Dalton Wasserman from the PFF College Football show tells Alex Donno which position groups are strongest and weakest on the Miami Hurricanes this season.
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00:00What would you say is the position group on the Miami Hurricanes that you think is going to be
00:05the top group this coming season? So the fun part is they've really got several that are in
00:10contention. Max actually just recently put out his top 10 position unit rankings for each team in
00:16college football and they've got the number six running back unit, number seven receiving core,
00:21the number eight O-line, but the one that stands out to me and I think both of us is
00:25he has them as the third best defensive line in all of college football and I think you could
00:30argue them as high as number one. He's got Ohio State and Michigan ahead of them, two
00:34amazing defensive lines as well, a ton of NFL players on all three. This is the deepest defensive
00:39line in the country. Reuben Bayne Jr. last year as a true freshman, the only player, the only
00:45power five edge rusher who had a higher pass rush grade as a true freshman was Miles Garrett. He's
00:50an elite, elite company. Then you've got guys transferring in Tyler Barron, Elijah Alston,
00:59Marley Cook, Simeon Barrow. This is just a loaded, loaded unit. Tyler Barron was a really good pass
01:05rusher, one of the six or seven best pass rushers in the SEC last year. Elijah Alston finished
01:10second in the FBS last year at Marshall behind Liatu Latu in overall grade and Liatu Latu is
01:16like a PFF God. He sets PFF records and he was second behind him. He is legit. He's a legit
01:22outside linebacker dip and rip type pass rusher. Simeon Barrow had three really good years at
01:27Michigan State. He's an awesome player. You're getting back Akeem Mesidor who was fantastic in
01:322022. He was the 14th best edge player in the country in 2022. He just had his injuries last
01:37year. This is a loaded defensive line. I think if there's two reasons that Miami would win the ACC,
01:44it's improved ball security from Cam Ward and it's this D line. This is the unit, not just
01:49for this team. This defensive line is the unit to watch for the entire conference. That's how
01:54deep and talented they are. Now an area, and I don't know what you guys do with this from an
01:59analytic standpoint because usually the area we talk about being the biggest question mark is
02:04Miami's defensive backfield. But part of the reason why it's such a big question mark is
02:09outside of a couple of guys, Darryl Porter Jr. who had a good year last year and Meech Powell
02:14who transferred over from Washington from a good year. So a lot of inexperience there. A lot of
02:19unproven commodities. So what do you guys gather about Miami's defensive backfield?
02:26How much of a question mark is that in your eyes? So I think at corner, they're going to be fine.
02:30You're bringing back Darryl Porter. You're bringing back Tamari Brown. Porter had the
02:34seventh best coverage grade in the ACC and Powell did a really, really nice job in the slot at
02:38Washington during their national title run. The bigger question to me is up the middle at linebacker
02:43where they're much better against the run than in coverage and at safety where you lost
02:48both Cam Kitchens and James Williams to the NFL draft. So that's it's down the middle of
02:53the field coverage. If I'm looking at playing against Miami, if the pass rush doesn't kill my
02:58quarterback, I'm looking to throw down the middle of the field. I believe Porter and Powell, those
03:02guys can play on the outside. They stand a chance. Not sure if we'll see a lot of man coverage this
03:07year from Miami. I know they probably, for me, with this defensive line they have now, I would
03:12be blitzing a lot less. I would be helping in coverage. I would get, they have every bit of
03:16the talent to run like, you know, those old New York Giants NASCAR packages out there where you've
03:20just got four pass rushers. For me, like Bain, Mesidor, Barron, Alston, those four guys would be
03:26all out there in a pass rush unit, even though they're all edge players. Let's go, right? Let's
03:31get the NASCAR thing going. Let's beat you with a four-man rush. Because especially in college,
03:36if you can help in coverage, you know, with the wide side of the field and teams running so many
03:40zone coverages, now you see very few teams run a ton of man coverage in college. I think the more
03:45help they can give those guys, especially down the middle in coverage, you've got an inexperienced
03:49safety group, especially. The D-line should be able to complement them, right? And if they can
03:54get there, then it makes the secondary's life easier. But that would be a concern. You know,
03:58you lose both safeties and you've got a secondary that just wasn't quite,
04:02it's not, doesn't look quite as elite as their D-line.