There's no such thing as a homegrown team anymore. At least not a good one. All offseason, the media hyped up Florida and Clemson. Nobody seemed to care that their Portal classes ranked below Sacramento State. They were going to fix their problems by "developing their own guys." We saw how that turned out.
The big winners on Saturday all invested in the Portal. Texas Tech spent millions to build a defensive line from scratch. Indiana followed up a dream season by splurging on upgrades. Missouri leveled up with a dynamic backfield combo and Georgia's best pass-rusher. All of them won big.
The Canes are twice the team as the Gators because they use both talent pools. Twelve of our starters came from the Portal- Beck, Daniels, Marion, Brockermeyer, Bauman, Blay, Mesidor, Toure, Thomas, Poyser, Lucas and Scott. The other ten are high school recruits. Of those ten, six came from South Florida (Fletcher, Toney, Bain, Moten, Bissainthe, Frederique). The remaining four are giant offensive linemen from all over the country. This is a sustainable formula.
Mario and Napier were hired the same week. They waged fierce recruiting battles from Day One. Even the collectives got into it.
Four years later, the results speak for themselves. The University of Florida football program is dead and buried. Unless we play in the Callahan Auto Parts Bowl, we won't be seeing them for a while. Josh Pate compared this game to Butterbean v. Bart Gunn at Wrestlemania 15. I wish I thought of that first.
The 26-7 bludgeoning capped it off, but the whole weekend was a huge win for the program. Gameday looked incredible on TV, the stadium was packed and loud, and the national perception of Miami has shifted completely. We are a real program again.
Here are some position-by-position thoughts on the game:
QB
Carson Beck didn't play well. His passes lacked juice, and his ball placement was off. I think the weather had an impact. Beck doesn't have huge hands to grip and rip a wet football. But he did enough to move his record to 28-3. I expect him to come out of the bye week smoking against Florida State.
RB
Mark Fletcher had 116 yards and it felt like a normal day. Four games in, he's one of the best backs in the country. Marty Brown made the two biggest plays of the game- one that counted (one-handed catch) and another that the refs missed. Miami ran for 189 yards against the best defense left on its schedule. It should have been even more. Jordan Lyle will give this group a jolt when he returns after the bye.
TE
Elija Lofton finally got going with four catches and a hurdle. Coach Cristobal talked about Lofton on the WQAM postgame and sounded bullish on his recovery. He's still not the player we saw in practice, but he has two weeks to heal. Alex Bauman had some rough moments. Like Beck, he missed spring and his timing just seems off. This is a good week for him to to settle down. We need more production from this position.
WR
The receivers had a quiet day. The high point was whooping the Gators as blockers. Miami needs some of its more explosive players like JoJo Trader, Lyle and Lofton to get healthy to take this offense to a new level.
OL
This remains the best unit in America. It's hard to believe that some "experts" ranked the Gators OL over Miami's in the offseason. They weren't even playing the same sport on Saturday. Markel Bell, in particular, was dominant. I thought he was only OK against Notre Dame, but he was on another level versus the Gators. He treated Tyreak Sapp like a child. James Brockermeyer has a couple weeks to clean up the snaps.
DL
This team plays with maniacal effort, and its two best defensive players (Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor) set the tone. Everybody tries to match their energy, and that results in a lot of car crashes. Mesidor made an incredible play on an end-around to Tre Wilson that showcased his agility and motor. He's a high school linebacker and plays with that kind of awareness and change of direction. Marquise Lightfoot is matching their energy and moves like a safety. There aren't many five-star defensive ends flying down on kickoff. The defensive tackles continue to be rock-solid, with Ahmad Moten coming on strong.
LB
This group doesn't get enough hype. They're long, they're heavy, they run well, they knock back, they have instincts and they're old. Jeremiah Love averaged 126 yards against Texas A&M and Purdue but only got 33 against Miami. Jaden Baugh ran for 46 yards on 3.8 yards per carry. It's been a complete transformation since the lows of the late Manny era.
DB
The safeties stood out on Saturday. Jakobe Thomas is exactly what we needed on defense. Like Bain and Mesidor on the defensive line, Thomas sets the tone on the back end. He's also been a sound tackler. Zechariah Poyser followed his lead and threw his body around with abandon. Keionte Scott is an Energizer Bunny in the slot. The corner group still hasn't been tested, but they're playing physical. I think Florida avoided the horizontal passing game (which could’ve helped their struggling QB) because our corners would have eaten their wide receivers alive.
K
Carter Davis is an example of the staff's success evaluating in the Portal. There can be projection with older players, too. Davis has a special boot and he is becoming a better kicker every day.
Overall, the four weeks have gone as well as possible. it's a long season and there will be adversity. Time to heal up, study up on Malzahn and get ready to win a state title.
The big winners on Saturday all invested in the Portal. Texas Tech spent millions to build a defensive line from scratch. Indiana followed up a dream season by splurging on upgrades. Missouri leveled up with a dynamic backfield combo and Georgia's best pass-rusher. All of them won big.
The Canes are twice the team as the Gators because they use both talent pools. Twelve of our starters came from the Portal- Beck, Daniels, Marion, Brockermeyer, Bauman, Blay, Mesidor, Toure, Thomas, Poyser, Lucas and Scott. The other ten are high school recruits. Of those ten, six came from South Florida (Fletcher, Toney, Bain, Moten, Bissainthe, Frederique). The remaining four are giant offensive linemen from all over the country. This is a sustainable formula.
Mario and Napier were hired the same week. They waged fierce recruiting battles from Day One. Even the collectives got into it.
Four years later, the results speak for themselves. The University of Florida football program is dead and buried. Unless we play in the Callahan Auto Parts Bowl, we won't be seeing them for a while. Josh Pate compared this game to Butterbean v. Bart Gunn at Wrestlemania 15. I wish I thought of that first.
The 26-7 bludgeoning capped it off, but the whole weekend was a huge win for the program. Gameday looked incredible on TV, the stadium was packed and loud, and the national perception of Miami has shifted completely. We are a real program again.
Here are some position-by-position thoughts on the game:
QB
Carson Beck didn't play well. His passes lacked juice, and his ball placement was off. I think the weather had an impact. Beck doesn't have huge hands to grip and rip a wet football. But he did enough to move his record to 28-3. I expect him to come out of the bye week smoking against Florida State.
RB
Mark Fletcher had 116 yards and it felt like a normal day. Four games in, he's one of the best backs in the country. Marty Brown made the two biggest plays of the game- one that counted (one-handed catch) and another that the refs missed. Miami ran for 189 yards against the best defense left on its schedule. It should have been even more. Jordan Lyle will give this group a jolt when he returns after the bye.
TE
Elija Lofton finally got going with four catches and a hurdle. Coach Cristobal talked about Lofton on the WQAM postgame and sounded bullish on his recovery. He's still not the player we saw in practice, but he has two weeks to heal. Alex Bauman had some rough moments. Like Beck, he missed spring and his timing just seems off. This is a good week for him to to settle down. We need more production from this position.
WR
The receivers had a quiet day. The high point was whooping the Gators as blockers. Miami needs some of its more explosive players like JoJo Trader, Lyle and Lofton to get healthy to take this offense to a new level.
OL
This remains the best unit in America. It's hard to believe that some "experts" ranked the Gators OL over Miami's in the offseason. They weren't even playing the same sport on Saturday. Markel Bell, in particular, was dominant. I thought he was only OK against Notre Dame, but he was on another level versus the Gators. He treated Tyreak Sapp like a child. James Brockermeyer has a couple weeks to clean up the snaps.
DL
This team plays with maniacal effort, and its two best defensive players (Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor) set the tone. Everybody tries to match their energy, and that results in a lot of car crashes. Mesidor made an incredible play on an end-around to Tre Wilson that showcased his agility and motor. He's a high school linebacker and plays with that kind of awareness and change of direction. Marquise Lightfoot is matching their energy and moves like a safety. There aren't many five-star defensive ends flying down on kickoff. The defensive tackles continue to be rock-solid, with Ahmad Moten coming on strong.
LB
This group doesn't get enough hype. They're long, they're heavy, they run well, they knock back, they have instincts and they're old. Jeremiah Love averaged 126 yards against Texas A&M and Purdue but only got 33 against Miami. Jaden Baugh ran for 46 yards on 3.8 yards per carry. It's been a complete transformation since the lows of the late Manny era.
DB
The safeties stood out on Saturday. Jakobe Thomas is exactly what we needed on defense. Like Bain and Mesidor on the defensive line, Thomas sets the tone on the back end. He's also been a sound tackler. Zechariah Poyser followed his lead and threw his body around with abandon. Keionte Scott is an Energizer Bunny in the slot. The corner group still hasn't been tested, but they're playing physical. I think Florida avoided the horizontal passing game (which could’ve helped their struggling QB) because our corners would have eaten their wide receivers alive.
K
Carter Davis is an example of the staff's success evaluating in the Portal. There can be projection with older players, too. Davis has a special boot and he is becoming a better kicker every day.
Overall, the four weeks have gone as well as possible. it's a long season and there will be adversity. Time to heal up, study up on Malzahn and get ready to win a state title.
