The Canes have only had three practices, and none full contact. It’s early. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t learned anything. On today’s CanesinSight Daily podcast, I provided some initial takeaways based on my personal observations and conversations with sources. We've talked about Cam Ward and the freshmen WRs on other podcasts, so this one will focus on some other developments. Below are some quotes from the podcast, brought to you by Anidjar & Levine, Accident Attorneys and CanesWear:
Reese Poffenbarger has the (very) early lead for the #2 quarterback position: "Poffenbarger was an all-world player at the FCS level, extremely productive, really carried his team (Albany) beyond where they were as a program. The first impression on Greentree meant more for him than for others, because you wanted to see how he looked physically. Is the arm going to look like a pop-gun FCS arm, or is it going to look like a ACC-caliber arm? How's the athleticism? We saw him running around all over the place at the FCS level. How's it going to look when he's got defensive ends that run 4.6 chasing him with size?”
“So far, so good. I was impressed with his arm strength. Actually, I think his arm strength is further along than his accuracy. He was drilling his outs. He threw outside the hashes without a problem. Even with defensive backs trying to close in on him, he was able to drive the ball. When he was throwing deep balls, it was either overthrown or on the money. He wasn't underthrowing any balls. He can also throw in the move. He has quick twitch in his arm.”
“He also has some quick twitch in his body. I like to see how QBs react to bad snaps. Poffenbarger had multiple bad snaps, and he’s able to pick them up off the ground and reset very quickly before delivering a strong ball. It sounds like a small thing, but not everybody can make that look easy. They're fumbling and stumbling. Poffenbarger is very quick and athletic on those plays. He also ran some designed runs.”
“Again, very early, but he was getting the majority of second team reps. With his experience, and his physical talent looking better than expected, he would be my betting pick for #2 QB in this very, very, very early stage in the process.”
The tight ends are going to be more involved in the offense: “We heard it all offseason: Dawson didn’t use the tight ends the way we're used to seeing at Miami. This is Tight End U. David Njoku made the Pro Bowl this year, numerous Pro Bowlers before that. Will Mallory showed flashes, Brevin Jordan had a long TD in the playoffs. We didn't see that last year. A lot of blocking and not a lot of receiving (Riley Williams led the group with 72 yards).”
“It’s early, but we’ve seen Cam Ward go to his tight ends more often in camp. Particularly Elijah Arroyo, who's now wearing number eight. Miami feels he can be an absolute star, a complete player at tight end. He's got NFL size, easily 250+. He's got his speed back. He tore his ACL two years ago. Last year, he dealt with some hamstring issues resulting from that ACL, overcompensating at times. He looks fully healthy, fully confident, and Miami wants him to be there pretty much every snap because he can block. He gives you what Cam McCormick gave you last year as a blocker, plus better receiving ability.”
“Riley Williams, the blue chip sophomore, I'm told he's up to 260 pounds. And this is an athletic receiving tight end. Had a one-handed catch in one-on-ones earlier in the week. On some of the previous podcasts, we talked about Elijah Lofton. He's made a lot of plays both in team drills and one-on-one."
Cam “Bobby” Pruitt is the first of the Class of 2024 to get snaps with the first-team: “Pruitt was a low four-star, borderline three-star prospect. Did very well in the Mississippi/Alabama all-star game. CanesInSight has been reporting for almost a year that Miami believes Pruitt is a premier player. They view him as a San Francisco 49er-style linebacker who can run, cover, hit and do a lot of things in the modern game. Sure enough, he’s already getting reps with the first unit.”
“Now, there's really two first units. One group uses a nickel, more of a defensive back to cover WRs. There's also the base package where you have a SAM linebacker, which is more of your fast linebacker. This is your Cam Pruitt, your Bobby Washington, your Kaleb Spencer, guys that are fast enough to play safety, but are big and physical enough to play linebacker. Lance Guidry, you could tell by watching his face in his interview, he's very excited about what Pruitt brings to the table.”
“Pruitt is picking up the defense faster than people expected. In high school, he played all over the field. He even played receiver. Those guys that play all over the field, you wonder, ‘Well, do they have the background at a particular position?’ Maybe not, but it also shows you their football IQ, that they're entrusted in multiple roles in high school. Pruitt learns fast because he's a natural football player, an instinctive guy who's used to doing a lot of different things for his team and having to learn the game of football and different roles on the team.”
Miami has more tackles than guards: “There was a lot of controversy when fans saw Lu Cristobal run out with the first-team offensive line. It was LT Jalen Rivers, LG Louis Cristobal, C Zach Carpenter, RG Anez Cooper, and RT Matt McCoy with Francis Mauigoa on the injured list."
“Left guard has people concerned because Cristobal is a Georgia State transfer that doesn’t look like a starter at Miami. The reality is Samson Okunlola also got first-team reps. He’s coming back from an injury. They're going to make Samson earn that position, which they should. He doesn’t just walk right in as a five star with a big NIL. But I do expect Samson to pass Lu Cristobal.”
“One thing you're seeing with this offensive line is that you have a lot of tackles and not a lot of pure guards. Usually, it's the other way around. You're dying for tackles and you're maybe moving a guard outside that's not a natural tackle. Here, you have a lot of tackles because Mario and Mirabal have recruited very, very talented big guys that have the athleticism to play tackle.”
“Start with Jalen Rivers. Coach Mirabal told Joe Rose that they're not trying to move Jalen Rivers to guard. Maybe in the NFL, he'll play guard, but they like him at left tackle. He has experience there, and he's played very well there. Francis Mauigoa was a freshman All-American at right tackle. Matt McCoy played some guard, but really a tackle and is playing right tackle now. Tommy Kinsler, the huge, super athletic redshirt freshman out of Ocala, has been working as the backup left tackle. Samson has also gotten reps at left tackle. So those guys are really trying to work on their tackle skills. Markel Bell, the 6’9 giant out of junior college in Mississippi, has been playing both right and left tackle. With all these guys playing tackle, you don't have a lot of depth at guard. That moves up a guy like Lu Cristobal.”
“I think we'll find out who the tackles are and who's best out there and then see people move inside in a backup role. Someone like Kinsler might be the backup guard. Someone like McCoy might be the backup guard. Someone like Bell might be a tackle who moves someone like Mauigoa or Rivers inside if he really blossoms. By the way, Anez Cooper can play tackle too, especially now that he's lost some more weight (335 pounds). I saw it in camp when he first got here. A lot of guys can play tackle in Miami, and that’s a sign of very healthy offensive line recruiting.”
Meesh Powell is playing more nickel than safety: “We heard all offseason that Miami needed a safety. They get Meesh Powell out of Washington, a major, major acquisition to theoretically fill the free safety spot that Kam Kinchens left behind. But when we got to practice, Meesh Powell was mostly playing nickel replacing Te’Cory Couch.”
“Powell was a corner when he first got to Washington as a walk-on. Started games at corner before moving to safety, so he's capable of playing that position. Super smart, can blitz, can do a lot of different things. That frees up a spot at free safety. Savion Riley and Jaden Harris were the starting safeties for most of the first week. Jaden Harris is getting a lot of plaudits from Coach Guidry and Coach Cristobal for his speed and toughness. Savion Riley, the Vanderbilt transfer, is also more of a run-support guy. So who's the the rangy Kam Kinchens-type free safety? That's going to be a wide open position.”
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. Are they looking to try Markeith at corner as well? 
