The CaneSport 30 for 30: Ranking top 30 Canes with 30 or more reps of experience … No. 22 Ray Ray Joseph

We are ranking the top Miami Hurricanes players with 30 or more reps of college experience and seeing how they stack up.

Dec. 31 we broke down our overview of the series, and today we are at No. 22 on the list, WR/KR Ray Ray Joseph. Also note the following players on Miami’s roster that didn’t make our Top 30 that do have 30 or more reps of college experience per Pro Football Focus: Ryan Rodriguez (123 reps this year), Jacurri Brown (66 reps), Luis Cristobal, Jr. (66 reps), Jayden Wayne (135 reps), Ahmad Moten (146 reps), Jaden Harris (130 reps) and Jared Harrison-Hunte (505 reps).

NO. 30 SAMSON OKUNLOLA, NO. 29 MARKEITH WILLIAMS, NO. 28 JOSHUA HORTON, NO. 27 SAVION RILEY, NO. 26 AJAY ALLEN, NO. 25 RILEY WILLIAMS, NO. 24 EMORY WILLIAMS … NO. 23 JADAIS RICHARD

Without further ado, here’s No. 22 on the list (CaneSport will unveil 1 a day over the next month with a closer look at each):

MIAMI WR/KR RAY RAY JOSEPH

Analyzing past performance: Joseph is one of 10 players that were true freshmen last year that make our top 30, so even with just one year under their belt 33 percent of the returning talent (per our analysis) is in the Class of 2023. The four prior players already listed were No. 30 Samson Okunlola, No. 28 Joshua Horton, No. 25 Riley Wililams and No. 24 Emory Williams. So that tells you a lot about where the talent on this roster lies. As for Joseph? The consensus four-star signee out of Miami Edison is a shifty playmaker who is explosive with the ball in space. This past season he played in 10 games and finished with 251 all-purpose yards (six catches totaling 36 yards, 185 kick return yards with a long of 31 yards, 30 punt return yards). Per Pro Football Focus he had a 73.9 perceng grade on kick returns and 67.7 percent grade on punt returns. On offense his overall grade was 57.2 with a 56.5 grade as a receiver.

Why he might star in 2024: Because Joseph is just too good with the ball in his hands not to have a big role. With Brashard Smith gone that will open up a lot more reps for Joseph to work along with Xavier Restrepo in the slot. He also has a chance to be an elusive kick/punt returner in the mold of a Roscoe Parrish. We thought Joseph would have a bigger role than he did as a true freshman, and make the most of it, and now that simply appears to be delayed till 2024.

Why he might struggle in 2024: Because Joseph wasn’t able to break out ahead of backup Brashard Smith in terms of receiver reps, and didn’t get a lot of opportunities to do returns with Xavier Restrepo and Smith the main guys there (Smith on kickoff returns, Restrepo on punt returns). So there is a lot to be determined in terms of his impact, and he also didn’t grade out particularly well per PFF as mentioned earlier. So there is improvement that needs to happen this off-season, including bulking up a bit while maintaining his speed and quickness.

CaneSport’s projection: We think it’ll be hard to keep Joseph off the field, and Miami fans hope he doesn’t fall into that Brashard Smith category where he appears underutilized because he’s stuck behind Restrepo on the depth chart. It’s up to Miami coaches to figure out ways to get the ball into Joseph’s hands, perhaps even using him in conjunction with Restrepo in certain sets. Joseph is too talented not to have him getting a lot of meaningful reps in games, especially considering this offense needs to find another level of play off an up-and-down 2023 season.

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