Miami Football Season Preview

It was a season full of expectations for Miami. A lot of people picked them to win the ACC Coastal, and meet up with Florida State in the ACC title game, which I think has been predicted every year since Miami has joined the ACC. But, like every other year, it hasn’t happened. They did come close however last season, finishing with a 9-4 record and third in the ACC, handing conference champion Georgia Tech their only conference loss. And this year, the expectations are there to win the ACC Coastal and face off with Florida State again.

 

Jacory Harris had a very inconsistent season last year. He showed flashes that he was going to be an elite quarterback, and then followed those up with some poor decision making. Harris was among the leaders in a lot of categories: his 3352 yards were 15^th in the nation, his 24 touchdown passes were also 15^th in the nation, but his 17 interceptions were second most, and he was sacked 34 times, eighth most among quarterbacks. With another year of experience, he should be able to lower the interceptions and become the elite quarterback everyone is expecting him to be.

There will likely be a new starter at running back this year. Graig Cooper tore his ACL in Miami’s bowl game, and his season is in question. Damien Berry will get the majority of the work, and in the time he was given last season, he really impressed, rushing for 616 yards and eight touchdowns, and averaging 6.6 yards per carry. His backup will be Mike James, who only carried the ball 15 times last season, and Lamar Miller. The running backs will follow the blocking of fullback Patrick Hill, who is a bowling ball at 5-9 and 255 pounds.

When Harris has time to throw, he will be looking for a couple of receivers who have become very dependable. Senior Leonard Hankerson had a bad case of the dropsies early on, but is becoming more sure handed, and led the team with 45 receptions, 801 yards, and six touchdowns.  Travis Benjamin has also become a dependable receiver. Benjamin caught 29 passes for 501 yards and four touchdowns last year. The tight end is expected to be Richard Gordon, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, and has only four career receptions.

Only two starters return this year on the offensive line. But that may be a good thing. In general, it wasn’t that great of a line. The running game averaged 3.9 yards per carry and allowed 35 sacks. Both returnees, Joel Figueroa and Orlando Franklin, are transitioning from guard to tackle,  With Figueroa moving to tackle, there will two new starters at the guard positions, and those are likely to be filled by junior Harland Gunn and sophomore Brandon Washington. The line is expected to be anchored at center by junior Tyler Horn. But don’t be surprised at some point if you see top recruit Seantrel Henderson playing on the line as well.

 

Most of the defense returns from a team that ranked in the top 30 nationally in total defense. But it did lose its leading tackler in linebacker Darryl Sharpton. But there are still some key pieces to the defense back this year. One of them is defensive end Allen Bailey, who was first team all ACC last season with seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss. He is the anchor of a defensive line that finished third in the ACC against the run. He is joined by Adewale Ojomo, who missed last season due to a broken jaw. The defensive tackles are slated to be junior Micanor Regis and sophomore Marcus Forston, who also missed last season due to an ankle injury. Senior Josh Holmes figures to see some playing time as well.

Despite the loss of Sharpton, the linebackers will still be pretty good. They do get back number two tackler in senior Colin McCarthy. The middle linebacker had 95 tackles last season, and earned second team all ACC honors. He will be joined by outside linebackers Kylan Robinson and junior Sean Spence, who made the freshman all American team, and had a solid sophomore season going until getting inured, and missing some time. Ramon Buchanan will also be in the mix as well, as he played a lot when Spence was out with his injury.

Miami’s pass defense wasn’t as good as the run defense last year, but not by much. The Canes pass defense was fifth in the ACC, but it returns a big time playmaker in cornerback Brandon Harris. Harris was first team all ACC and third team All American last season. Harris had 58 tackles, two interceptions, and 15 pass break ups. He is joined on the other side by senior DeMarcus Van Dyke, who had 30 tackles last season. The safeties will be sophomores Vaughn Telemaque and Ray-Ray Armstrong. The Miami coaching staff has been comparing Armstrong to former Miami great Ed Reed, which is pretty high praise.

Matt Bosher is one of the rare players that handle both punting and kicking duties and do them both very well. As kicker, he converted all 50 of his extra point attempts, and hit 14-16 field goals last year. Strangely, both of Bosher’s misses were inside of 40 yards. As punter, Bosher averaged 42.5 yards per punt, and a 35.7 net, but had three punts blocked (two against Virginia). Bosher made first team all ACC as both kicker and punter, which doesn’t happen very often.

The return game will have two new faces. Graig Cooper handled a lot of the kickoffs, but as stated earlier, his torn ACL has his season in question. Mike James handled some kickoffs last season, and may have some help from freshman Storm Johnson and cornerback Brandon Harris. The punt return duties were handled by Thearon Collier last year, and he did return two puts for touchdown, but he has transferred to USC. Look for Travis Benjamin to handle punt return duties.

 

The first five games may tell the story of Miami’s season. After opening up with Florida A&M, the Canes will travel to Ohio State for a pivotal game not just for the team, but for conference pride as well. After that, Miami will have another road game on a Thursday night against Pitt, before opening up the conference schedule at Clemson and hosting Florida State. Miami does get two of the tougher team in the Coastal in North Carolina and Virginia Tech at home. If Miami can get past the first five games with a 3-2 record, then they should be set for the season.

 

The best player to look at is quarterback Jacory Harris. He threw for over 3300 yards and 24 touchdowns last season, and with another year of experience, and what should be an improved offensive line in front of him, the 17 interceptions and 34 sacks should god down. He could throw for over 3500 yards and 25 touchdowns, and could be the best quarterback in the ACC.

 

In the three seasons Randy Shannon has coach at Miami, he’s increased the win total by two each season, from five wins in 2007 to nine last year. If you go by that logic, Miami will win 11 games this year. But I don’t see that happening. The schedule is too tough, and I don’t think they’re talented enough to do that. But with an offense that can score points in bunches, and a defense that is stellar and still improving, they will be in contention for the ACC Coastal division this year.