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‘It’s all about talent’: Alonzo Highsmith lists goals in building Hurricanes roster

General manager of football operations Alonzo Highsmith discusses the goals for the Hurricanes' offseason player acquisitions.
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“It’s a little bit different (than the NFL Draft), but it all boils down to the same exact thing, player acquisition, and I think if you watched the Georgia game, it’s all about talent,” general manager of football operations Alonzo Highsmith said on the Behind The U podcast. “It’s all about the finding the right type of kids for your program, building consistency, building a nucleus of young players, young talent, bringing in an influx of young talent at all times and let’s be honest, if you’re going to play against Georgia, Michigan, in the final four, you have to have professional-type players at the college level on your team.
“You’re not going to beat Alabama and Georgia without elite talent on the field and that’s what this is all about and that’s what it will always be about at the University of Miami—building an elite team, building a type of team that competes for ACC championships and national championships. That’s why I came back to the University of Miami and that’s the only thing I know. I don’t know anything else other than building a quality football team. I was in pro football for 19 years and it’s always about the same thing and it starts with acquiring and evaluating elite talent.”
“Mario has been very successful,” Highsmith said. “He was at Alabama and Oregon where they had elite talent. He understands what it looks like, what it tastes like and what it’s supposed to be like.

I’m the oldest person on our staff as far as the evaluation part of our program and my goal is to help teach the younger people on our staff, the young personnel people, what it’s supposed to be like and identifying the traits and the physical side of football of what it's going to take for us to get to the next level of football.

“I was talking to Jimmy Johnson a while back and we talked about the same things all the time. You’ve got to have smart football players, you’ve got to have talented football players and you’ve got to have players with the physical traits, but most of all you’ve got to find players who love to play the game of football, that it’s important to them.”
 
No_Fly_Zone said:
Knighton and Franklin are gone. Neither Fletcher nor Johnson are EEs. And Citizen is almost certainly still recovering from injury.
That leaves Parrish and Chaney as our only two scholarship RBs for Spring ball. Yikes.
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Yeah it’s not ideal that’s for sure but if I can have them all healthy in August it’ll all be 👍
 
Damiencane86 said:
Yeah it’s not ideal that’s for sure but if I can have them all healthy in August it’ll all be 👍
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I mean, I definitely care about player availability in August compared to March, that's for sure. But it's very difficult to effectively run a spring camp with only 2 healthy scholarship RBs (one of which has had his own injury issues). I was very much hoping UM would be able to bring in another solid option at RB to enroll in January.
 
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No_Fly_Zone said:
I mean, I definitely care about player availability in August compared to March, that's for sure. But it's very difficult to effectively run a spring camp with only 2 healthy scholarship RBs (one of which has had his own injury issues). I was very much hoping UM would be able to bring in another solid option at RB to enroll in January.
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We were working that FAU rb but of course the transfer credit issue which has become a new constant screwed us over on that one
 
Ghandi said:
Go to YouTube, and watch the condensed version of the Miami games in 2022.

Focus only on the OL, and let me know if you can make it thru the whole schedule.

Look at how bad the ENTIRE offensive line is.

These kids are coming in to compete early. If they're in the 2-deep by the time spring is done, they'll be starting at some point early in 2023.

For context, Mike McCoy arrived in May. If it wasn't for injuries in the middle of the season, he probably takes over 8-games in when Campbell's struggles became apparent at tackle. Anez Cooper came in and was getting reps off the bus in May as well.

The level of physicality that Mauigoa and Okunlola are levels beyond these two guys.
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I don't know what I did to you for you to try to make me rewatch our games, even in a condensed versions. Sorry for hurting you.
But I think that proves my point. I know that we have to play the best 5; but if our staring OL are in no particular order... from left to right:

Samson Okunlola
Tommy Kinsler
Tony Tripp
Anez Cooper
Francis Mauigoa

Then we suck. Not these five guys tho!
 
786Cane said:
I don't know what I did to you for you to try to make me rewatch our games, even in a condensed versions. Sorry for hurting you.
But I think that proves my point. I know that we have to play the best 5; but if our staring OL are in no particular order... from left to right:

Samson Okunlola
Tommy Kinsler
Tony Tripp
Anez Cooper
Francis Mauigoa

Then we suck. Not these five guys tho!
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It’s not
Lee is the best then rivers then Cohen
We got 3 solid veterans
 
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