Jennings, Hall plan to transfer

Ex-starting safety, linebacker didn’t play vs. Georgia Tech

Former Miami Hurricanes starting safety Gurvan Hall Jr. and linebacker Bradley Jennings Jr. will both “move on” from the program and are expected to enter the transfer portal, coach Manny Diaz confirmed Monday afternoon.

Neither Hall or Jennings played in last Saturday’s 33-30 win over Georgia Tech on Hard Rock Stadium and both were removed from UM’s online roster.

“It’s really tough when you’re an older guy and your role isn’t what you think it should be,” Diaz said, “so like some of the other ones we’ve had, they’ll both move on and not be with us the rest of the way. It’s next man up for both those spots.”

Hall, a fourth-year junior and Palm Beach Gardens alum, started in four of Miami’s first five games this season due to being suspended against Central Connecticut State on Sept. 25 for an unknown violation of team rules.

The West Palm Beach native, who played the most defensive snaps out of any UM player before being suspended against the Blue Devils, was among the players who struggled with tackling early in the season, with his missed tackle against Michigan State in Miami’s third game going viral and even being a talking point during ESPN’s Monday Night Football crew’s weekly segment, “C’Mon Man!”

“When you’re the coach, the players are like your children: when they make mistakes, you can’t kick them out of the house,” Diaz recently said. “You have to try to get them to learn from their mistakes, get them to understand where they came from.

“Sometimes those mistakes, as we’ve mentioned, can cost your snaps. At some point, that’s the ultimate accountability. But we still have to try to make the best out of everybody on the team and get everybody to play to the level that we think they’re capable of playing at.”

Hall was replaced by true freshman safety James Williams in the starting unit in UM’s first game after the bye week against North Carolina on Oct. 16, with Hall playing a then-season-low 19 snaps in the loss to the Tar Heels before not recording a single defensive snap in UM’s win over N.C. State on Oct. 23.

He played 21 defensive snaps in the win over Pittsburgh on Oct. 30 in a backup role behind Williams and fellow true freshman starting safety Kam Kinchens after Diaz announced former starting safety Bubba Bolden was sidelined for the season with a shoulder injury before not playing against the Yellow Jackets.

For his Miami career, Hall recorded 146 tackles (84 solo), six tackles for loss, two sacks and one interception across 42 games (18 starts).

Kinchens and Williams will continue to be UM’s starting safety duo, while second-year freshman Avantae Williams is expected to have his role increased after catching an interception and playing a season-high 32 defensive snaps against Georgia Tech. Second-year freshman Isaiah Dunson is listed as the backup safety behind James Williams after making the move to the position from cornerback after Bolden’s injury.

Jennings, a fifth-year redshirt junior, was Miami’s starting middle linebacker for all 11 games last year before being moved into a backup role behind secondyear freshman Corey Flagg Jr. this season. He’s recorded 15 tackles (five solo) in the eight games he played this season.

The Jacksonville native, who missed the entire 2019 season due to a groin injury, will finish his Miami career with 67 tackles (28 solo) nine tackles for loss and three sacks.

With Jennings’ departure, third-year redshirt sophomore Ryan Ragone and true freshman Tyler Johnson, a former four-star prospect who’s a Miami Killian High alum, are listed as the backup middle linebackers behind Flagg.

ACC honors: Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was named the ACC Rookie of the Week for the third consecutive time for his performance against the Yellow Jackets, while Charleston Rambo was named the ACC Receiver of the Week.

Van Dyke completed 22-of-34 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns against Georgia Tech, and has gone 79 of 109 (72% completion percentage) for 1,140 yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception during Miami’s three-game winning streak.

Rambo had seven catches for 210 yards and one touchdown against the Yellow Jackets, with his receiving yards being the second-most in a single game in program history. His 859 receiving yards on the year are the ninth-most in program history for a single season.

Holding period: ESPN on Monday exercised a six-day hold for Miami’s final home game of the season against Virginia on Nov. 20., so the kickoff time and broadcast information for the matchup won’t be announced until after this weekend’s road game against rival Florida State.

The Hurricanes’ matchup against the Seminoles on Saturday at Doak S. Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will air on ESPN.