The Work 4-23

**Some background info on new Miami defensive commitment Gregory Rousseau.

The Canes offered the 6-6, 205-pound prospect last summer at their camp for rising juniors, when Rousseau even considered committing on the spot. UM worked him out at all three levels of the defense: https://www.canesinsight.com/articles/miami-offers-unique-2018-ath-rousseau/2987

From last June:

"At the first session of camp, I worked out at defensive end and outside linebacker, and in the second session I was with the safeties and doing really well," said Rousseau.
"Coach Mark Richt came up to tell me. They want me at pretty much any position on defense," Rousseau said. "I was kinda surprised because I know how hard it is to get offered. It means a lot because they really aren't just offering anybody -- they really look into it."

Miami was ahead of the curve here when it comes to offering Rousseau as a defensive player. Most of his big offers early in the process were to play receiver, but Richt let it be known very early that he wanted Rousseau on the other side of the ball. This is yet another example of what Mark Richt meant by saying recruiting was a multi-year process back on signing day. From what I’ve heard, the Canes staff sees him eventually playing more of a linebacker role with the ability to rush the passer with his length.

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The newest member of Storm ’18 will join the CanesInSight podcast presented by CanesWear this week.

**Since tight end Will Mallory committed to Miami on Friday, multiple north Florida area high school coaches have reached out to me to say that the Canes are getting a special player. One coach said that him and his staff thought that Mallory was the best player on the field in a game against powerhouse Trinity Christian – a team that included five-star cornerback Shaun Wade and Miami signee Derrick Smith.

Mallory comes from a strong football background – his father, Mike, played at Michigan and is going on his fifth season as the Jaguars’ special team coach. His uncle, Doug, is the secondary coach for the Atlanta Falcons.

Although he does not play against the toughest competition at the 3A level, Mallory does what he us supposed to do against his opponents. His stats last season were 46 receptions, 920 all-purpose yards, and 12 touchdowns.

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**This ’18 class is up to 18 commits with a long time to signing day, but the coaches will continue to ride the wave of momentum.

Canes safety commit Randy Russell dropped some knowledge and let us know that there are more commitments lined up and ready to pop.

“It’s only gonna get crazier. We actually have a new one coming tonight (ended up being Gregory Rousseau) and a few more coming in the future.”

Russell correctly predicted that Rousseau was joining the class and there’s no reason to believe the buck stops here.
Russell has been to a bunch of Canes practices over the past month, but was glad to see them in more of a game setting today.

“The defense has been loose. Being at practice and not being able to hit 100%...today they could finally hit full speed."

For his style of hard-hitting football, Macho Man Russell explained what he likes most about what the Canes do with their safeties.

“They let them be free and versatile.”

As a key cog in Miami’s Storm 18 defensive backs class, Russell is embracing having other talented players around him in the secondary.

“I feel like as long as you have competition in practice everyday, it’s just going to make the games easier,” he said.



**American Heritage DB Tyson Campbell remains the top remaining target on Miami’s recruiting board. He has been right atop of UM’s wish list since they started working on the 2018 class. Prior to last week, Miami saw two priorities remaining when it came to their defensive backs class:

1) Lock up Josh Jobe.
2) Get Tyson Campbell on board.

Well last week they got Jobe to ‘shut down’ his recruitment after an on-campus meeting and now they will be all hands on deck when it comes to Campbell. So where do the Canes stand with him?

Miami and a couple sources close to his recruitment believe the Hurricanes hold a lead. Based on what I’ve heard, there is also a chance that Campbell ends his recruitment in the early part of the summer. LSU is the biggest threat right now.




Here are the unofficial stats from yesterday’s final scrimmage from spring practice.

Scoring Plays
Badgley 23-yard FG Orange 3-0
Herndon 23-yard TD pass from Rosier (missed PAT) Orange 9-0
Young 78-yard interception return (PAT good) Orange 9-7
Langham 6-yard TD pass from Allison (PAT good) White 14-9
Baeza 25-yard FG White 17-9
Langham 4-yard TD pass from Allison (PAT good) White 24-9
Richards 72-yard TD pass from Rosier (PAT good) White 24-16

Passing Leaders
Allison (White): 12 for 16, 104 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT
Rosier (Orange): 8 for 18, 169 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs
Shirreffs (Orange): 7 for 17, 75 yards, 1 INT

Rushing Leaders
Callan (White): 8-79, long of 24
Walton (Orange): 11-65, long of 17
Homer (Orange): 7-24, long of 12

Receiving Leaders
Richards (Orange): 4-112, 1 TD, long of 72
Langham (White): 8-57, 2 TDs, long of 12
Harris (White): 6-70, long of 31
Herndon (Orange): 4-48, 1 TD, long of 23

Defensive Leaders
Carter (Orange): 10 tackles
Quarterman (White): 7 tackles, 1 PBU
Redwine (White): 7 tackles
Bethel (Orange): 6 tackles, 1.5 sacks
J. Johnson (White): 5 tackles
Young (White): 5 tackles, 2 INTs
Norton (White): 4 tackles, 1 sack
Perry (Orange): 2 tackles, 1 INT

My big-picture thoughts on what we saw:

The quarterback play on Saturday was essentially a microcosm of what transpired for most of spring practice. Richt said after the practice that Evan Shirreffs and Malik Rosier were co-number one QBs heading into fall camp, but added that more competition was on the way. Twenty minutes later, Richt and his wife were sitting down with N’Kosi Perry (who made the trip down from Ocala) for lunch.

Malik Rosier provided the most spark for the UM offense yesterday with a nice touchdown pass up the seam to TE Chris Herndon for 23-yards and a good throw to hit Ahmmon Richards in stride before AR turned on the jets and made it a 72-yard score. The problem with Rosier continues to be his accuracy and consistency – 8-18 will not cut it in the eyes of Mark Richt. Both of Rosier’s interception throws were defended by Malek Young, including the 78-yard pick 6, which Richt blamed on himself afterwards.

It was an uninspiring day for Evan Shirreffs other than an early completion to Mark Walton out of the backfield on a wheel route for about 20 yards. There was little to no success for Shirreffs in terms of a downfield passing attack either, but the main thing he has shown this spring in comparison to the others is an ability to protect the football. That however, was not the case on Saturday as Zach McCloud got his fingertips on a pass intended for a tight end and Charles Perry plucked it for an INT.

Jack Allison, by the numbers, had the best day and has the best arm of the bunch, but mental mistakes like his pass intercepted by Romeo Finley and bobbled snap early in the game. He also wowed with a nice 31-yard back shoulder throw caught by Dayall Harris, and a couple nice touchdowns to Darrell Langham, but he was facing the second-and-third unit defense.

The bottom line with the quarterbacks is that if N’Kosi Perry comes in and adjusts as quickly as Mark Richt hopes, then he will be the guy. Richt has left the door wide open for the freshman to come in and take the job.


Couple more guys who stood out offensively – Darrell Langham who made some nice grabs using his body. Dionte Mullins had a nice first down reception where he tapped both feet in for the NFL catch.

Defensively, we have a good idea of what this unit can do, but a few things stood in particular.

Amari Carter was all over the field and had multiple hits that caused ‘oohs and aahs’ from the crowd. Not only is he built like a linebacker, but he was showing his range on the field in a major way. Carter is the prime example of a prospect who enrolls early, handles all of his business in the classroom and field, and puts himself in a position for a ton of playing time during his freshman season.

Romeo Finley made a good read on his interception of Jack Allison and Sheldrick Redwine was active as a tackler.

Kendrick Norton and R.J. McIntosh will be Miami’s main defensive tackle duo, but Patrick Bethel and Anthony Moten made huge strides this spring and that was shown on Saturday. Bethel’s quickness inside has been evident all spring – to match with his now 275-pound frame, he is going to be a problem in that rotation against tired offensive lines. Freshman end Jonathan Garvin was also very active yesterday. Demetrius Jackson and Chad Thomas each batted down balls at the line of scrimmage.