forums

Someone Who Knows Things

Advertisement
umfire2005 said:
I had lunch Friday with someone who knows things. We have been having this same lunch since 2004. He’s been at practices since 1997. Here’s what he had to say:

DL is lights out. Particularly mentioned Bain, Mesidor and Justin Scott. Scott — “day one potential.” Best DL since 2017 easily.

Ward. Best pure thrower we have ever had. Exact quote. No comment on the other QBs.

Loved OL, coaches have been on Carpenter’s *** every practice. Deep and talented. Some concern about RT depth.

Couldn’t say enough about Trader. Smooth smooth smooth. Ny Carr “steal of the class”.

Worries about Safety position.

Arroyo running better than he ever has at Miami. Easy day 2 pick.

Martinez pushing around LBs. Second Level problem.

Brown and Porter are “good not great”. Believes that’s all they have to be with our DL.

“better team than 2017” with “best young talent since 2005”
Click to expand...
This didn't age well at all regarding the DL...biggest disappointment on the team
 
Very good post. And the thing is, we can win 9-10 games if the coaches were good. Not great, but good. The evaluation is concerning as they aren't nearly as good as they think they are at developing. I think this is part of the reason why the roster is so lacking in talent
 
Last edited:
It's quite alarming to me that we are entering Year 4 of the Mario era and this roster STILL lacks elite playmakers and general overall talent. The recruting at QB, DB, Safety, and arguably LB has been below average to awful. Player development hasn't been good enough at any position except perhaps OL, RB, and TE.

I thought the one thing we weren't going to need to worry about with Mario was talent acquisition. Yet here we are.

Is he overrated as a recruiter? Has NIL/portal neutralized this strength of his? Is it his inability to put together a legitimate staff, particularly on defense?
 
Advertisement
cway313 said:
Hate that you don't post more. This is a homerun post.
Click to expand...
Absolutely home run post @umfire2005

@cway313 the Cristobal Crusaders aren’t going to show up in this thread per usual, and every day I stray closer to outing my top 10 most delusional…

1735845138976.jpeg
 
umfire2005 said:
I don’t post much as I am not as plugged into UM as I used to be. I wrote the above before the season and I thought it might be useful to look back.

Biggest disappointment for me is the DL. Should have been very good, was average. Internal issues played a role here, but I was wrong on this. We should have been a top unit and we were not.

Glad Arroyo delivered on all his promise. Lofton is a different style of player, but he looks strong.

Martinez was as advertised. Will miss him.

Safeties were godawful.

I am writing this because there are some wild narratives on this board, and I thought I’d throw my two cents in.

I have written several times about the difference between good and elite. Miami fans have forgotten what great coaching and players look like in my opinion, and a tendency to overrate coaches/players sets this fan base up for disappointment constantly.


We finally saw what elite looks like: Cam Ward was better than advertised and showed that Dawson/Cristobal are not QB killers. The other elite player was Borregales IMO.

Restrepo, Martinez were very good. Several OL played very well and that unit, while not elite, was very good. The offense AS A GROUP was elite. Should have made a playoff run with an elite side of the ball. We did not because we lost to teams we shouldn’t have, which is a Mario constant. He is who he has always been: a mediocre coach who recruits well. He’s Ron Zook, and NIL has eroded his recruiting advantage and so we are left with a mediocre coach with a mediocre overall football operations staff.

What about next year? We have a personnel problem — I see no room that has a chance of being elite, and several that will struggle to be average. Some posters seem to believe otherwise, which is fueling classic Miami fan delusion.

Reuben Bain is a perfect example. He had a very good freshman year, UM fans say he is elite and then he struggles his sophomore year (a Miami specialty) and now he “sucks”. Of course he doesn’t he just got
Immediately overrated by our fan base.

RB room is another example. I’ve read about how stacked we are at running back. Fletcher is an average ACC back, Lyle shows some promise. How is that stacked?

Ohio State has an elite player or an elite group at almost every position group. We will have zero next year.

We do not have the coaching acumen to overcome this. I like Dawson, think he is a good coordinator but not a magician. The offense will take a step back. DC is to be determined but an average defense, while an improvement, seems like the ceiling.

Miami needs more elite players. Whether portal or high school, we simply aren’t getting enough of them. We have had how many elite players in the past decade? 5, maybe? OSU has 3 this year. Player development at UM has been a problem for 20 years, across multiple coaches, and it continues today. But UM will not be back under Mario unless there are wholesale changes to the way UM approaches football. Cribby and others know what I mean.

Sorry for long post.
Click to expand...
FWIW the way you worded your original post was great

Don’t see anything “wrong” with what you said even if the DL was disappointing. Mesidor played very good when he was where he was supposed to be

Scott looks like he’s gonna be a good one

No one could have predicted Bains season. No one

Thank you for the follow up
 
Advertisement
Gables Canes said:
It's quite alarming to me that we are entering Year 4 of the Mario era and this roster STILL lacks elite playmakers and general overall talent. The recruting at QB, DB, Safety, and arguably LB has been below average to awful. Player development hasn't been good enough at any position except perhaps OL, RB, and TE.

I thought the one thing we weren't going to need to worry about with Mario was talent acquisition. Yet here we are.

Is he overrated as a recruiter? Has NIL/portal neutralized this strength of his? Is it his inability to put together a legitimate staff, particularly on defense?
Click to expand...
hes a good recruiter. hes been a poor evaluator.
 
WeBallinBoyz said:
Absolutely home run post @umfire2005

@cway313 the Cristobal Crusaders aren’t going to show up in this thread per usual, and every day I stray closer to outing my top 10 most delusional…

View attachment 316176
Click to expand...
Tough to witness in real time. I set 10 wins as my floor for this season and it honestly felt worse than years past. That is sobering.
 
JHallCanes said:
FWIW the way you worded your original post was great

Don’t see anything “wrong” with what you said even if the DL was disappointing. Mesidor played very good when he was where he was supposed to be

Scott looks like he’s gonna be a good one

No one could have predicted Bains season. No one

Thank you for the follow up
Click to expand...
i still dont see bain as a DE when its all said and done tbh.

i think hes a DT
 
umfire2005 said:
I feel ya, but reality needs to be revived on this board.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the post.

Based on what you know now, do you expect Miami to get closer or farther away to the “standard” of a CFP level team in 2025?

Meaning are they aware of what needs to be changed and do you expect them to implement said changes successfully ?
 
Advertisement
hoops156 said:
i still dont see bain as a DE when its all said and done tbh.

i think hes a DT
Click to expand...
I personally don’t see it. He’s not big enough frame wise. His legs are already huge

But I could be wrong of course just think he’s in the same boat as Chickillo (not saying they are the same) but I’d like to see less weight not more
 
Advertisement
Accurate review of the season and current state of affairs. Your original writeup was in August. If you had written that post on 1/2/2024, it would have been very different. So before we write off Mario, let's see where we are same time a year later. If Mario can't bring in a great DC and quality portal additions at multiple spots, you'll be spot on. Hopefully, he proves you wrong.
 
JHallCanes said:
FWIW the way you worded your original post was great

Don’t see anything “wrong” with what you said even if the DL was disappointing. Mesidor played very good when he was where he was supposed to be

Scott looks like he’s gonna be a good one

No one could have predicted Bains season. No one

Thank you for the follow up
Click to expand...

was Bain really hurt all year?

also, the OP said there were "internal issues" at the DL. Does he mean the DT guys? personal player issues? coaching issues? what does he mean. meng?
 
rsa coral gables said:
was Bain really hurt all year?

also, the OP said there were "internal issues" at the DL. Does he mean the DT guys? personal player issues? coaching issues? what does he mean. meng?
Click to expand...
Not gonna make excuses for Bain. Pretty common when guys get injured like that on the DL their conditioning sucks when they come back

Not sure if it was simply that or it goes deeper

I’ll take a page from the OP (wish more people would do this) and say I have no clue so I won’t pretend I have some insider info that doesn’t exist (like so many love to do)
 
Advertisement
Back
Top