Canes Corner: Hurricane Football Preview — Offense

The Canes are halfway through fall practice. The first full-pads scrimmage was held on Friday, August 14, at Hard Rock Stadium.

Kickoff in the season opener at Stanford is just 14 days away and, as usual, Canes Corner, as well as all local and national print and broadcast media, are left to their own devices to identify starters and draw up potential positional depth charts. Here we go!

Quarterback

Duke transfer Darian Mensah will start. He threw for 3,973 yards and 34 touchdowns with a 66.8 completion percentage while leading the Blue Devils to the ACC Championship in 2025. Mensah replaces Carson Beck, who led Miami to last year’s National Championship game and was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals. Sophomore Luke Nickel will be the primary backup. Freshman Dereon Coleman and Junior Judd Anderson provide depth.

Mensah is listed on DraftKings as the third favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. Canes Corner sees Mensah as an upgrade. Miami Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson, who also serves as quarterback coach, told me that the three most important factors he looks for in a quarterback are accuracy, accuracy and accuracy, and Mensah is as accurate a passer as a coach can hope to find.

Running Back

The running back room is loaded and is another plus for the 2026 Canes. Five returnees and a freshman will see significant snaps this season. Senior Mark Fletcher Jr. ran for 1,192 yards and 12 touchdowns and caught 17 passes for 140 yards and 2 scores in 2025 and remains at the top of the depth chart. Senior CharMar “Marty” Brown ran for 474 yards and 7 touchdowns with 20 receptions and 2 scores. Sophomore Girard Pringle Jr. rushed for 375 yards and four scores while averaging 6 yards per carry in his freshman campaign.

Often-injured Junior Jordan Lyle has shown flashes of brilliance over his first two seasons with limited availability. Miami had high hopes for Lyle this season, but they are up in the air after he was arrested in a traffic stop incident that occurred in early July. The University has stated that they are aware of the incident but issued no further statement. Hopefully, the legal problems will be resolved and the talented Lyle will be back with the Canes soon.

Freshman Javian Mallory has opened eyes in both spring and fall practices. Lyle’s situation could open up opportunities for him. Junior Chris Wheatley-Humphrey provides additional depth. Miami’s new running back coach, Favian Upshaw, joins the Canes after three seasons as the Denver Broncos assistant RB coach.

Wide Receiver

The beat goes on. The wide receiver group is likely the most talented of all position groups on this year’s Hurricane squad. Led by sophomore Malachi Toney, this is likely the nation’s top receiving group. Toney, along with QB Mensah and RB Fletcher, has been named to both the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year watchlists.

As a freshman, Toney had 109 receptions for 1,211 yards and 10 touchdowns while rushing for 113 yards with a touchdown, as well as completing 4 passes for 82 yards and 2 scores. Duke transfer Cooper Barkate had 72 catches for 1,106 yards and 7 TDs and is the only Cane without a new QB this season. The third starter looks to be sophomore Josh Moore (17/210/2) as a freshman.

Sophomore Daylyn Upshaw has looked great in camp and, with freshman Somourian Wingo from St. Augustine and South Carolina transfer Vandrevious “Dre” Jacobs (32/548/4), looks to be among the primary backups. Three more four-star freshmen round out the WR room.

Vance Spafford from California ran a 4.35 to win the Under Armour Top 50 Camp 40-yard dash. Milan Paris, a 6’5” Ohio recruit, has been gaining notice in camp, and 6’4” North Carolina HS star Tyran Evans makes this a nine-deep group that WR coach Kevin Beard will be sure to help improve every practice.

Tight Ends

Mike Viti is the new tight ends coach. Viti, a West Point graduate and former Army fullback, was previously associate head coach and offensive line coach at Army. Miami head coach Mario Cristobal brought in Viti to install physical run-blocking discipline and toughness into the Canes tight end room.

Junior Elija Lofton was a top HS recruit but was behind talented and experienced TE groups and only started five games in his first two years. Lofton is the expected starter this season and hopefully will shine. The expected primary backup, Luka Gilbert, is out for the season with a torn ACL, but help is on the way.

Miami’s third-highest HS recruit, Gavin Mueller (6’5”/250), is the fifth-highest-ranked TE in the 2026 class. Four-star Israel Briggs (6’4”/205) is another freshman who will compete for snaps, along with returnees Owen Ruskavich (6’7”/255), Jack Nickel (6’4”), the older brother of QB Luke Nickel, Jackson Carver (6’6”/220) and Cole McConathy (6’6”/220).

Miami received very little production from the TE group in 2025. I expect considerable improvement this season, especially in blocking, 2 TE and even 3 TE packages.

Offensive Line

With OT Francis Mauigoa (1st Round pick 10), OL Markel Bell (3rd Round pick 68), G Anez Cooper (6th Round pick 188) and C James Brockermeyer (undrafted free agent) off to the NFL, it would be fair to ask, “Who’s going to block for all that talent at QB, RB and WR with four of the five starters gone?”

A fair question indeed.

The good thing is Coach Cristobal, Coordinator Dawson and OL Coach par excellence Alex Mirabal have been asking themselves that question and preparing for this situation over the last four years.

At Media Day on August 3, I spoke with Coach Mirabal. He told me that there were 19 players in the OL group and 16 had played a tackle position in high school. He said he had been working every player at guard, center and tackle and expected to have 9 or 10 ready to play in pressure-game situations by the season opener.

Reading the tea leaves, I believe freshman Jackson Cantwell (6’8”/330) will start at one of the Tackle spots. Cantwell was the overall No. 1-ranked HS player in the 2026 class, and I’ve heard nothing but raves out of spring and now fall camp.

I project either Senior Samson Okunlola (6’6”/330) or Grad student Matt McCoy (6’6”/325) will man a starting Tackle spot and the other a start at Guard. I see one of Sophomore Max Buchanan (6’4”/310), Senior Jamal Meriweather (6’7”/305) and Sophomore Seuseu “SJ” Alofaituli (6’2”/290) as possible starters at the other guard position.

Grad student Ryan Rodriguez (6’2”/300) should start at Center. I expect Alofaituli and Buchanan to be the primary backups at center and Freshman Rhys Woodrow (6’4”/315) as additional depth.

I see I’ve named nine players for the five offensive line positions. Keep your eye on number ten.

Freshman Ben Congdon (6’8”/305) will be the fourth tackle behind Cantwell, Okunlola and McCoy and, dare I say, a primary backup and possible starter at guard before the season’s end. Congdon is an enormous talent.

With Freshman Cantwell penciled in as a starter, I was hesitant to list two freshmen starting on the OL. That said, here are my projected starting tackles for 2027 and 2028: Cantwell and Congdon!

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