▪ Wide receiver Mike Harley Jr. transformed himself into one of UM’s five best players last season.
And he revealed recently that former Alabama receiver and Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith provided some measure of inspiration along the way.
Harley told WQAM’s Joe Zagacki that he was sitting in his hotel room watching TV the night before the Clemson game last season.
“DeVonta Smith had a commercial pop up saying he caught 100 balls after practice, 100 on the Jugs [machine],” Harley said. “I said [to myself], ‘I’ve got to step it up.’ ”
Harley said he then got down on his knees, alone, and prayed for 10 to 15 minutes.
“I was having a one-on-one conversation with [myself]” and thinking about “changing things, taking advantage of things.”
Harley decided that he, like Smith, should start spending time after practice catching passes from a machine “and not acting like I know everything.” Early in the season, “I was overlooking everything. That was my downfall.”
Two weeks after that Clemson game, Harley caught 10 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown against Virginia, then followed that up in UM’s next game with eight receptions for 153 yards and two touchdowns at North Carolina State.
“Everything started to turn around,” he said.
He continued to play well over the final month and finished the season with 57 receptions for 799 yards (a 14.0 average) and seven touchdowns.
The coaching staff loves Harley’s work ethic. Coach Manny Diaz said last week that Harley “is almost like an assistant strength coach, the effort he puts in, the way he works.”
Harley was asked by Zagacki if he needs to make adjustments because he’s on opposing scouting reports now.
“I made an impact so I guess I’m a guy on the scouting report,” he said. “Me winning starts in the film room” and observing nuances and tendencies of opposing defensive backs that he can apply in a game.
Harley said the offense has “a lot of depth I’ve never seen at the university before. If we get rolling, we can put up great numbers and be No. 1 in the country.”
Is he thinking about the Alabama opener Sept. 4 in Atlanta?
“They cross my mind every now and then,” he said.
Fanduel is listing Alabama as a 17-point favorite in that game.
▪ Several Hurricanes agreed to contracts during the first two days under new NCAA (and state) rules that permit college athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness.
Besides D’Eriq King’s four deals detailed
here, several other Hurricanes players have lined up contracts. Among them:
Safety Bubba Bolden will pocket $20,000 for sponsorship deals with two Tampa-based companies that also are using King: College Hunks Hauling Junk & Moving and Murphy Auto Group.
Harley announced a deal with College Football Edits, a website that designs posts for college athletes.
Freshman offensive lineman Michael McLaughlin and second-year linebacker Tirek Austin-Cave have been promoting Gopuff, a food delivery service.
And King is launching a podcast with roommate Ryan Ragone, a former walk-on linebacker who’s now on scholarship and received some playing time last season. They will seek paid sponsorships for their podcast, the
“King and Ragone Show
,” which will debut later this month and focus on football, business and other topics that interest them.
Ragone’s deal was handled by Adam Arnaout, a former University of Miami center who’s now an NIL Florida attorney and the founder of
Arnaout Entertainment & Athletics.
Former UM players — such as Arnaout (who graduated UM’s law school) and erstwhile receiver Ahmmon Richards — are taking an active role in helping players navigate through the new NIL landscape.
▪ Tight end Will Mallory succinctly expressed why everyone on the team has such respect for King, who’s making his way back from a torn ACL.
“He’s a professional in everything he does,” Mallory told WQAM. “He’s working so hard every day. It pushes everyone around him to want to be better. The way he carries himself and how he approaches every day is awesome to watch and motivates others. What better guy than to be our starting quarterback and leader of the team? He represents how it’s supposed to be done every single day.”
King told me this week that he will be ready for the Sept. 4 opener against Alabama.
▪ The next step for UM’s offense?
“Consistency,” Mallory said. “You guys saw last year that when we were really good, we were really good. And then there were times we missed opportunities we needed. This offseason, a lot of guys have taken pride ... in learning the offense, fixing the little things we needed to.”
Mallory assessed the young quarterbacks this way: With Tyler Van Dyke: “I know how talented he is. I’m excited for his future.”
And Jake Garcia? ”Everyone was impressed with the skills he brings to the table. Miami is in good hands with quarterbacks for years to come.”
▪ A few more notes from Diaz:
On the proposal for an expanded playoffs (now likely by 2026), Diaz said: “On the surface, a 12-team playoff is really good for college football. ... Anything that makes college football more inclusive is a good thing for the sport. Having 12 teams allows bowls to continue to exist. But there are a lot of other details that have to be worked out on how to make that thing fly.“...
Diaz said “this spring was the first time we felt we had the depth to create the pure competition on that field where the guys really had to compete at a high level every day just to keep their jobs. ... We can speak all day about the great things Alabama has done in the last few years. But we’re worried about Miami.”
▪ Adam Gorney, Rivals’ national recruiting director, on UM oral commitment and four-star Mississippi cornerback Khamauri Rogers: “This was a massive win for the Hurricanes because Rogers is so close to Ole Miss position coach Terrell Buckley. Miami has had some big-time stars at defensive back, and Rogers has that kind of potential.”