Miami football adding RB critical after Jaylan Knighton transfer

The announcement by Jaylan Knighton on Tuesday that he transferring makes it critical for the Miami football program to add a transfer running back for the 2023 season. Primary returning starter Henry Parrish, Don Chaney Jr. and Tre’Vonte Citizen are the only scholarship RBs left on the Miami roster.

Chaney Jr. missed all but the final game of the regular season against Pittsburgh and Citizen was out for all of 2022 following a knee injury during August training camp. Miami is still recruiting RBs in the class of 2023 but does not currently have a ball carrier committed to the class. Knighton is the second Miami RB in the transfer portal,

The Hurricanes also lost Thad Franklin. Franklin and Knighton combined for 132 carries for 632 yards and six rushing TDs with 12 receptions for 123 yards. Franklin led the Miami football team with five rushing TDs in 2022. Knighton led Miami with 145 carries, 561 rushing yards eight rushing TDs and 11 overall TDs in 2021.

The Miami football team has a plethora of transfer RBs to pursue. Byron Cardwell who Cristobal signed at Oregon was a top 200 player out of high school who had 417 rushing yards and three TDs in 2022. In two seasons with Oregon Cardwell had 72 carries for 493 rushing yards, and averaged 6.8 yards per carry with four TDs.

Caldwell had his best games this season versus Colorado and Washington State. The 1-11 Buffaloes allowed Caldwell to run for 127 yards on seven carries. Caldwell had nine carries for 98 yards against Washington State. The success against the Buffaloes and Cougars accounted for more than half of Caldwell’s yards in 2022.

Cardwell was the 193rd player, 12th RB and 17th in California out of San Diego Morse when he signed with Oregon in 2021. Cardwell was listed at 6’0, 203 pounds when he signed with Oregon and would provide Miami with much-needed size at RB. Citizen is the biggest of the returning Miami scholarship RBs at 6’1, 221 pounds.

Miami will have multiple choices available in the transfer portal to add depth at RB and potentially challenge for carries in 2023. Another pair of names to watch are L.J. Johnson from Texas A&M and Kavosiey Smoke of Kentucky. Miami could also wind up signing a surprise name out of the transfer portal.

Transfers until January 19 to make a decision on which program they enroll in next. Expect Miami to be extremely active in the transfer portal. Miami has multiple other positions that require adding depth. Miami has lost 12 players to the transfer portal including defensive tackle Darrell Jackson yesterday and Knighton.