The Canes had their first scrimmage this Sunday as they gear up for the 2025-26 season where they face Notre Dame on 8/31 for their opening game.
Miami had an active portal season where they revamped their cornerback room and added one of the best signal callers in the nation in portal transfer Carson Beck.
Miami also added a new defensive coordinator in Corey Heatherman whose philosophy is a much more aggressive defensive philosophy. So what did we learn in scrimmage #1?
* Carson Beck had himself a day. The buzz so far has been about Beck’s work ethic and professionalism. Staff has been impressed with the level of play and today was no different. Beck balled out. His timing and communication were elite and with Beck at the helm, Miami will once again be a force to be reckoned with on offense. He was responsible for many big plays and is a weapon with both his arms and his legs. QB1 is a beast.
* Malachi Toney will be a big contributor this year. He had the best day out of the WRs. Toney is already facing stiff competition from the slot position from Tony Johnson and Ray Ray Joseph, but Toney was making plays all over the field today. I would not be surprised if Toney was starting week 1, although it is still too early to tell as the slot position is one of the most competitive.
* Ray Ray Joseph has had a string of good practices and he continued to excel at the scrimmage with sources telling me he put up a solid performance today. Joseph is making strides but, as I said before, the competition with Johnson and Toney is fierce.
* Josh Moore has been another pleasant surprise. The true freshman has been flashing in practice and today he ran with the ones. He is another young wide receiver that will play a lot this year.
* Keelan Marion had a long touchdown and it was refreshing to see. He’s had some practices where he has been battling trying to get separation from Miami’s corners, but today he found an opening and used his electric speed to take it all the way. This is the type of speed and playmaking ability Miami brought him in for. He is a threat to change the momentum of the game every time he touches the ball.
* Miami’s offensive line is a wall and possibly the best OL that Mario Cristobal has had since he came to Miami. But today the day belonged to Markel Bell. I was told that Bell dominated today and he was the best OL on the field. If Bell is playing at that level, Miami’s OL will be top-3 in the nation if not the outright best.
* On defense, Rueben Bain was a MONSTER. He was unstoppable today. He is now fully healthy and focused, and it seems he is ready for a huge junior season. Staff is very excited and I expect an All-ACC type season from him.
* Marquise Lightfoot and Armondo Blount ran with the 1s today. Miami expects both of them to take a huge leap this year and not only secure a starting spot on the DL but to be crucial pieces of their interior defense.
* Miami’s four top corners are elite. All of them will be huge contributors this year. But in today’s scrimmage it was Jakobe Thomas and Xavier Lucas who get the flowers, as each of them had a pick. I was also told Ethan O’Connor played well, and the Canes expect this group to be among the most talented in the nation.
Despite the positive reports, head coach Mario Cristobal is not complacent and still sees room for improvement:
“I think our team is getting there. Process-oriented players tend to forget about and not think about the result or the previous play or what may happen later, but just staying in the now. There’s a lot of progress towards that and we’re going to hammer that and we’re going to demand a lot out of each other and we’re going to need a lot of energy and we’re going to progress.”
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