Canes now in position to earn playoff berth
Not quite to the top, but almost there.
Miami (9-0, 6-0 ACC) earned four first-place votes in the Associated Press top 25 poll Sunday, but finished No. 2 behind Alabama.
The Hurricanes earned that spot — and a No. 2 place in the coaches’ poll, too — after a 41-8 dismantling of third-ranked Notre Dame on Saturday. UM was seventh in the polls before that.
The poll that truly matters — the College Football Playoff selection committee rankings — comes out Tuesday evening. Miami is expected to be in the top four for the first time in the CFP rankings’ three-plus years as the game’s postseason selection format. The top four teams in the final rankings (Dec. 3) are placed in playoff semifinal bowls.
This is the first time Miami has been No. 2 in the AP poll since 2003, when it was No. 2 for a six-week stretch ending with a Nov. 1 loss at 10th-ranked Virginia Tech. It is the first time UM has received first-place votes in the AP poll since Oct.
26 of that year.
While the rise in the polls was the good news Sunday, there was some bad news, too. Linebacker Charles Perry will miss the remainder of the season after “sustaining a left lower extremity injury” against Notre Dame, according to a press release from the school.
Perry, a junior who played at Royal Palm Beach, posted 15 tackles and one interception in nine games this season.
Late in the third quarter, Perry, a backup to Zach McCloud at strongside linebacker and a regular on special teams, laid on the turf for an extended period of time after a kickoff return. He was helped up and helped off, unable to put much weight on his left leg.
“It’s always a trickledown situation,” coach Mark Richt said. “It pushes one more guy into the role.”
Richt said he “didn’t know enough about it” to know whether Perry could return for spring ball.
True freshman De’Andre Wilder would be next in line to play more. Wilder was a third-teamer who saw action mostly on special teams.
Richt was asked his plans on keeping his team focused.
“You can’t hide the possibility of getting into the playoffs,” he said. “I think that’s motivation in itself. When you get in the habit of doing things a certain way, hopefully that will carry us.”
Asked about having fun at Miami, he said “I think we all know the most fun in coaching and in football, period, is winning. I wanted to come to a place I knew we had a chance to win. Miami is one of those places, and it happened to be my school, my alma mater.”
Is winning now different than it was at Georgia?
“It means a lot more to me than I thought it was going to,” he said, adding that he’s used to “celebrating the little things even more than I did in the past.” He said the ability to add his son, Jon, to the staff was a “big deal.”
Canes land a FB: Richt has found his fullback for 2018.
Atlanta-based Realus George, a three-star recruit who visited UM last weekend, announced his commitment Sunday. Rivals rates him as the No. 1 fullback in the nation.
George, listed at 6-foot2, 245 pounds, is a threestar prospect according to 247Sports and Rivals. He had offers to play tailback from Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, Army, Virginia and others. He has played inside linebacker and defensive end.
UM had grad transfer Marquez Williams at fullback last season, and has used a variety of players — walk-on Michael Parrott, guard/center Corey Gaynor and tight end Chris Herndon — in the role this year.
Recruiting update: One of the top-rated underclassmen in the nation, wide receiver Leonard Manuel, said he will play for the Hurricanes.
247Sports rates Manuel, listed at 6-4, 200, as the sixth-best player in the 2020 class, the second-best wide receiver and the best overall prospect in the state. Manuel will be a sophomore at Ocala-Vanguard High, the same program that produced Hurricanes freshman quarterback N’Kosi Perry.
In other recruiting news, four-star Georgia-based quarterback Jarren Williams de-committed from Kentucky, following his UM visit. He reportedly will visit Ohio State and Auburn next.
UM also has a 2020 commitment from athlete Avantae Williams, whom 247 rates 13th overall in that class. Miami’s 2019 class is rated fifth nationally and the 2018 group is rated fourth.