David Pollack Names College Football Powerhouse That is ‘Overhyped’ Entering 2026

Miami football has spent most of the offseason getting national attention for one thing. Quarterback Darian Mensah, a Duke transfer, walked into a loaded receiver room, and everyone from ESPN to Fox Sports has been talking about how scary this offense could be.

But the Hurricanes didn't reach the national title game last year because of their offense alone. Now one voice on the outside is asking a bigger question about the group that got them there.

Why Miami's defense could be overhyped

On a recent episode of his podcast See Ball Get Ball, David Pollack and co-host Brent Rollins dug into Miami's 2026 outlook. Rollins pointed out that Miami just lost two top defenders in nickelback Keionte Scott and safety Jakobe Thomas, and asked whether the Hurricanes' defense is being overhyped.

Pollack did not hesitate. "If your expectation is that this defense is going to be what they were a year ago, then they're overhyped," he said. "They're not going to be as good as they were a year ago. Absolutely not."

He pointed to what Miami is replacing up front. Edge rushers Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor both left for the NFL Draft this spring, and Pollack was blunt about how good that pair was on tape. "Those, those monsters on the outside were absolutely freak shows," he said. "Freak shows."

Pollack also brought up returning defensive tackle Ahmad Moten, who anchored the interior alongside Bain and Mesidor. "They had Moten on the inside, right? Like they had, even those guys, some of those guys that were there," he said.

His main point wasn't that Miami's defense will collapse. It is that comparing this year's group to last year's group is an unfair measuring stick. "I think they'll be good, but they lost some great players, some really great impact players," Pollack said. "Scott was an impact player, man. Mesidor and Bain, impact guys, fingerprints all over the football game."

What Miami's defense actually has to replace in 2026

Pollack's larger point lines up with the numbers. Under coordinator Corey Hetherman in his first season, Miami jumped from the 68th-ranked scoring defense in the country in 2024 to fifth in 2025, one of only four Power Four teams to improve by double digits in scoring defense in a single year. The Hurricanes also finished sixth nationally in rushing defense and fourth in team sacks, numbers that put Hetherman in the Broyles Award conversation as the nation's top assistant coach.

That kind of jump is hard to repeat, especially with this much roster turnover. Bain and Mesidor are now in the NFL, along with Scott and Thomas and linebacker Wesley Bissainthe. Missouri transfer Damon Wilson II steps in as the new edge rusher opposite returning contributor Marquise Lightfoot, and Boston College transfer Omar Thornton is expected to help fill the void at safety. Moten and Justin Scott return at defensive tackle, giving Miami at least one proven strength up front even as the edges and secondary get rebuilt on the fly.

Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. (99) rushes Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin (10) during the 2025 Cotton Bowl. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Miami opens the 2026 season ranked seventh in the AP preseason poll, its highest preseason ranking since 2004, and the Hurricanes are the clear favorite to win the ACC. That ranking is built largely on what Mensah and the offense can do. Pollack's larger argument is worth sitting with.

A top-ten defense two years in a row with this much turnover would be a genuinely rare feat and expecting Hetherman's group to simply pick up where Bain, Mesidor, Scott and Thomas left off is asking a lot of a defense that has to replace four departed impact players at once. Miami can still be good on that side of the ball in 2026.

Whether it can be as good as last year is a fair question, and one the Hurricanes will start answering when they open the season at Stanford on Sept. 4.

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