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Little concerned we didn't do enough work in portal..

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gacaneaddict

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I know this sounds wild coming off an impressive road conference victory. I am looking at this through the lens of Winning ACC Title, and beating teams like Ohio State, Texas, Oregon, Indiana in playoffs to win a Natty.

I also want to clarify with the new portal window being while Miami was in a playoff run chasing a National Title it was not easy to do it, and also that there was only 1 portal window hurt IMO.

Why do I say this? Well before season started or with 1 game played we lost:

Hayden Lowe-Blunt's backup DE, and very talented player.
Luka Gilbert-our #2 TE.
Jordan Lyle-Who knows?
Jaboree Antone-Long term injury
O.J. Frederique-Long term injury
Cam Vaughn-Kicked off
Jantavius Wyman-Left team
Conrad Hussey-Kicked off team

We could have been more aggressive retaining Kinsler on OL. I think he could have helped this group. Also with so much newness, get another experienced OL with some position versatility.

I am very worried about offensive tackle depth. Who is our 3rd tackle?? I know we pursued Seaton, and we bowed out when price got too high. Can you imagine Seaton and Samson at tackles, McCoy and Buchanan/Cantwell at guards with Rodriguez at C? Whew buddy.

I think we could have signed another bigger bodied DE with experience. We could use another LB with experience and talent. I know we were interested in Biles, but price was high, and he went to Texas.

I think we could have grabbed another TE with experience.

I am little worried the depth on this team is lacking enough in certain spots if injuries hit could cost Miami.

The only contenders that took less portal players than Miami was Notre Dame and UGA.

Maybe I am overreacting to the Frederique news, maybe.

First world problems I know.
 
gacaneaddict said:
I know this sounds wild coming off an impressive road conference victory. I am looking at this through the lens of Winning ACC Title, and beating teams like Ohio State, Texas, Oregon, Indiana in playoffs to win a Natty.

I also want to clarify with the new portal window being while Miami was in a playoff run chasing a National Title it was not easy to do it, and also that there was only 1 portal window hurt IMO.

Why do I say this? Well before season started or with 1 game played we lost:

Hayden Lowe-Blunt's backup DE, and very talented player.
Luka Gilbert-our #2 TE.
Jordan Lyle-Who knows?
Jaboree Antone-Long term injury
O.J. Frederique-Long term injury
Cam Vaughn-Kicked off
Jantavius Wyman-Left team
Conrad Hussey-Kicked off team

We could have been more aggressive retaining Kinsler on OL. I think he could have helped this group. Also with so much newness, get another experienced OL with some position versatility.

I am very worried about offensive tackle depth. Who is our 3rd tackle?? I know we pursued Seaton, and we bowed out when price got too high. Can you imagine Seaton and Samson at tackles, McCoy and Buchanan/Cantwell at guards with Rodriguez at C? Whew buddy.

I think we could have signed another bigger bodied DE with experience. We could use another LB with experience and talent. I know we were interested in Biles, but price was high, and he went to Texas.

I think we could have grabbed another TE with experience.

I am little worried the depth on this team is lacking enough in certain spots if injuries hit could cost Miami.

The only contenders that took less portal players than Miami was Notre Dame and UGA.

Maybe I am overreacting to the Frederique news, maybe.

First world problems I know.
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Yup I’m with you. That extra TE we didn’t sign is going to cost us. Pack it up
 
Why do people always forget about retention? We kept our top 5 CB's from last year. We kept Moore and Upshaw at WR while still having two top-10 WRs on the payroll. We kept guys like Blount, Brown, Pringle, and Lofton.

The staff wanted to keep Kinsler, but he wanted to play. The staff couldn't guarantee him that


This year's team is loaded, as it's the most talented team we have had since 02. No offense to last year's team, but the 26 team would beat them by 10+
 
We took 2 more portal players than Clemson.

I also pointed out 1 portal window, it was hard, and I also know these situations happened post portal. I am just saying I wish we would have done a little more in portal.
 
gacaneaddict said:
We took 2 more portal players than Clemson.

I also pointed out 1 portal window, it was hard, and I also know these situations happened post portal. I am just saying I wish we would have done a little more in portal.
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Do we even make any major moves if there were a second portal window? Only players we'd bring in are fillers for any players that wanted to move on. The staff get's an A+ for the way they constructed this roster. Injuries happen
 
Any team in America suffers certain injuries their national title hopes are virtually shot.

Also, it’s not like our backups in the secondary are bums off the street they’re just young, talented, but unproven.

Miami’s schedule isn’t murderer’s row either…..plenty of chances to see who takes advantage of opportunities at multiple positions.
 
I honestly think we got caught flat footed with playoff run and then no second portal (We used to do DAMAGE with second portal Martinez, Keionte, Jakobe, Toure, Keelan, etc.).. But the things I was pushinng for during portal seem to be there at moment. You cant spend 40 mil on roster and 6+ mil on QB and then pumpfake on Seaton, I dont think we should be depending on freshman on oline. Spending the extra 500k to 1 mil would have been worth it, elite olineman are soo rare in portal you have to make exception to whatever rules you have, especially with a bridge oline (2026 oline was always gonna be a rebuild, Bell going to NFL for cheaper to sit one year anyway made it even more imperative to get to 2027). You have to go all in.




I said it at time BEFORE Mensah/Barkate, I said it AGAIN after they came and now that BOTH didnt crack opening day rotation, bringing in two midlevel WR when they really like '25 class (Mali, Upshaw, Moore) made absolutely no sense. Dumb strategy, I said it at time, consolidate their NIL and go get a real DOG that can help. Getting 2 guys who started on their team but you have guys you like and gonna play politics with and then say hey you can be depth is dumb and can mess up a room. Get a dog who can actually make defenses pay for focusing on Mali. We bought two guys in and not in rotation opening day, just burned money.

Go look at portal TE thread, we were in there EVERYDAY with names saying they could help. I will say, I was encouraged with what I saw tho at stanford. I know the politic$ of NIL and walkon but now bauman gone and injury, they have no choice but to play Ruskavich as we have heard him being effective since last year, atleast he seem like capable blocker. We still could of used a Vet weapon as this is another developmental position to let the freshman develop on normal track but yea.

We could of went after a legit LB, we had the Pitt LB scheduled, Texas dropped the bag and reap the benefit, but we didnt seem to have plan B and just said **** it change Chase Smith number and maybe he play like a elite transfer.



 
Shooter McGavin said:
No one could predict injuries so that automatically rules out Gilbert, Antonie, and OJ. There's plenty of depth at rb and wr that that rules out Lyle and Vaughn. The only issue I have was not getting a center in the portal.
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All true— some ifs or buts ….

#1) We all recall that the portal window starts smack dab in the middle of the CFP- And we went deep but the portal was over before our run was over. So attention and ability to mine portal sapped by biz at hand— distractions.

(I’d say we among other teams in the CFP were at a disadvantage there.)

2) We had to weigh the cost NIL within the budget that was split between portal pick ups and incoming bluechip recruits- some with big $ implications we felt we would get- who went elsewhere.

So in some cases we were outbid and based on budget allocation we hedged and lost….
 
Hobokane said:
All true— some ifs or buts ….

#1) We all recall that the portal window starts smack dab in the middle of the CFP- And we went deep but the portal was over before our run was over. So attention and ability to mine portal sapped by biz at hand— distractions.

(I’d say we among other teams in the CFP were at a disadvantage there.)

2) We had to weigh the cost NIL within the budget that was split between portal pick ups and incoming bluechip recruits- some with big $ implications we felt we would get- who went elsewhere.

So in some cases we were outbid and based on budget allocation we hedged and lost….
Click to expand...
I'm still happy with the way the offseason other than not getting a center. Injuries happen. 2 of the next 3 games will be a good time for the youngins to get some run.
 
I believe we should have added more to the OL(C and LT)) but not anywhere else. An LB would have been nice as well. Thats it though.
 
Shooter McGavin said:
Hobokane said:
All true— some ifs or buts ….

#1) We all recall that the portal window starts smack dab in the middle of the CFP- And we went deep but the portal was over before our run was over. So attention and ability to mine portal sapped by biz at hand— distractions.

(I’d say we among other teams in the CFP were at a disadvantage there.)

2) We had to weigh the cost NIL within the budget that was split between portal pick ups and incoming bluechip recruits- some with big $ implications we felt we would get- who went elsewhere.

So in some cases we were outbid and based on budget allocation we hedged and lost….
Click to expand...
I'm still happy with the way the offseason other than not getting a center. Injuries happen. 2 of the next 3 games will be a good time for the youngins to get some run.
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You can’t skip steps, so we have to suffer some hiccups getting these guys battle tested— it comes with bumps & bruises and some rough outings by indicial players or units— o guess it’s called growing pains - necessary evil but unavoidable
 
Shooter McGavin said:
No one could predict injuries so that automatically rules out Gilbert, Antonie, and OJ. There's plenty of depth at rb and wr that that rules out Lyle and Vaughn. The only issue I have was not getting a center in the portal.
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Well… some predictions are easier than others.

Overreacting to the portal on CIS always amuses me since we’re only about 18 months removed from the know it alls telling us the portal was a fad and we didn’t need it.
 
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