Miami Football: 3 storylines to watch in spring 2021

3. Battle at linebacker

To put it nicely, Miami’s linebacker play was atrocious for the majority of the 2020 season. In games against Clemson and North Carolina, Miami’s linebackers were constantly out of position and not in a position to make a play.

One of the reasons that Miami allowed more big plays in 2020 was that their linebackers could not play the run well and could not cover ground well vs quicker players. All of last year’s key contributors are returning, like Bradley Jennings Jr. and Corey Flagg Jr., but there will be eyes on some of the younger players to see if they can challenge to see the field this fall.

Flagg has some bright spots as a freshman, but it was Jennings who took a lot of criticism for Hurricanes fans and analysts. A guy to keep an eye on this spring will be redshirt freshman Tirek Austin Cave who is very athletic and probably has more potential than some of the upperclassmen.

This is a group that must improve for the Hurricanes to be better next season.