J.D. PicKell's take: How Miami Hurricanes Roster Overhaul Is Paying Off

The Miami Hurricanes had a week off for spring break and will return to the practice field on Tuesday for Spring Practice No. 4. So now it’s time for a refresher on what was accomplished in those first three practices, with an assist from On3’s J.D. PicKell.

And he starts on the defensive side. As PicKell is quick to remind everyone, it was a “Swiss cheese defense,” as he calls it, a year ago. So he’s encouraged that the staff and personnel have gotten a massive overhaul.

“The vibe is with the new defensive coordinator (Corey Hetherman) and multiple new defensive coaches there – they feel like overall they have better communication and better depth on defense,” PicKell said. “Now, that depth has to be sustained, that communication has to carry over, but that’s not a bad jumping off point during spring a few practices in.”

PicKell points to the defensive line as an area where Miami “feels especially good,” and that’s because not only do starters DE Akheem Mesidor and DE Rueben Bain return, but DT David Blay was a strong portal addition and “young guys are starting to come into their own.”

He points to Armondo Blount as one of those young guys shining.

“To see all that talent now starting to come into its own – the vibes are very good,” PicKell said. “That’s massively important, because last year we said they were bad – the difference with them being bad last year and having a repeat of last season defensively, there’s no Cam Ward safety net for you. You hope the offense is still good, but there is no No. 1 (Ward’s jersey number) rolling in with the Superman cape able to take over and will you to a victory.”

Which brings PicKell to the offensive side.

And Georgia transfer QB Carson Beck, who is sitting out this spring off UCL surgery. He’s expected to begin throwing again soon.

“He’s getting a lot of mental reps,” PicKell said. “I think the staff feels confident in his progress, ability to take those mental reps and translate that into fall camp. Your belief around Carson Beck in spring football is kind of similar to tipping when you’re at a restaurant – some think it’s the most important thing in the world, some think it doesn’t matter at all. The bottom line is he’s getting mental reps – they will try to involve him as much as possible in the practice. They want to have him within those drills, team settings.

“The thing I’m most intrigued about with Carson Beck – it’s hard not to compare him getting to Miami to where Cam Ward was a season ago when he transferred in. Because there’s sort of a similar expectation for both. This is a dude who will allow us to execute the Shannon Dawson offense, score a lot of points, go win the ACC. Now, Cam Ward held up his end of the bargain last year. But one thing we kept hearing about Cam Ward this time last year was this dude is an Alpha, this is his locker room, his team. Now, for Beck it’s a little harder to actually do that when you’re not out there fully practicing with your guys. What I’ve been told from the folks close to Miami is he’s putting in the work. So I’m not worried.”

At receiver the top four statistical guys are gone. So who steps up there?

“What I’m being told is they’re probably going to go to the portal to get one more proven guy should he become available,” PicKell said. “But they think JoJo Trader is taking the proper steps to be a dude for them. Malachi Toney is a true freshman – he’s going to play. To what degree, we’ll see. But they fully believe he is going to play, are very excited about him at this point in time.”

PiCkell recounted of Toney that he watched him catch a TD in high school on ESPN, and that when they asked Toney on TV about the play he said “I told the quarterback `check fade, this dude’s not messing with me’ – touchdown.”

“So the confidence, swagger (is there),” PicKell said.

PicKell also stressed how coach Mario Cristobal not only has a reputation for stacking top talent and how he’s all about the line of scrimmage, and says Miami “feels great” about the offensive line and running backs room.

“They feel they are two, three deep in that (running backs) room,” PicKell said. “You think about Shannon Dawson, he has the Air Raid background so they want to push the ball downfield, were top five in the country last year when it came to yards per pass, scored a lot of points, but even with that said they still want to punch you in the face on the ground. They still have a lot of power run concepts up front and I think they are going to do a little more (of that) than they did a season ago.”

A final thought on offense from PicKell?

“It’s not fair to expect the Miami offense to have the same output they did a season ago (with Ward gone),” he said. “It’s going to be a lot more structured in 2025. In 2024 it was the Cam Ward jazz, moving and grooving to what is required in that certain moment. … In 2025 with Carson Beck and this run game I think it’ll be more of a symphony. Everyone playing their parts, come in at the right time.

“I fully expect them to be right back in the mix for an ACC title in Year 4 under Mario Cristobal.”