{"id":261081,"date":"2026-05-06T20:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261081\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T20:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:18:11","slug":"miamis-spot-in-sports-illustrateds-way-too-early-rankings-entering-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261081\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami&#8217;s Spot in Sports Illustrated&#8217;s Way-Too-Early Rankings Entering Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5z\">Recruiting is taking over for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/miami\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Miami Hurricanes<\/a> currently but don&#8217;t let that distract you that the season is quickly approaching. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"62\">The Hurricanes are viewed as one of the best teams in the country, and everyone is starting to agree.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">The Hurricanes finished the 2025 season as the No. 2 team in the country, falling short against Indiana in the National Championship game, finishing with a 13-3 record. Now that the season is over, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college-football\/way-too-early-2026-college-football-top-25-where-does-national-champion-indiana-land\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sports Illustrated <\/a>has listed the top 25 teams entering the summer with the Canes flying up the rankings. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">&#8220;As steady as Carson Beck was under center,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college-football\/next-qbs-up-college-signal-callers-who-will-replace-the-10-taken-in-2026-nfl-draft\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">there\u2019s a lot more upside with Darian Mensah<\/a>,&#8221; Sports Illustrated&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/author\/bryanfischer\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bryan Fischer<\/a> wrote. &#8220;His ability to find open guys and extend plays with his legs is notable. He\u2019ll have an incredible cast around him with Malachi Toney, Cooper Barkate and Mark Fletcher Jr. Few coaches, if any, will have their offensive line ready to go by the fall more than Mario Cristobal. The defense won\u2019t be quite as good, but don\u2019t sleep on them wreaking havoc against a schedule that seems incredibly favorable to finally win the ACC.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">Fischer is right in one aspect: the Hurricanes should be the top Threat in the CFP, but just from the ACC. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">On the outside looking in, many don&#8217;t realize this team is likely better than the one that was one drive away from winning ring No. 6. The defense returns the majority of its secondary as well as a veteran linebacking core. They also have one of the best running back rooms in the country, led by Mark Fletcher Jr.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">The Hurricanes are built to have a better season than last season, and with Mensah at the helm, they could have multiple Heisman candidates as well. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college-football\/way-too-early-2026-college-football-top-25-where-does-national-champion-indiana-land\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SI&#8217;s Way-Too-Early Top 25 Entering Summer:<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01kpgzzdf71axw5yhftp.jpg\" alt=\"Darian Mensah after Miami's Spring Game\" title=\"Darian Mensah after Miami's Spring Game\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6y\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Darian Mensah after Miami&#8217;s Spring Game | Seth Clarin\/On3<\/p>\n<p>Notre Dame (previously No. 2)Oregon (previously No. 6)Ohio State (previously No. 1)Miami (previously No. 7)Georgia (previously No. 3)Texas (previously No. 4)Indiana (previously No. 5)LSU (previously No. 10)Michigan (previously No. 11)Oklahoma (previously No. 19)BYU (previously No. 9)Texas A&amp;M (previously No. 12)Texas Tech (previously No. 8)USC (previously No. 13)Alabama (previously No. 15)Ole Miss (previously No. 18)SMU (previously No. 14)Penn State (previously No. 22)Florida (previously No. 20)Washington (previously No. 24)Missouri (previously unranked)Boise State (previously No. 23)Tennessee (previously unranked)Utah (previously No. 17)Virginia Tech (previously No. 21)Follow all social media platforms to stay up to date with everything Miami Hurricanes-related:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CanesCentralSI\" rel=\"nofollow\">Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/CanesCentral-on-SI\/61560955043309\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/miamihurricanesonsi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC2F4Ixo-ZqZfvux_xm01AXw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Youtube<\/a>,and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/hurricanesonsi.bsky.social\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BlueSky<\/a>.Read More Miami Hurricanes News:<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recruiting is taking over for the Miami Hurricanes currently but don&#8217;t let that distract you that the season&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-261081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261081","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=261081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}