We're into that quasi-camp, quasi-Stanford-week stretch now, with all eyes set on who Miami will roll out on the first drive.

@DMoney and former Hurricanes wide receiver Ahmmon Richards were at every practice, every scrimmage, all the way through the non-media portions, to give you the real picture of where each position group stands with less than two weeks before we hit the field.

Here's where the quarterback room stands in their eyes.

Darian Mensah Doesn't Need to Be Cam Ward

The takeaway after watching Darian Mensah up close all summer is simple: he's bigger in person than he looks on TV, and he protects the football well, especially for a guy who takes shots downfield.

He's not going to wildly scramble around, and the fluidity in his arm angles give this offense throwing lanes Miami didn't have last year.

The deep ball is the headline. With this receiver room, the vertical passing game should expand in a real way.

Ahmmon backed that up from his own view of camp — completions down the field for legitimate explosive plays, more than he's seen in practice in a long time.

"I think [Mensah] allows us to attack defenses with multiple different looks," Ahmmon said.

However, don't expect a five-hundred-yard coming-out party in week one.

DMoney's expectation for Miami is a slow build — run the ball behind a new offensive line finding its footing, take the shots when the numbers are right, and let the passing game grow into itself as the season gets tougher.

Not Cam Ward's ceiling in week one. Not Carson Beck's volume, either.

Just Mensah being Mensah.

QB2 seems locked in​

Sophomore Luke Nickel took clear strides since spring — still hasn't seen real game action, but the flashes in camp point to a guy who's coming along on his own timeline.

Ahmmon likes the arm talent and the physical profile; shades of Ward in his stout build and the willingness to hang in the pocket and make a throw instead of just running.

The one thing DMoney wants to see cleaned up: getting rid of the ball faster. Nickel can hold onto it and create, but mastering the offense well enough to get through his reads and out of his hand quicker is the last piece.

The QB3 Race​

By the end of camp, DMoney's sense was that Dereon Coleman had made a real move for the third quarterback job — not a threat to Nickel's spot yet, but doing exactly what you want out of a true freshman: staying consistent, cutting down on erratic reps, getting more comfortable running with the third-string group — which still has plenty of talent with Miami's deep WR room.

Ahmmon has seen the arm talent from day one: a quick, whippy release, almost no wind-up, the kind of ball that's hard for a DB to jump because it's out of his hand before the read is even finished.

"There's no real wind-up in his throwing mechanics at all," Ahmmon said. "It's just a quick, flick release."

Judd Anderson is still in the mix, and his flashes are real — DMoney pointed to his size as a double-edged sword. When his mechanics line up, it looks close to perfect. When they don't, the accuracy gets inconsistent.

Right now, the momentum belongs to Coleman.

Miami is two weeks from Stanford. Everything said here is a camp evaluation — it means something, but it's not the full evaluation. That one starts under the lights.

 

I think we did a pretty good job. Recruit some good QBs that didn’t break the bank or play games and spend big on the portal until they were ready

Tough to do it any better than that these days

Agree. And if Mensah leaves for the league after this season then the keys might be handed over to Nickel next year unless another big time portal qb is out there.

 

Most teams don’t have much on QB depth charts these days

If you recruit a good one from high school they better play immediately or they bail

This is sort of why I felt good about Emory. You are right about the talent level getting an upgrade, but given how hard it is to keep a backup quarterback in this age, I felt like three years of experience in the offense/program was valuable.

 

This is sort of why I felt good about Emory. You are right about the talent level getting an upgrade, but given how hard it is to keep a backup quarterback in this age, I felt like three years of experience in the offense/program was valuable.

Yeah he gave his arm to try to beat FSU I hope he goes to ECU and does great

Was always just more disappointed that the recruiting was subpar but we’ve really got that going in the right direction

 

Still trying to figure out how Osu went 7 years in a row having guys like Braxton Miller, Cardale Jones, JT Barrett, and Dwyane Haskins on their roster and none of them bailed. You won't see that anymore where guys sit around waiting their turn.

Portal and NIL wasn't a thing yet, and those McDonalds bags hit hard. Also it is fantastic that all those guys you mentioned busted hard in the NFL.

 

On the flip side, what if it’s all a moot point and Mensah comes back next year?

CFB would pee themselves if that scenario played out. Me, I would dance a jig.

 

Portal and NIL wasn't a thing yet, and those McDonalds bags hit hard. Also it is fantastic that all those guys you mentioned busted hard in the NFL.

I give my brother **** all the time about that since he went to Osu.

 

DMoney's expectation for Miami is a slow build — run the ball behind a new offensive line finding its footing, take the shots when the numbers are right, and let the passing game grow into itself as the season gets tougher.

I got my caveman jokes ready but to be honest we don't need our expensive QB getting blindsided because the new OL whiffed a pass pro block against some team that we can line up and run over all game.

 

No reason to bag on Judd. We want to have 4 QBs in the room to compete and 1 or 2 won't pan out. So would you rather just not have the competition?

 

How long until we bring back Cam Ward for one more year from that trash Titans organization.

 

Most teams don’t have much on QB depth charts these days

If you recruit a good one from high school they better play immediately or they bail

Still trying to figure out how Osu went 7 years in a row having guys like Braxton Miller, Cardale Jones, JT Barrett, and Dwyane Haskins on their roster and none of them bailed. You won't see that anymore where guys sit around waiting their turn.

Burrow was the one who bailed and won a natty at L$U

 

Burrow was the one who bailed and won a natty at L$U

Forgot about him.

 

I think we are in better shape at backup QB. I wasn’t much of an Emory fan as a player. These guys are way more athletic and fluid.

 

Really timing and injuries moreso than anything else. Braxton was the all-world elder statesmen qb without an nfl future and jt got put into position early because Braxton got injured, then after a year of balling, JT was injured right before the conference championship game. Then Cardel jones, who wasn’t locked in to win the backup qb job, got to showcase his talents to win the natty.

Braxton switched his position so the qb battle was really just between JT and CJ. Cardale was the guy with the size and the arm strength; so he was the only one who actually got drafted as a qb even though after winning the starting qb he would later relinquish to JT because of his own poor performance. Braxton was a RB/WR post injury in his last year.

I still believe guys will wait if they feel like they have a legitimate open job to battle for; they just won’t wait so long their eligibility runs out I.e. Lincoln Kienholz still spent three years at Ohio State before transferring—didn’t leave when Will Howard and Saiyan transferred in; meanwhile Air Noland dipped out immediately after the first year.

Husan Longstreet left because Lincoln Riley told him he would redshirt then get a chance to compete for the starting qb job in his second year, and while Riley told him that was still the case, it’s obvious Riley wasn’t going to bench Maiva who he thought would be off to the NFL post-25.

Some coaches don’t give af and will push their starter out if they’re not cutting it I.e. Kyler McCord at OSU or Malique Murphy at Duke. Jalen milroe & Ty Simpson had no real choice to return for one more year. If they wanted to play college football again they were going to have to transfer.

But Austin Mack and the sophomore backing up saiyan could be making millions starting for the majority of p4 programs.

Proper communication is key.

 

Most teams don’t have much on QB depth charts these days

If you recruit a good one from high school they better play immediately or they bail

Still trying to figure out how Osu went 7 years in a row having guys like Braxton Miller, Cardale Jones, JT Barrett, and Dwyane Haskins on their roster and none of them bailed. You won't see that anymore where guys sit around waiting their turn.

Joe Burrows did.

 

Joe Burrows did.

And Tate Martell!

 

"It's Nickel!"

 

Judd battling for QB4 in year 3 definitely was on my bingo card.