Miami Hurricanes DT Nesta Jade Silvera all-time high desire per DL coach Jess Simpson

Miami Hurricanes defensive tackle Nesta Jade Silvera‘s desire to learn football is at an all-time high per defensive line coach Jess Simpson during a zoom call on Tuesday. Silvera has shown flashes of being a dominant player throughout his Miami career, but the Hurricanes need more consistency in 2021.

Silvera had 35 tackles and eight tackles for loss playing in all 11 games with 10 starts in 2020. Simpson spent the last two years as the DT coach with the Atlanta Falcons before returning to the Miami Hurricanes in January. Silvera and Simpson have watched video of DTs in the NFL with a focus on the Falcons this offseason.

Silvera will be one of three primary DTs in the Miami rotation in 2021 with Jared Harrison-Hunte and Jon Ford. Harrison-Hunte and Silvera provide Miami with more athleticism while Ford gives Miami a run stopper in the middle of the defense at 6’5, 318 pounds. Silvera was named honorable mention All-ACC in 2020.

Silvera has improved every season and can continue to develop working with Simpson. Continuing to learn the game while improving each season can turn Silvera into an All-ACC player. Ford and Silvera are the only two holdovers on the Miami Hurricanes DL from the first stint Simpson had with the Hurricanes.

"“His desire to learn football right now is probably higher than it’s ever been. We’ve had a lot of one-on-one, we’ve watched a lot of his tape. We’ve watched a lot of NFL guys, from all around the league, not just one.Obviously, coaching Grady Jarrett and Tyler Davison the last couple years in Atlanta, that’s all over my tape that I teach off of. But, Nesta’s a guy with great movement skills.At the end of practice, we do walk-throughs every day, we walk through schemes, we walk through drills and you can see the light coming on for him in some ways of just the things that he’s learning. He’s a vertical, penetrating guy, like we want. And I think his biggest focus going into next fall is just how he plays with his eyes.”"

Big things were expected from Silvera when he signed with Miami in 2018. Silvera was the 54th ranked player nationally, the second-ranked DT and the 11th ranked player in Florida in 2018. If Silvera can produce up to where he was projected coming out of high school, the Miami defense can become dominant again in 2021.

With an outstanding season in 2021, Silvera will have a chance to be drafted in 2022. Silvera has two seasons of eligibility remaining and chose to return to Miami for the 2021 season after having the option of entering the NFL Draft this year. Simpson could be able to get more out of Silvera entering his fourth season with Miami.