Grades are better and so is their opportunity
Ex-Broward County stars Huff, Williams hoping to help Hurricanes after improving in classroom
Avery Huff and Cameron Williams were accustomed to making major contributions on the football field in high school, but they had to watch their first season in Coral Gables from the sidelines.
Huff, a star linebacker at St. Thomas Aquinas, and Williams, a standout defensive end at Chaminade-Madonna, both took an academic redshirt their freshman year at Miami. But Hurricanes defensive coordinator Blake Baker said Wednesday that he expects both Broward natives to contribute this season.
“I think more than anything it was probably frustrating that they couldn’t get on the field last year,” Baker said. “Like I said, they knew that coming into it, so I thought they did a good job of handling it.”
Baker said Huff and Williams’ grades have improved since they arrived at Miami.
“I think they both did a really, really good job with [the redshirt year],” Baker said. “I think both of them matured a lot since they’ve been here. Both of them are making good grades.”
Huff likely has a better chance than Williams to see significant playing time in 2020, but there is a solid group of linebackers for him to compete with, including fifth-year senior and
Santaluces alum Zach McCloud.
“That linebacker room is wide open,” Baker said. “A lot of it’s going to be how well he digests the playbook and then what kind of shape he comes in.”
Huff was a star on a St. Thomas team that had several other standout linebackers, including Michigan’s Anthony Solomon, South Carolina’s Jahmar Brown, Florida signee Derek Wingo and N.C. State signee Devon Betty, among others. He earned second-team all-county honors as a senior. He was rated a four-star prospect in 247Sports’ composite ranking, and the site listed Huff as the No. 12 outside linebacker and No. 207 overall player in the 2019 class.
“Avery, I think, is coming along very nicely as well,” Baker said. “[He] still has, in my opinion, further to go, but he brings such a unique athletic ability. He has a very, very good feel for the game.
“Having him for those four days [in] spring ball, as fast as our offense goes, you could still see the growth that he was having in those four days.”
Williams likely falls behind Gregory Rousseau, Quincy Roche and others on the depth chart, but Baker praised Williams for his ability to come off the edge and for getting in better shape.
“Cam Williams has really changed his body,” Baker said. “I think he came in at maybe 255 pounds, but it was a lot of bad weight. I think he’s around 225, 230 and it’s really changed his body.
“Now he is looking to get a little bit bigger and add a little more size to him. But he does some good things coming off the edge and really has a mean streak to him that you wouldn’t necessarily know just talking to him in the hallway.”
Williams, who was a first-team allcounty pick as a senior at Chaminade, was rated a three-star prospect coming out of high school. 247Sports’ composite ranking listed him as the No. 29 weak-side defensive end and No. 441 overall player in the 2019 class. He helped lead Chaminade to the 2017 and 2018 Class 3A state championships.
Baker said the depth chart going forward will depend largely on how all of his players perform when the team reconvenes after the coronavirus shutdown.
“Some guys have basically a full weight room in their house and some guys have a broomstick with water jugs on the end,” Baker said. “So it’s going to be interesting to see what guys are coming in, from a strength standpoint. But they all should have the ability to get out there, find 100 yards of grass somewhere. It doesn’t even have to be grass; get out there on the street and run and run and run because you could know the defense like the back of your hand, but if you can’t think when you’re tired, then you’ve got no shot of playing.
“I think those things are going to be very valuable in establishing the depth chart.”