Former Hurricanes wide receiver Ahmmon Richards and I traded names on today's show, guys who have taken a real step this season, and almost every one of them is somebody who waited.
Now he's at left tackle, where people expected him to be all along, and at Clemson he was pancaking people and finishing with some anger. He got his degree in about two and a half years and kept working on his craft with the best offensive line coach in America. Now he's a premium player at one of the most valuable positions in sports.
Ahmmon remembers the five-star ranking, the Pancake Honcho nickname, the commercials, and the trolling that came with all of it.
"He never fought against it," he said. "He just leaned into the work, got better, waited his turn, played guard." Now he's hearing first-round buzz. "I did not have that on my bingo card at all."
Keep that in mind before you bury Jackson Cantwell. If you saw Samson at tackle in the early days, he was really struggling.
Ahmmon went straight to Cooper Barkate's touchdown at Clemson, where Rodriguez wiped out the corner. He also mauled a guy into the back of the end zone on a Mark Fletcher Jr. score at the goal line. And the communication has grown. Clemson showed a lot of pressure and a lot of mug looks, and he had the answers.
"He's communicating a lot better than from week one to now," Ahmmon said.
This was supposed to happen sooner. He started against Florida with Cam Ward, got hurt early and basically missed the rest of that year. He's in his sixth year at Miami.
And I'll say what I always say: there has never been a Miami national championship team without a Columbus offensive lineman starting.
It was clear he was hurt last year, he wasn't physical. This has been an extremely physical player going back to Bishop Gorman. When he started falling off blocks, that told me everything.
Now he's leaner, healthier, and one of the more physical players on the team on every film you turn on.
Clemson was a master class: The block on the goal line, the blocks in space, coming down on a defensive tackle and knocking him over and then running people over with the ball in his hands.
In a perfect world he'd have a 6-foot-5 veteran tight end on the field with him so he could do what he does best. Going forward, I want us to use him more like a running back. Hand it to him, throw him the short stuff; put 245-plus pounds in space against defensive backs and let him wear a team down.
Ahmmon thinks he was open more than people realize.
"He's not even really trying to run someone over," he said. "He's just running forward and everyone's just bouncing off of him."
One example. On the Darian Mensah incompletion that got looked at as a possible fumble, Lofton was wide open over the middle. Same look as the touchdown Carson Beck threw him against Virginia Tech.
Mensah has already said he needs to get him the ball more, and Shannon Dawson has a bye week to cook something up.
The plays are easy to miss: Two-yard stuffs and three-yard stuffs on early downs. That's why offenses keep ending up in obvious passing situations against us.
Clemson tried quarterback draws, counters, inside zone, direct snaps. None of it worked.
The tackling is cleaner, too. Against Wake Forest he went too high on a fourth down, whiffed and gave up the conversion. Clemson threw a similar screen and he wrapped up for a two-yard gain.
But his best ability is the enforcer role he plays, Ahmmon noticed two Clemson players who went quiet after Toure got to them.
"If I'm a receiver and I see Mohamed Toure hit my teammate like that, when I go across the middle, I'm going to be looking twice too."
Chase Smith belongs in this conversation; linebacker is not a weakness on the No. 1 run defense in the country.
On Clemson's fake, the one where the quarterback did the bad acting job walking off before the direct snap, both of our linebackers were already pointing at the running back.
He was banged up through the summer and camp; now the change of direction is back, and the motor was always there.
The sack at Clemson, where he leapt over the pile and smashed Tait Reynolds, reminded me of Mesidor. He's not winning early with pure pass rush yet. He's winning late with effort.
"I was wrong," Ahmmon said. "I did not know he was going to turn the corner this early as a sophomore."
What tipped him off was Scroggins being named a captain. "Shoot, I wasn't even a captain."
"He didn't get on social media and make excuses," Ahmmon said. "He just got in the lab, got bigger, stronger, faster."
He wasn't running with the ones much in camp. Then Xavier Lucas went down, Damari Brown got banged up, OJ Frederique was out, and O'Connor has been one of the bright spots in that secondary. Ahmmon says he added about 20 pounds and the weight shows up.
We saw some of the physicality last year when he suplexed Brandon Inniss. Now he's a plus tackler who is hard to block, on top of being a cover guy. That's a complete player.
At Clemson it wasn't just the speed and the bend. He showed power, knocking linemen back into the quarterback. With all the linemen who could leave after this year, he's one you keep and build around.
Ahmmon had a confession. Early in the game, on a third-and-long scramble, he was yelling at the TV about No. 33.
Then he watched it again without the emotion: Pickett was about half a second away from two sacks, and he was beating guards when he lined up inside. He was also the one who buried Reynolds on the deep ball down the sideline that Ryan Mack broke up.
"He was all over that field."
"If you would have told me he would have just transitioned during the season and played at this type of level, I would have called you crazy," Ahmmon said. He counted one underneath completion on the sideline and one ticky-tack pass interference call. That's about it.
So what is he?
Size is a plus at corner and average at safety. Speed is good for a corner and great for a safety. We haven't seen the ball skills at corner yet, but we know he has them. I think corner might be his long-term home, with a move back to safety on third-and-12.
Ahmmon leans the other way for the NFL because of how Fitzgerald moves in space on the back end. For now he can see him sliding to nickel or back to free safety once the corners get healthy.
Either way he's one of the smartest players on the team, so put him wherever you need him.
At St. Thomas Aquinas he was the top cover corner on a team that had OJ Frederique, who was more of a receiver, returner and athlete back then. He covered Cam Coleman at the Under Armour game, then he got to Miami and couldn't stay healthy.
He's a natural cover guy with great feet and ball skills. He started at nickel, moved outside when the injuries hit, and that's where he's most comfortable. You saw the breakup on Bryant Wesco Jr.
"I jumped up off my seat," Ahmmon said. "I said, oh, we got another corner out there."
Mack gave us quality snaps on the road against a first-round-caliber receiver. Remember how thin we got at corner in last year's playoff.
Day comes from the same 2024 class.
He had a really good day at Clemson and he's a great special teams player. He's always reminded me of Sheldrick Redwine, a great college safety who went in the fourth round. He's going to play more and more.
This is what development looks like. It's culture, it's players and their families sticking to the script and getting better.
Most of the guys on this list balled at Clemson, which is why they're on it, and that was my favorite part of the game. It's a good trend to carry into a bye week.
Watch the full stream below and subscribe to CanesInsight on YouTube for daily live shows.
Samson Okunlola, LT
He didn't play as a freshman in 2023. He didn't really play in 2024. Last year he rotated at guard, helped us get to the playoff and was great against teams like Ohio State. I figured he found his spot.Now he's at left tackle, where people expected him to be all along, and at Clemson he was pancaking people and finishing with some anger. He got his degree in about two and a half years and kept working on his craft with the best offensive line coach in America. Now he's a premium player at one of the most valuable positions in sports.
Ahmmon remembers the five-star ranking, the Pancake Honcho nickname, the commercials, and the trolling that came with all of it.
"He never fought against it," he said. "He just leaned into the work, got better, waited his turn, played guard." Now he's hearing first-round buzz. "I did not have that on my bingo card at all."
Keep that in mind before you bury Jackson Cantwell. If you saw Samson at tackle in the early days, he was really struggling.
Ryan Rodriguez, C
We've gone to the portal for our center for years, and people kept asking when we'd have our own guy. Here he is.Ahmmon went straight to Cooper Barkate's touchdown at Clemson, where Rodriguez wiped out the corner. He also mauled a guy into the back of the end zone on a Mark Fletcher Jr. score at the goal line. And the communication has grown. Clemson showed a lot of pressure and a lot of mug looks, and he had the answers.
"He's communicating a lot better than from week one to now," Ahmmon said.
This was supposed to happen sooner. He started against Florida with Cam Ward, got hurt early and basically missed the rest of that year. He's in his sixth year at Miami.
And I'll say what I always say: there has never been a Miami national championship team without a Columbus offensive lineman starting.
Elija Lofton, TE
You knew this pick was coming.It was clear he was hurt last year, he wasn't physical. This has been an extremely physical player going back to Bishop Gorman. When he started falling off blocks, that told me everything.
Now he's leaner, healthier, and one of the more physical players on the team on every film you turn on.
Clemson was a master class: The block on the goal line, the blocks in space, coming down on a defensive tackle and knocking him over and then running people over with the ball in his hands.
In a perfect world he'd have a 6-foot-5 veteran tight end on the field with him so he could do what he does best. Going forward, I want us to use him more like a running back. Hand it to him, throw him the short stuff; put 245-plus pounds in space against defensive backs and let him wear a team down.
Ahmmon thinks he was open more than people realize.
"He's not even really trying to run someone over," he said. "He's just running forward and everyone's just bouncing off of him."
One example. On the Darian Mensah incompletion that got looked at as a possible fumble, Lofton was wide open over the middle. Same look as the touchdown Carson Beck threw him against Virginia Tech.
Mensah has already said he needs to get him the ball more, and Shannon Dawson has a bye week to cook something up.
Mohamed Toure, LB
"It feels like a night and day player from last year," Ahmmon said, and he traces it back to the playoff run.The plays are easy to miss: Two-yard stuffs and three-yard stuffs on early downs. That's why offenses keep ending up in obvious passing situations against us.
Clemson tried quarterback draws, counters, inside zone, direct snaps. None of it worked.
The tackling is cleaner, too. Against Wake Forest he went too high on a fourth down, whiffed and gave up the conversion. Clemson threw a similar screen and he wrapped up for a two-yard gain.
But his best ability is the enforcer role he plays, Ahmmon noticed two Clemson players who went quiet after Toure got to them.
"If I'm a receiver and I see Mohamed Toure hit my teammate like that, when I go across the middle, I'm going to be looking twice too."
Chase Smith belongs in this conversation; linebacker is not a weakness on the No. 1 run defense in the country.
On Clemson's fake, the one where the quarterback did the bad acting job walking off before the direct snap, both of our linebackers were already pointing at the running back.
Third Scroggins, DE
Everywhere Akheem Mesidor went last year, Scroggins was right behind him. He studied the whole process, even the swimming and the other unconventional stuff.He was banged up through the summer and camp; now the change of direction is back, and the motor was always there.
The sack at Clemson, where he leapt over the pile and smashed Tait Reynolds, reminded me of Mesidor. He's not winning early with pure pass rush yet. He's winning late with effort.
"I was wrong," Ahmmon said. "I did not know he was going to turn the corner this early as a sophomore."
What tipped him off was Scroggins being named a captain. "Shoot, I wasn't even a captain."
Ethan O'Connor, CB
He was steady all last year in a rotation, and then two plays against Charlie Becker in the national championship game became his entire offseason."He didn't get on social media and make excuses," Ahmmon said. "He just got in the lab, got bigger, stronger, faster."
He wasn't running with the ones much in camp. Then Xavier Lucas went down, Damari Brown got banged up, OJ Frederique was out, and O'Connor has been one of the bright spots in that secondary. Ahmmon says he added about 20 pounds and the weight shows up.
We saw some of the physicality last year when he suplexed Brandon Inniss. Now he's a plus tackler who is hard to block, on top of being a cover guy. That's a complete player.
Booker Pickett Jr., DE
Miami legacy who every time he plays, even in garbage time, he gets to the quarterback.At Clemson it wasn't just the speed and the bend. He showed power, knocking linemen back into the quarterback. With all the linemen who could leave after this year, he's one you keep and build around.
Ahmmon had a confession. Early in the game, on a third-and-long scramble, he was yelling at the TV about No. 33.
Then he watched it again without the emotion: Pickett was about half a second away from two sacks, and he was beating guards when he lined up inside. He was also the one who buried Reynolds on the deep ball down the sideline that Ryan Mack broke up.
"He was all over that field."
Bryce Fitzgerald, DB
A Freshman All-American free safety moved to corner during the season, and he still looks elite."If you would have told me he would have just transitioned during the season and played at this type of level, I would have called you crazy," Ahmmon said. He counted one underneath completion on the sideline and one ticky-tack pass interference call. That's about it.
So what is he?
Size is a plus at corner and average at safety. Speed is good for a corner and great for a safety. We haven't seen the ball skills at corner yet, but we know he has them. I think corner might be his long-term home, with a move back to safety on third-and-12.
Ahmmon leans the other way for the NFL because of how Fitzgerald moves in space on the back end. For now he can see him sliding to nickel or back to free safety once the corners get healthy.
Either way he's one of the smartest players on the team, so put him wherever you need him.
Ryan Mack and Dylan Day, DB
Mack is the son of former Cane Rod Mack, who coached a lot of these guys with the Miami Gardens Ravens.At St. Thomas Aquinas he was the top cover corner on a team that had OJ Frederique, who was more of a receiver, returner and athlete back then. He covered Cam Coleman at the Under Armour game, then he got to Miami and couldn't stay healthy.
He's a natural cover guy with great feet and ball skills. He started at nickel, moved outside when the injuries hit, and that's where he's most comfortable. You saw the breakup on Bryant Wesco Jr.
"I jumped up off my seat," Ahmmon said. "I said, oh, we got another corner out there."
Mack gave us quality snaps on the road against a first-round-caliber receiver. Remember how thin we got at corner in last year's playoff.
Day comes from the same 2024 class.
He had a really good day at Clemson and he's a great special teams player. He's always reminded me of Sheldrick Redwine, a great college safety who went in the fourth round. He's going to play more and more.
This is what development looks like. It's culture, it's players and their families sticking to the script and getting better.
Most of the guys on this list balled at Clemson, which is why they're on it, and that was my favorite part of the game. It's a good trend to carry into a bye week.
Watch the full stream below and subscribe to CanesInsight on YouTube for daily live shows.
