Entering their fourth seasons with the Miami Hurricanes, linebackers Sam Brooks and Avery Huff have a lot to prove this spring. Brooks and Huff finished the 2021 season off the two-deep depth chart. Brooks has had issues with injuries throughout his Miami career. Huff has only played 48 defensive snaps in three seasons.
Brooks and Huff were highly regarded local players when they signed with the Miami Hurricanes in the Class of 2019. In his first two seasons, Brooks had 55 tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack and two pass breakups. Brooks played in only two games in 2021 due to injuries. In 2020 Brooks had a career-high 37 tackles.
Brooks was a three-star signee with the Hurricanes from Miami Northwestern. Huff was a four-star signee from St. Thomas Aquinas. As a true freshman in 2019, Huff took a redshirt season and did not play. In the last two seasons, Huff has only eight tackles, 0.5 TFLs and one PBU. Miami needs their athleticism at LB.
Huff was the highest-rated returning player on the Miami roster who signed as a LB. Gilbert Frierson who signed with Miami as a cornerback in 2018 has played striker the last two seasons. Keontra Smith who was originally a safety in the 2019 Class and Frierson are the only other players listed at LB rated higher than Huff as talents.
From Canes head coach Mario Cristobal on the addition of co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Charlie Strong to the Miami staff: pic.twitter.com/jCvPBpRwa3
— Christy Chirinos (@ChristyChirinos) March 4, 2022
True freshman Wesley Bissainthe who is the highest-rated talent Miami has in the middle of their defense is expected to challenge for first-team during spring practice. Getting better play at LB is critical for Miami in 2022. If Brooks and Huff don’t make the two-deep roster this spring they could consider transferring.
The lack of development from Brooks (albeit largely injury-related) and Huff was too frequent of an occurrence with the past Miami coaching staff. With co-defensive coordinators Kevin Steele and Charlie Strong, the development for Miami defensively should improve. Strong is also the LBs coach.
Steele and Strong have 76 years of combined experience. Both have experience as head coaches. Steele was at Baylor from 1999 through 2002. Strong spent 10 seasons combined at Louisville, Texas and South Florida. The experience of Steele and Strong can hopefully help Brooks and Huff develop into contributors in 2022.