Miami Hurricanes DL Analysis: Despite injury issues unit performed well, and line is poised to be scary good moving forward

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of Lance Guidry’s defensive success in his first year at Miami was how the team overcame injuries on the defensive line. With starting ends Akheem Mesidor and Nyjalik Kelly out most of the year … and starting DT Branson Deen also banged up in the middle of the season (missed two games) … the team took to using a 3-3 stack at times. And it worked. Even with the missing personnel this was a defensive front that helped hold opponents to 97.1 rush yards per game, ranking No. 12 in the nation.

Miami got an especially strong performance up front from freshman ACC Defensive Player of the Year Rueben Bain, who had 9.5 tackles for loss and tied LB Francisco Mauigoa for the team lead with 7.5 sacks. Deen added 5.5 TFL and 2.5 sacks, and while perhaps NFL-bound DT Leonard Taylor didn’t live up to his 5-star billing he ended with 19 tackles, 3.5 TFL and a sack. Also contributing were guys like DE Jahfari Harvey (2.5 TFL, 1 sack) and DT Jared Harrison-Hunte (3 TFL, 2 sacks).

Bain also graded out at an excellent 78.3 percent overall per Pro Football Focus with an elite 85.1 pass rush grade. Next highest of the linemen with 200 or more reps was Taylor at 75.1 percent overall with an also excellent 82.0 pass rush grade.

QB SITUATION ANALYSIS; RB ANALYSIS; WR ANALYSIS; TE ANALYSIS; OL ANALYSIS

Bain had 7.5 sacks and 2 FF this year

So while it was a patchwork DL this year, next season’s looks like it could be better. Yes, it’s to-be-determined if Harrison-Hunte will be back or transfer, plus Deen graduated and Harvey is transferring. But the team will for sure have back three highly talented linemen starters in Bain, Kelly and Mesidor. The expectation is that DT Joshua Horton will be ready to step up after redshirting in Year 1, and coaches are very high on his potential. Other younger players looking to get in the mix are DE Collins Acheampong (redshirted with injury this year), DT Ahmad Moten (will be redshirt sophomore), DE Cyrus Moss (will be redshirt sophomore) and DE Jayden Wayne (showed some nice flashes as a true freshman this year). DT Thomas Gore and DE Anthony Campbell could be depth pieces if they return as seniors.

There’s also excitement with the incoming class, as there’s a strong belief that 5-star DT commitment Justin Scott can be a Day 1 starter (at 6-4 and 310 pounds he’s already college-ready athletically, strength and size-wise). Other DL commitments in the class are DE Marquise Lightfoot, DT Artavius Jones, DE Booker Pickett, Jr., DE Elias Rudolph, DE Cole McConathy and DL Daylen Russell.

The team also is looking to add multiple portal defensive tackles, and a some of the early entrants that are worth monitoring are Middle Tennessee DT Marley Cook, UPenn DT Joey Slackman and NC State DT CJ Clark.

Now consider this: With the seven current commits and signing day approaching, as Miami’s roster stands right now there would be 19 defensive linemen on the team not including the commits and transfers in. So obviously there will be some paring of current players, which is to be determined. There could be as many as five or more on our eligibility chart right now that won’t be back. So stay tuned for that.

But the bottom line is that Mario Cristobal is building this team from the trenches out. You saw the classes he’s brought in and the transfers he added on the offensive side to turn that unit into a major weapon this year, and now a lot of effort is going into making Miami’s defensive line as talented as any in the country.

This line has a lot of pieces to be excited about, and the question marks on this side of the ball are really mainly in the secondary. Answer that with some portal help and this could be one of the nation’s scariest defenses in 2024.

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