Who are the top five impact transfers, in order, for the Miami Hurricanes in 2024?
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00:00 These are the top five guys in order who I believe will have the biggest
00:03 impacts on the field in 2024.
00:06 Some of these guys are one and done grad transfers.
00:09 Some of these guys have multiple years.
00:11 So for some of them, they may have an opportunity to make a bigger
00:14 impact in 2025 or 2026 and so on.
00:17 But number one for me, duh, the guy who I think is going to have the biggest
00:23 impact on the field in the 2024 season is Cam Ward.
00:28 Miami managed to upgrade from last season.
00:31 I strongly believe some of you are like, Donna, are you sure that
00:34 this guy's better than Tyler van die?
00:36 I don't, I don't know why you gotta be.
00:38 I think we saw enough from Tyler.
00:40 I wish him the best, but I don't think we needed to
00:42 remix that for another year.
00:44 I absolutely believe Cam Ward is an upgrade from last season in what
00:48 happens to be the most important position on the field guy who touches
00:51 the football on every offensive play.
00:53 Cam Ward is capable of making every throw.
00:57 He can extend plays with his athleticism from the perspective of an offensive
01:02 play caller, because we've talked about this a lot in terms of what
01:05 he's going to mean to Shannon Dawson.
01:06 So from Dawson's perspective, you now, you now have a quarterback that
01:10 doesn't give you any limitations on paper.
01:13 I know that they're, it's not perfect.
01:14 He's had some fumbling issues, but in terms of what you can call on third
01:18 down, you get no limitations from Cam Ward.
01:21 He also comes in with loads of experience.
01:23 Someone who's been a starter at the quarterback position
01:26 for the past four seasons.
01:28 Throws really good 50, 50 balls, accurate, deep balls.
01:32 I think Cam Ward has the opportunity to be electric and yes, I do expect him to
01:37 be the most impactful transfer out of the ones that Miami has added.
01:41 He is number one.
01:42 Gets a little tougher.
01:43 Once we go beyond number one, I had some debates here.
01:47 I debated a couple of different guys for number two, but I'm going at number
01:51 two with Mishael Powell, Mish Powell.
01:55 I think he goes by Mish, uh, the Washington safety.
01:58 He comes in again, loads of experience and he can help Miami stabilize the
02:03 defensive backfield because they had tough losses there.
02:05 You lost both Cam Kitchens, who was the heart and soul of that defense.
02:09 James Williams, another excellent player.
02:11 You lost both of those guys to the NFL.
02:14 Mish Powell started every game on a team that just came in second
02:18 place for a national championship.
02:21 Uh, he played pretty well in that championship game.
02:23 So, you know, Miami does beyond Mish, they've got some quality youth in their
02:28 safety room, but now having a veteran with all this high level experience to
02:33 help mentor that group and more than likely lock down a starting job, because
02:36 heck I wouldn't have him at number two.
02:38 If I didn't expect Mish Powell to be a starter here, to be able to bring this
02:42 guy in, it's a really, really important, uh, job Miami did of addressing needs.
02:48 It's safety.
02:49 I think Powell is going to be very impactful.
02:51 So at number three, and I debated whether this guy was number two or number three.
02:56 Uh, I think I got it right at the end of the day.
02:58 We'll find out.
02:59 I'm going with Zach Carpenter, the Indiana transfer center.
03:03 He's my third.
03:04 Carpenter, big shoes to fill as we know, cause Matt Lee, who was a transfer last
03:11 year out of UCF had an excellent year at center, some of the best grades
03:15 in the country at his position.
03:16 So Carpenter has big shoes to fill.
03:18 Uh, but Zach Carpenter, solid starter in the big 10 at Indiana.
03:22 He was by far Miami's best option in the portal to replace Lee.
03:26 So hopefully Carpenter is doing some of the same things.
03:30 I mean, he's, uh, he's on campus now.
03:32 The same way when Matt Lee got to Miami very quickly, acclimated himself
03:36 with his teammates, built a good relationship with his quarterback,
03:40 Tyler Van Dyke, hopefully Zach Carpenter and Cam Ward are already
03:44 building that type of relationship.
03:46 And, you know, cause I think this is an excellent player who could end up
03:49 doing a pretty bang up job, filling some big shoes that Matt Lee leaves behind.
03:53 Number four for me, fourth, most impactful transfer Miami has added.
03:57 CJ Clark.
03:59 This guy is a former well going to be here as well, but he was a solid
04:03 starting defensive tackle at NC state, which had one of the better defenses
04:08 in the country, top three defense in the ACC last year, and this guy should
04:13 be a solid replacement for Leonard Taylor.
04:17 I don't think CJ Clark has as much upside as Leonard Taylor has, but
04:21 hopefully CJ Clark can play with a bit more consistency because that was the
04:25 one area that frustrated us about Leonard Taylor was some games he was all world.
04:29 Other games, not as much.
04:31 And with Clark.
04:32 Do not sleep on this acquisition.
04:35 Cause another thing that I love about CJ Clark is his familiarity with the ACC.
04:40 It's been in the ACC for the past four years.
04:42 He's played against all these opponents.
04:44 He understands what it means.
04:46 Cause you know, for some players coming into a new conference, there's
04:49 a bit of an adjustment period.
04:50 There's no adjustment period necessary for CJ Clark.
04:54 He knows this conference.
04:55 I value that.
04:56 Okay.
04:56 He's my number four, my number five.
04:58 And this was another debate.
05:00 Like I was kind of deciding, should this guy be number four?
05:02 Should he be number five, but rounding out my power ranking of top five, most
05:07 impactful transfers this coming season at the university Miami, I go with
05:11 Elijah Alston, someone we haven't covered enough on locked on canes because I
05:17 happened to be on vacation when he arrived at Miami, but Elijah Alston
05:21 edge rusher out of Marshall.
05:22 Excellent pickup, especially since we thought we'd lost this guy to Texas A&M.
05:28 He had committed to Texas A&M, de-committed ends up at Miami.
05:31 Elijah Alston, 11 and a half tackles for loss last year had one of the
05:36 highest pass rushing grades in America at 90 and a half per pro football
05:41 focus, and when we talk about familiarity, he has familiarity
05:45 with his defensive coordinator.
05:47 He knows exactly what to expect from Lance Guidry, having played for him at Marshall.
05:51 So I think Elijah Alston was an excellent pickup.
05:54 That's my top five.