Good morning Canes fans! Here are your Thursday morning news and notes:

Has Jeff Thomas overtaken Ahmmon Richards?

After 2 strong games to start the 2018 season, there is a case to be made that sophomore WR Jeff Thomas has overtaken junior WR Ahmmon Richards as WR1 for the Canes.

With 199 yards in 2 games (and that number could be MUCH higher had there been more accurate throws and/or throws his way when he was wide open vs LSU), Thomas is Miami’s leading receiver to this point of the year. Conversely, Richards has 1 catch for 9 yards and missed 7 of 8 quarters the Canes have played with an injured knee.

While both players are electric, and Richards has the size, speed, and skill to be a 1st round NFL Draft pick, at this moment, it’s hard to think that Thomas hasn’t overtaken the one-time Freshman All-American Richards....at least until he’s back to full health.

Toledo on the brain

While there are other games on the schedule with higher profile than this week’s trip to Toledo, the Rockets are the team that the Miami Hurricanes are playing this week. So, by definition, Miami’s game in Toledo is the most important game on the schedule.

As such, a couple of SOTU contributors want to bring attention to this fact, and urge everyone associated with, or rooting for, Miami to take Toledo seriously.

Al Blades Jr. continues family legacy

Much has been made of Al Blades Jr’s connection to the University of Miami. His father, the late Al Blades, and uncles Bennie and Brian Blades all played at and starred for The U. And, due to that fact, the younger Blades has been around the Canes’ program nearly his entire life.

After deciding to continue the family legacy by attending The U, Blades Jr. has wasted no time in making his presence felt on the field. After 2 strong performances, and multiple rave reviews from coaches and fellow players, Blades Jr. has been named a captain for Miami’s road game at Toledo this Saturday.

Blades Jr. was thankful for the honor, and took to twitter to share that emotion:

David Villavicencio from Miami Athletics and Christy Chirinos from The South Florida Sun-Sentinel both had profiles on Miami’s freshman CB, and now road game captain:

Keep ballin’, ABJ!

Wallpaper Wednesday

You love Mike Meredith’s wallpapers, so here’s another one for you:

Getty Images photo, Mike Meredith/State of the U illustration

Other Notes

• Here are updated win projections for 2018 from Bill Connelly of SB Nation
• Toledo is going to be a tough test for Miami says Antwan Staley of Athlon
• Wednesday notes from Christy Chirinos of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel
• A recap of CMR’s weekly pre-grame press conference by Chirinos
• Canes Nuggets from Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald
• DeeJay Dallas says Miami is built “to crush dreams”, writes Manny Navarro of The Athletic
• Practice notes from Susan Miller Degnan of The Miami Herald
• Canes Hoops had picture day on Wednesday and the photos are awesome (LOOK AT THOSE SHORTS!!!!! WHAT AN UPGRADE!!!!!!!)

And, we’ll end with the post-practice interviews from yesterday, for your viewing and listening pleasure:

That’s it for today.

Make it a great day, you guys!

Go Canes