Miami football needs players to start outperforming recruiting rankings

For the Miami football program to truly separate themselves from the pack of teams in the ACC Coastal Division, they need more players to perform above their high school recruiting ranking.

Too many of the elite recruits on the Miami football roster have not lived up to their ranking coming out of high school. The offensive line has been the most egregious. Players like four-star offensive linemen Kai-Leon Herbert and Zalon’tae Hillery have yet to play a significant role for the Hurricanes in their third season.

Herbert and Hillery have been beaten out continually by younger players. Sophomore D.J. Scaife, redshirt freshman John Campbell and true freshmen Zion Nelson and Jakai Clark have all beat out redshirt sophomores Herbert and Hillery. The Miami offensive line has been its biggest flaw in 2019.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald did an excellent job Sunday discussing the fact that the Hurricanes need more players like three-star signees senior linebacker Michael Pinckney and redshirt freshman defensive lineman Greg Rousseau to outperform their projections when they signed with the Miami football program.

Rousseau was the 485th ranked player, 27th best weakside defensive end and the 80th ranked player in Florida in the Class of 2018 according to the 247 Sports composite. Pinckney was the 511th ranked player overall, the 19th best inside linebacker and the 73rd ranked player in the Class of 2016 per 247.

Miami moved Pinckney to the weak side, or will linebacker as a freshman with his classmate Shaq Quarterman operating the middle, or mike LB position. Pinckney has started 42 games alongside Quarterman over the last three and a half seasons. Pinckney has performed far above his rating coming out of high school.

In 44 career games played Pinckney has 239 career tackles, 36 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, three interceptions, seven pass breakups and a fumble recovery. Quarterman was more accomplished than Pickney coming out of high school, but they have teamed to be the heart of the Miami defense since 2016.

Defensive tackle Jon Ford was the final player that Jackson mentions. It took Ford until this season to become a starter in the middle of the Miami defensive line. Ford was the backup for second-team All-American Gerald Willis and steady Pat Bethel as a true sophomore last season.

Ford has nearly exceeded his career statistics in half a season in 2019. Entering this season Ford had nine tackles and two TFLs. Through the first six games of 2019, Ford has seven tackles, 1.5 TFLs, and one each of a sack, pass breakup and forced fumble. Ford was ranked, 390th overall, 27th at DT and 90th in Florida in 2017.

The projection of Ford coming out of high school seems accurate. Miami football head coach Manny Diaz repeatedly commented during the offseason about how dominant Ford had been in practice. Willis was given the same accolades and then went out and did it on the field. Ford has been steady, but not dominant.

The common adage in football is that games are won in the trenches. The defensive line for Miami under Diaz as defensive coordinator and now head coach has been dominant to functional. Functional for the offensive line would be a huge upgrade. Herbert played in only two games in his first two seasons.

Hilley played in seven in 2018. Miami needs to evaluate and develop offensive linemen at a much higher rate than they have recently. The lack of a pair of four-star offensive linemen to develop has hurt the process of the program moving forward. Herbert and Hillery are both currently behind true freshman on the depth chart.