Canes Corner: Hurricane Football is Back

In just 21 days, Miami will travel to Palo Alto, California, to face the Stanford Cardinal in the Hurricanes’ 2026 season and ACC opener. Kickoff on Sept. 4 is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.

The Hurricanes are coming off a successful 2025 campaign in which they won three College Football Playoff games before falling just short in the national championship game.

The Canes faced Texas A&M at legendary Kyle Field in front of more than 100,000 fans on Dec. 20 and prevailed with a hard-earned 10-3 victory over the Aggies.

Next came a trip to the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve and a matchup with the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Canes took a 14-0 halftime lead against the defending national champions and never trailed in a decisive 24-14 victory.

On Jan. 8, Miami was in the Arizona desert for the Fiesta Bowl. The Ole Miss Rebels were a more-than-worthy opponent in a contest that went down to the final seconds before the Canes won 31-27, earning a trip home to Hard Rock Stadium to face the Indiana Hoosiers in the national championship game.

Miami had the ball in Indiana territory during the final minute with a chance to win, but a contested pass was intercepted. The Hoosiers escaped with a 27-21 victory and the championship.

Canes Corner attended football media day Aug. 3 and the opening days of fall practice that followed. The players, coaches and staff are a single-minded group that wants to return to the championship game and confidently believes it can get there.

Head coach Mario Cristobal’s mantra is to go 1-0 every week by treating every practice snap with game intensity. The players have bought in.

This week, we will look at the players Miami lost to the NFL and transfer portal, along with the incoming high school recruits and transfers. On Aug. 21, we will preview the offense. The defense and special teams will follow Aug. 28, with a Stanford preview on game day, Sept. 4.

Miami lost nine players in the NFL draft, the program’s most since 2017.

Offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa and defensive ends Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor were first-round selections.

Quarterback Carson Beck, offensive lineman Markel Bell and defensive back Jakobe Thomas were third-round picks. Cornerback Keionte Scott went in the fourth round, while offensive lineman Anez Cooper and wide receiver CJ Daniels were sixth-round selections.

Four Canes joined NFL teams as undrafted free agents: wide receiver and return specialist Keelan Marion, defensive tackle David Blay Jr., center James Brockermeyer and linebacker Wesley Bissainthe.

Twenty players from the 2025 team entered the transfer portal.

It is time for a little background on player rankings. In the ranking service I use, five stars generally go to the top 32 players nationally in each recruiting cycle. They are projected as potential first-round NFL draft picks.

Four-star players generally rank among the top 300 and are expected to become impact players in college, with the potential to play professionally. Three-star recruits are considered prospects who can develop into reliable contributors.

All 20 players who left Miami through the portal carried three-star rankings, and all landed at Division I programs. Seven transferred to SEC teams, two to Big Ten schools and five to ACC programs. That is 14 of the 20 moving to Power Four conferences.

While Miami did not lose any blue-chip prospects — defined as four- or five-star players — it did lose significant depth, situational players and special-teams contributors.

Miami was selective in the portal and focused on specific needs.

Edge rusher Damon Wilson II joins Miami from Missouri. Wilson recorded nine sacks for the Tigers last season and earned second-team All-SEC recognition.

The Canes hit an exacta with the quarterback-receiver combination of Darian Mensah and Cooper Barkate from Duke.

Mensah was named the ACC preseason player of the year. Those additions fill important needs while bringing established chemistry.

Boston College transfer safety Omar Thornton is expected to compete for a starting job. Defensive lineman Keona Davis arrives from Nebraska and should be part of the regular rotation.

Wide receivers Vandrevius Jacobs from South Carolina and Cam Vaughn from West Virginia complete the group of seven four-star portal additions. Both join an extremely deep receiver room.

Of the six three-star transfers, four will provide depth at defensive tackle, offensive tackle, interior offensive line and safety. The final two will compete for the kicking job.

Miami’s 2026 high school class is led by consensus five-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell, a 6-foot-8, 330-pound prospect who should compete for playing time immediately.

The 33-player class includes 20 blue-chip recruits: Cantwell and 19 four-star additions. It also includes 13 three-star newcomers. By the rankings I use, the 20 blue-chip recruits are the fourth-most among Division I programs, and Miami’s high school and transfer classes rank at the top of the ACC.

Miami does not release depth charts, so media members must work them out through our own observations. With fall camp just underway, we will all be trying to read the tea leaves and gather relevant information.

I will do my best to provide a worthwhile look at the offense in the Aug. 21 edition and the defense and special teams Aug. 28.

I hope all readers are looking forward to possible ACC and national championship runs this season. It should be a very entertaining ride.

That’s it for now. Be well, all, and go Canes!