Jose Borregales arrives in Coral Gables to stabilize the kicking game for the Miami Hurricanes that was 111th in field goal percentage in 2019.
The Miami Hurricanes made 12 of 20 field-goal attempts in 2019 to rank 111th in FBS. The arrival of Jose Borreagales from FIU as a graduate transfer in 2020 is expected to stabilize the Hurricanes kicking game. Borregales has made 75.8 percent of his field-goal attempts during his college career.
After Bubba Baxa and Turner Davidson combined to make six out of 13 attempts in 2019, Camden Price settled the field goal kicking for Miami. Price made six of his seven attempts but they were all inside 40 yards. Borreagales arrives for the 2020 season and the Miami offense won’t have to almost always get in the end zone.
Borregales is 4-6 on attempts from 50 yards or more, 11-16 from 40-49 yards and 15-21 from 30-39 yards for his career. Miami was 13th among Power Five programs in 2019 with 25 fourth-down attempts. The biggest reason for that was the lack of confidence that Manny Diaz had in the kicking game.
Borreagales addition to the Miami football roster gives the Hurricanes their first reliable kicker since program all-time leading scorer Michael Badgley graduated following the 2017 season. Baxa was one of the highest recruited kickers in the class of 2018 but never came close to his projected potential.
After the addition of Borregales was announced to the Miami roster for the 2020 season, Baxa entered the transfer portal and eventually wound up back home at Houston. The poor kicking from Baxa and Davidson cost Miami two or three games in 2019. It is not a stretch to say Borregales would have won those games for Miami.
Diaz and Hurricanes special teams coordinator Jonathan Patke can enter the 2020 season with far more confidence in their kicking game. The addition of Borregales can take pressure off the Miami offense in 2020. Borregales is the latest success Diaz and the Miami football program have had in the transfer portal.