It's only been one week, but some players are already standing out. On the latest CanesInSight discussion, Pete and I each picked three players who flashed early in camp. A full transcript of their discussion:
DMoney: Pete, there’s a week now of evidence now from spring. It’s still early, but the first impressions have crystallized a little bit.
Sometimes that first impression is wrong because it’s very early. But I find the first one to be probably the most honest one because you’re blind going in. You see people, you have instant reactions, and a lot of times that is the most accurate over time.
So I want to go through three names for each of us that stuck out in our minds for one reason or another. Guys we wanted to talk about, guys who made an impression on us, maybe even some guys we weren’t looking for who caught our attention.
I’m going to start with the most obvious one, which is Jackson Cantwell. That was the name I was watching most closely coming in. Of course he’s the No. 1 player in the country coming out of high school, depending who you ask. Certainly I thought he was.
He was so unique in his athletic profile coming from Nixa, Missouri. He didn’t play bad competition, but it was going to be a step up. He got paid a lot of money. You’re expecting him to be a starter based on that, but that’s a lot to ask. Is he going to be a right tackle? Is he going to be a guard? Some people even said, would he be a left tackle?
He ends up starting at left tackle on day one of practice. From what I saw, I am blown away by how far along he is at left tackle. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect at all, but he is much closer to where he needs to be than I thought he would be. There’s a lot of work to do, but I’ve seen enough now where I feel confident that with the way he works and with the way he’s being coached, he’ll be able to get where he needs to go.
His size is off the charts. His natural strength and power are maybe the best I’ve ever seen. The strength numbers back that up. The shot put numbers back that up. And then he moves pretty well. I think the more confident he gets, the better he’s going to move.
So I’m blown away by Jackson Cantwell. I’ll continue to watch him very closely, but the first impression was exactly what I wanted to see for a guy who could start for us and be relied upon.
Peter Ariz: No, I mean, definitely he has to be on this list.
I was talking to someone who was there the other day and they said, hey, got beat once or twice but was dominant the rest of the way. And that’s something I’m going to say almost every time we talk about him because there’s a misconception when we talk about offensive linemen. If they get beat one time or have a penalty, we can’t just think, "Man, these guys stink."
That’s a quick reaction sometimes because you’re in the heat of the moment as a fan. You’re watching the game and, yeah, a false start sets you back five yards. If you’ve got third-and-six and now it’s third-and-11 because of a false start, of course you’re angry in that moment. He’s going to take some of those lumps, I think, in the first half of the season.
But when you get to winning time, when you get to the part of the season where you need to finish strong, where you need to win those ACC games, get to the championship, get to the postseason, I think that’s the whole decision to throw him in there at left tackle right now. They’re getting him ready for that situation. They’re looking really far ahead there.
So is there someone else on the roster that maybe right away could be a better left tackle? Is Matt McCoy maybe better suited right off the bat? Maybe. But when you’re looking 14 or 15 games down the line, I think it’s a decision that’s going to pay dividends.
So I agree with you. Early returns seem awesome there, and we’ve heard it time and time again: this is a guy who’s pretty obsessive about getting better. So you pair that with the natural talent and I think you’re going to have a monster.
DMoney: No doubt. So Pete, who caught your attention? Let’s get your first standout.
Peter Ariz: I’ll say Keona Davis from Nebraska.
With the trench guys, the part of practice I get to watch is usually the first 45 minutes to an hour, and a lot of times the trenches are on the other side. But for the segment of practice—about seven to 10 minutes—that we saw when the trenches were over our way, and then just seeing him in person, he really stood out.
By the way, I think they have him online listed at 255. I’m told that’s way off. I’m told he’s 285 right now, from a pretty darn good source.
His size coming in from Nebraska, the fact that he’s played a lot of football, I just think he gives you that extra body. Early in camp, I was saying, hey, I think they might be missing a body in there. Did everything turn out okay last year? Of course it did. But shoot, Akheem Mesidor was playing on one leg at the end of the playoffs. So if he goes down, and with Donte Simpson leaving, you’re in a very, very tough spot.
Bringing Keona Davis in, with a lot of these other freshman bodies where maybe one or two of them could be ready later in the year, gives you a very important piece. He sticks out as someone who, again, maybe wasn’t one of the flashy pickups. We were talking about Damon Wilson, we were talking about Barkate, we were talking about Darian Mensah, we were talking about some of these receivers as the flash pickups. Keona Davis was as important as any of them.
Is he a starter right now? I don’t think so. But is he a very important person in that rotation? I think he is.
DMoney: Totally agree. And definitely 285.
I was with him on Saturday, just said what’s up to him and his family. He is just naturally big. It’s not overstuffed or anything like that. This is a naturally big player, and a high-motor player as well.
You feel much better about the depth at defensive line with him there. The tackle position in general is as strong as it’s been at Miami since at least 2017, maybe even further back than that.
When you talk about the two starters, I don’t know exactly what elite means because that’s a high bar, but if you’re talking about best-in-the-country type guys, Ahmad Moten and Justin Scott are some of the best defensive tackles in America, period, at least from what I’ve seen. You saw those guys on the biggest stage dominating.
Then to back them up with a Keona Davis, with a Jarquez Carter who’s shown a lot of flashes, with Armando Blount able to play both spots, that position feels much better than it has at any point I can remember, maybe even going back to the glory days of Miami’s defensive line. So that’s a really good one.
I’m going to go back to offensive line because that’s something I was watching closely, probably just because of the need and the turnover there. A guy I like what I’m seeing from is actually the backup left tackle to Jackson Cantwell right now, at least in terms of the way the rotations have been, and that is Jaden Wilkerson, the redshirt freshman out of Orlando, basketball player.
I don’t know the exact size. I’m guessing 6-foot-6, 320-plus. Looks good at that weight. No bad weight.
Peter Ariz: 335 is what they’ve got him at.
DMoney: There you go. 6-foot-6, 335. I think that’s probably accurate. He’s carrying it well. He just looks good in pads.
There are certain body types where you can see the height and weight on paper, then you see it in person and it doesn’t look exactly how you want it to look. He looks the right way in pads. He’s got a good attitude. He’s improved. He can move. He’s a former basketball player. He didn’t play a ton of football early, so there’s still upside there from a technical standpoint.
Obviously, this guy could have gone two ways after being banged up a little bit as a redshirt freshman, and he’s gone in the positive direction. Kind of like a Matt McCoy, who didn’t play right away but eventually was brought along to where he was a player on the field and now a starting right tackle in his fifth year.
I could see something very similar with Jaden Wilkerson. I’m not saying it’ll take that long for him to start, but he has the ingredients that make you feel good about him as an NFL-tools type guy. You bring him along methodically, and when he’s ready to play, he’ll play.
Some of those guys, you don’t know: are they going to wash out, or are they going to be a contributor? I think he’s trending much more toward the contributor category. He’s going to make your offensive line bigger, more imposing, more athletic.
Peter Ariz: That’s one of those where you go back and you look at him, Demetrius Campbell, some of these other guys they offer, and you say, man, this guy isn’t the highest-rated recruit in the world and all that. Not all of them are going to hit. You understand that. But I’ll take my chances on guys who are big, athletic and tough with this coaching staff.
The way it’s looking at Miami right now, especially at tackle, if you just look ahead—if you end up landing a Mark Matthews, and then you’re stacking guys like Jaden Wilkerson—if a guy actually is going to sit and get developed for two or three seasons in today’s age, I’ll take it. I’m not saying Wilkerson needs three seasons, but it looks like this will be a season where he’s not starting. That’s not in the plans.
But if he’s your sixth or seventh lineman at 6-foot-6, 335, I’ll take it. That’s a position where I’m going to take every chance I can get with some of these big bodies.
That’s why a guy like Zaquon Linton in this class caught my attention. I saw him walking around at practice the other day with his mom and some of the recruiting staffers, and I didn’t realize who it was at first because he didn’t look like he looked in some of the pictures and videos. He looked like he had put some weight on. That looks like a big-time prospect just off the height-weight measurables. So you take one or two chances on guys like that every class, and I think they’re going to pan out eventually.
DMoney: No doubt.
Before we get to your second pick, Demetrius Campbell gets compared to Jaden Wilkerson a lot. Both basketball players, both from the Orlando area, both signed in the same class. It was almost like two of the same guy.
So far, I’d say he looks fine. He’s playing right tackle, doing his thing. It’s still very early. I would say just in terms of the physical impression, and they both dealt with injuries, so there’s a lot of time left on the clock for both guys, but the one difference between Campbell and Wilkerson right now is that Wilkerson’s body type, just the way he’s built, the length, the frame, is a little more prototypical. That doesn’t mean Campbell can’t outplay him. That’s why you have the competition.
They’re both playing second team right now, one on the left and one on the right, and we’ll see how they develop. But if you ask me right now, on March 30, the body type on Wilkerson jumps out just a little more.
Pete, who’s your second guy?
Peter Ariz: My second guy will be a wide receiver, transfer guy Dre Jacobs from South Carolina.
From what I’ve seen—and I heard he had some good moments on Saturday as well—he’s had some really good battles with Ethan O’Connor in camp. Right off the bat, when you hear this guy might be the fastest player on the team, definitely top three in terms of speed, you’re curious: is this guy just a speed guy? Does he have hands? Can he run routes?
From what I’ve seen, at least in one-on-one and seven-on-seven stuff, he has really good ball skills. He can track back to the football. He isn’t just a one-dimensional go-ball guy.
I think what he’s going to bring to the offense may not even always show up in the box score. You’re going to have to have help over the top of him. That’s going to open up so much for whether it’s Malachi Toney, who they’re going to try to get the ball to in the middle of the field, or Cooper Barkate, Josh Moore, Cam Vaughn, Dalen Upshaw—you’ve got so many guys there.
I think what Dre Jacobs brings is going to have a huge impact outside of just the touchdowns and receptions he makes. He feels like a guy who could be a 17- or 18-yards-per-catch type of player for this team with how they’re going to use him.
DMoney: No doubt. That’s functional deep-threat production. He was over 17 yards a catch in the SEC last year. So it’s not just, "Hey, this guy is fast and he’ll take the top off." It’s something that’s been proven in a conference like the SEC, against out-of-conference teams like Clemson, where he had a really big game.
Like you said, that’s something we didn’t have last year to this degree. It’s something that’s going to affect how teams play us with their safeties. You’ve got Mark Fletcher, you’ve got Malachi Toney—you want those safeties backed up to give those guys room to operate, and I think Jacobs, along with some others, gives you that.
Peter Ariz: Can he be like a Charleston Rambo? I’ll say this: Charleston Rambo had an awesome year at Miami, but he was a 4.57 guy. Jacobs is way faster than that. I don’t know what his draft grade is right now, but I think his ceiling is higher than that. I really do.
And he’s not short either. He’s not a huge wide receiver in terms of bulk, but he’s probably in the low to mid-180s and about 6 feet. So he’s got enough size there too.
DMoney: Yeah. He’s not huge from a strength standpoint, but I’ve seen him play. He’s already been able to function in the SEC at this strength level, so I don’t think that’s going to be a major issue.
Peter Ariz: I saw him fight through contact for a touchdown the other day, come back to the football in the end zone, make a nice hands catch. So yeah, I think he’ll be fine there.
DMoney: I like that choice. I’m going to keep it at wide receiver for my last early standout. This is real early, but somebody that caught my attention—it’s funny because he’s been wearing a non-contact jersey for a little bit and he’s been nicked up, so it’s not like he’s played a ton—but I’ve got to go with Josh Moore.
Just looking at him, the little things, the way he carries himself, the confidence he’s playing with, the speed. I’ve said this a few times already. I interviewed a lot of players for some content that’ll be rolling out over the next couple weeks, and when I asked who the fastest players on the team were, Josh Moore’s name came up from multiple people, including corners who would know.
That’s something you don’t always associate with Josh Moore because he’s so big and athletic with the ball in the air, but pure speed, they were hyping him up. Then I saw a couple times in one-on-one where he was just running by guys with tremendous confidence.
I watched the Darian Mensah training video yesterday. He talked about Malachi, talked about Cooper Barkate, talked about Josh Moore. Those were some of the names he went to immediately.
Over time, assuming he stays healthy and stays on the right track—and I’ve heard no reason to think otherwise, he seems like a hard worker—you’re going to see Josh Moore continue to grow. If you ever see his dad at practice, his dad is bigger than him. His dad looks like a left tackle. So this is a naturally big, athletic guy. It’s genetic. It’s not something that’s just bulked up.
I think he’s going to continue to get better and better until we’re talking about him as an NFL player catching passes from Darian Mensah. Even though he’s been banged up and hasn’t been catching touchdowns left and right, just seeing how he operates and seeing his movement and the way he carries himself, he feels like a starter and an impact player to me.
Peter Ariz: Yeah, I agree. I’ve said all week I think he ends up being a starter.
I’ve gotten similar reviews about him this offseason, having a strong offseason and really showing them a lot by staying and not wavering in terms of wanting to be here. That’s only step one. You still have to put in the work and perform after that. It’s not like staying made the coaches say, oh, he’s locked in as a starter now. But it shows you where a guy’s head is at and what his mentality is.
So they were really excited about that from a competitive standpoint. In terms of his speed, once he gets rolling with the strides he takes—and he’s built, he’s not skinny—that acceleration with the mass he’s got, he’s a freight train in the open field.
I’m all on board with him. It’s nice to say we’re talking about two different standouts at wide receiver here, and we haven’t even mentioned Malachi Toney.
DMoney: Yeah. This is all about helping Malachi Toney, right? How can we help Malachi Toney? If Josh Moore and Dre Jacobs are getting down the field, Malachi wants to operate over the middle. He got so much attention last year. It’s amazing he caught as many passes as he did.
Pete, I’ll let you finish it off with your last Week 1 standout.
Peter Ariz: The whole DB room physically stands out, and it’s one thing to say you get all four corners back, but then just seeing them in practice, it’s hard to believe they all did come back. At safety, you’ve got Zechariah Poyser and Bryce Fitzgerald coming back, with Omar Thornton getting in the mix. Is he going to play a little nickel? I think that’s really going to be by committee. I think you’re going to see a lot of Bryce at nickel as well in certain situations, especially passing situations.
But I’ll go with Bryce Fitzgerald as the guy who stood out, just because he looks like he’s got some real muscle definition on him now. That was the question for him last year—how physical can he be? And when we talk about physicality, it’s not just whether he’s going to come down and make a tackle and lay the wood. It’s also in coverage. Is he strong enough to handle some of the stuff he’s going to see when the ball’s in the air?
We know what he can do. His ball skills are as good as anybody in the country, probably the best in the country with what we saw last year. So can he have the durability and physicality to play more snaps over a longer course of the season? He played right away last year, but his snaps are pretty much going to double this year, I would imagine.
That added weight is going to be really big for him. He looks to be moving as good as ever. I don’t see any issue there at all. I just think he’s growing into that frame of his. He’s wearing No. 3 now, so he’s feeling good about that too.
DMoney: With Malachi, I don’t have any worry about a sophomore slump because he’s just that much of a freak worker. Bryce Fitzgerald, to me, is one of the best athletes in the country, period. We were hyping him up from the second he got on campus, even before that, just because of how athletic he is.
We wondered about the physicality. That was better than we thought, and it allowed him to play enough that he was a freshman All-American. He has a chance to be truly elite—top 10 pick, first-round type guy, whatever you want to say. He has that ability.
As a freshman, he was on that pace. When you’re that good, to me the expectation in your sophomore year is that you’re one of the best players in the country, period, point blank. Anything less than that would be a slowing of the pace. That’s how good he was as a freshman, and that’s how good he can be.
So I think he’s a guy you’ve got to push—not because he doesn’t work, you saw his body, he’s obviously working—but because he has such high ability that to get where he should be, he really has to turn it on. We’re talking about being one of the absolute best players in the country. Anything less than that is less than what he’s capable of.
I’m watching it very closely. Malachi is so unique. I’ve never seen someone work that hard and that smart at a young age. Bryce is a hard worker too. Again, you saw his body. You saw his physicality. Now the question is whether he’s going to take himself to the level he should be at in Year 2, which is All-American, superstar, the kind of leap Caleb Downs made after a very good freshman year.
DMoney: We just got a comment asking about JJ Dunnigan. Me and you both could have said JJ Dunnigan, and it kind of relates to Bryce Fitzgerald .
My expectation for Bryce Fitzgerald, and I don’t think this is me being a fan, just based on his talent and what he did, is for him to be a Caleb Downs-type household name, one of the best players in the country as a sophomore. JJ Dunnigan is going to come in as a freshman and be spectacular, based on what we’ve seen so far. If Bryce isn’t up to that level, people are going to start focusing on JJ Dunnigan.
And I know the competitor Bryce is. He wants to be the man in that room. Obviously he wants his teammates to do well. This is good Miami Hurricane competition. This is not a negative. But from what we’ve seen, JJ Dunnigan can do what Bryce did as a freshman. Maybe in a different way—bigger, maybe more physical, maybe less of the interceptions, but they’re both supreme athletes.
That’s when you really get to good Miami Hurricane football. Bryce is a freshman All-American. Here comes JJ Dunnigan, another freshman All-American in the making. You’ve got Zachary Poyser, who’s an NFL-type safety. Omar Thornton is going to be playing some safety and knocking people’s heads off. A lot of guys that can play nickel.
Be that guy. Be the best player in the country on defense. That’s what Bryce Fitzgerald is capable of.
The dynamic between Bryce and Dunnigan reminds me—again, not saying they will be this caliber of player—of when Miami has an Ed Reed and then a Sean Taylor behind him. That’s what Miami is supposed to be.
Peter Ariz: Yeah, that’s a big guy who’s moving like that, man. Very smooth at his size. And everything you hear about the work ethic and all that is top level.
DMoney: I think pretty much everyone you talk to expects him to be, if not a starter, right there in terms of snaps. Similar to what Bryce Fitzgerald got last year. And that’s first-round type talent we’re talking about. That doesn’t mean they’re definitely going to be first-rounders, but with Rueben Bain and Francis Mauigoa, you knew pretty early, hey, if these guys stay on their trajectory, they can be those dudes.
Bryce Fitzgerald was on that level. And JJ Dunnigan, the early buzz on him is very similar. Jackson Cantwell, by the way, I’d put in that same category.
It’s early. I don’t want to overhype, but I love the competition. I love the talent. I love the names that we’re talking about and the caliber of talent we’re dealing with.
Peter Ariz: We could’ve said a ton of other guys too. Jontavius Wyman was someone who caught my eye. I’ve got to be careful with that one because he had two picks in a span of five or six plays in that one practice. I can’t tell you he did that every day. He may have been struggling other days. But the one practice I saw, the ball skills that were very evident on the high school tape translated here. He needs to put some weight on, and he’s not the tallest either, so he’s going to have to find a role. But I think you’ve got a potential nickel there down the line.
DMoney: I always quote my favorite podcast, Move the Sticks with former scouts Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah. One thing Bucky always says is you’ve got to grade the flashes sometimes.
What that means is when you see a Jontavius Wyman do something that makes you say "wow"—twice in a short period of time—and it’s athletic, instinctive, natural, that means he can do it again. Now, of course, what makes someone a great player, what makes someone Malachi Toney or Rueben Bain, is the consistency of doing it every single practice and then doing it on game day.
Just because you flash doesn’t mean you’re going to do it consistently. But there are a lot of guys who just don’t flash because they can’t. They don’t have that ability. So when you see those things early, you take note of them.
One last thing before we move on—what about Bobby Pruitt?
Peter Ariz: I heard Bobby Pruitt had a good moment on Saturday coming downhill. He’s someone we’ve talked a lot about the last couple years as someone who’s flashed. I’m glad they’ve got him focusing on one position now.
I think it’s hard for a player’s development when you’re moving him between two different spots. I know he has the physical capabilities to play different roles, and I think that’s still something he’ll do eventually, but let him hone in on one thing. I think linebacker is a good spot for him.
DMoney: Totally agree. Looks bigger. Charismatic guy. He’s got a lot of energy. Likes to hit. He knows it’s a big year for him. So I’m excited to see what Bobby Pruitt can do.
