With camp opening this week, what to know on Hurricanes’ veteran portal additions

In this new world where college football players transfer early and often, you literally need a scorecard to keep up with your favorite team’s roster. For Hurricanes fans who have paid only moderate attention this offseason, here’s what to know about UM’s portal pickups excluding quarterback Cam Ward (whom we’ve written extensively about) and backup QB Reese Poffenbarger, who’s competing with Emory Williams:

▪ Former Oregon State running back Damien Martinez:

Not only did he rank 11th nationally with 98.8 rushing yards per game last season, but his 6.1 per carry average was 25th among players with at least 100 carries.

He’s a tough runner, too: Since 2022 (when he was named the Pac-12’s freshman Offensive Player of the Year), his 1,304 yards after contact rank fourth among returning Power Five backs. As Pro Football Focus noted, 68 of his carries have gone for 10-plus yards since 2022, trailing only Ohio State’s Quinshon Judkins among Power Five rushers.

PFF notes that Martinez is “a bigger running back at 6-foot, 232 pounds who’s still been able to hit over 20 miles per hour five times in his career.” He enters camp as the very likely starter, with Mark Fletcher Jr. likely to be the backup eventually after he’s fully back from the leg injury sustained in the Pinstripe Bowl. (Mario Cristobal said Fletcher is close.)

Martinez, incidentally, is ranked 107th (fourth round) on PFF’s early draft board, one spot behind Ward. NFLdraftbuzz.com calls Martinez a “bruising runner with excellent contact balance and power to break tackles consistently” who “displays patience to set up blocks and vision to find cutback lanes.”

And there’s this positive: He has only two fumbles on 355 career carries.

One area that needs improvement: Receiving out of the backfield. He has 15 receptions for 187 yards in two college seasons. As PFF said: “Martinez will need to show more on passing downs at Miami, as he’s struggled both as a receiver and as a pass-protector in his career.”

▪ Former Houston receiver Sam Brown: He’s a much improved player since his former Houston offensive coordinator, Shannon Dawson, left for the same job at UM.

He had 62 catches for 815 yards and three touchdowns last season and looks like the front-runner for the No. 3 receiver job (behind Xavier Restrepo and Jacolby George), although Isaiah Horton shouldn’t be underestimated in that competition.

Keep in mind that then-Cougars coach Dana Holgorsen suspended Brown for Houston’s 2022 bowl game for “immature behavior.” But Brown blossomed last season, particularly in fighting for yards after the catch.

Brown started his career at West Virginia. “We knew when we recruited him, he was going to be a really good player. I probably just didn’t do a very good job handling him,” West Virginia coach Neal Brown said last October.

▪ Indiana transfer center Zach Carpenter: He’s probably not as good as Matt Lee - who moved on to the Cincinnati Bengals - but he’s a more than adequate replacement.

Lee was exceptional for UM last season; PFF rated him the seventh-best center in FBS. Carpenter was rated 132nd overall among 295 qualifying centers.

In 434 pass-blocking snaps in 2023, Lee allowed no sacks and just four pressures. In 444 pass blocking snaps, Carpenter permitted three sacks but just eight pressures. Carpenter yielded a sack against Michigan but didn’t allow one against Ohio State.

▪ Former Tennessee defensive end Tyler Baron: UM’s final transfer addition of the offseason was among its most meaningful, because Miami needed another accomplished defensive end (to supplement top players Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor) after Nyjalik Kelly, Cyrus Moss and Jahfari Harvey left this offseason.

Baron had an eventful offseason, initially transferring from Tennessee to Mississippi and then moving onto to Louisville before he entered the portal again.

ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller said Baron has first-round potential and quoted an AFC East scout as saying that UM is “jacked about this guy. Coaches there think he can be this year’s Laiatu Latu as a transfer who quickly dominates and blows up.” Latu had 13 sacks for UCLA last season and was selected 15th overall by Indianapolis in April.

Last season, Baron was fifth in the SEC among edge rushers with 41 pressures, with six of them ending in sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss. It won’t be surprising if he eventually pushes Mesidor - who has battled foot injuries over the past year - for a starting job.

▪ Former Washington safety Mishael Powell: After Powell played a lot of nickel corner this spring (with mixed results), the subsequent addition of Marshall cornerback Dyoni Hill could allow Powell to focus on safety, where he excelled with the Huskies and is badly needed at Miami.

Powell, who started 14 games for the national runner-up Huskies last season, yielded an excellent 82.4 passer rating in his coverage area last season, which was ninth-best among all FBS safeties who were targeted at least 50 times. That passer rating against was far superior to former UM safety Kam Kinchen’s 118.4 last season.

Per PFF, Powell last season played 122 snaps as a deep safety, 165 snaps in the box, 477 snaps at slot cornerback and 34 as a boundary cornerback. That versatility is a bonus.

▪ Former Michigan State defensive tackle Simeon Barrow: He isn’t an elite defensive tackle, but he’s a very good one, and UM badly needed that after losing Leonard Taylor and Branson Deen (both will try to make the NFL) and Jared Harrison-Hunte to the portal.

Over the past three seasons, Barrow has 12 sacks, 76 pressures and 13 tackles for loss or no gain. His run defense is considered strong, with grades comparable to what Taylor generated in PFF’s evaluations.

Barrow is durable (30 starts, 34 games in three years) and his snap load last season (469) was significantly higher than UM starters Taylor (330) and Deen (334).

▪ Former Marshall defensive end Elijah Alston: Defensive coordinator Lance Guidry had Alston at Marshall, and he should be an asset as a No. 4 end, potentially more than that.

He had 45 tackles, six sacks, 36 quarterback pressures and 11.5 tackles for loss last season. PFF gave him excellent grades both as a pass rusher and overall. He flipped to UM days after committing to Texas A&M.

Defensive end is clearly UM’s best position on defense: Besides Bain, Mesidor, Baron and Alston, keep an eye on impressive early enrollees Cole McConathy and Marquise Lightfoot and converted linebacker Malik Bryant.

▪ Former NC State defensive tackle C.J. Clark: Though he didn’t immediately jump out this past spring, the body of work is encouraging: He helped anchor a Wolfpack defense that held opponents to 3.7 yards per rush, which was 31st best in the country.

▪ Former Middle Tennessee defensive tackle Marley Cook: He’s stout and strong (at 6-1 and 298 pounds) and should challenge Clark for the starting defensive tackle job opposite Barrow, with Ahmad Moten, Joshua Horton, Anthony Campbell and three highly-regarded freshmen also in the mix.

The question is whether Cook can provide much of a pass rush; he has 10.5 sacks in 39 games but only one last season. But he did have 49 pressures in 2022.

▪ Ex-Louisville linebacker Jaylin Alderman: For the second consecutive year, the Canes added a decent linebacker from Louisville, and Alderman arrives at UM coming off a better season than KJ Cloyd had at Louisville before transferring to Miami.

Alderman, in 2023, had 14 starts and amassed 62 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks. One concern: UM’s linebackers (aside from Francisco Mauigoa) haven’t been great in pass coverage in recent years, and Alderman allowed a poor 155.3 passer rating in his coverage area last season.

He could be UM’s No. 3 linebacker behind Mauogia and Wesley Bissainthe, though Chase Smith, Raul Aguirre, Bobby Washington and impressive freshman Cam Pruitt could beat him out.

▪ Cornerback Dyoni Hill: His addition was critical after UM lost Davonte Brown to FSU and Jaden Davis and Te’Cory Couch to the NFL.

Hill will compete with talented second-year player Damari Brown to start opposite Daryl Porter Jr. All three should play a lot, and corner/safety Jadais Richard also could be a factor.

At the very least, Hill should be serviceable: Hill allowed a 93 passer rating in his coverage area last season — 32 completions in 57 attempts for 464 yards (14.5 average), three touchdowns and an interception. The competition will be greater in the ACC.

▪ Former Arizona safety Isaiah Taylor: The son of UM assistant coach and NFL Hall of Famer Jason Taylor will join the competition to start, potentially opposite Powell. Also competing: Jaden Harris, Markeith Williams, Brian Balom, freshmen Zaquan Patterson and Dylan Day and perhaps Richard, who can play safety or corner.

A three-star prospect out of Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, Taylor competed for a starting spot with the Wildcats last August but ended up playing only 146 defensive snaps in 2023.