Miami Football: 3 new faces who’ll have instant impact in 2020
By Dante Pryor
Miami football is winning the offseason — again. Here are three signees who could help turn the fortunes of the Hurricanes.
The Miami Hurricanes must feel like they are in a sequel of the movie Groundhog Day.
Last offseason, “The U” hired a new offensive coordinator (Dan Enos) and received two high profile players from the transfer portal (Tate Martell and Trevon Hill). The result of winning the offseason last year? A 6-7 disappointment of a season which included losses to Florida International and Georgia Tech in the regular season and getting shut out by a Group of Five program in their bowl game (Louisiana Tech).
As a result, Enos was fired and freshman quarterback Jarren Williams entered the transfer portal.
Will this season be any different? They’ve won the offseason again and had a good recruiting class. They hauled in the 13th-best recruiting class in the country this season and the second-best class in the ACC. They recruited heavily in Florida, bringing in 14 commits and most of those were in the top 20 players in the state. Many of those recruits have to play well this season, especially those on defense. The Hurricanes lose seven players on defense including five starters.
Their issues go further than the roster, however. This is a team that lacks leadership both on the field and on the coaching staff. The party culture in Coral Gables has been well-documented all the way to breaking curfew against FIU and taking advantage of the team’s failed drug test policy.
With many of those players gone via graduation or leaving early for the NFL, it might be addition by subtraction, but Manny Diaz and the defensive staff need some of their young players to play well. These additions will have an instant impact on the program.