The Bank (12/19)

DMoney

Yesterday at 2:05 PM 3 min read

Even as they prepare for Iowa State, the Canes are working on numerous fronts in the Portal. Here is the latest:

- My read from the building is that the Canes like their options at QB. It's true that the coaches and players like Emory Williams. Anybody with connections to the team will confirm that. But they were also extremely aggressive in pursuing Washington State transfer QB John Mateer, as reported by various national and Oklahoma sources. So watch the actions. The Canes are actively looking to improve the talent in that room and will continue to do so throughout the Portal period (which extends by five days for playoff teams eliminated from the tournament). Fernando Mendoza is a name that we like (and that I personally feel would be an improvement to the current room) but he is by no means the only target. I get the impression they feel better about their options now than they did last year, when so much rode on Cam Ward.

- Secondary recruiting could pick up quickly. Wisconsin CB Xavier Lucas just entered the Portal and the Canes are the heavy favorite. He is a Broward native and former teammate of OJ Frederique under CIS legend @Coach Macho. That reunion would give Miami perhaps the most talented pair of young corners in the conference. Lucas has three years of eligibility.

- Miami is also pursuing Michigan State CB corner (and Venice, FL native) Charles Brantley, who is one of the most experienced and proven corners in the Portal. There is strong mutual interest there. Arizona CB Emmanuel Karnley is another young, long, fast corner with three years of eligibility who Miami likes a lot. Ole Miss and Michigan are battling there.

- At safety, Miami is thrilled with the addition of Zechariah Poyser from Jacksonville State. He may have been the best safety in the Portal and has three years of eligibility. If we add another name as a boundary safety, watch for Adrian Wilson (Washington State).

- WR Kevin Concepcion is on campus now and having a good visit. He is a high-priority target.

- I expect Miami to add a starting C and will monitor names jumping in the Portal (that is an active market).

- WR CJ Daniels is considered a high-character, proven target with rave reviews from LSU staffers and others who have coached him. His contested-catch ability projects to be an improvement over anybody in our room last year.

- The DT name to know right now is David Blay, a 6'4, 300+pound late bloomer from Pennsylvania. He is visiting through the weekend. Miami would like to add a premium, productive target instead of a volume of low-ceiling players, as the room has improved through recruiting.

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C
CANEONME

Yesterday at 3:33 PM

DMoney said:
Definitely didn't feel that way typing it. I expect secondary recruiting to pick up in a major way.

Any interest in the Branch brothers?

TexasCane90

Yesterday at 3:36 PM

I don’t get that negative of a vibe off that bank…

Lucas and Brantley at corner are very nice adds potentially…

Blay at DT only lifts the floor of that DT room while not stealing from potential star in Scott or difference maker in Moten or Horton

QB is interesting… feels like we were mateer or bust. Mendoza feels like an proven Emory who can help us get to 10 wins guaranteed which again a reminder we’ve only won 10 games TWICE in the past 20 years don’t look down on it

But something to be said about team chemistry if the team really likes Emory

W
We’reBackCane

Yesterday at 3:36 PM

MikeyCanez said:
This is exactly why we aren't heavily recruiting guys like Mensah or Arnold or others. We are looking for CLEAR upgrades without shooting our load at every quarterback who tosses his name in the mix.

I don't know if Emory is the answer, but hopefully you can at least see that the strategy this offseason is much different than last offseason.

That’s fair. I have no clue how good Emory looks on the practice field (most of us don’t). But given the makeup of our roster and next year’s schedule I don’t get the sense that Mario thinks he is good enough to get the job done.

M
mj33

Yesterday at 3:40 PM

P-Tizzle said:
So we are keeping a terrible DC long enough so that our terrible players won’t leave too?

Wasn’t he a good DC last year? Did he forget how to coach or were the players covering up his inefficiencies? Not being a smart ***, but our defense was so much better last year, I.e we weren’t calling for his firing then. And 7 is gawd awful.

Last edited: Yesterday at 3:46 PM

flips

Yesterday at 3:41 PM

MikeyCanez said:
I don't know if Emory is the answer, but hopefully you can at least see that the strategy this offseason is much different than last offseason.

Correct. It's nothing like last year. Mateer decided last night (18th), Cam waited till Jan 1st to faux declare for NFL draft. It was a pipe dream, but I don't think we were wrong to play out the string on Mateer. We still have time to get a QB from the portal.

We forgoed a chance at Mensah/Weigman/Moss/Arnold. I liked Arnold the most, but he was the riskiest option. It's entirely possible a few games into next year Auburn realizes he's simply not a college QB. I don't know if he had any interest playing outside of the SEC either.

Am not going to rehash my feelings on Emory here, but we tried to get the best QB in Mateer and found out pretty quickly he wasn't coming here. Just get a QB who is at or above the level of the four mentioned that we didn't pursue and I'll be happy.

Angry Ibis

Yesterday at 3:42 PM

JD08 said:
This is where I'm at.

You both need to be glass half full ... of

SIBCanes

Yesterday at 3:45 PM

klineski96 said:
Thanks for the info @DMoney.

It's amazing what missing out on Mateer has done to my expectations. At this point, I wouldn't hate Mendoza, as he would certainly improve our QB situation, but I'm very encouraged to read that he's not the only QB we're targeting.

I love Concepcion!! He could step into X spot day one!!! After losing Cam that is biggest lose we need to make up for. I liked @DMoney comments on Mendoza. He is a good QB with EXPERIENCE! Experience matters, reading defense is not easy ask TVD! Thanks D for the updates

D
Dgixxer252525

Yesterday at 3:46 PM

Before TVD went full ****** and became a pic machine, and before Cam came in and balled out, we were all calling for a QB who just did what he was supposed to do and didn’t turn the ball over. If we stack the defense, put some ballers around Emory or Mendoza, we will still be in good shape

No_Fly_Zone

Yesterday at 3:49 PM

Lipstick meet pig.

TwentySix

Yesterday at 3:51 PM

Dgixxer252525 said:
Before TVD went full ****** and became a pic machine, and before Cam came in and balled out, we were all calling for a QB who just did what he was supposed to do and didn’t turn the ball over. If we stack the defense, put some ballers around Emory or Mendoza, we will still be in good shape

Maybe all of you 70 year olds.

JHallCanes

Yesterday at 3:52 PM

Dgixxer252525 said:
Before TVD went full ****** and became a pic machine, and before Cam came in and balled out, we were all calling for a QB who just did what he was supposed to do and didn’t turn the ball over. If we stack the defense, put some ballers around Emory or Mendoza, we will still be in good shape

Yeah couple things at play here

1. We wanted Mateer and missed so we weren’t satisfied with just Emory

2. If Mendozas price tag is 7 figures (the rumor) then is he a 7 figure upgrade over Emory?

3. We haven’t seen Emory really since he broke his arm against FSU. I can’t really comment on his progress

cway313

Yesterday at 3:52 PM

Dgixxer252525 said:
Before TVD went full ****** and became a pic machine, and before Cam came in and balled out, we were all calling for a QB who just did what he was supposed to do and didn’t turn the ball over. If we stack the defense, put some ballers around Emory or Mendoza, we will still be in good shape

That easy huh.

cway313

Yesterday at 3:54 PM

JHallCanes said:
Yeah couple things at play here

1. We wanted Mateer and missed so we weren’t satisfied with just Emory

2. If Mendozas price tag is 7 figures (the rumor) then is he a 7 figure upgrade over Emory?

3. We haven’t seen Emory really since he broke his arm against FSU. I can’t really comment on his progress

Flying Indiana University GIF by Ball State University

JHallCanes

Yesterday at 3:55 PM

cway313 said:

You know what I learned from that game?

Emory is 6’5”

hoops156

Yesterday at 3:58 PM

JHallCanes said:
You know what I learned from that game?

Emory is 6’5”

i learned that hes white. that was it.

T
Torocane

Yesterday at 4:00 PM

Angry Ibis said:
Who knows. We do seem to focus on some weird **** at times. Like it is 4D chess vs lining up a defense lol

"We do seem to focus on some weird **** at times"

Agreed

B
Big O Cane

Yesterday at 4:02 PM

TexasCane90 said:
I don’t get that negative of a vibe off that bank…

Lucas and Brantley at corner are very nice adds potentially…

Blay at DT only lifts the floor of that DT room while not stealing from potential star in Scott or difference maker in Moten or Horton

QB is interesting… feels like we were mateer or bust. Mendoza feels like an proven Emory who can help us get to 10 wins guaranteed which again a reminder we’ve only won 10 games TWICE in the past 20 years don’t look down on it

But something to be said about team chemistry if the team really likes Emory

It’s one guy and he’s trying too hard.

WR Cane

Yesterday at 4:03 PM

StevoBevo said:
So far we’ve missed on ALOT of our targets thus far

Mateer, Silver, Calhoun, Singleton, Rivers just to name a few and we wasted our time with mateer when we could’ve pursued Mensah or Arnold. I mean to focus on mateer and put all of our eggs in that basket was asinine (I mean we didn’t even convince him to visit ?!) at least last year we had Howard visit as well

This whole “well now we have money to throw at ___” don’t mean **** because all the big fish are swimming away. Either we don’t actually have money to throw around or our portal approach is just as poor as Mario’s game day abilities.

Next thing you know we will be waiting for the “spring portal talent” and be left at the altar once again and then it’ll be “the real talent is in the SFL 2026 class and Mario is trying to get a head start and we feel strongly about the guys we have”

Yes I sound like a mope and yes I’m ****ed that we went all in on mateer and couldn’t even get a visit in and it’s like now what?

Don’t even get me started on the whole “staff changes are coming after the bowl game” because that is absolutely hurting more then helping.

I’m starting to think the whole portal and how it’s currently built hinders Mario more than it helps and as it stands he is not adjusting to the times. The portal is becoming fast paced and Mario is everything but.

“How you do anything is how you do everything” am I right ?

I said the same thing in a lengthy post and the Maude’s deleted it with the quickness.

MikeyCanez

Yesterday at 4:04 PM

We’reBackCane said:
That’s fair. I have no clue how good Emory looks on the practice field (most of us don’t). But given the makeup of our roster and next year’s schedule I don’t get the sense that Mario thinks he is good enough to get the job done.

I think that is fair also. Next year is important for building momentum and sustainability and for that reason, leaving it in the hands of someone unproven is risky.

But I also don't get the sense that the staff is just trying to cover their *** by saying they believe in Emory.

I am fine letting Mendoza go elsewhere if we think someone like Ewers will be interested in a week or two.

WR Cane

Yesterday at 4:05 PM

We’reBackCane said:
That’s fair. I have no clue how good Emory looks on the practice field (most of us don’t). But given the makeup of our roster and next year’s schedule I don’t get the sense that Mario thinks he is good enough to get the job done.

Ha well then he needs to look no further than his DC.

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The Bank (12/19)

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