- The offense was filling the air with footballs on Thursday, but the defense responded with a much better day at Saturday's scrimmage. Jacurri Brown is starting to settle into the new offense and show his talent. He made a beautiful downfield throw to a diving Ray Ray Joseph on Thursday for a huge gain. On Saturday, he rocketed a ball downfield to Isaiah Horton rolling left to evade inside pressure and finished the drive with a quick read and strike to Riley Williams. He later lobbed a perfect play action pass down the sideline to Horton which hit him in stride but was dropped. One source told me Jacurri has the most upside of any player (not just QB) in the entire program.

- On Thursday, Tyler Van Dyke hit Colby Young with a 99-yard TD in stride. Young has slimmed down and picked up speed. On Saturday, TVD connected multiple times with Xavier Restrepo, including a long TD. Those are by far the top two WRs and the most consistent players on and off the field.

- Two players who have taken huge leaps since the beginning of spring- Samson Okunlola and Nyjalik Kelly. Okunlola took a second to adjust to the competition and still needs strength, but he is growing fast and opened up multiple huge holes at the point of attack and also the second level. Kelly is living in the backfield and has developed a nasty long-arm pass rush move.

- Emory Williams has more arm strength than I thought. He made a beautiful downfield pass rolling left on Saturday, which impressed onlookers. He also hit Joseph for a corner route TD on Saturday. Joseph has had a couple good days.

- The linebacker group is starting to look more like Miami. Francisco Mauigoia is showing a well-rounded game: multiple picks and sacks, stoutness taking on blocks, instincts and speed sideline-to-sideline. He looks different than any LB we've had since the Shaq days. Wesley Bissainthe is starting to string together good practices after a slow start. He had a nice scrimmage. Bobby Washington flashes every day. When those three are together, it looks right.

- Cornerback remains a problem area. Expect Portal additions there. Davonte Brown is the best of the group with his length at the catch point.

- Kam Kinchens makes a pick every practice, including an eye-popping one-handed catch in one-on-ones on Saturday. Markeith Williams bounced back from a rough scrimmage the prior week to have an outstanding showing on Saturday, quickly diagnosing plays and flying downfield.

- Looking forward to seeing everybody at the spring game on Friday. Things I expect to see: an offense that scores more than last year's game, a much bigger offensive line, improved WR play that still is missing one player, a DT rotation decimated by injury, faster LBs and less physically impressive CBs.