The Canes freshman that everyone is excited to see. And UM personnel nuggets
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Monday:
▪ Aside from winning games, there’s nothing that excites a fan base more than the arrival of elite prospects.
And Rueben Bain’s unique skill as a pass rusher makes his arrival especially tantalizing.
I found it interesting that before fall camp even started, new defensive coordinator Lance Guidry said Bain would play a lot this season.
That’s what happens when you dominate high-level high school football, with an absurd 49 sacks combined over the past two seasons for one of the best programs in the country (Miami Central), and then immediately make an impact in spring ball at UM, with three sacks in the spring game.
“I feel I’ve transitioned pretty smooth,” Bain said last week. “The Friday night lights at [Traz Powell] have helped tremendously. I’m telling my high school coach the workout at Central is 10 times harder than it is out here.
“I feel I can give an extra spark, an extra energy to the defense, that swagger that Miami needs. I’m only at the beginning of my development. I feel I’ve only scratched the surface of my potential. I know I’m ready. I’m excited to play, excited to show my talent.
“Now that I’m comfortable with the playbook, I’m ready to show the coaches why they recruited me.”
Bain acknowledged that “I took a long time to make my college decision” before deciding to stay home. He likes “the impact I can make in my community.”
At 6-2 and 280 pounds, Bain will begin as a defensive end - “I’m playing only there now” - but could eventually move inside on passing downs. “Without a doubt, I can do that,” he said.
He said he expects to get down to 270 pounds in training camp.
He’s adjusting well to school as an early enrollee: “I got all As and Bs” in his first semester, he said.
▪ Receiver Frank Ladson, who had 27 receptions for 298 yards and a touchdown in his first year at UM after transferring from Clemson, wasn’t among the top six receivers last week. But he’s still in the mix for playing time.
“Frank has had an unbelievable summer,” receivers coach Kevin Beard said. “When I got here he was coming off of the injury and he was kind of a big-body guy and seeing him now he’s thinned out, he looks quicker, he looks leaner, he looks more explosive and dynamic. That’s the Frank that everybody has wanted him to be.”
In the first week of practice, Colbie Young, Jacolby George, and Xavier Restrepo played with the starters. Per 247 Sports, Isaiah Horton, Tyler Harrell and Brashard Smith played with the second unit.
That left Ladson, junior college transfer Shemar Kirk, Michael Redding and promising freshmen Robby Washington and Nathaniel Joseph further down the depth chart.
But the depth chart is obviously fluid.
Beard said of Joseph: “I don’t think he’s really had a chance to develop as a wide receiver, more of an athlete, and I think from January to now he’s done a really good job transforming himself into a wide receiver instead of an athlete.”
▪ Any thought of Zion Nelson coming back and immediately supplanting Jalen Rivers should be put to rest.
Barring an injury, this would happen only if Nelson is great in practice when he’s healthy enough to do 11 on 11 work (that hasn’t happened yet) and Rivers struggles early in the season and/or right guard Anez Cooper struggles.
“It’s funny, but nobody ever talks about Jalen Rivers and I think Jalen Rivers is competitive, tough, intelligent and if I’m an NFL team, I’m drafting Jalen Rivers,” offensive line coach Alex Mirabal said. “Nobody ever talks about him.”
And Mirabal said of Cooper: “He changed his body, but from a communication standpoint and a leadership standpoint he’s made a tremendous jump.”
Five star freshman tackle Samson Okunlola entered last week as UM’s No. 6 offensive lineman, per Mirabal.
▪ Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson will call plays from the field, not the press box.
“I like to talk to the quarterback in between drives,” Dawson said. “I like communicating with the quarterback during the course of the drive. That way if I want to change things it gets changed instantly.
“Between drives I like to look in your eye and have conversations with and sit down next to you and see your demeanor and see how you’re doing.”
▪ Cornerback Jadais Richard, the Vanderbilt transfer, has been an early standout in camp. “I can come, I can blitz,” he said of his game.
He has good size and length and good speed, and the position versatility (cornerback, nickel, potentially even safety) were appealing to UM.
Meanwhile, Te’Cory Couch is going to start getting work in the slot (where he has done some of his best work) after playing on the boundary - opposite UCF transfer Davonte Brown - early in camp.
Guidry said today that Couch will start playing “a little bit of nickel” moving forward and said that Oklahoma transfer Jaden Davis has been the best of the nickel players so far.
▪ With Francisco Mauigoa the heavy front-runner for the middle linebacker job, one question is whether Corey Flagg Jr. (last year’s middle linebacker starter) ends up simply as a backup or whether he can legitimately battle Wesley Bissainthe and KJ Cloyd at weakside linebacker.
Guidry said Flagg has made the biggest improvement from the spring, among the linebackers.
For now, weakside linebacker is primarily “a competition” with Bissainthe and Cloyd, Guidry said.
“In the course of a game, things change,” Guidry said. “So you have to identify plays and rely on past experiences. And that’s where KJ is probably going to catch up and beat a lot of the guys, because he’s played so many reps.”
Mauigoa has been very good since arriving at UM and “still playing really well,” Guidry said Saturday.
As for the four freshmen linebackers, don’t expect many defensive snaps early.
“It’s hard for a young freshmen at linebacker and safety to play, because that’s the brain trust of the defense,” Guidry said. “You have to make all the checks, and you have to be right. It takes a little time. We won’t know which one can help us for a little while yet.”
