was 75th among 130 FBS schools in average yards allowed per game last season.
Those three have spent a lot of time with the starters this spring. And Flagg said this week: “We’ve improved as a whole — me, Keontra, Steed, Avery [Huff]. We all stay in each other’s ear about watching film… As far as my game, I feel my vision has improved.”
▪ Flagg, who has been productive at times at middle linebacker, said his responsibilities as a mike linebacker have changed somewhat in the transition from Manny Diaz to Kevin Steele (the defensive coordinator) and Charlie Strong (the linebacker coach who previously was the head coach at Texas, Louisville and USF).
“You have a lot of jobs, you’re not just spiking the gap,” Flagg said. “Play a lot of two gap, you have to read, mirror the back. That’s the biggest difference. More of a two-gap system.”
Flagg said Strong “is a heck of a coach. He’s big on using our hands, being the same guy on and off the field. … The staff across the board is phenomenal. The linebackers, we’ve been doing a hell of a job coming in and watching film every day. It’s been good.”
There’s still a decent chance that a UM 2022 starting linebacker isn’t on the current roster. Or perhaps four-star early enrollee Wesley Bissainthe takes a big step between now and late August. Or former safeties Gilbert Frierson and Chase Smith could emerge to earn significant time.
▪ One linebacker on Miami’s radar: UCLA’s Caleb Johnson, who entered the transfer portal this week. (The Canes have offered him a scholarship, per 247 Sports’ Gaby Urrutia.)
Johnson, who’s 6-1 and 230 pounds, has started 17 games during the past two seasons.
In the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he had 44 tackles and 5.5 sacks (third most in the Pac-12) and an interception in seven games. Last season, he had 45 tackles and an interception — but no sacks — in 11 games.
He was working with the first team during UCLA spring practice as recently as this week before deciding to look elsewhere.
UM already has landed one UCLA player this offseason: edge rusher Mitchell Agude, who’s attending UM practice but not yet eligible to participate until he enrolls. Per NCAA rules, Mario Cristobal was not permitted to discuss him on Thursday.
▪ Leonard Taylor, Jared Harrison-Hunte (injured at the moment) and UAB transfer Antonio Moultrie (missing spring practice) very likely will be in the defensive tackle rotation.
The fourth tackle could be Southern Cal transfer Jacob Lichenstein — who figures to get playing time at end or tackle or both — or veteran Jordan Miller or Allan Haye or perhaps incoming freshman Ahmad Moten.
“My technique and overall I’ve gotten better,” Miller said. “This being my last year I’m taking it way more serious.”
Lichtenstein has been working primarily at defensive tackle this spring.
▪ Center Jakai Clark made an interesting point to Don Bailey Jr. on WQAM’s Hurricane Hotline this week:
“It’s exciting seeing the defense play with more energy. They’re being taught to go straight through a guy. They’re not going around anything. This whole spring has been nothing but collisions.... Mario Cristobal’s dream and vision for this program is really starting to show.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 1:30 PM.
