Miami Hurricanes Depth Chart Watch: Returners Who May Be challenged By Portal Arrivals This Fall

The Miami Hurricanes have added numerous portal pieces this year, and today we look at some of the returners who have the most pressure on them from those arrivals to maintain/have significant roles in the coming season:

5. MLB RAUL AGUIRRE

Some may have penciled in Aguirre as a likely starter at middle linebacker after he was the primary backup there last season and with Francisco Mauigoa gone. Aguirre was good enough this spring … but then the team went out and added NC State starting MLB Kamal Bonner in the second portal window. Bonner is a redshirt sophomore and had just the one season of experience (and did well with 56 tackles and seven TFL), so now it’s on Aguirre this fall to show he’s upped his game and can compete to get on the field and perhaps push Bonner.

4. SLOT RAY RAY JOSEPH/MALACHI TONEY

The Miami Hurricanes clearly wanted portal slot help, chasing talent in the first and second portal windows. And UM landed a couple of second portal window guys that can work in the slot. Speedy playmaker Keelan Marion from BYU (this past season he caught 24 passes for 346 yards and a score, adding 21 carries for 96 yards and two TDs) has worked at both slot and outside (144 reps in slot last year, 311 outside). And the team also added Tony Johnson from Cincinnati, who had over 70 percent of his reps in the slot (48 catches, 449 yards, five TDs last season). So now the pressure is on Ray Ray Joseph and true freshman Malachi Toney, who battled this spring for the first team job, to show they deserve reps. Xavier Restrepo set a high bar at slot the last couple of years, and while Joseph is a Cane through and through his time is running out. Joseph had six catches for 35 yards in 2023 as a true freshman, then 74 yards on six catches this past season. He struggled to break punt returns, taking back 17 for a total of 128 yards. He’s bulked up from 163 when he arrived to 185 now, so we’ll see if he can make depth chart headway in the fall. Toney showed explosive flashes that make him a guy Miami may need to get on the field as well, so he has to keep showing that in fall camp. Oh, and Marion also may push Joseph out of his role as a returner. Marion was an All-Big 12 pick as a kick returner after taking back 18 kicks for 472 yards and two TDs last season (26.2 KOR avg. led Big 12).

3. DT AHMAD MOTEN

Ahmad Moten is a solid, if unspectacular, defensive tackle. He’s good at run stopping and making plays in the offensive backfield, but not great at either. Which is why you saw Miami land David Blay in the first transfer portal window and chase more defensive tackles in the second window. The team has a former five-star in Justin Scott who appears poised to start, so Moten could easily be the odd man out. Last year Moten got the most extensive playing time of his three-year career, starting the final two games and playing in 11 others. He finished with18 tackles, 3.5 TFL and a sack. Per Pro Football Focus in 293 reps he had a 72.5 grade, 78.3 run defense grade, 36.9 tackle grade and 78.1 pass rush. He dropped 15 pounds from last season, to 305 pounds, so we’ll see if that quickness can translate into more playmaking this fall.

2. CB DAMARI BROWN

After starting the final four games as a true freshman in 2023 and showing some flashes (14 tackles, 1.5 TFL), Brown was injured last season. And now that he’s back there is no guarantee he’ll start. Brown figures to push at nickel, but the team also has former Vanderbilt transfer Jadais Richard coming back off injury and added Michigan State’s Charles Brantley this year. Do we think Brown emerges as the starter? Yes, especially with Brantley struggling this spring. But the former 4-star out of American Heritage will have to earn it.

1. S MARKEITH WILLAMS

In year 4 at Miami, it’s perhaps now-or-never time for Hurricanes safety Markeith Williams. Both starting safeties from a year ago are gone, but the team added Jacksonville State’s Zechariah Poyser in the first portal window and Tennesee’s Jakobe Thomas so far in the second window. Which leaves big question marks for Williams’ role (second-year Dylan Day also had a strong spring and could factor in). For perspective, Williams redshirted in 2022, then in 2023 had 15 tackles in 11 games off the bench. This past season he played in every game off the bench and had 13 tackles. Despite some poor secondary play he never got a lot of action, working in for 192 reps. Now he hopes in the new defense under Corey Hetherman he can get a new opportunity.