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Grading our 2025 Portal Haul

Gocanes1990 said:
This is so generous. Lmao. I’d say b-. DB room impressive, even with Haulcy miss.
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How is it generous? #3 portal class with a great average per recruit. Sure it would've been great to get Singleton or a similar WR in the winter but other than that what can you really complain about? We lost 0 impact players like most of the other teams in the country and that's being extremely overlooked.
 
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I agree with you, OP. I said B+ before I even read your post.

The talent acquisition was not as even across all position groups as I would have liked, but that is almost impossible to achieve.

At the end of the day, you can’t land the #3 portal class and it be any less than a B even if you want to be a tough critic.

I will say that the WR and LB additions will look a whole lot better depending on how the young roster talent in those rooms performs.
 
The spin from a lot on this board has gone from “we’ll address it in the portal” to “we have the young guys on the roster and they’re ready now”.

Do you guys think that Mario and co. Would have gone after DB, S, LB, WR with the intensity they did if they trusted the current guys in the room? Plenty on this board like to doubt him (myself included, it’s warranted), but he’s not stupid. He knows what a balanced and talented roster looks like having been at Bama and Oregon.

There’s just too much hope and stock put into developing what we have. A lot of extremely unproven and questionable bodies at key positions that people are simply saying will match or exceed the production we had last season. I can’t justify saying this team will go 10-2 with confidence, and I was very high on last year’s team. I was saying 10-2 from the get-go because we had an elite QB, balanced weapons, a very good OL, a good RB room, and solid DL.

I think we’ll see the ramifications of that week 1 against an experienced and physical ND team. Everyone putting UF in their top 15, they will be much improved from last season (although in my power rankings, I have them closer to the 20-22 range).

I’m expecting to go 1-1 in those two big early games. If we go 0-2; it’s not like the season is necessarily over - but it does mean this team is further off than anyone thinks they are in terms of challenging for a deep run in the playoffs.

Vegas is catching on too if you haven’t noticed…this to me seems like a 9-3 team. Ceiling 10-2, floor 7-5 (disastrous things would have to happen in this trash of a conference that is the ACC).

Make the ACCCG or Get out. It’s Year 4, enough is enough. You can say how much he’s had to rebuild the program from his predecessors or that he’s made the roster so much better via recruiting, that’s fine.

But if you can’t make the ACCCG in a conference that’s gotten weaker overall since he started coaching here…are you really better than your predecessors?

The time is now.
 
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Personally not happy with WR or LB. No difference makers added. TE is ok. Love the Blay add at DT (wish we could get 1 more like him). Chemar was decent late depth add at rb. And amazing job landing Beck and turning over the talent in the db room albeit losing Haulcy late does sting as that was a cherry on top if we got him.
 
Braduhley said:
How is it generous? #3 portal class with a great average per recruit. Sure it would've been great to get Singleton or a similar WR in the winter but other than that what can you really complain about? We lost 0 impact players like most of the other teams in the country and that's being extremely overlooked.
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Here’s my benchmark did we move ourselves meaningfully closer to Winning the conference given the sizable budget we have. The answer to that is not really (see Vegas odds). My logic below…

We made the splash at QB1, credit to the staff. without a true WR1, that addition is less impactful.

We also had a massive need at DT, missed on 3/4 guys we wanted and may or may not have encouraged to enter…

LB had a lot of talent moving around in winter, we took no one. Huge mistake

So what happens in my analysis before we play a single game so TIFIW (no much)… But we look one dimensional. Run heavy and perhaps lacking in run defense. Tough to win a conf title like that
 
Rey Rey Armweak said:
TE room last year was 4 deep with Arroyo, Riley, Lofton, Cam. This year we have Lofton, Bauman, and no one else we're certain we can trust. I think Riley has a higher ceiling than Bauman but agree that Bauman is a good piece. Regardless, I don't think TE will be our downfall.

Very fair point on DL - retention job there was elite.
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AT te just how you had Lofton you have Schott in this years class.

Swap out Mccormick for Luke Nickel's brother.

The te room is very similar to last years group. **** we probably have better bloking as Riley Williams as big as he is wasnta ctually that good at that. Which is why he left because he doesnt want to do that he wanted ot be a receiving threat.

We will see if Lofton can provide some of what Arroyo did. We only lose 1 te after this year as well. Young room
 
RightSaidFred said:
Wasn’t close to good enough. Top to bottom this looks like an 8 win team to me, a step back from last year.

This team will be able to maul on offense but we don’t have any skill position playmakers at all. You hope Jojo Trader but I think he caught like five passes last season.

The lack of explosive playmaking will bite us in the *** this year, so will missing on safety, nickel and linebacker.

Good in the trenches, good at QB, mediocre elsewhere. 8 wins.

I don’t like the trajectory of this program since about October last year. Finished the season with a whimper as usual, had a **** poor high school recruiting class, had a decent Winter portal but not enough to make up for the talent we lost off the 24 team, and completely face planted in the Spring portal.

We obviously aren’t spending what we need to spend or something but something is definitely off
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Aren’t spending what we need to spend or something . . . What? It’s decades since Miami competed with the big boys for talent. How it’s translated is another question, but the last 2-3 years Miami has been competitive in HS recruiting as well as portal. Most of college football is *****ing cause we’re “big spenders.”
 
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Gocanes1990 said:
Here’s my benchmark did we move ourselves meaningfully closer to Winning the conference given the sizable budget we have. The answer to that is not really (see Vegas odds). My logic below…

We made the splash at QB1, credit to the staff. without a true WR1, that addition is less impactful.

We also had a massive need at DT, missed on 3/4 guys we wanted and may or may not have encouraged to enter…

LB had a lot of talent moving around in winter, we took no one. Huge mistake

So what happens in my analysis before we play a single game so TIFIW (no much)… But we look one dimensional. Run heavy and perhaps lacking in run defense. Tough to win a conf title like that
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We got a top 5 DT in the portal with Blay lol. Did people actually think we'd get an impactful DT to just sit the bench for most of the year as DT4?
 
Gocanes1990 said:
You’ll be in my thoughts on 3rd and short.
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Who was our DT4 last year? Anthony Campbell or Marley Cook? Campbell only appeared in 8 games and had 1 tackle. Marley Cook with only 9 tackles. So again, it's extremely hard to attract a meaningful DT to come be your 4th guy
 
Gocanes1990 said:
Here’s my benchmark did we move ourselves meaningfully closer to Winning the conference given the sizable budget we have. The answer to that is not really (see Vegas odds). My logic below…

We made the splash at QB1, credit to the staff. without a true WR1, that addition is less impactful.

We also had a massive need at DT, missed on 3/4 guys we wanted and may or may not have encouraged to enter…

LB had a lot of talent moving around in winter, we took no one. Huge mistake

So what happens in my analysis before we play a single game so TIFIW (no much)… But we look one dimensional. Run heavy and perhaps lacking in run defense. Tough to win a conf title like that
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Uh under no circumstances is adding a legit QB1 all that less impactful without adding a WR1, unless you’re saying like it would be an A/A+ at that position, but instead is an A-. I mean that’s reasonable, but then are you going to say our WR additions get a relative bump BECAUSE we added a top portal QB? I mean why doesn’t it go both ways?

Massive need at DT…and we added a top 5 DT in portal. So I mean at the end of the day the overall portal grade at that spot can’t be all that horrible lol.
 
I’m not convinced that we added enough offense fire power to overcome what is going to be a significant decrease in offensive production. Our defense is not going to be Top 10 good to overcome the regression, either. I think Beck is probably better than I give him credit for and our secondary looks improved. The center is a good take. The rest is mid or unproven and we don’t have the staff to get the jumps yall want from the young guys. At least that hasn’t been proven yet.
 
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Gocanes1990 said:
Here’s my benchmark did we move ourselves meaningfully closer to Winning the conference given the sizable budget we have. The answer to that is not really (see Vegas odds). My logic below…

We made the splash at QB1, credit to the staff. without a true WR1, that addition is less impactful.

We also had a massive need at DT, missed on 3/4 guys we wanted and may or may not have encouraged to enter…

LB had a lot of talent moving around in winter, we took no one. Huge mistake

So what happens in my analysis before we play a single game so TIFIW (no much)… But we look one dimensional. Run heavy and perhaps lacking in run defense. Tough to win a conf title like that
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Just because we didn't get Smith or Williams to bite in the portal means we're going to be run heavy?

Dawson came out and threw the ball early on the road against FSU with a true freshman 3-star kid at QB. He threw the ball 34 times against Clemson with the same kid.

Are we gonna throw it 38 times a game again this year, like we did last? Not likely. That mark was 15th most in the country (Imagine telling this board a year ago Mario Cristobal would have a team ranked Top 15 in pass attempts per game, but that's another story). But I wouldn't say the team will be run heavy. We didn't bring Carson Beck here and put him behind one of the best pass blocking lines in America to have him throw the ball 27 times a game.
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
Just because we didn't get Smith or Williams to bite in the portal means we're going to be run heavy?

Dawson came out and threw the ball early on the road against FSU with a true freshman 3-star kid at QB. He threw the ball 34 times against Clemson with the same kid.

Are we gonna throw it 38 times a game again this year, like we did last? Not likely. That mark was 15th most in the country (Imagine telling this board a year ago Mario Cristobal would have a team ranked Top 15 in pass attempts per game, but that's another story). But I wouldn't say the team will be run heavy. We didn't bring Carson Beck here and put him behind one of the best pass blocking lines in America to have him throw the ball 27 times a game.
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Our QB room was a complete disaster in 2023, yet we still throw the ball a lot and our WRs still put up numbers. Dawsons scheme is very generous to WRs, and I think there is talent in that room. We will be a more balanced team in 2025, but that isn’t a bad thing. At the end of the day, we will still be one of the best offenses in the country. I don’t understand why everyone is freaking out
 
TriStarCane said:
I’m not convinced that we added enough offense fire power to overcome what is going to be a significant decrease in offensive production. Our defense is not going to be Top 10 good to overcome the regression, either. I think Beck is probably better than I give him credit for and our secondary looks improved. The center is a good take. The rest is mid or unproven and we don’t have the staff to get the jumps yall want from the young guys. At least that hasn’t been proven yet.
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Defense doesn't need to be Top 10. Here are the offensive and defensive ranks of the playoff teams last year, in yards per play for and against, which I think is the best predictive metric. This is only for P4 vs P4 games, so I even got rid of all the G5 teams:

Ohio State -- #9 offense, #3 defense
Notre Dame -- #23 offense, #8 defense
Texas -- #33 offense, #6 defense
Penn State -- #14 offense, #5 defense
Clemson -- #42 offense, #39 defense
Boise State -- #31 offense, #55 defense
Indiana -- #20 offense, #2 defense
SMU -- #27 offense, #9 defense
UGA -- #41 offense, #27 offense
Arizona State -- #19 offense, #38 offense
Tennessee -- #57 offense, #15 defense
Oregon -- #10 offense, #27 defense

Miami, by the way, had #48 defense, and #1 offense. And you see how that ended up.

So even with the assumed offensive regression, is there not enough talent to finish around 15th? We were 34th in 2023, with ******* TVD. We can regress by a full yard per play and still be around 20th.

You can be a REALLY good football team with one side of the ball ranked around 15th and the other side around 30th. UGA, Arizona State, Tennessee, Clemson all made the playoff without a Top 10 ranked side. The reason is they may not have been elite on one side of the ball, but they were balanced. Unlike Miami.

Yes, to win a natty, you probably need Ohio State, ND, Penn State type numbers. A top 10 side, and Top 20 side. That's the elite of the elite. To win the league and make the playoff, we need the defense to be about Top 30 because I don't think the offense is going to completely fall off a cliff with Carson Beck and this line. And Year 3 in the scheme for most of the kids.
 
Calinative said:
Uh under no circumstances is adding a legit QB1 all that less impactful without adding a WR1, unless you’re saying like it would be an A/A+ at that position, but instead is an A-. I mean that’s reasonable, but then are you going to say our WR additions get a relative bump BECAUSE we added a top portal QB? I mean why doesn’t it go both ways?

Massive need at DT…and we added a top 5 DT in portal. So I mean at the end of the day the overall portal grade at that spot can’t be all that horrible lol.
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I had similar thought. An elite QB can make average WRs look like good ones. So, while it would be ideal to pair him with a bonafide WR1, don't think it's the end of the world not to have a true WR1, in college at least.

Issue is the QB we got struggled last year after his elite receiving threats (McConkey & Bowers) went to the NFL, and their replacements weren't elite. He's also coming off a major injury. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to get a WR1 in the portal. We really need Daniels to shine and JoJo (or some other returnee) make a huge leap. Can certainly happen, and am hoping it does.
 
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