Miami Spring Football Preview: Who And What Are We Most Excited To See?
It's been a wild offseason for Miami ever since their loss in the Pinstripe Bowl to Rutgers, and the new team provides a lot of hope to Hurricanes fans for the 2024 season.
Since then, they've brought in nine players through the transfer portal and saw 14 players exit. In addition to those departures, eight players entered their names into the 2024 NFL Draft pool. Despite all the changes, the talent currently on the Hurricanes' roster has expectations sky high for year three under Mario Cristobal.
Now with spring football getting under way a week from today on March 4th, we will have our eyes all over the field paying attention to certain players, matchups, position battles and many more. Here's what we've compiled for a Miami 2024 Spring Football Wishlist:
#1: Cam Ward and his connectivity with his receivers
In case you didn't know, the new gunslinger for the Hurricanes for 2024 will be Washington State transfer Cam Ward. Tied for ninth in Heisman odds (+2000), Ward is expected to take this offense to another level after an up-and-down season by Tyler Van Dyke in 2023.
One of the areas to pay attention to will be the chemistry that Ward has with his receivers. Van Dyke spent his entire career at Miami with Xavier Restrepo and Jacolby George, and now both receivers will be catching passes from a different quarterback. While it was well documented that Van Dyke and Restrepo had great chemistry, it seems as though Restrepo and Ward have already been building a strong relationship.
#2: The standouts in the defensive back room
Miami heads into the 2024 season with a lot of uncertainty in the defensive back room, with stars Kamren Kinchens and James Williams now off to the NFL. On top of that, the cornerback position thinned out with the departures of Davonte Brown to Florida State and Te'Cory Couch and Jaden Davis to the draft. To round it out, they'll be under new leadership in 2024 with Chevis Jackson coming over from Marshall to replace Jahmile Addae.
In terms of names to watch out for, Robert Stafford, Zaquan Patterson, Savion Riley, Kaleb Spencer and Mishael Powell can earn themselves some serious playing time with good performances in the spring. With Miami very thin at the cornerback position, there will likely be some movement there during the spring window. In a short turnaround since his hire, it will be interesting to see what Jackson can do with this group.
#3: The second year players taking a leap
It's expected that players like Francis Mauigoa and Rueben Bain will continue to build upon dominate freshman seasons, but it's the other players that will have our attention.
Starting with the skill positions, Ray Ray Joseph and Robby Washington will look to get themselves in the mix of this receiving room. Joseph will have his best chance at trying to solidify himself as the main return man for Miami after Brashard Smith's departure.
Chris Johnson Jr. and Riley Williams are also some names to look out for that could make noise in their respective position groups. Johnson has high end speed and could put himself in the mix for the third running back position, while Williams could very well be the top tight end going into the fall.
On the defensive side of the ball, Damari Brown is expected to take on a significant role with the departures in the cornerback room. He'll be competing with Daryl Porter Jr. for that top spot.
Stay tuned here at AllHurricanes.com as we provide you updates and our thoughts throughout the spring football period.
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