Peter Ariz shared his thoughts immediately after Thursday’s practice. The transcript is below:
Peter Ariz: “Good morning. I’m so excited leaving this practice, man. I always have a little burst of energy here. Today is April 2, so we’re a couple weeks in now. I guess this is practice seven, six, I don’t know officially what it is. They kind of had like a walkthrough day in between, but we’re on week two here as we get to the weekend. Last Friday they did sort of a walkthrough, so I don’t know if that’s the same plan tomorrow and then practice Saturday again.
“We get about 50 minutes to an hour of practice, the media does, and then the last 45 minutes or so of practice is closed off."
“Now, I think that’s probably a good thing. He’s a guy who’s battled injuries sometimes. You get a little muscled up, right? It looks to me like Lyle looks a bit leaner than last year. So we’ll see. I mean, we saw that speed he has, that long speed, freshman year against USF. As you get older, as you get bigger, you tend to lose a little bit of that speed. We’re only in week two of camp, and the running backs are hard to tell from what we’re seeing because we’re not seeing a whole lot there. But just seeing him, man, he looks like he’s leaned up.”
“He’s twitched up. As you watch his high school stuff, he could get to the quarterback with ease off the edge, but I’m not sure if that was his position here with some of the monsters you’re bringing in on the edge and some of the pass specialists you’re bringing in. His size, though, he’s a good-looking linebacker. A lot of length. He’s someone right there that, special teams-wise early on, should be ready to go with some of the speed and aggression that he plays with.
“The transition to linebacker, where there’s a little bit more reading and reacting, we’ll see how that goes as you get more reps here into spring and into fall camp. But at the very least, I think he’s a guy that a year from now, two years from now, you might have something. From a physical standpoint, he’s got it.”
“With Campbell, he just sticks out amongst that linebacker group. Kamal Bonner wearing No. 11, he’s got some good length. Looks like he’s added some size too. But Campbell looks like something that you can build on there.”
“He’s really able to stop a lot of stuff at the line of scrimmage without even necessarily coming down with the sack. So I think you get him a little too big and you reach that threshold of, hey, is this guy still going to be light on his feet? Is he still going to give us that versatility? I know everyone wants to see the defensive ends rushing the passer, but he has the skill set to drop a little bit, drop into a flat zone, do the quarterback spy stuff. I think he’s a stud. He’s freakish, and it’s going to be one of the reasons why he ends up being, I think, a top-three-round draft pick when his time comes. He’s still moving how you’d expect him to.”
Peter Ariz: “Jarquez Carter, I talk about him a lot. Mykah Newton looks like he’s put some good size on as well. Keona Davis is going to be a nice versatile piece there with some size.”
“They had to shed a block. It wasn’t like the other day where they were just running straight at Coach Harris, who would then take the hit. They had to shed a block before that. Thornton had a really, really good rep that Will Harris was excited about. DMoney’s talked about it a few times the last week of practice, but one thing you have to say is that you’ve got some freaks coming in here. You’ve got a Damon Wilson, a Justin Scott taking another step, an Armondo Blount, Booker Pickett, Lightfoot, all those guys.
“But overall, who can be those tone setters, as DMoney likes to call them? Two years ago, you didn’t have that on defense. That was a major issue for kind of what it became. You didn’t have thumpers at all three levels, guys who could set the tone. Omar Thornton is definitely someone who can do that, and it was on display in that drill today. Will Harris was fired up and gave him really good feedback on that rep in particular.”
“Luka had another one earlier in the day where the ball got knocked out there. Great coverage, great play by the defensive back, but it was great to see Gilbert then come back a few reps later and make a similar sort of catch. That’s the growth you like to see. Gilbert’s just so big. Thornton did everything he could, but Gilbert boxed him out and used his frame really, really well.”
“Once he fills out, man, he’s going to be an interesting player. Could he be a safety down the line too? Who knows. But if you watch his HUDL tape, he makes a lot of plays in the pocket there near the line of scrimmage, instinctively triggering on screens, physical against the run. I like what he can be in the future here for Miami. From a physical standpoint, he’s long and lanky, and he doesn’t look awkward moving around. He’s one I want to keep my eyes on.”
“He almost made a highlight catch. Went up, tried to grab it with one hand, OBJ style, and high-pointed it with one hand. I wish I could see a replay to really see it in detail, but I don’t know if his other hand was caught up or what. It was tight coverage. I don’t know if he would have made it if he’d gone up with two, or if going up with one made the leap a little easier. But he almost came down with it. It would have been the play of the day from the media viewing portion.”
“I think he could have some inside-outside versatility, but it shows you if they’re playing him at tackle right now, they think he has the feet to be there long term. I posted a really interesting clip in the Discord where, before the rep, one of the offensive line assistants, Danny Hajjar, was really coaching his butt off today. He was real into it. He was with Jaden and Israel Briggs. You could tell Wilkerson is someone they’re trying to put their arms around and they think the world of.
“In the video there was a lot of attention before the rep, very detailed, and then Mario is with Wilkerson and Briggs and is really speaking to Wilkerson. You can tell the hands-on approach he’s had. I mentioned this before with Ben Congdon too. I’ve seen Mario get into a guy about maybe having a lazy rep or something that wasn’t the standard, but this has been different. It’s been very interesting to see the coaching that he’s giving these guys.
“Mario gets that rep sometimes of, hey, he’s a tough guy, he’s the big macho guy, he’s a yeller and a screamer. He has that in him. But the coaching he’s giving these guys, and I can’t hear the conversations, but you can tell that with some of these young guys right now, Mario sees a lot of potential in them. He sees a lot of potential in them. Obviously the line has a lot of new faces, so he and Alex Mirabal and the offensive line staff are trying to get as many guys ready as possible right now. But it seems like there’s really an attention to detail with a lot of these young guys. Great to see.
“This is what spring’s all about. You’re starting to get guys who, in year one, Jaden Wilkerson wasn’t really in the equation. He was maybe mixing with the twos a bit, but really with the threes. Now you’re looking at a guy who could be in line to see some playing time without a doubt. It’ll be interesting to see if he could slide inside and play guard too.”
Peter Ariz: “Dylan Day had a nice pass breakup on Luca Gilbert on the sideline. That was the one I talked about earlier. The ball seemed like it may have been a little late from Judd. It was on Luca’s hands, but he came back to the ball and it seemed like it was maybe a late adjustment. It was still a good play by Dylan Day.”
Peter Ariz: “There was a slant completion from Darian Coleman to Milan Parris. Then Daylyn Upshaw dropped a slant. The next play from Coleman had a lot of juice on it. It looked like Upshaw might have been the third read on that play. Good coverage up the seam, and Coleman kind of hesitated for a moment and maybe tried to put a little too much on it. It still hit Daylyn in the hands. That’s got to be a catch in a game situation, a scrimmage situation, but it might have had a little too much mustard sauce on it.”
Peter Ariz: “Nickel had a completion to Cooper Barkate, and Cooper Barkate had a really strong day for him, in my opinion, again in the 45, 50 minutes that we had of viewing today. He’s about to start popping in these updates.”
Peter Ariz: “Dre Jacobs had a contested touchdown grab too. I don’t know who that one was on. He had a couple good moments today.”
“Mensah still ends up making a throw, and Barkate makes a sick adjustment to it. I mean, came all the way back, dove, hands catch. Awesome, awesome catch from him. That was, to me, one of the catches of the day.”
Peter Ariz: “Then later on, Barkate beat Xavier Lucas for a touchdown in goal-line work. That was a nice throw by Luke Nickel, over the top, over the shoulder. Then the last rep of the day, Jaelen Waters had pass interference on Barkate on a fade that probably would have been a touchdown catch there. So today, to me, was probably his best day of practice.
“That’s what the work does. You’re up against these elite corners, as close to elite as you’re going to get in college football right now as a group, and you’re just going to continue to improve day by day. That’s what it’s all about, man. It was great to see that today from him.”
Peter Ariz: “O.J. Frederique had a really nice pass breakup on Barkate in the end zone. O.J. was in position. His head wasn’t turned around, so he had both of his hands up with his back to him. It was kind of like the rep I talked about the other day with Bryce Fitzgerald and Malachi Toney, where Fitzgerald had a good pass breakup. O.J. had some nice work.”
“O.J. had a really nice coverage rep on Barkate in the end zone today. He had a play two days ago that I’m telling you, he was outstanding on. O.J.’s going to be a top-three-round pick when it’s all said and done here. He’s looking good.”
Peter Ariz: “Good morning. I’m so excited leaving this practice, man. I always have a little burst of energy here. Today is April 2, so we’re a couple weeks in now. I guess this is practice seven, six, I don’t know officially what it is. They kind of had like a walkthrough day in between, but we’re on week two here as we get to the weekend. Last Friday they did sort of a walkthrough, so I don’t know if that’s the same plan tomorrow and then practice Saturday again.
“We get about 50 minutes to an hour of practice, the media does, and then the last 45 minutes or so of practice is closed off."
Jordan Lyle
Peter Ariz: “The first thing I said today, just watching the running backs and tight ends kind of go through their little warmup deal with the quarterbacks, is Jordan Lyle. I think last year everyone was talking about, me included, how big he looked, how strong he looked, and that’s still the case. But to my eye, and it may not actually be what it is, he looks leaned up to me.“Now, I think that’s probably a good thing. He’s a guy who’s battled injuries sometimes. You get a little muscled up, right? It looks to me like Lyle looks a bit leaner than last year. So we’ll see. I mean, we saw that speed he has, that long speed, freshman year against USF. As you get older, as you get bigger, you tend to lose a little bit of that speed. We’re only in week two of camp, and the running backs are hard to tell from what we’re seeing because we’re not seeing a whole lot there. But just seeing him, man, he looks like he’s leaned up.”
Jordan Campbell
Peter Ariz: “One guy I wanted to mention, just seeing them go through early tackling drills, is Jordan Campbell. I’ve mentioned him a couple times. He’s a guy from Miami Northwestern, Carol City. He played at Miami Northwestern last year, but was at Carol City before that, I’m pretty sure, and really was a defensive end primarily.“He’s twitched up. As you watch his high school stuff, he could get to the quarterback with ease off the edge, but I’m not sure if that was his position here with some of the monsters you’re bringing in on the edge and some of the pass specialists you’re bringing in. His size, though, he’s a good-looking linebacker. A lot of length. He’s someone right there that, special teams-wise early on, should be ready to go with some of the speed and aggression that he plays with.
“The transition to linebacker, where there’s a little bit more reading and reacting, we’ll see how that goes as you get more reps here into spring and into fall camp. But at the very least, I think he’s a guy that a year from now, two years from now, you might have something. From a physical standpoint, he’s got it.”
Linebacker Group
Peter Ariz: “I’m not mentioning Campbell and saying, ‘Hey, this guy’s going to start this year,’ but just how it’s looking, right? Him, J.J. Edwards, the other freshman. Kellen Wiley, we always talk about what he looks like physically, the length, the speed. He has pass-rush ability. He can play sideline to sideline. I think it’s just about him playing more this year and getting confidence, really.“With Campbell, he just sticks out amongst that linebacker group. Kamal Bonner wearing No. 11, he’s got some good length. Looks like he’s added some size too. But Campbell looks like something that you can build on there.”
Defensive Line
Peter Ariz: “I posted a bunch of videos today of some of the defensive linemen moving around. Marquise Lightfoot looks how you’d expect. I can’t really say he looks significantly bigger than he did last year. I think he’s kind of at a point where you don’t want to take away his superpower, which is that first step. His motor is always going to be his motor, but his smoothness at that position, being able to chase, we saw it a lot last year, chasing athletic quarterbacks out of bounds where it may not have been a sack necessarily on paper, but if he wasn’t there spying or containing, it would have been a big run.“He’s really able to stop a lot of stuff at the line of scrimmage without even necessarily coming down with the sack. So I think you get him a little too big and you reach that threshold of, hey, is this guy still going to be light on his feet? Is he still going to give us that versatility? I know everyone wants to see the defensive ends rushing the passer, but he has the skill set to drop a little bit, drop into a flat zone, do the quarterback spy stuff. I think he’s a stud. He’s freakish, and it’s going to be one of the reasons why he ends up being, I think, a top-three-round draft pick when his time comes. He’s still moving how you’d expect him to.”
Peter Ariz: “Jarquez Carter, I talk about him a lot. Mykah Newton looks like he’s put some good size on as well. Keona Davis is going to be a nice versatile piece there with some size.”
Omar Thornton
Peter Ariz: “I had a video up too of Will Harris, and I went in depth about his coaching on Tuesday and how intense and locked in he is with these guys. In that similar sort of thumping drill, the tackling drill that I mentioned Ryan Mack doing well on Tuesday, a guy that you’d expect to do well and had a real nice rep today was Omar Thornton.“They had to shed a block. It wasn’t like the other day where they were just running straight at Coach Harris, who would then take the hit. They had to shed a block before that. Thornton had a really, really good rep that Will Harris was excited about. DMoney’s talked about it a few times the last week of practice, but one thing you have to say is that you’ve got some freaks coming in here. You’ve got a Damon Wilson, a Justin Scott taking another step, an Armondo Blount, Booker Pickett, Lightfoot, all those guys.
“But overall, who can be those tone setters, as DMoney likes to call them? Two years ago, you didn’t have that on defense. That was a major issue for kind of what it became. You didn’t have thumpers at all three levels, guys who could set the tone. Omar Thornton is definitely someone who can do that, and it was on display in that drill today. Will Harris was fired up and gave him really good feedback on that rep in particular.”
Luka Gilbert
Peter Ariz: “Thornton had really tight coverage on Luka Gilbert on about a seven- to 10-yard route where Luka came back to the football, and Thornton was draped all over him. It was placed high. Luka was able to extend the hands, didn’t let the ball come to his body, and had really strong hands. It was a great rep all around. Thornton had tight coverage. He played through the football. He was trying to break it up still as Luka had the ball in his hands, and it was just a strong play.“Luka had another one earlier in the day where the ball got knocked out there. Great coverage, great play by the defensive back, but it was great to see Gilbert then come back a few reps later and make a similar sort of catch. That’s the growth you like to see. Gilbert’s just so big. Thornton did everything he could, but Gilbert boxed him out and used his frame really, really well.”
Camdin Portis
Peter Ariz: “Camdin Portis looks really long, man, and he’s working with what looks like the nickels. He looks longer than your typical nickel corner. Sometimes you think of those nickel corners as shorter, more compact, quicker-twitchy type of guys. And listen, Portis has twitch to him, but he’s long.“Once he fills out, man, he’s going to be an interesting player. Could he be a safety down the line too? Who knows. But if you watch his HUDL tape, he makes a lot of plays in the pocket there near the line of scrimmage, instinctively triggering on screens, physical against the run. I like what he can be in the future here for Miami. From a physical standpoint, he’s long and lanky, and he doesn’t look awkward moving around. He’s one I want to keep my eyes on.”
Josh Moore
Peter Ariz: “Josh Moore continues to look like he moves like a gazelle. That’s what I’m seeing from him right now. He was a big-bodied receiver coming in, 6-foot-4, long speed, but I think the weight room is going to help him with a lot of these controlled movements in and out of breaks. His explosiveness looks off the charts right now.“He almost made a highlight catch. Went up, tried to grab it with one hand, OBJ style, and high-pointed it with one hand. I wish I could see a replay to really see it in detail, but I don’t know if his other hand was caught up or what. It was tight coverage. I don’t know if he would have made it if he’d gone up with two, or if going up with one made the leap a little easier. But he almost came down with it. It would have been the play of the day from the media viewing portion.”
Jaden Wilkerson
Peter Ariz: “Taking a look at some of the linemen today in drills, it was interesting because I said this on Tuesday: Jaden Wilkerson was next to Jackson Cantwell one time, and you say, ‘Hey, Cantwell, you know what he’s supposed to look like, and he’s a true freshman, but he’s got the size you’re looking for.’ Wilkerson did not look out of place. He maybe looks more like a guard body type, but he’s been playing really as the backup left tackle.“I think he could have some inside-outside versatility, but it shows you if they’re playing him at tackle right now, they think he has the feet to be there long term. I posted a really interesting clip in the Discord where, before the rep, one of the offensive line assistants, Danny Hajjar, was really coaching his butt off today. He was real into it. He was with Jaden and Israel Briggs. You could tell Wilkerson is someone they’re trying to put their arms around and they think the world of.
“In the video there was a lot of attention before the rep, very detailed, and then Mario is with Wilkerson and Briggs and is really speaking to Wilkerson. You can tell the hands-on approach he’s had. I mentioned this before with Ben Congdon too. I’ve seen Mario get into a guy about maybe having a lazy rep or something that wasn’t the standard, but this has been different. It’s been very interesting to see the coaching that he’s giving these guys.
“Mario gets that rep sometimes of, hey, he’s a tough guy, he’s the big macho guy, he’s a yeller and a screamer. He has that in him. But the coaching he’s giving these guys, and I can’t hear the conversations, but you can tell that with some of these young guys right now, Mario sees a lot of potential in them. He sees a lot of potential in them. Obviously the line has a lot of new faces, so he and Alex Mirabal and the offensive line staff are trying to get as many guys ready as possible right now. But it seems like there’s really an attention to detail with a lot of these young guys. Great to see.
“This is what spring’s all about. You’re starting to get guys who, in year one, Jaden Wilkerson wasn’t really in the equation. He was maybe mixing with the twos a bit, but really with the threes. Now you’re looking at a guy who could be in line to see some playing time without a doubt. It’ll be interesting to see if he could slide inside and play guard too.”
Seven-on-Seven Notes
Peter Ariz: “In seven-on-seven, Luke Nickel had a completion to Josh Moore. It was about a five-yard out. Judd Anderson hit Dre Jacobs for about 15 yards. I think it was a touchdown. Brody Jennings was in coverage. Brody had a couple reps today where he was in position, just didn’t get his head turned around in time. So those are learning moments, but he’s there. He looks like he belongs without a doubt.”Peter Ariz: “Dylan Day had a nice pass breakup on Luca Gilbert on the sideline. That was the one I talked about earlier. The ball seemed like it may have been a little late from Judd. It was on Luca’s hands, but he came back to the ball and it seemed like it was maybe a late adjustment. It was still a good play by Dylan Day.”
Peter Ariz: “There was a slant completion from Darian Coleman to Milan Parris. Then Daylyn Upshaw dropped a slant. The next play from Coleman had a lot of juice on it. It looked like Upshaw might have been the third read on that play. Good coverage up the seam, and Coleman kind of hesitated for a moment and maybe tried to put a little too much on it. It still hit Daylyn in the hands. That’s got to be a catch in a game situation, a scrimmage situation, but it might have had a little too much mustard sauce on it.”
Peter Ariz: “Nickel had a completion to Cooper Barkate, and Cooper Barkate had a really strong day for him, in my opinion, again in the 45, 50 minutes that we had of viewing today. He’s about to start popping in these updates.”
Judd Anderson to Josh Moore
Peter Ariz: “Judd had a nice deep ball to Josh Moore and he almost snagged it with one hand. He couldn’t come down with it, but it was nice. Ethan O’Connor was the one in coverage. That was the one I was talking about earlier where Moore went up with one hand. O’Connor was right on him, and I give him credit for being physical there at the point of the catch.”Lofton and Dre Jacobs
Peter Ariz: “Elija Lofton had a really physical catch. It was an out route for a completion on Dylan Day. Maybe a push-off. They didn’t throw a flag. The refs didn’t throw it, but it was dicey. I’d say probably play on for me. Good physical route.”Peter Ariz: “Dre Jacobs had a contested touchdown grab too. I don’t know who that one was on. He had a couple good moments today.”
Cooper Barkate
Peter Ariz: “To me, one of the catches of the day was a sick catch by Cooper Barkate coming back to a low ball on the sideline, maybe seven to 10 yards. What happened was, the ball to Darian Mensah ended up on the ground. This isn’t a center snapping it, it’s seven-on-seven, so they have an assistant or someone from the equipment staff just tossing it back to the quarterback. I don’t know if the snap was low, if Mensah dropped it, or what, but the ball ended up on the ground, which threw the timing of the route off.“Mensah still ends up making a throw, and Barkate makes a sick adjustment to it. I mean, came all the way back, dove, hands catch. Awesome, awesome catch from him. That was, to me, one of the catches of the day.”
Peter Ariz: “Then later on, Barkate beat Xavier Lucas for a touchdown in goal-line work. That was a nice throw by Luke Nickel, over the top, over the shoulder. Then the last rep of the day, Jaelen Waters had pass interference on Barkate on a fade that probably would have been a touchdown catch there. So today, to me, was probably his best day of practice.
“That’s what the work does. You’re up against these elite corners, as close to elite as you’re going to get in college football right now as a group, and you’re just going to continue to improve day by day. That’s what it’s all about, man. It was great to see that today from him.”
Vance Spafford
Peter Ariz: “Vance Spafford had a nice contested catch touchdown on Ryan Mack. It was a slot fade. He also had another one up the seam. I couldn’t see who it was in coverage, but if there was a safety over the top, maybe the safety’s there for a tackle and compresses it a little bit. Still, he beat his guy in the slot and got up the seam for a touchdown. So he had a couple touchdowns today. Looked good there.”Israel Briggs
Peter Ariz: “On the same route on the other side that Spafford had that contested catch on, Israel Briggs had a really, really nice catch. Created some separation on the move. Nice ball over the top. I think it might have been from Luke Nickel. Luke had a couple good throws today from the seven-on-seven portion at least.”Zechariah Poyser and O.J. Frederique
Peter Ariz: “Luke also did have an interception on an underneath route. It was like a slant or a five-yard in. Spafford was the wide receiver and Zechariah Poyser undercut it, made a nice play. It was probably a little bit behind Spafford, but I give all the credit in the world to Poyser for making that play.”Peter Ariz: “O.J. Frederique had a really nice pass breakup on Barkate in the end zone. O.J. was in position. His head wasn’t turned around, so he had both of his hands up with his back to him. It was kind of like the rep I talked about the other day with Bryce Fitzgerald and Malachi Toney, where Fitzgerald had a good pass breakup. O.J. had some nice work.”
Daylyn Upshaw
Peter Ariz: “Daylyn Upshaw beat O.J. for a touchdown in goal-line work. Quick slant.”O.J. Frederique Perspective
Peter Ariz: “People are asking, is O.J. regressing? No, man. I talked about three other plays here that O.J. had big plays on. That’s just how this stuff goes. Daylyn Upshaw beat him on a quick slant in goal-line work, but if O.J. had won that rep, what are we going to say? Do the receivers stink? That’s battles for you. That’s practice. Good against good in practice.“O.J. had a really nice coverage rep on Barkate in the end zone today. He had a play two days ago that I’m telling you, he was outstanding on. O.J.’s going to be a top-three-round pick when it’s all said and done here. He’s looking good.”
