The Miami Hurricanes signed 23 players in the 2018 recruiting class. They are ranked eighth in the country. Out of those 23 signees, 10 were early enrollees and will participate in spring practice.
The Miami Hurricanes began spring practice on Tuesday, March 20. The spring game will take place on Saturday, April 14. There are plenty of intriguing headlines related to the Hurricanes heading into spring practice.
Who will challenge Malik Rosier for the starting quarterback spot? How will the Miami Hurricanes recover after losing three defensive ends? Who will take Malek Young’s place as the number two starting cornerback are just a few of the questions that we will begin to get answers to once spring practice starts?
Fortunately, three highly recruited defensive backs, a defensive end with a ton of talent and one of the top quarterbacks in the country are early enrollees for the Hurricanes. Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz shed a little light on how some of the early enrollees are doing. Diaz said:
"“Some guys are already on our campus, defensively, like a Greg Rousseau, defensive end, Gilbert Frierson and DJ Ivey, who are both just blowing it away on our campus right now in terms of our offseason program. “"
Lets further evaluate the aforementioned and other early enrollees.
Quarterback Jarren Williams was a four-star recruit ranked as the fifth best pro-style quarterback and the 10th best player in the state of Georgia. Williams is an accurate passer and although categorized as a pro-style quarterback, he can extend plays with his legs.
Despite leading Miami to a 10 win season, an ACC Championship and Orange Bowl appearance, Rosier was inconsistent at times. He completed only 54 percent of his passes during the season. Rosier completed under 50 percent of his passes during Miami’s three-game losing streak to end the season.
Richt temporarily benched Rosier during the fourth quarter against Pittsburgh because of his lack of production. Even though Rosier performed poorly the final three games of the season, Richt made it clear that he would be the starting quarterback heading in to spring practice saying:
"“We’ve been watching the cut-ups of the whole season and if you take just the highlights of Malik Rosier, there’s some unbelievably great highlights, some great moments. And then there are some inconsistent moments.”"
Along with Rosier, Williams will challenge N’Kosi Perry. Perry is the most talented quarterback on the roster and a true dual-threat quarterback. He is viewed as the favorite to beat out Rosier as the starting quarterback. Perry will enter 2018 as a redshirt freshman.
Regarding competition at the quarterback position, Richt
:
"“Just backing up on this QB thing, it’s not like ground-zero competition. Malik is our starting quarterback. We’re going to let everybody compete and see who’s improved and who might be able to overtake anybody at any position. I’m not saying Malik is not the starting quarterback going into this thing, but if he does what he’s supposed to do, he’ll probably continue to be.”"
As talented as Williams is, he doesn’t have the experience to challenge Rosier or Perry for the starting quarterback position. Williams will get some valuable reps this spring. This year will be used to adjust to the speed of the college game and learn the playbook.
RB: Lorenzo Lingard
Lorenzo Lingard was a five-star recruit that was sought after by just about every program in the country. Ranked as the second-best running back in the country and sixth best player in the state of Florida, Lingard is believed by many to be the best player in Miami’s 2018 class.
To put it simply, Lingard has too much talent not to play as a true freshman. Lingard’s size, speed and vision fit everything the Hurricanes want in a running back. When discussing possible changes to the offense, Rosier said:
"“And with running back, with [five-star addition] Lorenzo Lingard and Travis Homer, and even Deejay Dallas back there, you can put Deejay in the slot and have Lingard and Travis in the backfield. There are very different personnel groups we will mess around with.”"
This spring we can expect Lingard to get plenty of reps with the first team offense. Brian Hightower and Daquris Wiggins are the two wide receiver early enrollees for the Hurricanes.
Hightower was a four-star recruit ranked as the 27th best wide receiver and 26th best player in the state of Florida. Wiggins was a three-star recruit. He is the 78th best wide receiver in the country and 77th best player in Florida.
At just under 6’3 Hightower is a nice size target. He does not have breakaway speed but uses his frame well to get open.
Wiggins is 6’3 and knows how to make catches in traffic. He also uses his height as an advantage over smaller defensive backs. Wiggins is viewed as one of the more underrated players in the class.
With Braxton Berrios gone due to graduation, the slot position will be vacant. Berrios’ 55 receptions, 679 receiving yards and 9 receiving touchdowns all led the team. Mike Harley and Jeff Thomas are the leading candidates to replace Berrios.
With Ahmmon Richards, Lawrence Cager, Darrell Langham, Dayall Harris and the aforementioned Harley and Thomas all returning, it will be difficult for Hightower and Wiggins to crack the rotation.
The talent and depth that the Hurricanes have returning this year at wide receiver will make it difficult for Hightower and Wiggins to get first-team reps this spring. Both receivers will use this spring to get adjusted to the college game and sharpen their skills.
OL: Delone Scaife and John Campbell
Like wide receiver, the Miami Hurricanes have two early enrollee offensive linemen. Delone Scaife was a four-star recruit ranked as the fifth best offensive guard in the country and 25th best player in the state of Florida. John Campbell was four-star recruit ranked as the 36th best offensive tackle in the country and 79th best player in the state of Florida.
At 6’5 and 284 pounds, Campbell is not expected to compete for first-team reps this spring. Campbell will use this spring and likely the entire 2018 season to add weight and improve his technique.
At an athletic 6’3 and 320 pounds, Scaife will get an opportunity to crack the offensive line rotation this spring. The offensive line was not one of the strengths of the Miami Hurricanes last year. Scaife can be expected to push veterans for playing time early and often.
Next: Who's back on the offensive line and Freshmen in the secondary
The Hurricanes return starters Navaughn Donaldson, Tyree St. Louis and Tyler Gauthier. They lost starting left guard Trevor Darling and starting left tackle KC McDermott to graduation. Freshmen Kai-Leon Herbert, Hayden Mahoney, Corey Gaynor and George Brown, Jr. are the leading candidates to replace them.
Frierson and D.J. Ivey are the two early enrollee cornerbacks for the Miami Hurricanes. Frierson was four-star prospect ranked as the 21st best cornerback and 33rd best player in Florida. At 6’1, Frierson has the length that Miami has been targeting at defensive back.
Ivey was ranked as the 32nd best cornerback and 63rd best player in Florida. Like Frierson, Ivey is a long cornerback standing at around 6’1. Frierson and Ivey are both long, physical and versatile defensive backs with great speed. Young’s unfortunate injury forced him to retire leaving open the number two cornerback spot.
Frierson and Ivey will both receive reps with the first team defense this spring. Trajan Bandy is coming off of an impressive true freshman season and will compete for the number two cornerback spot.
Bandy will get a chance to compete. His physical attributes and style of play are better suited at nickel where he excelled last year.
The freshmen will also have to compete against rising senior Jhavonte Dean. Dean came to Miami last year as a junior college transfer. He has had a year of being in Miami’s system and adjusting to elite college competition. He should be in the thick of the number two cornerback competition.
The competition for Miami’s number two cornerback spot will be one of the most paid attention to competitions in the country highlighted by Frierson and Ivey.
DB: Gurvan Hall
Safety Gurvan Hall was a four-star recruit ranked as the 15th best safety in the country and 33rd best player in the state of Florida.
Starters at both safety spots Jaquan Johnson and Sheldrick Redwine are returning. Safety Amari Carter is coming off of a successful freshman season as a key rotation player. Like Carter, Derrick Smith had a successful freshman season primarily at safety but is rumored to play outside linebacker as well this spring.
Even though Miami has both talent and depth at the safety position, Hall has the speed, tackling ability and coverage skills to crack the safety rotation and possibly the nickel rotation.
Gregory Rousseau is the lone defensive line early enrollee. At 6’6, Rousseau has excellent height for a defensive end. At only 222 pounds, needs to add weight and strength.
Rousseau was a three-star recruit and ranked as the 22nd defensive end in the country. Rousseau is extremely athletic. He played defensive end, safety and wide receiver in high school.
There will be opportunities for Rousseau to display his talent since Miami lost three defensive ends this offseason. Defensive ends Chad Thomas and Trent Harris graduated and freshman DJ Johnson announced that he would transfer to Oregon.
Harris and Thomas were incredibly impactful in 2017. Harris led the team with 8.5 sacks. His 10.5 tackles for loss were tied for fourth on the team. Thomas led the team with 12.5 sacks and was third on the team in tackles for loss with 4.5.
Joe Jackson, Demetrius Jackson, rising sophomore Jonathan Garvin and Scott Patchan are the returning defensive ends for the Miami Hurricanes. Joe Jackson finished the season with 50 tackles, 6.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss.
Demetrius Jackson’s season was cut short after he sustained a season-ending knee injury in the eighth game of the season against Virginia Tech. He finished the season with 18 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss and one interception.
Because of Demetrius Jackson’s knee injury, it is not known how much he will participate in spring practice if at all. Garvin finished his freshman season with nine tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss.
Patchan came to Miami in 2015 as a defensive end and sustained a season-ending injury in 2016. He moved to tight end in 2017 in an attempt to gain more playing time. Patchan will transition back to defensive end for the 2018 season.
With the talent Miami has returning, it is highly unlikely that Rousseau will start. Thin depth and possibly limited spring participation from Demetrius Jackson will allow Rousseau to get quality reps this spring.
Outlook
Because of thin depth, injuries and attrition, these Freshmen never know when they will be called to produce on the big stage. Dallas, Thomas and Donaldson are perfect examples of freshmen having to rise to the occasion at different stages of the 2017 season.
Richt and his staff have not been shy about playing true freshmen in the past. Playing true freshmen is a trend that will continue this year. Richt expects the 2018 freshmen to make an impact saying:
"“We believe [they] have the skill set to make us better at every position across the board and we’re going to allow them to compete and see if they can do it…We’ve had it happen for the last couple years, freshmen come in, some become starters, some become leaders, some become guys that are in the rotation [and] some are helping us big on special teams."
LSU is on the schedule week one. There are position battles to be had and overall high expectations. This is one of the most anticipated and important springs for the Miami Hurricanes in recent memory
Next: Miami Hurricanes running game important against LSU
For Miami to take the next step in 2018, the depth must improve. That starts with a productive spring from the early enrollees.