Alex Donno discusses which Miami Hurricanes football players will have the biggest shoes to fill next season.
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00:00 Other players who have big shoes to fill.
00:03 Mishael Powell transfer from Washington.
00:06 Savion Riley transfer from Vanderbilt.
00:09 They have massive shoes to fill now right now.
00:12 And again, there's going to be competitions.
00:15 You know, I can't guarantee you that both of these guys are starters,
00:18 but Powell and Riley, especially Powell,
00:21 are the ones that I pencil in as starting safeties for next year.
00:24 They're the presumed starters to replace Cam Kitchens
00:27 and James Williams, who are both headed to the NFL.
00:29 And should both be drafted within the first two days.
00:33 Powell, they're both getting really good feedback so far, Powell and Riley.
00:37 But Powell especially, because he's played in so many big games, right?
00:42 I mean, he can set the same sort of example to teammates
00:45 that Cam Ward can at quarterback.
00:47 I mean, Mish Powell, he just started for Washington a month and a half ago
00:50 in the National Championship game and started
00:52 every game for the Washington Huskies this past year.
00:55 So Powell and Riley.
00:57 Now again, they're not going to be the only ones competing
00:59 for starting safety jobs.
01:01 I'm not sleeping even on Zaquan Patterson.
01:03 I'm not sleeping on Jaden Harris and Markeith Williams and Caleb Spencer.
01:08 We'll talk a little bit more about him.
01:09 But you know, Powell and Riley are experienced guys
01:13 coming from other programs.
01:14 And they're going to have very big shoes to fill
01:17 when you talk about trying to replace one of the better
01:20 safety duos in the entire country.
01:21 That's what Cam Kitchens and James Williams
01:23 were for the past few years.
01:25 And Miami is now turning the page on a new chapter there.
01:29 I'll tell you, I maybe could have even let off with this guy.
01:32 You talk about having big shoes to fill.
01:34 Transfer center, Zach Carpenter.
01:37 He has massive shoes to fill.
01:40 This is the guy who's going to be the man to replace Matt Lee.
01:43 Matt Lee was only here for one year, but boy, he was all cane for that one year.
01:48 Lee is the type of guy that like he was so all in as a Miami Hurricane,
01:52 it felt like he was here for three or four years,
01:54 even though Lee was only here for a season.
01:57 Matt Lee last year, top four pass blocking grade
02:01 among centers in all of America.
02:03 He only surrendered one sack in his final three collegiate seasons,
02:07 the two at UCF and then the one at Miami.
02:09 And Carpenter is the guy who's got to replace that.
02:12 I like Zach Carpenter a lot.
02:14 He was highly touted.
02:15 He's very experienced.
02:17 Played four years with the Indiana Hoosiers.
02:19 Graded out pretty well last year.
02:21 He surrendered eight pressures and three sacks.
02:23 So those are not Matt Lee numbers, but he did pretty well.
02:27 Now, keep in mind, he was playing with the Indiana Hoosiers,
02:30 not a very good team around him, a three and nine team last year.
02:33 And they also played a much tougher schedule than Miami played last year.
02:37 They had to face Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin in conference.
02:43 They faced Louisville out of conference among the rest of their Big Ten schedule.
02:46 So Zach Carpenter, we don't necessarily need him to be as good
02:51 as Matt Lee, maybe he will be, maybe he'll be better.
02:53 But he's got huge shoes to fill, replacing one of the better canes last season.
02:58 Here's another one who's got big shoes to fill.
03:02 Transfer defensive tackle CJ Clark.
03:05 He's gonna be the guy to fill the shoes of Leonard Taylor.
03:09 Now, I know Leonard Taylor was not the most consistent defensive tackle or
03:14 player at Miami in recent years, but he always graded out very well,
03:18 including last season.
03:20 Last season was his best season in college, Taylor, and
03:23 he's two months away from joining an NFL team.
03:26 Now, CJ Clark, maybe more consistency,
03:29 probably not as high of a ceiling but a higher floor than Taylor.
03:32 CJ Clark started all 12 games for
03:34 one of the best defenses in the conference last year, the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
03:38 He was credited with against Miami, remember NC State beat Miami, as we remember.
03:43 He was credited with three tackles and a sack against Miami last year.
03:47 So those are huge shoes to fill for CJ Clark.