Miami football spring practice preview: 5 questions for the Hurricanes

Miami starts spring practice Monday.

Here are five questions on my mind as Mario Cristobal begins his third season leading the Hurricanes:

1. How will Shannon Dawson tailor the offense around Cam Ward?

Miami’s biggest issues on offense in Dawson’s first season were poor red zone touchdown efficiency (90th out of 133 FBS teams) and turnovers (108th). Ward has had problems fumbling the ball but is much more of an athletic, dual-threat quarterback than Tyler Van Dyke was.

The question is: Will Dawson put the onus on Ward to play like he did at Washington State (he threw the ball 485 times last season) or will he try to strike more of a balanced attack with his spread offense like he did a year ago? Miami ran it 440 times last season and threw it 436 times. That’s almost a 50/50 split. The Cougars ran it a Pac-12-low 342 times a year ago and Ward led the team with 120 carries and eight rushing touchdowns. Ward had the ball in his hands a lot. Will Cristobal allow Ward the same number of opportunities or ask him to hand it off more often? The Hurricanes return two of the top receivers in the ACC, Xavier Restrepo and Jacolby George, and welcome a talented group of freshmen led by Jojo Trader and Ny Carr.

In today’s name, image and likeness world, it’s important for Miami to prove to other potential quarterback transfers — especially ones who might end up earning as much as Ward did to come to Coral Gables — that a Cristobal-coached offense can be quarterback-friendly. If and how that’s developed over time will be very interesting to watch.

2. Does Miami have enough talent in its secondary?

Losing starting safeties Kamren Kinchens and James Williams a year early to the NFL Draft, coupled with the departures of starting cornerbacks Jaden Davis and Te’Cory Couch, means there are four important holes to fill in the Hurricanes’ defensive backfield. Miami finished 33rd in passing efficiency defense last season up from 102nd in 2022.

Senior Daryl Porter Jr. (24 starts) and Washington transfer Mishael Powell (25 starts) are the only two players on the roster with more than four college starts under their belts. Powell played mostly nickel at Washington last season but could also fill one of the safety spots. Porter Jr. is likely to end up starting opposite sophomore Damari Brown at cornerback. That leaves two other starting spots in Miami’s secondary, which are likely to be filled by either Vanderbilt transfer Savion Riley, Arizona transfer Isaiah Taylor (the son of defensive line coach Jason Taylor) or returnees such as Jadais Richard, Jaden Harris, Kaleb Spencer or freshman Zaquan Patterson.

Miami’s secondary isn’t as talented as you might expect it to be. There are six former blue-chip recruits among 15 players and only one — Patterson — is a former top-100 recruit. The front seven, meanwhile, has six former blue-chip linebackers and 11 blue-chip defensive linemen on the roster (including three five-stars).

3. How involved are Miami’s tight ends going to become in Year 2 under Dawson?

Elijah Arroyo’s injury history over the last two seasons hasn’t helped. He’s supposed to be healthy now. But it will be interesting to see how Dawson incorporates him and other tight ends with quality hands into the passing game.

Last year, Miami tight ends were targeted a combined 30 times on 413 pass attempts (7.2 percent), according to TruMedia. Ninth-year senior Cam McCormick and true freshman Riley Williams combined for 16 of the group’s 18 combined catches for 154 yards and a touchdown. By comparison, Will Mallory led the Hurricanes with 42 catches for 538 yards and three touchdowns in 2022.

The drop in production last season for Miami’s tight end position was staggering for a program whose proud history includes former NFL stars such as Jeremy Shockey, Greg Olsen and Jimmy Graham.

4. Who will emerge as Miami’s fifth starting offensive lineman?

Jalen Rivers, Anez Cooper and Francis Mauigoa are three returning starters for Miami’s vastly improved offensive line. Indiana transfer Zach Carpenter is expected to fill the hole left behind by Matt Lee at center. But the starting left guard job Javion Cohen once held is open entering spring, and the Hurricanes have several viable options.

Redshirt sophomore Matthew McCoy got some burn last season as the sixth offensive lineman but will receive a strong push from redshirt freshmen Bruno Kinsler and Samson Okunlola, a former five-star recruit who missed the second half of last season after a knee injury. With Mauigoa expected to miss spring practice after offseason surgery, there will be plenty of opportunities for those three along with new arrivals Markel Bell, Deryc Plazz and Nino Francavilla to get reps throughout the spring and impress coaches.

As good as the Hurricanes were at protecting the quarterback last season, ranking 11th in pass-blocking efficiency, they also vastly improved in rushing yards per attempt (up to 5.12 from 3.74 in 2022). You can bet Cristobal wants a big, mean, surly dude who can open holes to replace Cohen.

5. Which second- and third-year players are going to elevate themselves into more prominent roles?

Cristobal has signed the No. 4- and No. 7-ranked recruiting classes the last two cycles, and had a handful of freshmen move into starting roles in his first two seasons at the helm. Rueben Bain won the ACC defensive rookie of the year award last year. Mauigoa started all 13 games at right tackle last season. Running back Mark Fletcher Jr. and cornerback Damari Brown also cracked the starting lineup and are set up for prominent roles in 2024.

But Miami needs to squeeze more out of the 15 signees in Cristobal’s 2022 transition class. Receiver Colbie Young, who left for Georgia this offseason, linebacker Wesley Bissainthe and Cooper, the lowest-ranked freshman in the class, are the only full-time starters Miami has developed so far from that class. Four of the top-ranked players in that class are no longer in the program (Cyrus Moss, Jaleel Skinner, Khamauri Jones and Chris Graves).

Cristobal needs edge rusher Nyjalik Kelly, defensive tackle Ahmad Moten, running back TreVonte’ Citizen, safeties Markeith Williams and Jaden Harris, receiver Isaiah Horton and McCoy to take steps forward in their development this season and become bigger contributors. If Miami gets all seven of these guys to become much more productive then it might be a really good year for the Hurricanes.

(Top photo of Xavier Restrepo: Brian Fluharty / USA Today)