We are now under two months away from Miami Hurricanes Football returning. With that, the CanesInSight crew are taking a look at three Hurricane football players that are poised for a breakout season this upcoming year.

Who is your pick?

WR Joshua Moore

Moore shown many flashes in spring training and had a huge game last season against the USF Bulls, where he went off for 61 receiving yards on three receptions and two touchdowns. Moore has the size and intangibles to be a great wide receiver at Miami. He will be a part of the Hurricanes' stacked receiver room that incudes Cooper Barkate, Malachi Toney, Cam Vaughn, Dre Jacobs, and others.

During his freshman season with the Hurricanes, he recorded a total of 210 receiving yards on 17 receptions and two touchdown passes, while averaging 12.4 yards per pass.



Edge Marquise Lightfoot

Marquise Lightfoot is expecting to take a big step for the Hurricanes, stepping into a starter spot on the edge. Lightfoot had one year to learn under a dynamic duo in Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor. Despite playing behind them he still manage to carve out solid minutes this past season, recording 16 tackles and 2.5 sacks, and one pass deflection.

Lightfoot is a long and lengthy edge rusher, who will be a big part of Miami's success on defense this upcoming season. He has been on many national media radars to breakout this season.



TE Elijah Lofton

One of the most versatile players you will see on the Miami roster this season, Elijah Lofton can do it all on the field: receive, block, and run. There were some talks last season that he was considering a position switch to running back—which just shows how versatile this guy can be.

Lofton is the type of guy to just blow up this upcoming season. This past year, he recorded a total of 23 repceitons for 218 yards and three touchdowns. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the highest graded freshman tight end during the 2024 season. He is my pick for the breakout player of the year.

 

How much D$ pay you to include Lofton?

 

Max Buchanan, chase smith, Trinton breeze

 

One of the most athletic players you will see on the Miami roster this season,

Could we please just put this nonsense to bed already? He’s a nice football player with good instincts but let’s relax on the hyperbole.

 

How much D$ pay you to include Lofton?

I think Lofton paid DMoney to pay Trinton to write it.

 

Let me know after Lofton breaks out.

 

I like Moore and Lightfoot as breakout players. I like Lofton, but not sure where his impact is going to be - Toney is option 1a and Barkate 1b and then I think another wr (or 2) should have bigger numbers than Lofton. He feels like he’s going to be important to us, but it’s not necessarily going to show up on the stat sheet and that typically is where the breakout hype goes to.

Two other guys that I think will get breakout noise towards the end of the year. Daylyn Upshaw on offense and Ethan O’Conner on defense. Upshaw is going to be Swiss Army knife of wrs for us this year and last year O”Conner got beat the most, but he was also the guy that was just missing big plays. This year he gets them.

 

One of the most athletic players you will see on the Miami roster this season,

Could we please just put this nonsense to bed already? He’s a nice football player with good instincts but let’s relax on the hyperbole.

This is a team that has an argument of being the best team in the country on paper. Athleticism and freaks of nature across the board and we are talking about Lofton

I admire the commitment I suppose

(I think he can “break out” as well because the offense is so loaded he can get some TDs)

 

Chase, Blount and Scott. All played and flashed but none met my expectations of a "break out" player last season. We need them to do so this season.

 

You guys know more than I do - but it makes Willy tingle that there's considerable disagreement as to who and how many we'll have.

I assume we have some soreness or injuries as the season goes on - and it's nice to see we have some real talent backing up our "starters."

But that's just me.

 

My breakout player is Armondo Blount on defense.

 

Will believe the Moore hype when I sees it. Thought he had arrived with those 2 TDs against USF, but not much else was shown on tape by the kid in 2025, and it's a more talented room in 2026. He's got the tools, he's got the talent. Does he work half as hard as Toney? Anyone know?

Lofton's sophomore slump may have been due to injuries, and anyone who isn't grateful for Alex Bauman's contribution in 2025 is an *******, because Lofton was pretty bad. Having said that, of the three players noted by Trenton, I'll say Lofton is the one poised for a breakout due to his flashes of brilliance in 24/25, the attention Toney and Barkate will receive, and Mensah's propensity for hitting TEs at Tulane and Duke.