TRANSFER PORTAL TRACKER: Washington State CB Ethan O'Connor visiting Miami off breakout year ... "Has the Miami mindset back in the day"
When the Miami Hurricanes were hot on the trail of 5-star QB Malachi Nelson in the Class of 2024, Los Alamitos High School was stacked with other talent – WR Makai Lemon was 4-star who wound up at USC and 4-star WR DeAndre Moore, Jr. picked Texas. A guy who didn’t have quite as much notoriety on that team? 3-star CB Ethan O’Connor, who had around 15 major offers during his recruitment.
But Mario Cristobal certainly knew all about O’Connor from recruiting Nelson and visiting the school in person that cycle. And now O’Connor is transferring from Washington State and is a prime Miami target. He’s visiting UM this weekend off a trip to Oklahoma.
Someone who knows just what a guy like O’Connor can add to the Miami defensive backs room that struggled so much this season is his former Los Alamitos High head coach, Ray Fenton.
“Ethan is every bit as elite as those other guys (in his class – Nelson, Lemon and Moore),” Fenton told CaneSport. “He’s the fourth guy of that group, didn’t get as much publicity but was a talented.”
O’Connor’s uncle played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his mother ran track at UCLA and now O’Connor is making his own name. The 6-1, 172-pounder had a team-high four interceptions, eight pass breakups and 32 tackles this past season after redshirting and playing off the bench in two games in 2023 (a year in which he overlapped at Washington State with current Miami QB Cam Ward).
Per Pro Football Focus O’Connor had a 78.2 overall grade this year in 755 reps, including a stellar 80.1 cover grade. He was targeted 62 times and allowed 32 completions for 406 yards and three TDs along with his four picks.
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“He’s long, smooth in his movement, everything real quiet,” Fenton said of O’Connor, who has three years of eligibility remaining. “He has the Miami mindset back in the day of defensive guys – hyper competitive, no mercy, would rather rip your jersey off and win. I’d compare him to those guys back in the day when there was no mercy.”
Also of note here? Well, Cristobal made a heck of an impression on Fenton when he was recruiting Nelson and visited the high school.
“(Cristobal) came in two years ago in the offseason and sat down with me in the office here and we had a great conversation,” Fenton said. “He’s a great guy, real guy. Not a lot of guys that level will spend time hanging out with a (high school) head coach on the other side of the country. So I’m rooting for him. With a kid like Ethan, I hope Miami gets him. He’d be a great addition.”
Indeed.
Trying to add a guy like O’Connor makes a lot of sense for Miami after only one player enjoyed fairly consistent success in the secondary – true freshman CB OJ Frederique. UM also will return CB/nickel Jadais Richard and CB D’yoni Hill, but both struggled. CB/nickel Damari Brown also could be a standout, but he missed most of the season injured. Safeties Jaden Harris, Zaquan Patterson and Markeith Wiliams will be back (with Meesh Powell departing), but there were issues at safety as there were at corner in 2024.
