Miami Hurricanes News and Notes: Virginia Tech primer, recruiting changes, Basketball season opener approaching, and more

Virginia Tech Looms Large as Canes Look for First ACC Title Game Appearance

Miami is set for their showdown with VT tomorrow in a clash of ACC Coastal division contenders. On the line? Well, College Football Playoff positioning for one, but mainly, a trip to the ACC Championship Game, which would be Miami’s first. A UM win and a Virginia loss would punch Miami’s ticket to Charlotte on Saturday. There’s a lot on the line at Hard Rock Stadium this weekend, and this preview from David Villavicencio sums it all up nicely.

Football Quick Hitters

Loved this read by Matt Porter detailing what next year’s defense will look like. It’s a few days past Halloween, but the 2018 defense in a word? Scary. See for yourself if you don’t believe it. (ONE MORE YEAR! ONE MORE YEAR! @RJ McIntosh)

Something we already know as loyal Canes fans, but Mark Richt’s staff has done some great work and deserves a lot of credit for the early-season success. Now, the national media is paying attention. Guys like Manny Diaz and Ephraim Banda are getting some hype as coaches ready for promotions.

Football Crootin’

Some interesting developments for Storm18 the past few days: longtime QB commit Artur Sitkowski flipped to Rutgers, leaving UM a bit in a bind at the position so late in the game, a la Dwayne Lawson back in 2015. That season, Miami filled the hole with lightly recruited 2-star Evan Shirreffs (now the backup to Malik Rosier), who was offered the day after Signing Day after the Canes whiffed on some other top targets. It remains to be seen what Miami does from here regarding QB: they could try and get in the conversation with some elite prospects to see if there’s any interest or they could go the Shirreffs route and take a chance on a project/reach type player. Or maybe save the scholarship altogether and go after 2 guys in 2019. In any instance, we’ll keep you updated.

In contrast to the sour news of Sitkowski leaving, a sweet story out of American Heritage saw everyone’s favorite unoffered recruit finally land a scholarship from UM. Andrew Chatfield is an undersized DE that does numbers on a loaded Heritage defense (next to Miami DT commit Nesta Silvera). Despite offers from all around the country and growing up a huge Miami fan, Chatfield remained unoffered from his hometown school going into his senior year. That’s now changed and Mark Richt and staff must have seen what they wanted to see from his mid-year film. Congrats to the kid and hope he gets over the slight of being offered so late to follow his heart and fulfill his childhood dream.

Canes B-Ball

Miami rocked Newberry College on Wednesday night in their exhibition match-up ahead of regular season play. We got treated to 30 points from sophomore guard DJ Vasiljevic and some athletic dunks by fellow sophomore guard Bruce Brown. The Canes tip off their season next Friday, November 10th, at home against Garner-Webb.

PFF Weekly Rundown

In the Pro Football Focus world of stats, two Miami players stood out against UNC last week and made their All-ACC Team of the Week: WR Braxton Berrios on offense and DT RJ McIntosh on defense.

Three Miami corners made PFF’s list of the top 8 ACC corners this season, listed by opponent’s passer rating when targeted. They were #1 Michael “Thriller” Jackson, #4 Trajan Bandy, and #8 Malek Young.

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That’s it Canes fam. Happy Friday and let’s go pack the Rock and wreck Tech tomorrow. “Enter Sandman”? Yeah, I’m shaking in my bright yellow shirt. Do you SMELLLLL what the Rock is cookin’?!?!