Post-spring breakdown of Miami, FSU's Game 9 opponent in 2022

With spring football in the rearview and summer workouts now under way, the Warchant staff is checking in on Florida State’s upcoming 2022 opponents to see how their rosters and outlooks are shaping up.

We'll look at each team's question marks, key departures, new arrivals and more.

In this edition, we'll break down rival Miami, which is the ninth game on the schedule for FSU. On Nov. 5 in South Florida, the Seminoles look to make it two in a row after a thrilling 31-28 win last season.

In case you missed them, here are our earlier post-spring check-ins:

* Georgia Tech (Oct. 29)

* Clemson (Oct. 15)

* N.C. State (Oct. 8)

* Wake Forest (Oct. 1)

* Boston College (Sept. 24)

* Louisville Cardinals (Sept. 16)

* LSU Tigers (Sept. 4).

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Excitement abounds around the Miami program right now, sparked by the hiring of Mario Cristobal as head coach. Already a proven winner with Oregon, Cristobal was a starting offensive lineman for the Hurricanes during their glory days in the late 80s and early '90s, and he later was popular as a UM assistant coach.

For Cristobal to buck the negative trends that doomed Manny Diaz, Miami will need to start stronger out of the gates and take advantage of a more manageable schedule than 2021’s early slate.

The biggest question facing the Hurricanes is how quickly they will adapt to Cristobal's coaching style and expectations, and how well they will implement new schemes under a completely overhauled coaching staff.

First seasons under new head coaches don't often lead to huge success, and Cristobal has had his share of struggles in the past. During his first season at Oregon, the Ducks went 5-4 in the Pac-12. They didn't lose more than two games in any of the next three seasons. And his first season at FIU was his worst; the Panthers went 1-11 before winning five games the next season.

Many key pieces return on the roster, but the Hurricanes do have to answer questions at wide receiver, defensive line and a few other spots, which we will address below.

In the wake of the head coaching change from Diaz to Cristobal, Miami cleaned house with its staff of assistants as well. And Cristobal assembled a fairly impressive array of coaches, some with head coaching and NFL experience.

The only assistant retained was tight ends coach Stephen Field (he’s also the recruiting coordinator).

Former offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee moved on to become head coach at SMU, so Cristobal pulled in Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. Gattis returns to the ACC after a playing career that saw him star at safety for 2006 conference champ Wake Forest.

At quarterbacks coach, Appalachian State coordinator and former Miami-area high school coach Frank Ponce joins the staff. The Hurricanes also grabbed running backs coach Kevin Smith from Ole Miss.

Cristobal brought two assistants with him from Oregon; both are line coaches, and he named them both assistant or associate head coaches. Alex Mirabal will handle the offensive line, and Joe Salave’a will take the defensive line.

Mirabal has a long history with Cristobal, going back to their playing days in high school. He also has been the one consistent member of Cristobal's staffs during his various stints as head coach. In seven of his 10 seasons in charge, Cristobal has had Mirabal handling the offensive line.

Cristobal added some big names on the defensive side, too. Miami’s new defensive coordinator, Kevin Steele, is familiar to FSU fans from his time as an assistant under legendary head coach Bobby Bowden in the mid-2000s. Steele has since served as defensive coordinator at Clemson, Alabama, Auburn and LSU.

Charlie Strong, who previously was head coach at Louisville, Texas and USF, as well as defensive coordinator at Florida, will be Miami’s co-DC and linebackers coach. Defensive ends coach Rod Wright joins from UTSA, while Miami snagged Georgia secondary coach Jahmile Addae off the national champion Bulldogs staff.

Cristobal and his staff have a solid roster to work with. There are some standouts returning on both sides of the ball -- most notably at quarterback, defensive secondary and linebacker -- and they brought in some intriguing transfers.

In the secondary, 6-foot-5 sophomore safety James Williams is one of the highest-rated and most talented players on the roster; he broke out as a starter as a true freshman last year. Corners Tyrique Stevenson and Te’Cory Couch are both back, and both are in their fourth seasons in Coral Gables.

Sophomore Kamren Kitchens should see a lot of time at safety. And West Virginia transfer Darryl Porter Jr. had 46 tackles as a redshirt freshman corner; he is expected to compete to start at corner for Miami as well.

Linebacker is another position that should hit the ground running under a new staff. Corey Flagg (60 tackles) and Waynmon Steed (54) were the teams’ top two tacklers in 2021. And there are a few more veterans behind them for Miami to work with, including junior Keontra Smith (38 stops). UCLA transfer Caleb Johnson, a post-spring commit, started 10 games at inside linebacker for the Bruins.

At running back, high-profile signee Jaylan Knighton didn’t disappoint last season in his second year on the team, piling up 11 total touchdowns and over 500 rushing yards. Joining Knighton, who was sidelined during the spring, is Ole Miss transfer Henry Parrish. And Parrish certainly wasn’t missing during the spring, as he had three touchdowns in the spring game. Parrish was a regular option for the Rebels with over 500 yards last year.

The Hurricanes are stout at tight end again, as usual. Returning starter Will Mallory seems to have taken a leap after catching 30 passes and four touchdowns last season. And while sophomore Elijah Arroyo only had five catches last year, he was fairly highly-recruited. Former FSU target Jaleel Skinner, who ended up signing with Miami, also drew praise during the spring as an early enrollee.

Up front offensively, Miami has their left tackle, junior Zion Nelson, returning for a third year as a starter. Two more starters returning are center Jakai Clark and guard D.J. Scaife, who could move to tackle. Cristobal and Mirabal also brought in some additional beef to help on the line, as Oregon offensive linemen Logan Sagapolu and Jonathan Denis both are transferring in.

* At defensive line, one top player was lost to transfer while another departed for the NFL. Defensive tackle Nesta Jade Silvera moved on to Arizona State, while Jonathan Ford was Miami’s lone NFL draft choice.

UCLA transfer Mitchell Agude should help off the edge, and defensive end Antonio Moultrie had over 60 tackles and 10 stops for a loss for UAB last season. Two more additions up front were West Virginia’s Akheem Mesidor and Maryland’s Darrell Jackson

* Safety Bubba Bolden missed some time last season due to injury, only playing seven games, but he was one of the Hurricanes' most productive defenders the last two years.

* A very dependable wide receiver that busted out once Van Dyke was named the starter, Charleston Rambo was a key loss for the Miami passing game. Rambo racked up 79 catches for 1,172 yards and seven scores in 2021, and much of that production was over the second half of the season. After Rambo, the second-leading receiver Mike Harley (57-543-5 last year) also was lost to graduation. Veterans Key’Shawn Smith and Xavier Restrepo return to help out Van Dyke, and Clemson transfer WR Frank Ladson could be a possibility. The tight end depth could also help out here, as well as Knighton’s pass-catching ability.

Miami doesn’t have much to worry about at quarterback as long as Tyler Van Dyke continues the impressive production he enjoyed in 2021.

The third-year sophomore passed for 2,931 yards and 25 touchdowns in nine outings, which included seven games with three touchdowns or more and over 300 passing yards in all but two starts.

By all accounts, his progress continued this spring as he worked to learn the new offense under Gattis. There are a lot of good returning quarterbacks in the ACC, and Van Dyke is expected to be in that top group.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Garcia drew mostly positive reviews out of spring as well.

Several Miami media outlets were researched to contribute to this report: MiamiHurricanes.com (official team site), CaneSport.com (Rivals), and State of the U (SBNation).

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