What had a Bigger Impact, Miami Hurricanes 10-0 start or 0-3 finish?

"And you have attrition for a lot of reasons: guys turning pro, guys, unfortunately, Malek Young gets hurt. We’re not quite at our numbers that will give us the full 85, but we’re getting closer. And you want guys that can play at a level that will help you win a championship. You want guys who can play at a high level, and that’s what we’re working on.”"

Young’s injury could have a big impact on the Hurricanes going forward. He had an outstanding 2017 season. Rising Sophomore Trajan Bandy is the one most likely to receive more snaps with Young’s career-ending spinal injury.

Rising Senior Jhavonte Dean needs to improve for the Hurricanes in 2018. He was originally an Alabama recruit and was the nation’s top-ranked Junior College cornerback in 2016. Richt spoke about replacing Young and the Freshmen coming to Miami in the secondary.

"You mentioned Malek’s injury, which is awful. Is the secondary a big area where those freshmen might step in right away? Richt: They’re going to get their chance to play, for sure. Malek played a lot for us and played well for us. When you lose a guy like that, it’s just opportunity for someone."

The depth is maybe the biggest element to reaching the levels of teams like Clemson and Wisconsin. Miami was not able to absorb the injuries that they had in 2017. With the recruiting class the Hurricanes have coming in this fall and beyond, Richt is on the verge of building one of the ACC’s and potentially the Nation’s elite programs.