Spoke to sources about everything around the team and recruiting. Some quick notes:

- The mood around the team is angry. No excuse-making or rationalization, even though they have a lot of respect for Wake Forest. Everybody knows the second half sucked and they need to get a lot better.

- The best way to describe the OL situation is "fluid." They need to find the best 5, and what we've seen so far isn't it. Based on what Mario said on WQAM, and what I've heard independently, the focus seems to be more on the guards than center or tackle. I would expect to see some different combinations this weekend. I've talked a lot about Ben Congdon and Jackson Cantwell, because they split the first-team RG reps all camp. But one young name to watch is Rhys Woodrow. He already has a ton of responsibility in punt protection and has C/G versatility. Canon Pickett is another guy who can get in the mix with the other three.

The concern with most freshmen (especially the big guys) is they may dominate on two reps and whiff badly on a third. And the that whiff could change the season. With that said, we aren't getting consistency from the older players, and they're only second-year guys themselves. Bottom line- this is a work in progress and I expect to see tinkering until it's playoff caliber.

- They're being extremely tight-lipped about injuries, although I don't sense a ton of concern aside from Marty Brown and Josh Moore. Those two are heartbreakers. Two names Miami wants to see step up in their place: Jordan Lyle and Somourian Wingo.

- Ezekiel Marcelin's injury was ill-timed because we need more at LB. I don't think those two starting spots are set in stone all year.

- In terms of recruiting, Miami is very purposeful in terms of watching senior film and grading their own prospects. Some guys who have really impressed: QB Israel Abrams, RB Ty Keys, WRs Nick Lennear and Eli Woodard, ATH A'mir Sears, DE Jaiden Bryant, DL Josh Johnson, LB Noah Glover and CB Sherrod Gourdine.

- There is no secret that the staff still wants to make another big splash in 2027. Three names stand above the rest: OT Mark Matthews, DE DJ Jacobs and TE Jaxon Dollar. Miami finished second for all three and will continue to push aggressively until the final whistle.

 

Wingo, Spafford, and Parris all have the talent to be impact players but I hope Dre is able to get those extra reps since he has big game experience playing at this level already.

I agree with Future

 

Yup just wish we left him at LT from start to today and let him sink or swim and THEN is he isn't stepping up you talk about McCoy to OT and him to OG or Congdon or something ...

You wish we’d have left a kid who clearly isn’t anywhere near ready to protect your $8M QBs blindside? Thats certainly a choice. A braindead one, but a choice nonetheless.

Okay, what if Cantwell is ready to play Tackle by November? Do you still go with Samson? Or move Cantwell to RT and slide McCoy inside? Because that’s an awfully big investment to just not play him, especially at the position he’s built for.

If it didn’t mess with team chemistry and Pancake or McCoy were willing to slide back inside to give us a run game boost, that would be huge. I mean, I have no idea if Cantwell will be ready at any point this year to play tackle, and if not, that’s easily the biggest disappointment of this season, regardless of how it plays out. We were all sold this idea that he was some sort of physical anomaly and he was going to step in day 1 and play like Mauignoa. Clearly, playing at IMG made a massive difference in his development and Cici was far ahead of Cantwell at this stage of his career. I guess we will see if Mario and Mirabal are truly the OL savants we believe them to be, because in my opinion, the difference between a one and done playoff run and winning the whole **** thing is getting Cantwell ready to play tackle, or be at least consistent as a guard. It’s gotta happen. SJ ain’t it, and I’m not sure Max is either.

 

Not really. Unless I misunderstanding him his point would be these first few games where we're playing trash would have been the time to give him the reps necessary where he's staying at a position we can count on him long-term and get through some of the bumps and bruises. It actually is by far the best strategy we could have had if that's the intent. Myself I don't see the logic in having him play a position just for reps that won't be his position long term. Now obviously if we would have started off the season with people with a pulse then you'd be 100% accurate why would you put a guy to guard The blind side of somebody you're severely counting on. It's also important to remember we are talking about the number one recruits and the number one offensive tackle and a huge Mammoth individual here. Whose main weakness right now is just the fact he needs to work on his technique and he needs reps. It's not like all the sudden he's no good that's not the case with him at all. It's also important to remember he would have had fall camp to go along with spring and back up his reps. He didn't get that once Samson came back the focus was him at left tackle and spreading the reps around at the other position for the rest of the lineup

That is exactly my point and it's especially the case given we had the easiest first 4 game stretch since literally 2016 when we opened with FAMU/FAU/APPst/GTech! Every year since 2017 we've had 1 or 2 major P4 opponent in the first 4 games - most game 1.

If you leave Cantwell at LT all offseason + The first 4 games and had the competition in offseason be Samson vs McCoy for RT (I think Samson wins that) and the loser (McCoy) starts at LG like past 2 years, it's a win win win. Then all you have to do is find best RG or rotation of RG - imo likely Buchanan with Congdon getting some rotational work ever 2 drives or so (I think SJ should never have received a single guard snap only center all offseason).

I am NOT even saying that ON game 1 Cantwell would have been superior to Samson (or even McCoy) at LT. However by game 5? How about the Unit as a WHOLE entering game 5? I'd feel signifcantly better. Because either:

A) Cantwell gets consistent development time at 1 position, and then over 4 games has shown the development we want to see and gives staff the confidence that hes not a major liability and worth taking the lumps of a true frosh....
or
B) He doesn't show the development we want to see and then you automatically move The LG (likely McCoy) to LT and THEN you try to slide Cantwell into LG and have him compete with the person who is 1b in the RG job rotation (congdon imo).

I legit can't see how this is possibly a worse outcome than we are currently in with the staff trying to pigeon hole Cantwell exclusively into guard and SJ into non-center PT - because they locked McCoy into RT too early, meanwhile Samson is our best Olineman so naturally you don't want to move him off a starting OT spot!

Again I'm NOT someone who minds cross training. And if the plan is Cantwell to start at Guard a full year THEN move to tackle next yr, hey you know what I can accept that. Not the ideal outcome, but acceptable.... But we have gotten instead - SJ starting at Guard - is stupid as **** imo.

 

Okay, what if Cantwell is ready to play Tackle by November? Do you still go with Samson? Or move Cantwell to RT and slide McCoy inside? Because that’s an awfully big investment to just not play him, especially at the position he’s built for.

If it didn’t mess with team chemistry and Pancake or McCoy were willing to slide back inside to give us a run game boost, that would be huge. I mean, I have no idea if Cantwell will be ready at any point this year to play tackle, and if not, that’s easily the biggest disappointment of this season, regardless of how it plays out. We were all sold this idea that he was some sort of physical anomaly and he was going to step in day 1 and play like Mauignoa. Clearly, playing at IMG made a massive difference in his development and Cici was far ahead of Cantwell at this stage of his career. I guess we will see if Mario and Mirabal are truly the OL savants we believe them to be, because in my opinion, the difference between a one and done playoff run and winning the whole **** thing is getting Cantwell ready to play tackle, or be at least consistent as a guard. It’s gotta happen. SJ ain’t it, and I’m not sure Max is either.

See even then though Samson imo is our best olineman, so you'd want to move him from LT Least. That would mean Cantwell to RT, right? Well that obviously mean Cantwell this season went from LT all Spring, to RG most of Summer and half the season... then RT starting in November?

Do people really not see how ****ed that is for THIS SEASON Oline outlook and Cantwells ability to actually develop and be a legit starter as a true frosh for a playoff run? ....

 

I would be utterly shocked if McCoy moves to guard. It’s not happening. He’s been playing tackle since spring. The changes are gonna come with the guards. I hope..

Me too. Doesn't mean it's right....
Which Is why I'm saying this "plan" was stupid - by not having McCoy start at LG and Cantwell at LT - they effectively locked themselves into not moving tackles all yr. Just gave us way less flexibility to get the best 5 to form the best overall unit...
It is easier to move McCoy out to OT if Cantwell was struggling than it is to move McCoy off of OT even if its best for our unit as a whole...

 

I've seen enough of the OL and defense to conclude this is a 2-3 loss team. The OL that get PT aren't talented enough and the back 7 cannot communicate or tackle enough consistently.

I wouldn’t bet this…but it’s not hard to see how it would happen. When you aren’t above and beyond in the trenches then games can become closer and then you never know wtf can happen

We had close games last year because our offense was limited at qb and skill positions. This year we have an elite qb and skill positions but not the same level trenches

Its possible we have a better record but aren’t the same level of team

 

@DMoney Then why not Hawks at RT with McCoy back at guard?

Hawks at the very minimum has gone through game week as a starter and has play in college as a starter even though it’s JUCO.

Was there ever an answer here? I feel like @DMoney said on a recent pod that hawks had taken a nice leap. Not only does he have more experience - he has actual size this ol seems to need.

 

Okay, what if Cantwell is ready to play Tackle by November? Do you still go with Samson? Or move Cantwell to RT and slide McCoy inside? Because that’s an awfully big investment to just not play him, especially at the position he’s built for.

If it didn’t mess with team chemistry and Pancake or McCoy were willing to slide back inside to give us a run game boost, that would be huge. I mean, I have no idea if Cantwell will be ready at any point this year to play tackle, and if not, that’s easily the biggest disappointment of this season, regardless of how it plays out. We were all sold this idea that he was some sort of physical anomaly and he was going to step in day 1 and play like Mauignoa. Clearly, playing at IMG made a massive difference in his development and Cici was far ahead of Cantwell at this stage of his career. I guess we will see if Mario and Mirabal are truly the OL savants we believe them to be, because in my opinion, the difference between a one and done playoff run and winning the whole **** thing is getting Cantwell ready to play tackle, or be at least consistent as a guard. It’s gotta happen. SJ ain’t it, and I’m not sure Max is either.

See even then though Samson imo is our best olineman, so you'd want to move him from LT Least. That would mean Cantwell to RT, right? Well that obviously mean Cantwell this season went from LT all Spring, to RG most of Summer and half the season... then RT starting in November?

Do people really not see how ****ed that is for THIS SEASON Oline outlook and Cantwells ability to actually develop and be a legit starter as a true frosh for a playoff run? ....

That’s my thing, if they had Samson penciled as the LT when he came back from his injury in fall camp, they should have been working Cantwell at RT every single rep. And if they had McCoy penciled as RT and were never going to even consider sliding him inside, Cantwell should have gotten nothing but guard reps. Like if the plan all along for this season was Cantwell at guard, why not work him there? I understand cross training and all that but, does he really need cross training for a position he’s played his entire high school career? I don’t think so. But clearly he needed more guard reps because he currently looks lost playing inside. I do hear he’s a super hard worker and nobody wants to develop more than he does, so my hope is that work ethic pays off for him sooner rather than later, because how deep we go in the playoff depends almost entirely upon that. I’m not worried about the defense in the slightest. They showed me they have grit and they’ll fight with everything they got. Wake moved the ball but they only outscored us by 4 points in the 2nd half when it was all said and done. They would have moved the ball a lot less if we would have just wrapped up instead of trying to knock fools out. Heatherman touched on that this week so I expect tackling form will return Saturday. When we get our DB’s all back healthy, and we will at some point, assuming OJ didn’t have surgery, which I don’t think he did.. our defense will be legit by November. Hopefully by November 7th. I want that one. I want it bad. We all do. Praying we’re clicking on all cylinders on both sides of the ball by then, because with the whole world rooting against us, and their refs.. we’re gonna need it.

 

I read, and read, and read here.

It's not making me feel one bit better . . .

I understand there's some prototype for O Linemen - but some of the toughest lines I've seen over decades - had a bit smaller guys - but unbelievably quick and off the chain. After all - Speed Kills.

We got any like that?

 

Nothing from Minaya, Wilkerson, or Campbell. Which I think Campbell is coming back from injury, but gawd **** SJ and Buchanan the best we really got at guard?

 

Those scouts work for the dolphins, browns, jets, titans or falcons?

You know the dolphins and jets are part of the group buddy talked to.

 

I understand how physical frame plays a role on the offensive line but there are hundreds of examples where prototypical tackles become great guards. Cantwell can’t even beat out SJ at guard, but if he had been able to focus on tackle for an extra 2 months suddenly we think he’s gonna be a great tackle?

Maybe Cantwell ends up back at tackle but my only point is really that I don’t think cross training Cantwell is a big reason why the OL stinks.

This "Cantwell can't even beat out SJ at guard" myth needs to stop. It's just about the dumbest thing I've ever seen posted on this board, and there are a lot of dumb things posted here.

Before 5-for-5, it was almost unheard of for a true freshman to start on the OL. Between weight-gain, learning the playbook, and figuring out assignments, we almost always redshirted OLs. Oh, except for Zion, and how did THAT work out?

No matter how many CIS porsters want to whine about "oh, all the insiders told us how great Cantwell was this summer", he was still great FOR A TRUE FRESHMAN. Those very same insiders told the board that the OL at the beginning of the year would not be the same as the OL at the end of the year, but somehow certain people on CIS choose to read selectively.

What if Cantwell is the starting tackle this week? Will that mean he has FIIIIIIIINALLY beaten out SJ and our long national nightmare is over?

The overreactions on this board are legendary, but everyone here knows that our September 2026 schedule is not the same as our September 2025 schedule. The OL does not "stink". We have a bunch of new starters (current & future), some of whom are true freshmen and we have scored 45, 77, and 33 points (two games against ACC teams) while having an inconsistent defense that has only generated one turnover, late in the third game.

The very same coaching braintrust that took us to the CFP championship and put THREE offensive linemen into the top 6 rounds of the draft last year, the very same coaches that everyone promised to trust after our CFP run, are still working on the OL development.

 

This "Cantwell can't even beat out SJ at guard" myth needs to stop. It's just about the dumbest thing I've ever seen posted on this board, and there are a lot of dumb things posted here.

Before 5-for-5, it was almost unheard of for a true freshman to start on the OL. Between weight-gain, learning the playbook, and figuring out assignments, we almost always redshirted OLs. Oh, except for Zion, and how did THAT work out?

No matter how many CIS porsters want to whine about "oh, all the insiders told us how great Cantwell was this summer", he was still great FOR A TRUE FRESHMAN. Those very same insiders told the board that the OL at the beginning of the year would not be the same as the OL at the end of the year, but somehow certain people on CIS choose to read selectively.

What if Cantwell is the starting tackle this week? Will that mean he has FIIIIIIIINALLY beaten out SJ and our long national nightmare is over?

The overreactions on this board are legendary, but everyone here knows that our September 2026 schedule is not the same as our September 2025 schedule. The OL does not "stink". We have a bunch of new starters (current & future), some of whom are true freshmen and we have scored 45, 77, and 33 points (two games against ACC teams) while having an inconsistent defense that has only generated one turnover, late in the third game.

The very same coaching braintrust that took us to the CFP championship and put THREE offensive linemen into the top 6 rounds of the draft last year, the very same coaches that everyone promised to trust after our CFP run, are still working on the OL development.

Maine, **** that. We ain’t tryna hear that shii. From the looks of it SJ don’t know wtf he doing anyway, also Cantwell def more physically advance even though he’s a freshman. His technique might be lacking, but he can make up for it bc he has length and strength, pause.

 

Nothing from Minaya, Wilkerson, or Campbell. Which I think Campbell is coming back from injury, but gawd **** SJ and Buchanan the best we really got at guard?

Yes the staff failed to get a guard in the portal or felt they could develop the guys on the roster to save money. Either way, they clearly failed and it may be what cost this team a championship.

There is just no way Miami wins anything of significance with SJ and Buchanan at guard.

SJ looks like he belongs at USF not Miami.

 

Yes the staff failed to get a guard in the portal or felt they could develop the guys on the roster to save money. Either way, they clearly failed and it may be what cost this team a championship.

There is just no way Miami wins anything of significance with SJ and Buchanan at guard.

SJ looks like he belongs at USF not Miami.

The **** are you doing here?

https://www.canesinsight.com/posts/8463471/

Thought we'd get upset, didn't you? Why are you still here then?

 

Not really. Unless I misunderstanding him his point would be these first few games where we're playing trash would have been the time to give him the reps necessary where he's staying at a position we can count on him long-term and get through some of the bumps and bruises. It actually is by far the best strategy we could have had if that's the intent. Myself I don't see the logic in having him play a position just for reps that won't be his position long term. Now obviously if we would have started off the season with people with a pulse then you'd be 100% accurate why would you put a guy to guard The blind side of somebody you're severely counting on. It's also important to remember we are talking about the number one recruits and the number one offensive tackle and a huge Mammoth individual here. Whose main weakness right now is just the fact he needs to work on his technique and he needs reps. It's not like all the sudden he's no good that's not the case with him at all. It's also important to remember he would have had fall camp to go along with spring and back up his reps. He didn't get that once Samson came back the focus was him at left tackle and spreading the reps around at the other position for the rest of the lineup

Because a kid who plays for Stanford or Wake can't whip him around the edge and end our season? Come on bro, I'm not talking about winning or losing games, I'm talking about the health of our QB. Stanford and Wake have D1 athletes, yeah they might not be as good as the ones at ND or Clemson, so maybe they don't win at the rate the kids at the better schools do, but I'm not about learning on the fly with my LT in the least bit. Literally one play ends the entire season. I don't remember a kid beating Samson yet, through 3 games (well, 2 and a scrimmage), where Mensah got touched from the blindside. I'm not playing with my franchise QB's health. If he gets hurt, the season is over, obviously.

Also, this doesn't solve much, either. You put Jackson at LT and hold your breath every single snap he doesn't get whipped around the edge to put your QB in the hospital, and then, what? You put Samson at RT? McCoy at RG? You still have to find a LG.....has Buchanon really been that much better than SJ?

I also disagree on the reps just to get reps point. Would I rather him be playing tackle when he gets into games? Absolutely. And I've said 100X I can't believe they didn't get him into the Wake game at some point, at any position. That's insane. But game reps are game reps, his weakness right now (IMO), is pad level, and he seems very robotic to me, like he's thinking too much and is unsure. Getting him on the field in any capacity helps with both those things.

 

I've seen enough of the OL and defense to conclude this is a 2-3 loss team. The OL that get PT aren't talented enough and the back 7 cannot communicate or tackle enough consistently.

Name the teams beating us on our schedule.

 

I don’t want to hear about some guy playing RT having it not be fair to him to move to guard. He excelled there last year. He’s a better guard than Tackle.

He’s gonna be a guard in the NFL more than likely. Move him to left or RG. Rodriguez can stay at center or move to left guard. Woodrow can play center. Cantwell at RT. That’s his natural spot. Cantwell is a better tackle than guard so have him play there.

We can’t continue to have the middle of the O-line keep getting blown up.

Could not agree more.

Funny how Fitz moving from Safety to Corner was a simple/obvious move to make the team better.

But people start clutching their pearls over moving McCoy back to guard, in order to make the team better? GTFO

 

The PCSA bill and Jim Phillips are actively undercutting UM, why don't we just ******* add Brockermyer back to the roster? I hate placating corruption.

Somewhat in jest.

 

The **** are you doing here?

https://www.canesinsight.com/posts/8463471/

Thought we'd get upset, didn't you? Why are you still here then?

Holy **** lmfaoo