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No Pena, No Haulcy, No LB, No DTs, No #1 WR…

Squid Bumciorek said:
We have good prospects but not many WRs with games under their belt. Bringing in a one year rental QB into a new scheme with no proven WRs is not a recipe for success.

Sucks that Cristobal let Horton walk. This isn’t revisionist history. During the season I said Horton was showing WR1 abilities and it was great we had developed our own future star. He knew his value, miami made a bad decision not to pay him.
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He averaged 42 ypg and 9 ypc after he had his 100yard game against USF. He also no showed the last 3 games, 2 of which we lost
I wish we had kept him, but not because he was going to ever be WR1 here. Would have been nice to have a WR in the room who actually produced in this system.
 
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RVACane said:
**** all of you
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Reyrey said:
.

Here’s the thing. Look at the top p4 offense last year. How many of them had WR1 or an elite guy, before the season

1. Miami
- before the year and after it was X. I think we can agree he wasnt necessarily WR1 by this offseason standards. Great year and WR1 numbers. But we had an amazing QB with solid core.
2. Ole Miss
- Ill give you tre Harris
3. Syracuse
- Leading Receiver Meeks and then Pena. Before the year, Meeks had 132 career yards in 3 years at Georgia. Pena, 268 in 4 years.
4. Texas Tech
- Josh Kelly. Entered after 900 yards at WSU. 2. Was Caleb Douglas with 300 yards in two seasons
5. Arkansas
- Andrew Armstrong returned after 700 yards. Teslaa 300 yards career yards.
6. Clemson
- Antonio Williams with 800 yards in 2 years. Wesco and TJ Moore obviously zero yards

Not by rankings, did these teams have “WR1”? Penn state, Georgia, ASU, SMU, Tenn?
My point, similar to the above, do you NEED a “WR1”. You are able to get WR1 production out of guys that are not your prototypical WR1.
Take Syracuse as a strong example. Their 2 leading receivers had little to no production before the year. Clemson as well, had a solid returner and then young guys.

I wanted a WR1 like everyone here. And it is disappointing we weren’t able to get one. It makes things easier. But to act like the season will be a failure because of it, is massive overreaction. There’s talent on the room. And the need to step up
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I'll add to it with this:

The sentiment here seems to be Miami's offense is going to suck because we don't have elite, ready-made receivers, and Beck is going to be much worse than Cam, so he's going to look like the UGA 2024 offense versus the UGA 2023 offense.

And it's because we don't have Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers.

What if I told you, in 2023, Ladd McConkey was injured for a lot of the season and only caught 30 passes? He missed the first 4 games of the season, and was hurt again late in the year, and missed essentially all of 2 more games late in the year.

Yes, Brock Bowers was on the team, and is also a monster. But what if I told you he missed 4 games due to injury as well.

Here are Beck's numbers in games without McConkey, Bowers, or both:

21/31 for 294 and 1 TD, 0 INTs in Week 1 (no McConkey)
23/30 for 283 and 2 TDs, 1 INT in Week 2 (no McConkey)
27/35 for 269 and 0 TDs, 0 INT in Week 3 (no McConkey)
22/32 for 338 and 3 TDs, 0 INT in Week 4 (no McConkey)
19/28 for 315 and 2 TDs, 0 INT in Week 8 (no Bowers)
21/32 for 254 and 2 TDs, 0 INTs in Week 9 (no Bowers)
24/30 for 298 and 3 TDs, 0 INTs in Week 11 (no McConkey)
13/20 for 175 and 1 TD, 1 INT in Week 12 (no McConkey or Bowers)

One subpar game, last game of the regular season against GT. The rest of the year, he was pretty ******* good. In 8 of the 12 regular season games, one of the 2 best WRs didn't play. The difference, IMO, was the running game in 2023 vs 2024. Miami should be able to run the ball very effectively in 2025 for Beck.

Also, we're acting like McConkey is Julio Jones. Yeah, he's a VERY good player. But heading into the 2023 season, he wasn't on anyone's Day 1-2 draft boards. He was a low 3-star recruit. Is there just absolutely ZERO chance a kid like Trader or Carr can play even remotely close to a McConkey this year? These are massive recruits.

So yes, I'd have loved to have brought in 3 Biletnikoff award watch candidates this year. But almost EVERY team has unproven players at key spots. The good teams are the ones where those kids develop into very good players. I simply cannot understand why we're not allowed to even dream that can happen for kids here.

Bowers led the 2023 UGA team in catches and yards. Not by a lot, but he had 56 for 714 and 6 TDs. He's a freak of nature, and we don't have anyone like him on this roster. The cool part is, nobody does in the country, but I digress.

The next 4 leading receivers on that team:

Dominic Lovett with 54 catches and 4 TDs. He just went 244th overall, 7th round, to Detroit
Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint with 34 for 535 and 4. We know him well, STA boy. Undrafted, never made a team.
McConkey was next, we talked about him above. Only 30 for 478, though.
Dillon Bell had 29 for 355 and 2. Still on the UGA team, caught 43 passes for 446 yards last year. Average player.

But we have to have Jeremiah Smith and Ryan Williams in our room to win the ACC?
 
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htownkidd said:
Sounds like hopes and dreams to me, especially DT, LB, and S. I guess we’ll see.
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relax, the only position that has a major question mark is WR. Production at the other position can be replaced with simple player development. LB, S, and DT will not be worse than last year, DT is just missing a depth piece. Obviously everybody would love to add an NFL talent at each of those positions, but that’s just unrealistic considering where this program has been.

The goal is to grt better than last year and since the talent level is relatively the same at those positions with better coaching. They will be better ant those positions with coaching alone.
 
kccanefan said:
I agree with some of your points and that Mario still has some to room to quite his doubters. However, if you deep dive into the specifics I think there's reasons for the negativity and deservedly so. Has the overall talent on the team improved (Blue Chip Ratio)? Sure, and that goes into why the performance cannot be excused.
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Overall talent has improved. We have more resources than ever true. But would Manny be able to recruit anywhere near top 15 level if he stayed, even with the aforementioned resources ? Doubtful. I think although Mario has raised the talent level the classes have been too imbalanced evidenced by the holes we still have on the roster we are trying to fill in portal. And we have no doubt lost more games total than we should have (both bowl games, both GT games, Cuse immediately come to mind). Mario definitely has to do more. There is another level he is mandated to reach to be considered successful here. Become a regular ACC title game attendee and make the playoffs as more than just a 1 off/lucky occurrence.
 
TouchMoney26 said:
jojo is our wr#1 for f%c* sake
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You try explaining that to Carson Beck, after the year he just had at Georgia.

I know you're biased as ****, and I like our young WRs as much as anyone. But we are spending $4M on Carson Beck for ONE YEAR and he "had" some very talented WRs at Georgia in 2024...who were #1 in the country in dropped passes.

Someday, JoJo may be the greatest WR to ever come out of Miami, for all anyone knows. But at the moment, he has a very thin college resume when it comes to establishing "will this guy catch my passes or not".

So stop *****ing and moaning every time someone says we need a WR1 to play IMMEDIATELY over JoJo and Malachi. It's the truth, whether you acknowledge it or not.
 
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RVACane said:
This board’s a joke now. There’s nothing but the same rah rah bull**** and a bunch of ******* homos who can’t have an honest discussion
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There are maybe a dozen serious posters worth reading who actually contribute rather than justify their slurping/moping. (Overwhelmingly slurping this time of year)

Personally, I have a lot of concerns.
 
twes.305 said:
The team overall is more talented and has better coaching.
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I think the coaching is better. I think we added better players than we had to the back end of the defense. I fear the front 7, particularly up the middle on defense, and I think we got worse on offense, but that’s just my opinion and I hope to be wrong. We’ll see though.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
You try explaining that to Carson Beck, after the year he just had at Georgia.

I know you're biased as ****, and I like our young WRs as much as anyone. But we are spending $4M on Carson Beck for ONE YEAR and he "had" some very talented WRs at Georgia in 2024...who were #1 in the country in dropped passes.

Someday, JoJo may be the greatest WR to ever come out of Miami, for all anyone knows. But at the moment, he has a very thin college resume when it comes to establishing "will this guy catch my passes or not".

So stop *****ing and moaning every time someone says we need a WR1 to play IMMEDIATELY over JoJo and Malachi. It's the truth, whether you acknowledge it or not.
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I like our OC and I like our WR coach.

Isaiah Horton got markedly better here.
Jacolby George got markedly better here.
Xavier Restrepo is the most accomplished receiver in the history of the school, and he runs the 40 like you and I do.

I'm not ****ting on any of these kids or saying they don't deserve virtually all the credit for their performance. But our OC and WR coach has taken kids with less "God given" talent than we have in the room right now, and made them into very good players. Doesn't mean that happens here, but there's a very encouraging ball of clay to mold.

My main issue of contention, and the reason I was so gung-ho on Pena, is the slot position, especially in this offense, is about as nuanced a spot as there is on the entire field. I think we have kids who can get the job done on the outside. Only having Toney and Ray Ray to try to play X's spot scares the **** out of me. That's why I fought like **** with people on here about Pena. Well, that ship sailed, he's probably showering in State College right now. So we dance with the girls we brought, I guess.

If Beck is Beck, the OL is the OL, Dawson is Dawson and KB is KB, I think we're just fine at receiver. And I look at "WR1" (whatever that is, but that's another discussion) is more of a want than a need.

We NEED another Safety. We want another WR, especially if it's an outside X or Z and not a slot kid.
 
Bunker Mentality said:
The post you responded to stated

"Not many elite guys coming out from what I have seen."

"Don't recall any must get elite WRs, DTs, LBs... who has been out there that is a sure-fire difference maker?"

"Miami added some nice pieces in the portal thus far."



To which you responded...

"...The STAFF wanted them, and they failed to get them here."

Who are these players the staff wanted that they took an L for?
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With all due respect, there are several possible outcomes in between "whiffing" (which we have done with several targets) and a "home run" (landing an elite difference-maker). There are singles and doubles and triples too.

Unfortunately, much like the baseball game of today, everyone wants to focus on strikeouts and home runs. Very few play for singles and doubles and triples any longer, and fans don't pay much attention.

Right now, I just don't want to whiff. I'm also fine with piling up singles and doubles and triples.
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
I like our OC and I like our WR coach.

Isaiah Horton got markedly better here.
Jacolby George got markedly better here.
Xavier Restrepo is the most accomplished receiver in the history of the school, and he runs the 40 like you and I do.

I'm not ****ting on any of these kids or saying they don't deserve virtually all the credit for their performance. But our OC and WR coach has taken kids with less "God given" talent than we have in the room right now, and made them into very good players. Doesn't mean that happens here, but there's a very encouraging ball of clay to mold.

My main issue of contention, and the reason I was so gung-ho on Pena, is the slot position, especially in this offense, is about as nuanced a spot as there is on the entire field. I think we have kids who can get the job done on the outside. Only having Toney and Ray Ray to try to play X's spot scares the **** out of me. That's why I fought like **** with people on here about Pena. Well, that ship sailed, he's probably showering in State College right now. So we dance with the girls we brought, I guess.

If Beck is Beck, the OL is the OL, Dawson is Dawson and KB is KB, I think we're just fine at receiver. And I look at "WR1" (whatever that is, but that's another discussion) is more of a want than a need.

We NEED another Safety. We want another WR, especially if it's an outside X or Z and not a slot kid.
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I think the differential is this.

After 4 years, Ward was comfortable making some plays on his own. Rolling out, throwing the ball to a WR who finally got free, etc.

But with Beck, we saw a noticeable drop-off from 2023 to 2024 when he had a bunch of unreliable guys who set high marks for drops (after Bowers and McConkey left).

So whether we "need-need-need" a WR1 for every quarterback, or we can live with WRs A-B-C-D when Cam Ward is spreading the ball around, depends on our personnel.

And given what we all observed with Beck in 2024, and now coming off an injury, it behooves us to give him a Bowers-McConkey combo to rebuild his confidence for 2025.
 
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RVACane said:
You don’t know who the **** I am so go **** yourself. If you had a clue you wouldn’t even try this stupid ****. I don’t come on here and post on the board anymore really because of **** sucking ******* like you who can’t take a ******* honest opinion now stick a ******* shotgun in your ****sucking mouth and pull the ******* trigger
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RVACane said:
You don’t know who the **** I am so go **** yourself. If you had a clue you wouldn’t even try this stupid ****. I don’t come on here and post on the board anymore really because of **** sucking ******* like you who can’t take a ******* honest opinion now stick a ******* shotgun in your ****sucking mouth and pull the ******* trigger
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flips said:
He averaged 42 ypg and 9 ypc after he had his 100yard game against USF. He also no showed the last 3 games, 2 of which we lost
I wish we had kept him, but not because he was going to ever be WR1 here. Would have been nice to have a WR in the room who actually produced in this system.
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Horton is not a #1 WR. I truly don’t get that narrative. Hurts to lose the production. Horton, who was healthy was replaced by Daniels who played through injury at lsu..had 200 less yards than a healthy zay & 5 tds less.
 
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