8 Canes I hope stay with the program

Welcome to the new world of college football. On Monday, the college football transfer portal opened, and thousands of players are now available to any program around the country. Miami is no stranger to that trend; in fact, the Canes are one of the top programs as far as players leaving...

And honestly, I’m more than good with that. There has been one player - Darrell Jackson, Jr. - that I can say legitimately hurts a little bit to see go. Aside from that...deuces. Best of luck to all the rest.

Now, with that being said, who else beside Jackson would I cringe to see leave? There are several...

Kam Kinchens

This one doesn’t need much explaining. Kinchens is becoming one of the best safeties to play at Miami since the Canes last won a title. Losing him would be a titanic blow to a defense that is already lacking proven playmakers.

Wesley Bissainthe

There were a lot of things wrong with the defense this year, but Bissainthe wasn’t one of them. He made his first start against Georgia Tech, and he played solid football from then on. He’s young and still developing, and I think he can become a very good player. Not to mention this team is very short on quality linebackers.

Leonard Taylor III

Unblockable at times throughout the year, Taylor is living up to his lofty billing. He was both effective in run support and in creating pressure up the middle. If he left, the drop off to whoever they would have to bring in to replace him would be significant.

Tyler Van Dyke

Van Dyke is supposedly staying (if you believe reporting from other media outlets). His inclusion on my list is simply because he’s a player that I WANT to stay and would be very disappointed to see go. I mean, I know we know he can play. Despite this year’s disaster, 2021 did happen. It’s now up to Josh Gattis to evaluate what went wrong and how he can get the most out of Van Dyke next season. Because if Van Dyke was to leave, Miami just doesn’t have a guy capable of generating enough offense to vastly improve next season.

Colbie Young

Young was undoubtedly the newcomer of the year. He didn’t have a Charleston-Rambo-2021-type of season, but he was often the only receiver making plays when Miami needed it during the year. He completely overshadowed the much more heralded south Florida recruits who never have amounted to much. Young is big, physical, and showed good hands this year. If the offense could get worked out, his ceiling is pretty high.

Don Chaney, Jr., Tre’Vonte Citizen, and/or Henry Parrish, Jr.

With the departure of Jaylan Knighton and Thad Franklin, Miami’s running back room is down to these three. And honestly, I couldn’t be more pleased with them being here. This is a very solid running back trio that provides a good blend of power and speed. Chaney is more of the hammer/4th-quarter-closer, and Citizen and Parrish are both very good well-rounded backs. Miami will add some backs through recruiting and the portal, but this is the foundation for the position going forward. Losing any of these three would hurt.

So yeah, these are the players I specifically hope stay and would be very sad to see go. Some might ask why I haven’t listed more. Well, this was a 5-win team that played a 10-win schedule. An overhauling needs to happen.

I just hope these 8 gentlemen are a part of it.