JD PicKell reveals why Miami's defense should see major improvement
The Miami Hurricane defense faced its fair share of struggles last season. But On3’s JD PicKell’s believes that transfer portal upgrades along with new found experience will help the Miami defense make a jump. On The Hard Count with JD PicKell, PicKell broke down to Hurricane fans why the should expect to see an improved defensive squad in Hard Rock Stadium this year.
“Your defense should be a lot better, Kevin Steele coming in going to call the defense,” PicKell said. “Gave up 31 points a game last year so really there’s not a whole lot of room to get worse. But the thing to be encouraged about; you did a lot in the portal in that front seven so they should be better, improved even from a year ago.
The Hurricane’s highest transfer portal commit this offseason was Mitchell Agude, a four-star linebacker from UCLA who tailed up 78 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks during his two years with the Bruins. The Canes also two edge rushers in four-star Akheem Mesidor from West Virginia and three star Antonio Moultrie who should be key contributors up front.
PicKell also touched on Miami’s secondary, and how last season many freshman had to play big minutes for the Hurricanes.
“The back half of this defense, the secondary, a lot of them were freshman trying to figure it out last year,” PicKell said. “They were all just showing up, they had just gotten to the dorms, or whatever it was, and it’s like ‘oh actually you have to play, we need you to play for us, we need you to play meaningful snaps for us at Miami. I know you were just at prom but we need you to go play defense for us.’ That’s a big deal, to be so green and to step in and have to play, that’s a big deal.”
Miami’s young secondary may have taken its lumps last season, but PicKell believes that this is now an advantage for the Hurricanes. This group is now battle tested, familiar with the weekly operation that comes with the season, and have wet feet going into this season. This combined with a new defensive scheme could potentially unlock the Cane’s secondary and defense in general, and take it to another level.
“Getting back to Kevin Steele, this 425 defense, which we’ve already talked about on this program before, is going to allow these guy to play more free. It’s going to allow this defense to be fast and to play fast. So how quickly did they get up to speed, remains to be seen, but at the very least your secondary won’t be surprised what they see on Saturday afternoons,” PicKell said.