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The Great Wall of Mirabal

AtlAtty said:
Better or worse roster in 2026 than 2024 with Ward?
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CanesFan20 said:
Better roster than 2024 but Ward was a game changer so he made up for it. If we had Ward on this roster I would say 11-1 or 12-0
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W/L is always hard to predict, but with Mensah, this is a better overall team than the 2024 team with Ward, remember there is an offense AND a defense.

Methinks you’re trying too hard fan20, don’t overthink it.
 
CanesFan20 said:
This will be a bit of a rebuilding year, not only for the offensive line but for the team in general. When you lose basically your entire offensive line, two first-round defensive linemen, and two of the best defensive backs in the country, you’re going to take a step back. I would say 9-3/10-2 is most likely. We have better skill players this year but our trenches are just not as good.
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The Defense obviously loses high-end talents in Bain, Mesidor, and Scott. There is no one-for-one replacement for any of them. Jakobe Thomas is a big loss foe his experience and leadership.

The DBs may take a bit of a step back but should still be good.

The DL, while losing that top end, is arguably deeper than 2025. That will offset some pain.

LB should be deeper and morw talented than '25.

It's Heatherman's 2nd go-round. The Defense should be excellent.

Special teams look to be upgraded with our new kicking tandem.

Offensive line will be the biggest unknown. Skill positions on offense are very, very good.
 
OriginalCanesCanesCanes said:
W/L is always hard to predict, but with Mensah, this is a better overall team than the 2024 team with Ward, remember there is an offense AND a defense.

Methinks you’re trying too hard fan20, don’t overthink it.
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I just think anytime you lose almost your entire trenches it's really going to be difficult to have elite level success the following season
 
CanesFan20 said:
I just think anytime you lose almost your entire trenches it's really going to be difficult to have elite level success the following season
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You’re still overthinking it. Read the post right above yours. Dline will still be a strength. Oline won’t be as good as last year, but should end up being the best line in the ACC. Also, check the schedule and opponents.
 
I loved Bain, Mesi, Scott, Thomas and Wes. But this defense will be just as good. We have Top 50 recruits at DE — Wilson, Lightfoot, Lowe and Blount. We have the best DTs in the ACC and a top 5 nationally in Moten, Scott and Davis (Blount there too on passing downs). We have three legit players fighting for the nickel spot, 4 for the two CB spots and 2 for the second S spot. Chase was taking more and more of Wes’ and Popo’s snaps late last season, so we essentially have our two starting LBs returning. This team is going to keep opponents to less than 20 ppg.

On offense, we have a QB who led the ACC is ypg at Duke and is only slightly less dynamic than Ward while being more accurate. He has a 6 guys who would start and be featured at any other program in Toney. Cooper, Moore, Jacobs, Vaugh, Upshaw … and I’d argue Wingo won’t be denied playing time because he’s just that good. Our RB room is deepest in nation and best at the physical style we like to run. And while we turned over our OL. We essentially have three guys who were considered starting caliber last season (Samson, McCoy and Rodrigues) with highly touted Buchanan, all world rookie Jackson as our starters. This offense is putting up 40 ppg.

Zero concerns. The only question marks across the team are at TE and Kicker.

Net net this team is equipped to make a deep CFP run.
 
It doesn't appear any of you know how good Darian Mensah is, but you are going to find out. Cam had a way better OL and way better TE room than Mensah is about to have. Mensah is about to have a way better WR and RB room. Mensah is more mobile and a better decision maker than Cam. As great as Cam was. If Miami has had a QB more accurate than Mensah, it was before this modern passing era. Beck doesn't get near the credit he deserves for what he did, but this team would be in trouble with him this season. Mensah is clearly the biggest star on this team. Did I mention, who the star of this team is because it's crystal clear who that is. Put this man in a no contact Jersey.
 
Cane30 said:
It doesn't appear any of you know how good Darian Mensah is, but you are going to find out. Cam had a way better OL and way better TE room than Mensah is about to have. Mensah is about to have a way better WR and RB room. Mensah is more mobile and a better decision maker than Cam. As great as Cam was. If Miami has had a QB more accurate than Mensah, it was before this modern passing era. Beck doesn't get near the credit he deserves for what he did, but this team would be in trouble with him this season. Mensah is clearly the biggest star on this team. Did I mention, who the star of this team is because it's crystal clear who that is. Put this man in a no contact Jersey.
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I know that we have a lot of experience to replace on the OL this season, but how come everyone has this belief that our OL with be 'WAY' worse than last year. If there is one group on the field I have had zero concern about since Mario arrived, it has been OL. You can look at 2022 being the worst...but we have done nothing but get better there each year. One can only expect us to take a step back next season. But its not like we are going from good to bad.
 
PalyCane said:
And with better WRs to throw to
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This right here cannot be stated enough! As Miami fans, we tend to overvalue our receivers and we certainly did that with the 2024 team. There’s a reason none of them were drafted and the receiver room we have this year is in my opinion the best we’ve had since our early 2000s glory years.
 
OriginalCanesCanesCanes said:
You’re still overthinking it. Read the post right above yours. Dline will still be a strength. Oline won’t be as good as last year, but should end up being the best line in the ACC. Also, check the schedule and opponents.
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Pretty awesome feeling when were arguing about if our trenches will just be very good or elite. We sure have came a long way lol.
 
McCoy, Ryan, Samson all have lots of experience.
Cantwell just stoned our two best rushers who were pretty dang good last year. The way they have recruited and developed, I’ll trust them to find a few more potential starters. Then you have the jc mountain arriving in June.

My concern on O: too many stars and not enough snaps to keep everyone happy. Will they play team ball? Will Mario use tempo to increase snap counts to help?

On D: the interior should be better. I’m concerned about run stopping at DE but think Blount, Lowe, and Wilson can do ok. Pass rushing may actually improve in part because of the interior. Back 7 may take another step forward especially if we added more quality depth.

Keys: can we average 40pts or more? If so, depth players will get lots of snaps compared to prior years. I believe our D can remain a top 10 scoring D even with our O scoring 10 pts per game more.
 
Expect Hawks to see the field this season and don't be shocked if their is another OL added. Some of you might want to tamper down your OL expectations.
 
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