Avantae Williams after Miami's Tuesday practice: This is the most football I've ever learned in my life

The Miami Hurricanes have an interesting situation brewing at safety, with three highly regarded players working at the two spots: James Williams, Avantae Williams and Kam Kinchens.

Can James Williams work in the box?

Sure.

Can Kinchens work as essentially a cornerback at times given his coverage skills?

Yes to that as well.

So this will be one of the more intriguing mysteries that will be unveiled when the season begins. Who will start at safety? Who will wind up with the most reps out of those two spots? And will all three of these guys be on the field quite a bit together?

Don’t bet against that latter part. New coordinator Kevin Steele is a veteran who is multiple, thinks outside the box and wants to get his best players on  the field together making plays.

After Tuesday’s practice, Avante shares his thoughts.

His personal progress?

“It’s going good,” Williams said. “I’m enjoying myself, having fun, enjoying the heat. I’m excited to be here. … I try to focus day by day, just get better on Greentree every day.”

As for what he anticipates in terms of who wins the starting safety job, which is between him and Kinchens, Avantae is still uncertain what might happen.

“We just get better every day,” Williams said.

Williams says he’s excited about new coordinator Kevin Steele’s schemes.

“I learned so much football, this is the most ball I’ve ever learned in my life,” he said. “I’m really starting to understand everything, beginning to see how to read offenses, do everything the right way. It’ll be fun bringing pressures, just the defense overall – I’m really excited.”

A 6-0, 198-pound third-year sophomore, Avantae flipped from Florida to Miami as a highly regarded 2020 4-star prospect out of DeLand (Fla.) High School. He redshirted in 2020, then had some personal issues that saw him arrested and then suspended in July of 2021 before charges were dropped and he was reinstated to the team in August. But he was suspended for the first six games last season by coaches due to the issue, and he wound up playing in the final six games with one start.

He totaled 18 tackles and had an athletic interception against Georgia Tech, returning it 32 yards. This spring, with Kam Kinchens out injured, he fared well working with the first team opposite James Williams.

An issue for Williams compared to Kinchens: he struggles in man coverage. When you look at his Pro Football Focus grades from last year what stands out is that while his pass rush and run defense grades were decent (66.4 and 64.8 respectively), his worst grade was as a tackler (50.3), with coverage also needing work (58.7).

“I don’t think too much about last year,” Williams said. “I just go day by day, go out every day and try to give my all, get better.”

Avantae says he fully expects this Miami defense to do its part to win games this season. And this fall his unit has performed very well against an offense that returns a Heisman candidate in QB Tyler Van Dyke and a lot of returning pieces at RB, TE and on the offensive line.

“We are really talented in the back end,” Williams said. “The other players are ready to get out there and have fun with us, too. The whole back end, us rotating and getting a breather when needed, enjoying every day.”

The goal for this Miami team?

“Not wanting to be mediocre,” he says. “We should go out there and want to be great every day. If we don’t have a good day, that’s not the standard. We should set the standard.”