The Miami Hurricanes have exceptional depth at safety for the 2020 season and beyond. The younger safeties on the roster are led by freshman Avantae Williams.
Freshman Avantae Williams was the top signee in the 2020 class for the Miami Hurricanes. Williams leads a group of four safeties that signed with Miami in 2020. The 2020 signees at safety for Miami is the future at the position. Keontra Smith was the only safety signee in 2019 and he’s been moved to striker.
Williams joins the Miami Hurricanes with a chance to learn in 2020 and possibly 2021. Miami will be led by juniors Gurvan Hall, who is the leading returning tackler for the Hurricanes in 2020, Bubba Bolden and senior Amari Carter. Williams will likely rotate in as the fourth safety for Miami in 2020.
Miami also signed four-star safety Jalen Harrell and three-star Keshawn Washington and Brian Balom in 2020. The deep tradition of safety for the Miami Hurricanes over the next four seasons will patrol the middle of the field continuing the standard of excellence. Miami will also add a pair of talented safeties in 2021.
Five-star athlete James Williams could move to linebacker and four-star Kamren Kinchens committed to Miami over the summer and are part of a top 10 recruiting class nationally. Williams is the top-ranked player in Florida in the Class of 2021. Former Clemson star Isaiah Simmons has often been the comparison for Williams.
Is Avantae Williams the next one at #Miami ?@SlowDownBoy7 pic.twitter.com/0XNwiYwuNJ
— CFBTalkDaily (@CFBTalkDaily) August 3, 2020
Miami Co-Defensive coordinator Blake Baker praised Williams’ athleticism but cautioned he is still learning the defense and the coaching staff is learning the confidence level of each of the safeties. Baker also praised Williams as a hard hitter. The Miami Hurricanes have have a future star in the back end of the defense.
"“What I have seen from him with running drills and walkthroughs is that he is super athletic. Right now, it is a walkthrough setting, so all those guys on the back end are learning the defense, so it is hard to know how confident they are when they don’t necessarily know their job, but he is a guy we are excited about.He is super athletic, great twitch, short area quickness, and as we have seen on tape, he will knock your lights out when given the chance…We are excited about his future.”"
The Miami pass defense finished 18th nationally in 2019 allowing 195.1 yards per game. In 2018, the Hurricanes had an elite pass defense allowing a historic 135.6 yards per game to lead the nation by more than 10 yards per game. That secondary was led by senior safeties Jaquan Johnson and Sheldrick Redwine.
Cornerback Michael Jackson locked up the receivers on the outside with Johnson and Redwine in the middle of the field. With Avantae Williams, Harrell, James Williams and Kinchens at safety, the Hurricanes have as deep of a group nationally as anyone. The safety group is reminiscent of Ed Reed being backed up by Sean Taylor.