Five takeaways from the second week of spring football (2024)

Miami’s passing attack got off to a strong start during the first week of spring football and that form held true when the pads came on during week two as well.

The quarterback position continues to look strong. Cam Ward is the unquestioned QB1 and with the pads coming on he flashed the special pocket presence to extend plays and find open receivers as he keeps his eyes downfield. Ward continues to throw with anticipation and accuracy.

As for the rest of the quarterback room, Reese Poffenbarger has earned the majority of the QB2 reps with Jacurri Brown and Emory Williams splitting QB3 snaps. Poffenbarger is a fine back-up because he protects the football and understands the offense. Brown continues to improve as a passer and has more long-term starter potential than Poffenbarger and if he continues to improve on this trajectory, he can be a productive quarterback as the college level. Brown’s accuracy is much improved. Williams continues to show the ability to distribute the ball quickly in an efficient manner. Williams needs to continue to improve his deep ball placement.

Judd Anderson is likely heading toward a redshirt season in 2024, but he is an intriguing big-bodied quarterback to develop long term because of his physical traits.

At wide receiver, Miami may not have a clear-cut WR1 on the outside at this stage, but the group is deeper with more options compared to last season.

Xavier Restrepo continues to level up his game and is poised for another ultra-productive season in 2024. Isaiah Horton has raised his game to another level this spring, showing off his deep speed at 6-feet-3 and 200 pounds. Jacolby George continues to be a receiver that flashes every now and then.

Miami’s back-up receivers are intriguing as well with Ray Ray Joseph flashing impressive speed from the slot while early enrollee freshmen JoJo Trader and Ny Carr flash playmaking ability with their combination of speed, acceleration, and ball tracking.

UM’s tight end group will also provide more passing game production punch in 2024 with Elijah Arroyo looking healthy and ready to be an important contributor and Riley Williams looking stronger and poised to be more of a pass catching threat as well. Early enrollee freshman Elija Lofton is a Swiss Army knife of a player that can line up in many different places, including the backfield as the Hurricanes are lacking depth at running back at the moment.

The Hurricanes are poised to put up big numbers in the passing game in 2024.

At the start of the second week of spring football, returning leading rusher Henry Parrish told the UM coaching staff he would not be participating in the rest of offseason football and intended to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal in the spring.

The situation now leaves the Hurricanes with three scholarship running backs healthy and available this spring: TreVonte’ Citizen, Chris Johnson, and Chris Wheatley-Humphrey.

Citizen is looking to show that he made a full recovery from two knee procedures. Johnson has plenty of speed, but is looking to show he can play with the necessary physicality to be an all-around back. Wheatley-Humphrey is making the transition to the college level.

Miami does have Mark Fletcher out this spring as he recovers from a foot injury and Ajay Allen is also held out due to an offseason procedure. This summer, UM will add talented class of 2024 signee Jordan Lyle.

But Miami would benefit from adding a proven running back in the portal this spring—and if a big time back enters, the Hurricanes would be wise to push all their chips to the middle of the table to seal the deal. The UM passing game has plenty of potential to be potent. A complementary running game would make the offense dangerous.

One of the interesting position battles to monitor is the left guard spot on the first team offensive line.

In the first week of the spring, Miami rotated Lou Cristobal and Samson Okunlola with the first team at left guard and it was much of the same during week two.

Cristobal gets slightly more of the workload with the first team at this stage as the UM coaching staff is looking to push Okunlola to take his game to another level. To this point, the UM staff is pleased with the way Okunlola is performing, but they would like the second year offensive lineman to leave no doubt in the competition.

Regardless of who is taking reps at left guard, the offensive line is performing at a strong level through the first two weeks of camp and it will once again be a strength for the Hurricanes in 2024.

Miami’s secondary got a boost in week two of spring football with class of 2023 signees Damari Brown and Robert Stafford getting back to action in a limited way, bolstering the depth at cornerback.

Brown started the last month of the 2023 season and will be a key starter for the Hurricanes in 2024 as he competes with Jadais Richard for the boundary cornerback job. Stafford signed with the Hurricanes last year as an athlete that played on offense and defense at the high school level and has flashed the ability to track and play the ball with poise when it comes his way.

While it was good to get Brown and Stafford back into the mix in week two, the UM secondary would benefit from adding another cornerback and another safety during the spring transfer portal window.

At cornerback, UM would benefit from adding depth while at safety the Hurricanes could use a safety that can come in and compete for a starting job.

Through the first two weeks of spring football, Miami’s secondary is the biggest question mark—particularly at safety.

Miami started the month of spring football with plenty of important players missing as they recovered from their offseason procedures.

After spring break, UM welcomed back players like CB Damari Brown, DL Akheem Mesidor, and TE Cam McCormick back into dressing out and participating in practice as they start to get acclimated to playing more football. In week two, key players like Wesley Bissainthe and Rueben Bain were limited due to minor issues.

Like many teams across the country, key players are missing this spring and thus it is tough to judge how a team looks. The Hurricanes are starting to get important players back into the fold, but there are still key players that will be held out the entire spring like OL Francis Mauigoa and LB Kiko Mauigoa. Getting big time players back in the fold helps ramp up the competition level and provides a true evaluation of where the team stands going into 2024.