Mark Richt excited about Miami football incoming Freshmen
All but one of the Freshmen in the Miami Football class of 2018 are enrolled. Running back Camron Davis is expected to enroll in July. Hurricanes Head Coach Mark Richt was excited discussing their potential and what it means for UM’s roster in 2018 and beyond.
The Miami football team will have more depth in 2018 than they did in 2017. They had losses at key positions after last season.
That included the top two receivers from last season (wide receiver Braxton Berrios and tight end Chris Herndon), starting defensive tackle Kendrick Norton and defensive ends Trent Harris and Chad Thomas,
The Miami football program welcomed 12 more players on campus on Monday. They joined ten Freshmen that have been enrolled since January. That group was able to participate in Spring practice.
The most impressive of those players were defensive end Gregory Rousseau and wide receiver Brian Hightower. Rousseau had nine sacks in three scrimmages. Hightower had four receptions for 100 yards and two touchdowns in the Spring game.
The most highly touted of the new arrivals are tight end Brevin Jordan, defensive tackle Nesta Silvera and wide receiver Mark Pope. They are the second, third and fourth ranked players in Miami’s 2018 recruiting class. Running back Lorenzo Lingard who is the only five star player in the Class according to 247Sports is the top player.
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Richt recently spoke to the Palm Beach Post’s Matt Porter about the incoming Freshmen.
"“We’re going to look a lot different…We’re going to have a lot more depth than we had a year ago. We had some good ballplayers offensively, but there wasn’t a lot of depth in some spots. By the end of the year we were kind of limping a little bit….If Realus George is who I think he is – that’s a big-time, legit fullback – that changes your ability to run a two-back offense and short-yardage and goal-line looks a lot different…You’ve got these two tight ends coming in (Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory). If they’re who we think they are, all of a sudden we can run possibly a little bit of 12 personnel like we did with (David) Njoku and (Chris) Herndon (in 2016).I’m excited about it for sure. We’re going to have a little bit more diversity in our personnel groupings, and have enough guys that can make plays. You can play a bunch of guys and keep them fresh.It’s going to make a difference on how hard you can play on any given down. You can tell them, play hard. If you get tired a little bit, we’ll throw another guy in there for a little while and he’ll go hard. You’ll get back in there in a minute, so be ready. I’m all for playing a bunch of guys – more than we did in the past, I can tell you that.I think we’ll have a bunch of guys that will embrace that we have multiple guys that can get it done…and just be excited about everybody’s success — together, instead of ‘I’m trying to guard my playing time.’ I think we’ll have a good morale that way.”"
Depth and being able to absorb injuries is what separates the top teams from the teams in the back end of the top 25. Losing Herndon, running back Mark Walton and wide receiver Ahmmon Richards significantly limited the Miami offense at the end of last season. It had a huge impact on the three-game losing streak to finish the season.
Georgia lost starting quarterback Jacob Eason, replaced him with star Freshman Jake Fromm. They won the SEC Championship despite the injury and lost in overtime in the National Championship game versus Alabama.
Next: All Freshmen Miami football players but Camron Davis now enrolled
Florida State was ranked third in the country at the beginning of the season. They lost starting quarterback Dondre Francois, replaced him with Freshman James Blackman, went 7-6 and barely qualified for a bowl game. Building depth is exceptionally important. It’s not something that Richt has shied away from talking about.