In modern college football, the NCAA Transfer Portal can be a tool for a new coaching regime to quickly deliver results.
For the past few years, veteran players at the college level can enter the NCAA Transfer Portal once and move to another program and play immediately.
This new way to acquire talent has helped programs bolster areas of need immediately and we have seen first year coaching staffs in particularly lean heavily on the NCAA Transfer Portal instead of a transition recruiting class to help spearhead a quicker turnaround.
This new reality has certainly been the case for coach Mario Cristobal at the University of Miami this offseason.
Cristobal has done a nice job of adding proven veterans via the NCAA Transfer Portal at key positions of need. The only positions that did not add transfers this offseason: quarterback, tight end, and safety.
Expectations are high going into one year of the Mario Cristobal era at UM due to a combination of a top notch coaching staff, the return of talented quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, and UM’s transfer additions should also be viewed as a reason for optimism as well.
The Hurricanes added 11 transfers in total this offseason.
Cristobal particularly hammered transfers on the defensive side of the ball after the start of the spring semester, with the Hurricanes adding West Virginia CB Daryl Porter Jr.West Virginia DL Akheem MesidorUCLA DE Mitchell AgudeMaryland DL Darrell Jacksonand UCLA linebacker Caleb Johnson.
Those five players combine to bring 3,532 career defensive snaps to Miami.
If Miami wins the Coastal Division in one year of this Cristobal era, the transfer additions will be a big reason why. Fall camp will be an opportunity for the transfer additions to make names for themselves.
Read on for a look at six transfers that need to make an impact for UM on Greentree practice field over the next month.