The defensive ends for the Miami football team form the deepest group in the country. The trio of Greg Rousseau, Quincy Roche and Jaelan Phillips will provide a devastating pass rush and extreme athleticism.
Redshirt sophomore Greg Rousseau leads returnees nationally with 15.5 sacks in 2019. Quincy Roche was named the top returning edge defender by ESPN recently and Jaelan Phillips was the top signee in the nation in 2017 at UCLA. Those three and the depth behind them give the Miami football team elite defensive ends.
Miami finished seventh in the nation in with 46 sacks in 2019. The Hurricanes lose junior Jonathan Garvin and graduate transfer Trevon Hill to the NFL but replace them with Phillips and Roche. The Miami football program record of 46 sacks set by the 1989 National Championship team should be seriously challenged in 2020.
The starters at defensive end will likely be Rousseau and Roche with Phillips part of a nearly equal three-man rotation. Experience, but not talent drops off after those three. The Miami coaching staff is very high on redshirt freshman Jahfari Harvey who is expected to be a part of the DE rotation in 2020.
Redshirt freshmen Cameron Williams and Jason Blisset who moved from defensive tackle to end in the offseason, freshmen Chantz Williams, Quentin Williams and Elijah Roberts who could move to DT are part of the future with Harvey. Rousseau and Phillips very likely will leave for the NFL after the 2020 season.
Rousseau and Roche both had breakout seasons in 2019. Rousseau finished second in the nation only to Heisman Trophy finalist Chase Young of Ohio State with the 15.5 sacks. In his first season of significant playing time after missing most of 2018 with an injury Rousseau added 54 tackles and 19.5 tackles for loss.
In addition to being named the best returning edge defender in college football for 2020, Roche was the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2019. Roche had 49 tackles,19 TFLs and 13.0 sacks. Miami football opponents are going to have a difficult time in 2020 deciding who to block on the defensive line.
On passing downs, the likelihood is that Phillips, Roche and Rousseau are all in the game. Phillips and Rousseau both have the potential to move inside and play tackle. Rousseau often did so last season and with his length at 6’6 makes life very difficult for opponents. Watching the Miami pass rush in 2020 will be exciting.