Miami Hurricanes begin pursuing portal players. And Canes football, hoops personnel notes
A 10-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Tuesday:
▪ The Hurricanes - eager to make significant changes to their roster - already have started pursuing players in the transfer portal.
Texas A&M Commerce sophomore wide receiver Andrew Armstrong tweeted that he has received a UM offer “after a great conversation” with Alonzo Highsmith, UM’s general manager of the football program.
Armstrong, who is listed by ESPN.com as 6-6, has caught 62 passes for 1020 yards (a 16.5 average) and 13 touchdowns this season.
Armstrong - who entered the portal this week - was one of the top receivers in FCS. He already has received several FBS offers, including UM and Louisville. He attended high school in the Dallas area.
Speaking in general, Mario Cristobal remains hopeful about landing players when he gets them on campus.
“You set foot a couple days here, you realize this is a special place and special opportunity,” he said on his WQAM radio show on Tuesday night.
▪ Cristobal this week declined to publicly assess the performance of beleaguered offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who likely should have gone sooner to more of a spread offense this season after it became clear (at least to outsiders) that UM didn’t have good enough personnel to successfully run a power spread offense.
“We’ve run almost three different offenses this year, having changed the identity of our offenses based on personnel,” Gattis said this week. “That’s one of the biggest challenges we had….
“We built what’s best for us even with the lack of depth at running back. We’ve gone through game plans where we didn’t know if we’d have a guy available on Saturday. … You’ve seen situations throughout the year where guys played on Saturday that didn’t get to practice much throughout the week because of [injuries]. It’s been a challenging year.”
Gattis said that Cristobal “picks me up at times I need to be picked up. … He helps coach our offensive line, is very well aware of the challenges that we’ve gone through.”
Whether Cristobal makes any staff changes on either side of the ball is unclear. But two sources in the agent community said they believe Cristobal will consider that.
▪ Cristobal, on losing Tyler Van Dyke, who might return Saturday against Pittsburgh: “It’s been tough sledding. That’s obvious. It’s the same struggle anybody has when their starting quarterback is out.
“If they [backups are] not completely at the level that the starter was at, you have to find ways to move the ball and not put them in position where they have to sit back there and think. You have to give those guys the ability to play football and cut it loose. That’s the challenge.”
Jacurri Brown threw only four passes of more than nine air yards against Clemson and was 1 for 4 on those throws; his downfield passing must improve.
Jake Garcia needs to correct the turnover issues (four fumbles, four interceptions this season) to have any chance of a future here. He had 15 interceptions and two fumbles in his final 18 high school games, according to maxpreps.com.
▪ Defensive end Akheem Mesidor is now fourth in the ACC and 31st in the country with seven sacks.
“The big thing that we’re trying to build here is where we have a collective group with a competitive spirit that every play is played with a relentless effort and affects the game,” defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said. “Mesidor does that naturally. It’s just in his DNA on top of that he’s a very good athlete, can run and has a high motor. He practices that way. His practice tape looks like his game tape so it’s not a surprise.”
▪ And the Canes have two building blocks at defensive tackle with Darrell Jackson and Leonard Taylor.
Jackson, the Maryland transfer, is “a big, powerful man,” Steele said. “He can command double teams. A lot of teams run away from No. 6, a lot of teams. Which allowed us later in the year to overload some things away from him. He can eat up space.
“I see him having a great career at Miami. He certainly has the ability to make a living doing this.”
And Taylor?
“A young guy as talented as he is, it’s a growth process, maturing process,” Steele said. “I saw Reggie White when he was a freshman; he wasn’t the Reggie White that got the gold jacket but you knew he was different. I don’t want to say Leonard is Reggie White. What I’m saying is when you’re at the line of scrimmage and as young as he is, it’s a slower development. He’s getting better, playing with better pad leverage, with his hands.
“The last two weeks [he made a] huge jump in that area. And I think you’ll keep seeing him get better and better at what he does. Because he is a talented young man with a lot of power.”
▪ Meanwhile, safety Kamren Kinchens is now tied for first in the nation with six interceptions. Utah’s Clark Phillips and Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes also have six.
“There’s something that clicked, it’s called being a pro and doing your job,” Steele said. “But more importantly, he’s a really smart guy any way. He’s highly intelligent, he does well in school. I’ve been around players who didn’t like school who were very intelligent football players.
“That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. I’m just being real. And he’s just a smart guy and he’s really studied like a pro. He approaches the game like guys did when I was in the NFL. This is my job, this is my full-time job, I’ve got to work every day at my craft in the film room extra. That’s who he is. He’s going into the games very confident and knowing what he’s supposed to do, but better yet what the [opponent is] going to do.”
▪ It’s unclear if running back Don Chaney Jr., who’s back practicing after a summer knee injury, will play in a game this season.
“We have to find ways to acclimate him back into the offense, see what he can do for us,” Gattis said this week.
▪ Quick stuff part 1: With the players being jettisoned by UM, it’s not only a question of talent and fit. The Canes have moved on from at least one player who the staff believed wasn’t giving full effort in practice, according to a source…. Four Canes (Devin Hester, Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne and Vince Wilfork) were named Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalists.
▪ Quick stuff part 2: Basketball coach Jim Larranaga said he wants his team to play even faster. UM, which is 4-1, plays St. Francis at home at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on ACC Network and at 5 p.m. Sunday at UCF on ACC Network...
Guard Wooga Poplar, who has become a starter this season, “needs to become a little bit more under control,” Jim Larranaga told WQAM’s Joe Zagacki on Tuesday night.
“I’m trying to get him to shoot pull up jumpers from 15 feet because I think he can be an outstanding jump shooter,” Larranaga said. “Wooga wants to take it all the way to the basket to dunk it, but there’s traffic.”...
Larranaga said he wants to run more set plays for starting guard Nijel Pack to get him better looks. Pack averaged 17.4 points on 45.5 percent shooting at Kansas State last season; he’s at 10.5 points and 36.4 percent shooting in five games for UM.
▪ Quick stuff part 3: Receiver Jacolby George, who played with the first team for most of spring ball, got only three offensive snaps against Clemson… UM football is a 6 ½ point home underdog Saturday against Pittsburgh, per vegasinsider.com… Former Marlins announcer Dave O’Brien and former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck call Saturday’s UM-Panthers game on ACC Network.
This story was originally published November 22, 2022 at 7:24 PM.
