Miami Hurricanes still figuring out rotation at receiver following Joshisa Trader's first career start Carlos Navarro -- The Athletic Staff Writer
Former five-star receiver Joshisa Trader made his first college start last week, starting opposite of former high school teammate Jeremiah Smith in Miami's 45-3 win over Florida.
It was a quiet day for Trader who was only targeted once, catching a seven-yard pass despite playing a career high 41 snaps. Trader got the start over usual starter Sam Brown following his performance against South Florida where he caught three passes for 51 yards.
Brown caught a touchdown pass on a scramble drill against Florida, his only catch of the day, in what was a reduced workload for Brown who only played 28 snaps after playing 71 and 60 against South Florida and Syracuse in the first two games. Some of those snaps also went to Isaiah Horton, who failed to register a catch but did play a season high fifteen plays on Saturday.
"We're just trying to get the best guys on the field," said receiver coach Kevin Beard, who also highlighted freshman receiver Eric Incoom who caught a twenty-two yard pass against Florida.
Miami has one of the best outside receivers in the ACC in Jeremiah Smith and are very solid in the slot with Mario Williams (10 receptions, 131 yards) and backup Ray Ray Joseph, who scored five touchdowns last year. The second outside receiver, however, remains up for grabs.
The Irish will undoubtedly try to slow down Smith while also needing to dedicate numbers to shutting down Miami's running game, which should give Brown, Trader or Horton favorable matchups on the outside. It'll be up to the talented group of receivers to take advantage of them.
Miami's transfer portal acquisitions shine bright in 31-10 win over the Irish
The articles were being drafted, the memes were being generated. Everyone awaited to baited breath to finally be able to scream that Miami was, indeed, not back.
Not so fast, my friends.
After surrendering their first touchdown in nearly a month and trailing for the first time all year, Miami responded like an elite team would, rattling off 24 unanswered points to beat Notre Dame 31-10 on Saturday as the Hurricanes head into a well earned bye week.
The Irish were feisty, holding Jeremiah Smith to no catches in the first half, including intercepting Nicholas Vattiato's intended pass for Smith in the endzone before the end of the half to keep it a tie game.
It was all Miami in the second half, beginning with Damari Brown's interception of Kenny Minchey which led to 27-yard touchdown pass to Smith on his first touch of the day. Minchey would be intercepted on the very next play from scrimmage, this time by transfer Devin Moore and six plays later, another transfer in Mario Williams got behind the defense for a 58-yard bomb to begin the rout.
Vattiato threw for 315 yards and four touchdowns, dazzling remaining fans in the fourth quarter with a 10-yard scramble on third and fourteen where he evaded multiple defenders in the backfield before being pushed out of bounds. Miami opted to go for it with Vattiato once again finding Smith for the fourteen yard pickup. Smith finished with seven receptions for 114 yards and two touchdowns, all in the second half.
Scoring Summary Quarter 1 Zac Yoakam, 51 Yd FG (6:11) Samuel Brown 8 Yd pass from Nicholas Vattiato (3:36)
Quarter 2 Chrison McCray 21 Yd pass from Kenny Minchey (6:33) James Rutter, 34 Yd FG (1:15)
Quarter 3 Jeremiah Smith 27 Yd pass from Judd Anderson (4:43) Mario Williams 58 Yd pass from Nicholas Vattiato (2:16)
Quarter 4 Jeremiah Smith 1 Yd pass from Judd Anderson (5:20) Player Stats QB Kenny Minchey: 18-33, 188 yds, TD, 3 INT, sacked 3 times QB Nicholas Vattiato: 24-40, 315 yds, 4 TD, INT, sacked twice
HB Jeremiyah Love: 21 att, 96 yds HB Mark Fletcher Jr: 13 att, 74 yds HB Chris Johnson Jr: 5 att, 57 yds
WR Chrishon McCray: 6 rec, 86 yds, TD TE Eli Raridon: 4 rec, 44 yds WR Jeremiah Smith: 7 rec, 114 yds, 2 TD WR Mario Williams: 4 rec, 92 yds, TD WR Sam Brown: 3 rec, 47 yds, TD
LT Jalen Rivers: 69.6 PFF grade LG Matthew McCoy: 51.4 PFF grade C Ryan Rodriguez: 65.5 PFF grade RG Anez Cooper: 67.3 PFF grade RT Francis Mauigoa: 73.2 PFF grade
DE Loghan Thomas: 10 tkl, 5 TFL, 1.5 sacks DE Joshua Burnham: 6 tkl, 4 TFL, 0.5 sack LB Jaylen Sneed: 5 tkl, TFL, INT S Markeith Williams: 9 tkl, INT CB Damari Brown: 8 tkl, INT DE Armando Blount: 3 tkl, 2 TFL, 1.5 sacks CB Devin Moore: 3 tkl, INT
Miami lands a pair of Tampa area commits in five-star receiver Davon Momah, center Taylor Warmack
Eddie Fernandez -- 247 Sports Miami Insider
The University of Miami went up I-75 and landed commitments from two of Hillsborough County's finest in Tampa Bay Tech five-star receiver Davon Momah and Wharton center Taylor Warmack.
Momah was on campus last weekend on his official visit and got to spend time with five-star quarterback Keke Hagg who pulled the trigger on committing to Miami during his visit. Momah and Hagg have spent the past two summers on South Florida Express, a Miami-based 7-on-7 program so they were both familiar with the area and have built up chemistry over the years.
The top ranked player in the state of Florida, Momah is a prototypical X receiver with ideal size at six-foot-three and 205 pounds with verified sub 4.4 speed. He's more of an athlete at this point in his development than a polished and skilled receiver but the raw physical tools are there for Momah to be one of the ACC's best receivers relatively early in his career with his ability to get behind a defense and make splash plays.
Warmack is the tenth ranked center in this class and is more of a project at six-foot-three and 283 pounds as he'll need to put some weight on and add some strength before he's ready to play Power 4 football on the interior.
Miami was able to beat out Georgia for Momah while it was an in-state battle between Florida State, USF and Florida for Warmack.
QB Brandon Wimbush: 10-21, 119 yds, TD, 2 INT
HB Travis Homer: 18 car, 146 yds
