DE/LB Joyner opts to enter transfer portal

Miami Hurricanes redshirt sophomore defensive end Patrick Joyner has entered the transfer portal.

The news was first reported by 247 Sports on Tuesday morning. Joyner later tweeted “Thank you Miami.”

Joyner, who has gone back and forth between defensive end and linebacker at Miami, leaves just three days after UM landed pass rusher Deandre Johnson — a grad transfer from Tennessee — on Saturday night.

The Hurricanes lose Joyner as they are also set to lose their two starting defensive ends from the past season, Jaelan Phillips and Quincy Roche, to the NFL draft.

Last week’s Cheez-It Bowl loss to Oklahoma State served as a preview of what Miami returns at the position. Redshirt freshmen Jahfari Harvey, who had a strip-sack, and Cameron Williams, who had a tackle for loss, started. Joyner was on the second unit, along with linebacker Zach McCloud, who could be making a full-time position change to defensive end for a potential sixth college season.

Joyner, listed at 6-2, 225 pounds, had an assisted tackle in the bowl game — the first tackle he was in on since he had five in four games played as a true freshman in 2018.

He missed most of the 2019 season with a groin injury, only becoming available toward the end of the regular season and seeing action in one game.

Originally coming to UM out of Homestead’s South Dade High as a defensive end, Joyner moved to linebacker in the spring of 2019 to help with depth at the position.

In training camp ahead of the 2020 season, he was shifted back to defensive end after NFL draft prospect Gregory Rousseau opted out of the season.

Johnson’s arrival from Tennessee marks a homecoming for the former Miami Southridge High School standout.

The Hurricanes also have freshmen Chantz Williams, Elijah Roberts and Quentin Williams, who stand to make progress with an offseason of development, along with redshirt freshman Jason Blissett.

He, Roberts and Quentin Williams could play inside or outside on the defensive line. In the 2021 recruiting class, UM is bringing in defensive ends Jabari Ishmael and Thomas Davis.