Miami Hurricanes Football: Breaking Down The First Depth Chart

The first depth chart is out, and we’re 18 days away from kicking things off in Louisville. If you’re not excited by now, then I don’t know what’s wrong with you.

Although the first depth chart is out — which makes for good discussion — we shouldn’t overreact for a couple of reasons:

Al Golden is known for using these depth charts to motivate some players
Some players might fall in the these due to some nagging injuries (none serious)
And there’s still about a week until the team starts preparing for their tilt versus Louisville

With all that being said, let’s try and break this depth chart down a little bit.

Quarterbacks

Well this shouldn’t surprise anyone. With the injury to Ryan Williams and the suspension and lack of improvement shown by Kevin Olsen, it’s down to Brad Kaaya and Jake Heaps to win the job. Whichever quarterback Golden decides to pick, he won’t please all the fans, but I’m sure we can all agree that if Miami beats Louisville, nobody will care who the starting quarterback is.

Running Backs

Again, no surprise here at the top of depth chart. Duke Johnson is the best player on the team and he’ll be at the top of the chart at all times. The interesting thing here is that Joe Yearby is listed in front of Gus Edwards as the primary back-up to Duke, although this could change — and even if it doesn’t — I expect Edwards to get a good amount of carries — especially in short yardage situations. Freshman Trayone Gray had a touchdown in Wednesday’s scrimmage, but he’s not listed in the top three.

Wide Receiver

This is exhibit A of the Al Golden “motivation moves.” Stacy Coley is the best wide receiver in the group and he’s currently listed behind Phillip Dorsett at one of the starting wide receiver slots. That won’t be the case on opening night; Stacy Coley will start. Behind Dorsett and Coley is freshman Braxton Berrios who should get some playing time in the slot this season. He had a torn ACL in January but that seems to be behind him.

On the other side of depth chart we have Malcolm Lewis as the starting receiver. Lewis has had a really nice camp and he seems to be coming into his own again. Herb Waters is behind him on the chart, with freshman Tyre Brady — who has impressed during camp — rounding up the position chart.

The receiver depth charts should be taken with a grain of salt because these change at all times, and there’s usually more than two wide receivers on the field when the games come around.

Rashawn Scott is notably not listed anywhere on the depth chart and that could be a sign of concern. Hopefully it’s Golden trying to rattle him up, but maybe it’s just him being outperformed. It’ll be something to keep an eye on.

Tight End/Full Back

Well, now this is a surprise. Fifth-year senior Clive Walford is not listed as the starter at tight end, like many of us expected him to be. Standish Dobard is listed as the starting tight end and we all know that he has a lot of potential, and has shown a ton of improvement. I don’t know if this will stay the way it is, but it’s intriguing that Walford isn’t listed as the starter. Beau Sandland has yet to break out and he’s listed as the third stringer after the first scrimmage.

As far as full backs go, we have a battle between Ronald Regula and Walter Tucker. I would give Regula a leg up since Tucker is splitting his time playing defense.

Offensive Line

Offensive line depth charts are constantly changing and it’s more of a rotation than anything. Ereck Flowers is holding down the left tackle position, and I don’t expect that to change. Hunter Wells is listed over Jon Feliciano at left guard and I definitely expect that to change. Feliciano has dealt with some small injuries that have limited him some.

Shane McDermott is the starting center, and that’s going to be the case when the Canes open up in Louisville. Danny Isidora is looking to secure his starting spot at right guard and freshman Trevor Darling is listed as the starting right tackle. Darling might hold that down, but Taylor Gadbois is going to have plenty of opportunities to take over that spot.

Defensive Line

All the reports out of camp have been about how much better the defensive line has looked in practice, and although that’s probably true, most people won’t believe it until they see it themselves. Anthony Chickillo is someone that fans are expecting a lot out of, and he should be the starter at defensive end this year. On the other side of Chickillo, Golden has freshman Trent Harris as the starter. That probably won’t be the case. My money goes on Tyriq McCord or Al-Quadin Muhammad getting the nod. I wouldn’t rule out Chad Thomas in one of those spots, either.

Linebackers

Aside from the quarterback position, I think this is the group that we need to keep our closest eye on. Denzel Perryman is sharpie’d in as a starter because he’s a monster. After him, it’s all just a guess. Thurston Armbrister has one of the OLB spots after one scrimmage, while Raphael Kirby is on the opposite side of him. Freshman Darrion Owens is listed as Armbrister’s back-up and he should get a good amount of playing time.

Jermaine Grace has had a really good camp, but he’s listed third on the depth chart behind Kirby and Nantambu-Akil Fentress. I don’t expect Grace to stay there long and he’ll definitely be a big contributor for the Canes this season.

Secondary

Tracy Howard and Ladarius Gunter are listed as the starting cornerbacks and that should surprise no one. Deon Bush and Dallas Crawford are listed as the two starting safeties, and after the camp Crawford is having, that shouldn’t be a surprise, either. Jamal Carter is probably going to start off as the backup to Bush, but he’ll still log plenty of playing time this season. Hugo Delpenha Jr. is listed as the backup along with freshman Marques Gayot for the second safety spot. I expect that to change.

Special Teams

We have a punter competition between Ricky Carroll and Justin Vogel. and I wish I knew more about it, but I don’t. All I know is that they’re trying to replace Pat O’Donnell, and that’s just impossible.

Stacy Coley and Artie Burns are the primary kick-off return options, and there’s no sighting of Duke Johnson, which is good. Coley and Burns will get the job done while Duke gets ready to run for 50 yards on opposing defenses.

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Like I mentioned before I started blabbing out all these things: the depth chart will continue to change throughout camp, and throughout the season, so let’s stay patient or as Al Golden would say, let’s just “trust the process.”