DT Leonard Taylor announces his departure for the NFL Draft
Miami’s defensive tackle has made a decision.

Defensive tackle Leonard Taylor’s career as a Miami Hurricane has come to a close.

After three seasons at Miami, Taylor has declared for the 2024 NFL Draft. He announced the decision on social media on Sunday afternoon.

Taylor finished his college career with 64 tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, and one interception.

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According to Pro Football Focus, Taylor played 870 snaps during his UM career and generated 53 pressures while playing in 31 games for the Hurricanes.

In 2023, Taylor produced 18 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and one sack while generating 21 pressures in ten games.

An injury that was sustained against Florida State knocked Taylor out of action for Miami’s final two regular season games.

Taylor’s best game in 2023 came against Clemson as he totaled five tackles, two tackles for loss, and generated four quarterback pressures.

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The most productive game of Taylor’s career came in 2022 as he totaled six tackles, four tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and generated four quarterback pressures.

Taylor, who hailed from Miami Palmetto High School, signed with Miami as a five-star recruit out of the 2021 class. He was the No. 11 overall player in the country, according to the industry generated 247Sports Composite.

The NFL Draft process will be important for Taylor. He is a prospect with day two potential if he impresses during workouts and meetings with teams.

 

Miami has not produced a defensive tackle that was selected in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft since Vince Wilfork in the 2004 NFL Draft.

College football transfer portal: 2024 cycle’s top players available at each position
College football’s 2024 transfer portal is already buzzing. Here are the best QB, RB, WR, TE, OL, DL, EDGE, LB and DB prospects on the market

The 2024 college football transfer portal does not completely open for the FBS until Monday, but that hasn’t stopped movement from happening. After the 2023 regular season ended this past weekend, players have gotten the ball rolling by announcing their plans to enter when it opens. Also a factor, players on teams with coaching changes and graduate transfers are able to get a step ahead by entering before Monday’s opening.

With those elements in play, the transfer portal is already buzzing.

While 247Sports continues to sift through the entries on a daily basis, we’ve gotten cracking on ratings.

These are the top players available, who are either officially in the transfer portal or expected to enter.

If you need a QB this offseason, there aren’t many with the pedigree of Dante Moore, who ranked as the No. 4 overall prospect in the 2023 recruiting class. Moore is departing Westwood after just one season at the helm, telling 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz he will prioritize a place that can help him continue on his track towards being an early NFL Draft selection.

“For these next upcoming years, I just want to go to a place where I can get developed,” Moore said. “That’s the main thing is really development, making sure you’re bettering yourself every day and having a staff around you that’s going to help develop you. So I’d say the biggest things are going to a place where I can get developed and continue to love and have fun playing football and be around a place that loves college football and be around great athletes.”

Moore has a special foundation as a passer and most impressively he can negotiate passes around defenders. He fits in any offense with solid mobility but he’s not a designed runner. He had his share of freshman moments for UCLA but Moore brings an elite skillset to any team. Over five starts and nine total appearances for the Bruins, Moore threw for 1,610 yards with 11 touchdown passes and nine interceptions. His best game came during a 35-10 win over San Diego State, where he finished 17-for-27 for 290 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions.

A second-time transfer who originally started at Florida State with the Seminoles from 2019-22, Ward has three solid seasons (2021-23) of production, rushing for more than 500 yards and 16 scores over that span. A smaller back with short-area quickness at 5-foot-10, 194 pounds, Ward also shows some nice toughness between the tackles. The former Tampa Bay (Fla.) Tech standout ended the 2023 season at Kansas with 106 rushes for 532 yards (5.0 average) and four touchdowns. He rounded out his nine-game production by catching 15 passes for 116 yards (7.7 average) and two touchdowns.

Purdue’s leading receiver with 47 catches for 629 yards (9.9 average) and seven touchdowns in 12 games this season, Burks is a playmaker — inside and out. With elite catch-and-run ability, he can make strong receptions while navigating traffic. The Belleville (Mich.) product notched 29 catches that resulted in a first down for the Boilermakers in 2023.

The Cyclone missed all of 2023 but has a fantastic 6-foot-6, 255-pound frame and can make catches out wide or attached as a traditional tight end. The Topeka, Kansas, native has the size and ability to breakout with continued development. He missed his redshirt-junior season at Iowa State in 2023 due to his involvement in the athletic department’s sports gambling probe. He caught 17 passes for 244 yards (14.4 average) and four touchdowns over 12 games in 2022.

An experienced leader upfront who has played a ton of snaps the past three years, Correll started 23 games straight for Notre Dame. The 6-foot-3, 306-pounder and former Cincinnati Anderson standout can be a plug-and-play center for many top-tier teams in need at a premium position. Set to be a sixth-year senior, Correll has one more season of eligibility.

We’d be shocked if a better defensive lineman — or player — than Walter Nolen became available this entire 2024 transfer portal cycle. The former No. 2 prospect in the 2022 cycle was the gem of Texas A&M’s historic recruiting class, which ranked as the best ever. Pro Football Focus credited the 6-foot-4, 285-pound Nolen with seven sacks as in 2023, tied for fifth-most nationally among interior defensive linemen. That kind of staggering production despite time missed with injury means Nolen has already delivered upon the recruiting hype as a massive, monstrous disruptor. His motor’s always running, he plays mad and once he gets a hand on you, it’s game over. Nolen will be one of college football’s best players as a junior in 2024 and will be a first-round draft pick in 2025.

A rush end with 10 1/2 sacks in his career at Miami, Harvey had his best season in 2022 and appears to have some appealing traits as far as quickness off the ball and length to close on the quarterback. The 6-foot-4, 252-pound Harvey also does a nice job dropping into space. A fifth-year redshirt junior with the Hurricanes in 2023, the former Vero Beach (Fla.) High standout has one more year of eligibility remaining.

An underrated linebacker out of UC Davis with the ability to get the ball carrier and pack an explosive punch, Buchanan totaled 208 tackles (14 1/2 for loss), eight interceptions (14 pass breakups) and one forced fumble (one recovery) in 116 games from 2020-23. The 6-foot-2 native of South San Francisco played some of his best ball against Power Five opponents.

A safety with instincts, ball production and size at the position, Dunnam has a downhill trigger in the run game and graded out highly in run support as well. The North Miami Beach product’s three interceptions and nine pass breakups in 12 games this season make him a coveted player.

Transfer Quarterback Spotlight: Cam Ward brings a gun-slinger mentality to the field
The Washington State quarterback has plenty of passing upside.

Washington State’s Cam Ward is the latest experienced quarterback expected to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal and he represents an intriguing option with high upside passing potential.

Ward (6-2, 223) is a four-year starter at the college level, beginning his career in the spring of 2021 at FCS program Incarnate Word before transferring to Washington State in 2022.

In 19 games at Incarnate Word, Ward threw for 6,908 yards with 71 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. In 23 games at Washington State, Ward has thrown for 6,968 yards with 48 touchdowns and 16 interceptions while completing 65.5 percent of his attempts.

During the 2023 season, Ward threw for 3,736 yards with 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 66.6 percent of his attempts.

Pro Football Focus graded Ward with a 79.0 passing grade in 2023, which marks the best passing grade in a single season during his college career.

PFF graded Ward with 23 ‘big time throws’ in 2023, which is defined as ‘a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window.’ The analytics company counted the Washington State receiving corps as dropping 26 catchable passes on the year. If those passes were caught, Ward’s completion percentage would have jumped to 78.7 percent.

Ward’s average depth of target in 2023 was 7.7 yards downfield. He attempted a deep shot on 11.7 percent of his attempts, completing 23-of-57 of those passes for 725 yards with ten touchdowns and two interceptions.

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When Ward was kept clean by his protection, he completed 72.9 percent of his attempts and averaged 7.9 yards per attempt with 21 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Ward played his best game of the 2023 season against Oregon State, throwing for 404 yards and four touchdowns while completing 82.4 percent of his passes. He also ran for a touchdown against the Beavers.

As a runner, Ward gained 384 yards on the ground in 2023. According to PFF, 274 of those yards came on designed quarterback runs. Ward averaged a solid 2.30 yards per carry after contact.

Ward kept the chains moving with his legs, picking up 35 first downs as a runner in 2023, which ranked as the 21st best amongst quarterbacks in the country.

One of the concerning elements of Ward’s game in 2023 was the turnover opportunities he provided the defense. According to PFF, Ward committed 20 ‘turnover worthy plays’ as a passer, which ranked 12th most in the country. Ward committed four ‘turnover worthy plays’ as a passer in two games—against UCLA and Arizona.

Ward also had some fumbling issues in 2023, according to PFF, with the analytic company crediting him with 14 fumbles on the year. Ward had a four fumble game against Colorado State and a three fumble game against Cal. In his college career, Ward has fumbled it 46 times, according to PFF.

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Ward is a high upside passer, but he does have some areas in his game to clean up (which is why he’d benefit from another year at the college). He would be a strong addition to any offense that features a bevy of playmakers.

Everything Jim Larranaga said after win over Notre Dame
Here is what head coach Jim Larranaga said in his postgame press conference following a 62-49 win over Notre Dame on SaturdaY

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The No. 8 Miami Hurricanes won 62-49 over Notre Dame on Saturday.

Here is what head coach Jim Larranaga said in his postgame press conference:

OPENING STATEMENT…
“I was very worried coming into this game. There’s been so much preseason hype because of the last two seasons and this high expectation, which is great, but that’s on paper. It doesn’t win any games. You’ve got to play the game and you got to play the opponent. And I knew this game would be a much slower pace, much lower scoring and we needed to adjust to that. We didn’t shoot great, no terrible–38 percent from 3, 46 percent overall, but we’re very, very capable of doing much better. Our defense we held it to 49, but again, to be where we want to be we just have to improve our defense and our rebounding because if we defend better and rebound better we’re going to score the ball much better.”

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ON CLOSE WIN…
“Last year we had we had 17 games decided on the last possession in the last minute last possession of each team either make a shot or get a stop or make a free throw or what have you. And we won the ACC championship by beating Pittsburgh by two. They shot a 3for the win. The week before Florida State shot the 3 for the win and made it almost from the exact same spot. So from a coaching standpoint there’s very little difference. Every game you got to prepare for because the opponent is going to be different. I was a little bit surprised. They showed a 2-3 zone at one point and I called a time out to get our starters back in and they never went to it. But we planned on them zoning us because we knew that they wanted to slow the game down a little bit. And you say 62-49. It’s not our normal tempo. A lot of the credit for our defensive stops goes to Bensley Joseph as he guarded Markus Burton and he is the catalyst for everything that they do. He’s very fast. He’s really good going right. He got a right-handed layup. He’s got right hand drive. Made a pull up, but he only ended up 3 for 11 from the field, 0 for 5 from 3, six points. He’s averaging 16 coming into the game. That’s the game, we won by 11. We held him him to 10 or 11 points below his average.”

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ON DEFENSE AND REBOUNDING IMPROVEMENT…
“We’ve told the players that defense and rebounding is a very specific mindset. Rebounding is neither team has the ball. The ball is in the air. It hits the rim, the backboard and it bounces somewhere. The team that goes after it harder more often is going to win the rebound battle because it’s basically a loose ball. Norchad gets so many rebounds. He had 13 rebounds tonight. He had a double-double with 13. He goes after the ball. They said, ‘well, he could jump and he’s got great hands.’ But he always goes after the ball at both ends of the court. We need Matthew Cleveland to rebound more. He had five today. That’s better than he’s done the last two games so I’m happy with that. He is a critical player for us because he’s replacing Jordan Miller, who was kind of a Jack-of-all-trade. He did so much for us. And we need him. You saw Math today get a steal, get a dunk, hit a 3. The different ways he scored. He was our leading scorer today. Our second leading rebounder. He had five, but we only had 37. The opponent had 39 so we got to rebound it again. But we’re at our best when we defend and rebound.”

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ON NORCHAD OMIER…
“You can’t imagine how much sleep I lose because I worry about him being in foul trouble. He is such a phenomenal player and when he’s playing freely and he’s not fouling, he’s not on the bench, he’s just a huge contributor in every facet of the game. You see him handling the ball now on fast breaks giving it up. You see him helping on ball screens. You see him posting up. You see him on the offensive boards. You see him hit a little pull up jump shot in his last basket was like a 12-foot shot. All of those things. He’s a very hard guy to guard. He sets terrific screens and that helps his teammates get open.”

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ON THE BENCH…
“I thought the bench really got us the lead. I thought Kyshawn George, Christian Watson and AJ Casey when they were in there, I thought they won their round. I always look about this like a prize fight, 10 rounds, four minutes at a time. Every TV timeout is a round. They won their round and that’s got us to lead. And we were able to. Just maintain we never really pushed completely ahead. It was like a six-point game much of the second half, but we never lost the lead.”

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ON PLAYERS CONTRIBUTING IN AREAS OTHER THAN SCORING…
“Basketball is such a team game. It’s so different than football. Football you got an offense team and defensive team. In basketball, you’ve got to do both and the balance is so difficult. for a player. Half the game you’re on defense, that’s 20 minutes. What are you doing for the team to help the team win when you don’t have the ball and on offense? Even the guy that has the ball the most out of 20 minutes only has it three or four minutes. So the game is really played without the ball and you’ve got to find guys who are willing to play without the ball. We were trying to run a number of things for Wooga Poplar today and he was 4 of 8, 1 of 4 from 3, and he only had nine points. I hope that he realizes I helped the team win. I did things. I got four rebounds. Nigel had seven assists, that’s an additional maybe 14 to 21 points depending on whether they were 2 or 3. So there’s so many different ways to contribute. Defense, rebounding, assists, steals, block shots, helping, playing good team defense.”

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ON PLEASED WITH DURING 6-1 START…
“I think the first thing is what a fun group they are to be around. They are really good people. They work really hard. I love that they’re sharing the ball very well. We’ve only had one game where we really didn’t share it. Today we had had only 12 assists and 13 turnovers. That’s got to change. We need to get 16, 18, 20 assists every game. But we’ve been sharing it very well. I thought we shared it today pretty well. We missed some pretty good shots for us.”

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ON ACC COACHES…
“Jim Boeheim is doing TV today for CW. I told CW I’m not ever doing TV because I can’t travel by myself. I love being with a team. But with Boehiem, coach K and Roy Williams out fo the league now it changes because there’s a lot of youthful enthusiasm coaching right now. With John Scheyer, Micah Shrewsberry, Damon Stoudamire, Kenny Payne as the new guys, they bring a whole different personality to the league and the league needs youthful enthusiasm because people are acting like the ACC is down. And to me, we just played the league that’s supposed to be great. The SEC and we are 7-7. Two of their top-20 ranked teams we beat. People would have thought, oh, Mississippi State will beeat Georgia Tech. George Tech is one of the bottom teams and Mississippi State’s in the top 20. No, you’ve got to play the game. And if you’re not familiar with the opponent, you’re not familiar with their personality. You’re not familiar with their defenses. Your players have to adjust and it’s hard to do that in a 48-hour period you’re introducing your players to it. That’s why league play is so difficult, everybody knows each other so well.”

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ON CHRISTIAN WATSON…
“He went 2 for 4, 1 for 2 from 3, five points. He had one rebound, but it was taken out of his hands by somebody on our team, so he didn’t get credit for that. But I think no, actually, I think he got one, but it’s not on the stat sheet. I think being a sub is the hardest job in basketball–I don’t care what level you’re at–because you don’t know when you’re going to go in, you don’t know when you’re going to come out, you have no idea how many minutes you’re going to get, how many shots you’re going to get, and you don’t even know how you can truly contribute in the amount of time you’re given. So to play well, you’ve got to be special. You have to have the mindset of so many players that I’ve had that were great sixth men and seventh men. Bensley Joseph the last two years, he’d come in with the bench and he knew his role was to just dog the dribbler, just put great pressure on the ball and he did it so well. He earned a ton of playing time. Guys who can do that come in off the bench and find a way to contribute. All of them want to contribute offensively and score. You’re not going to get 10 shots. They’re used to getting 20 from high school. You might get two or three shots and you’ve got to be efficient. If you take three, you’ve got to make two. Why? Well, because that’s what we’re counting on for you to come in and give us a lift for a short period of time.”

College football recruiting: Decommitment tracker entering the early signing period for the class of 2024
Here’s a closer look at some of the noteworthy players who have reopened their recruitments…

The 2024 recruiting cycle is entering the home stretch with just a few weeks remaining until the early signing period. Many of the top high school football players around the country have already announced their respective commitments, but nothing is official until they put pen to paper.

With that in mind, there have been some notable decommitments in recent weeks as players are reopening their recruitments before making a final decision.

There will be plenty more decommitments in the coming weeks leading up to the early signing period, so we will be tracking those here.