{"id":237121,"date":"2026-04-18T18:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/237121\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T18:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:02:08","slug":"miami-hurricanes-spring-game-takeaways-and-standout-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/237121\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Hurricanes spring game: Takeaways and standout players"},"content":{"rendered":"

CORAL GABLES \u2014 The Miami Hurricanes concluded their slate of spring practices with their annual spring game<\/a>, which was effectively an open practice at the on-campus Cobb Stadium on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wraps up spring ball for us. Good to see our guys come out (in) another full-padded session and just flat-out compete and execute,\u201d Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. \u201cObviously, a vanilla game plan on both sides of the ball just to watch guys play \u2014 line up, execute, chase and finish. I think we accomplished that today. I think you saw some guys that could do something with the ball and some guys that still need to work on that. And you\u2019ve also seen some guys that can block them up, knock them back. And that\u2019s always a continuing, never-ending process. So, all in all, successful spring, a lot of progress and a lot more to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami did a mix of drills and live, tackle football. Here are six players who stood out on Saturday:<\/p>\n

Darian Mensah, quarterback<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes\u2019 new quarterback<\/a> tossed three touchdown passes in the live period of practice and was accurate on most of his passes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut all in all, to have your quarterback take all the spring practice, be here for winter workouts, as you know (is a) tremendous advantage,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cI think it showed up today and again, a very vanilla game plan. And we\u2019re expecting him to take another step now in the summer, then another one in fall camp.<\/p>\n

Javian Mallory, running back<\/p>\n

The freshman\u00a0running back out of West Boca Raton<\/a> had some of the most explosive runs during the practice. Mallory is in a crowded running back room, but he has had a good first spring on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a very physical runner,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cYou almost, I wouldn\u2019t say underestimate it \u2014 you expect him to be really good; that\u2019s why we recruited him \u2014 but when he actually takes people on, the collision and the force that he generates on contact and his contact balance, I think is really impressive. Great young man, awesome young man, hard worker, runs with his pads down, understands football really well. The most, I think, impressive part about him is the way that he functioned out there in protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper Barkate, wide receiver<\/p>\n

Showed off the chemistry\u00a0between him and Mensah<\/a> that carried over from their time together at Duke. He had a touchdown catch in the live period.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s my best friend, so just to go through anything with somebody who you\u2019re so close to is pretty awesome,\u201d Mensah said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s also a stud, and it\u2019s only up for him. So I can\u2019t wait to see the growth for him this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daylyn Upshaw, wide receiver<\/p>\n

Upshaw, a sophomore, created good separation on several downfield passes. He also caught a touchdown pass from Mensah.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Daylyn\u2019s going to have a big year for us this year,\u201d Mensah said. \u201cHe\u2019s kind of taking after (Malachi Toney). He\u2019s a dude that is well-coached, and he takes coaching well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Omar Thornton, safety<\/p>\n

The Boston College transfer may move between nickel and safety this season, but he did a good Keionte Scott impression on Saturday. He came up to make a big stop in a goal-to-go run.<\/p>\n

JJ Dunnigan, safety<\/p>\n

The\u00a0touted freshman defensive back<\/a> made some nice pass breakups and played violently.<\/p>\n

Five takeaways<\/p>\n

UM has the potential for an explosive offense<\/p>\n

With Mensah leading the way, the Hurricanes have a chance to boast a special offense this season. Mensah was excellent at Duke last year and does not appear to have missed a beat after transferring to Miami.<\/p>\n

The players around Mensah are not slouches either. The running-back group returned everyone from last season, including 1,000-yard rusher Mark Fletcher Jr., and the wide receivers and tight ends offer numerous playmakers in the passing game.<\/p>\n

UM\u2019s defense was its strength last year, but this year\u2019s offense could be excellent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t label or judge or rate anything until games are played,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cWe recognize that we have pieces that are coming together. We recognize that we\u2019ve enhanced the talent in several areas, and we\u2019re working on depth in others, but that we have a long, long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wide receiver may be deepest position on the team<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes have two 1,000-yard receivers on the team, and that is just the start of their depth at the position.<\/p>\n

Barkate and sophomore Malachi Toney both excelled last season and are poised to have big years again. Several other Hurricanes receivers performed well in the spring, including Upshaw, Josh Moore, Dre Jacobs and Cam Vaughn. Several freshman receivers also had strong moments in camp.<\/p>\n

Offensive line still a work in progress<\/p>\n

Miami has a lot to replace on the offensive line, as four starters are hoping to hear their names called in the upcoming NFL draft. Replacing them is a challenge.<\/p>\n

Although the Hurricanes have capable players on the roster, those players need to continue building chemistry and improving as the season nears.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the guys (have) been there, and some of the new guys were here during the playoffs,\u201d offensive lineman Matt McCoy said. \u201cSo we all have a good relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defensive line won\u2019t regress much<\/p>\n

Similar to the offensive line, UM has a lot to replace on the defensive line. Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor were game-wrecking defensive ends last year.<\/p>\n

But Miami has plenty of talent to fill the void. Damon Wilson II, Marquise Lightfoot, Armondo Blount and Third Scroggins are among the players who will see time at defensive end, and all four have had either sustained success or have had positive moments in limited time last year.<\/p>\n

Corners on point<\/p>\n

Going up against Miami\u2019s receiver room is no easy task, but the Hurricanes cornerbacks were up to the challenge this spring.<\/p>\n

Xavier Lucas and OJ Frederique Jr. were two standouts during the spring, going toe to toe with the Hurricanes\u2019 top receivers. Ethan O\u2019Connor was solid, as well. Sophomore Ja\u2019Boree Antoine, who held his own when thrust onto the field in the playoffs, also had good moments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORAL GABLES \u2014 The Miami Hurricanes concluded their slate of spring practices with their annual spring game, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,105413,124],"class_list":["post-237121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-hurricanes-spring-game","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}