New recruits
Confidence high new players will step up
Hurricanes’ new defensive linemen look ready to dominate.
CORAL GABLES — Last month, as the Hurricanes worked to put the finishing touches on what would end up becoming a top-10 recruiting class, Miami’s coaches found themselves also having to do a different kind of recruiting — with some their current players.
Knowing Miami was losing defensive tackle Anthony Moten and defensive ends Chad Thomas and Trent Harris to graduation, coaches from Mark Richt to defensive coordinator Manny Diaz to defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski met extensively with tackles RJ McIntosh and Kendrick Norton, hoping they could convince the two talented juniors to bypass the NFL draft and return to Miami for their senior seasons.
Ultimately, McIntosh and Norton opted to leave Coral Gables. Their departures, combined with the loss of three seniors and the transfers of two more defensive linemen — DJ Johnson and Ryan Fines — left the Hurricanes scrambling on the recruiting trail.
Would there be enough time to add more young linemen to the 2018 class? And would those players be skilled enough to contribute immediately after the loss of seven veterans, most of whom had seen extensive playing time?
“It’s impossible to fix that immediately,” Kuligowski conceded.
The first steps toward that fix, though, have been made.
Miami added a trio of defensive linemen this recruiting cycle, with four-star tackle Nesta Silvera of American Heritage-Plantation honoring his longtime commitment and signing with the Hurricanes on Wednesday. Tackle Jordan Miller, a late riser on the recruiting front who earned interest from Tennessee and Alabama ahead of National Signing Day, also signed
with UM on Wednesday. And three-star tackle Gregory Rousseau signed in December and is already on campus, going through offseason conditioning ahead of spring practice.
Miami is expected to also add former Illinois defensive tackle Tito Odenigbo as a graduate transfer. All of those new faces, Kuligowski believes, can be a significant help.
And, he’ll note, it’s not as if the Hurricanes don’t return several key contributors, including Joe Jackson, who was second on the team with 6.5 sacks last season, and veteran Gerald Willis, who will return from his season-long leave of absence.
“I think that we’ll be good and my expectations are that we’re going to be the top defensive linemen in the ACC and in the country. … Our expectations are not going to drop,” Kuligowski said. “We think the future is bright with a lot of the kids we signed in the last class. We all know Joe Jackson’s a fantastic player. We all know G-Willis is a fantastic player. That doesn’t have to be proven. It’s already been seen. We like the kids we have coming back, the kids that we’ve added, and some of the guys that have been kind of in the middle and are now going forward.”
Added Diaz, “I still think our top-end talent is very good.”
When spring practice begins in the coming weeks, the Hurricanes will also gauge how much some of their younger linemen have developed. Rising sophomores Jonathan Garvin and Jonathan Ford both arrived in Coral Gables with plenty of fanfare as members of Miami’s 2017 recruiting class. Both saw playing time this season, with Garvin — a former Lake Worth standout — notching eight tackles, two sacks and forcing and recovering two fumbles.
They’ll be expected to be bigger contributors, as will Pat Bethel, who had 18 tackles and a sack in 12 games last season. To add even more depth on the line, Scott Patchan — who moved to tight end last season after a shortage of players at that position — will return to playing defensive end, bringing with him some offensive knowledge, too.
Whether all of that can help the Hurricanes deal with the loss of so much talent on the defensive line remains to be seen, but after Miami put together a 10-3 season and made its first appearance in the ACC Championship Game, hopes are high. So, too, are expectations. “When you talk about guys like Demetrius Jackson and Joe Jackson and Jon Garvin and Greg Rosseau — who has the ability to come in and play right away — and Scott Patchan, who was in the mix, we went from having an overload at that position, a surplus, to now … in terms of quality guys that have done it in games, you almost have the number that you would expect,” Diaz said. “A lot of people would trade for our position of what we return talent wise at defensive end.”
Added Kuligowski: “We had a great recruiting class. I feel really good about the guys that we signed. I feel like they fit in specifically with what we’re looking for and I feel like they all have the talent to be stars. There’s a long time between now and then, but I feel very good about every one of these guys. I don’t really think there’s a guy that’s a ‘developer,’ maybe in the third year he’ll be a good player. I feel like these guys all kind of at least have a chance to help us right away.”