Miami knew its safety room wasn’t championship-caliber after the departures of Kam Kinchens and James Williams to the NFL. So they went straight to the championship game to land Washington Huskies safety Mishael Powell. The 6’1, 210-pounder from Seattle (O’Dea) was a walk-on who chose Washington over offers from the Ivy League. He developed into a starting cornerback and then a starting safety, finishing the 2023 season with a team-leading 3 interceptions and a 73.9 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus. So far in spring practice, he’s used his cornerback experience to excel in a nickel role. Below are some of his thoughts after Friday’s practice:
On Cam Ward: “He's a winner, straight winner. He'll do anything he can, whether that's on his feet, whether that's with the arm. He can do whatever he can to win the game. He's a team player, he's a leader, great guy in the locker room. Everybody loves him. He’'s a competitor, too. It feels like a Super Bowl going against him every rep. He's the best quarterback in the country. If you're going against the best quarterback in the country, usually other quarterbacks won't be as hard and challenging to go against.”
On Xavier Restrepo: “I go against him every day. That's the best slot in the country. We got the best guys in a lot of positions this year. Iron sharpens iron. I know y'all saw that catch. That was crazy. Y'all were shocked. I was real shocked on that. He makes catches like that all the time, though. That's when the cameras are off, all that hard work that he does, and everything that goes into it, his faith, everything behind that is a reason why he's going to make plays like that on the field.”
On the heat: “Treating me lovely. It's great. The weather is always hot. Even when it's raining, it's some type of heat. I love it. I heard the summer's pretty dangerous, but I'm looking forward to it.”
On his decision to transfer to Miami: “Great program. Coach Cristobal is a known winner. He was at Oregon. He won there. Everywhere he's been, he's won games. And he's trying to build that culture here. And that's a culture that I want to be a part of, take this thing all the way to the national championship.”
On the young DBs: “Zaquan [Patterson], Jay Harris, Markeith [Williams], Isaiah Taylor, Dylan Day. Coach Guidry is getting on them and he's making sure that he's holding them to a standard. How does film study go? How does walkthrough go? Treat everything like a game scenario at all time. So that's something that we're harping on. And they're young, but they're talented, man. I mean, I wish I was that good when I was that age. They're about, what, 17, 18 years old, and they play fast.”
Comparing Miami to Washington: “I would just say this is a great program. This is an elite program. We have a top program. We have elite coaches. You're going to do big things. I don't really compare. I came here for a reason. I'm here at University of Miami. I love Washington. It was great. But I'm here right now. So I'm just focused on that. And this is going to be an elite program. That's one thing I can tell you. We're going to be very elite this year.”
Why he walked on at Washington: “Not to brag, but I was pretty smart, so I had all the Ivy League schools. Columbia, Yale, Harvard. But University of Washington, that was a team at the time that had really good defensive backs. And that's something I felt I could compete at and play against. All that hard work got me to Miami, right here where I'm at right now.”
