How the Miami Hurricanes’ latest three pickups in the transfer portal fit key needs
Over the span of about 24 hours, the Miami Hurricanes picked up three transfer portal commitments that help fill three key needs heading into the 2025 season.
It started Friday night when they received a pledge from TCU center James Brockermeyer. It continued early Saturday afternoon with Tulane tight end Alex Bauman committing to the Hurricanes and then wrapped up later Saturday with their pickup of Washington State cornerback Ethan O’Connor.
With this trio, the Hurricanes now have pledges from 10 players so far in this transfer portal cycle.
Here’s what to know about the three latest additions.
Center James Brockermeyer
Brockermeyer, who has one season of eligibility remaining, chose Miami over Florida State and USC.
With his commitment, this marks the third consecutive year the Hurricanes have gone the transfer portal route to get their starting center after doing so with Matt Lee in 2023 and Zach Carpenter in 2024.
Brockermeyer last season allowed just one sack and eight quarterback pressures in 500 pass blocking snaps in 12 games for TCU. He began his career at Alabama but played just 37 combined offensive snaps there in 2022 and 2023 before transferring.
Ryan Rodriguez, redshirt freshman Nino Francavilla and incoming freshman SJ Alofaituli are UM’s other centers on the roster.
Tight end Alex Bauman
Bauman, who spent his first three seasons at Tulane, is ranked as the No. 8 overall tight end available in the portal by 247Sports. The 6-5, 245-pound Bauman has caught 63 passes for 610 yards and 13 touchdowns throughout his tenure at Tulane. That includes 20 catches for 212 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior last season.
Miami needs the depth at tight end after losing three of its top four players at the position. Elijah Arroyo, who led the group with 35 catches for 590 yards and seven touchdowns in 2024, opted to forgo his final year of eligibility by declaring for the NFL Draft. Cam McCormick, who played nine seasons of college football with the last two at Miami, ran out of eligibility. And sophomore Riley Williams entered the transfer portal and on Saturday committed to Oregon State.
That left Elija Lofton, who caught nine passes for 150 yards and a touchdown and also ran for a touchdown as a true freshman, as Miami’s only tight end with ample collegiate experience. The Hurricanes also have a pair of tight ends signed in their 2025 recruiting class in Brock Schott and Luka Gilbert, both four-star prospects. UM also has Jackson Carver on the roster.
Cornerback Ethan O’Connor
O’Connor, who just finished his redshirt freshman season and was rated as the No. 13 cornerback in the transfer portal by 247Sports, has three years of eligibility remaining.
The 6-1, 172-pound cornerback started all 12 games for Washington State last season, leading the Cougars with four interceptions and eight pass breakups along with recording 32 tackles. He allowed 32 catches in 62 targets against for 406 yards (12.7 per reception) and three touchdowns in 2024.
He is the fourth defensive back to commit to Miami this transfer portal cycle, joining fellow cornerbacks Emmanuel Karnley and Charles Brantley along with safety Zechariah Poyser.
It continues a complete overhaul of the Hurricanes’ secondary, which loses both of its starting safeties (Mishael Powell and Jaden Harris) and two starting cornerbacks (Daryl Porter Jr. and D’Yoni Hill).
UM returns OJ Frederique, Damari Brown and Jadais Richards — the latter two of whom missed significant time in 2024 due to injury — at cornerback, along with Zaquan Patterson and Markeith Williams at safety in addition to its new portal pledges.
The Hurricanes also have four defensive backs signed in their 2025 recruiting class, all of whom were four-star prospects in safety Bryce Fitzgerald along with cornerbacks Amari Wallace, Jaboree Antoine and Chris Ewald.