What to expect from Miami transfer safety Mishael Powell
Alex Donno and Brian Smith discuss what transfer safety Mishael Powell will bring to the Miami Hurricanes in 2024.
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00:00 Mish Powell, who started 13 games for the Washington Huskies this past season.
00:04 In the past three years, he's played in double digit games every single year.
00:09 Ton of experience, ton of versatility.
00:11 I know that's something Miami looks for in defensive backs.
00:14 And I think this guy could potentially play in the star if needed.
00:19 But I look at him as being probably one of the two starting safeties
00:23 for Miami this coming season.
00:25 He's six foot one, 210 pounds, based on what I looked up.
00:29 And he has a lot of experience.
00:31 Three years playing power five football.
00:34 He had a pick six last year, three picks.
00:36 I mean, he's he's around the ball.
00:39 He's a physical kid and he's consistent.
00:41 Most of his tackles last year, at least listed, were solo.
00:44 He's a guy that'll blitz.
00:46 I think Miami can use him in a lot of ways.
00:48 And obviously the coordinator at Miami is tremendous
00:52 at mixing it up, asking the offense that had to deal with them.
00:54 I'm curious to see how they'll use him in packages.
00:58 I think strong safety overall, your point is right.
01:00 Yeah. But when they go nickel and dime, where are they going to use him?
01:03 He's an experienced kid.
01:04 So Lance Guidry scheme should be a little easier for him to pick up the concepts.
01:08 I mean, the calls will be different, different school, but he'll pick that up.
01:11 I'm interested to see what they do with him, because I mean, I'll be honest,
01:15 it was the one spot that I was worried about in twenty four.
01:17 You can't lose to NFL players and it'd be the same next year.
01:20 I'm not saying they're going to replace the two players.
01:24 You know, Cam, you know, James, those are really rare.
01:27 But this is about as good as you're going to get.
01:29 They got two kids with experience coming in.
01:30 They got a couple of young guys that played well during the season
01:33 when they got chances.
01:35 Miami is in a much better place right now than I thought they would be.
01:37 Even three weeks ago.
01:39 Yeah. To your point, I look at the likely top four safeties like the two deep
01:44 Savion Riley, you mentioned, who came over from Vanderbilt, who's he's actually,
01:49 I think, got three years of eligibility left.
01:51 Just so people know, Mish Powell has one year remaining,
01:54 one year of eligibility left, which obviously it's a double edged sword.
01:57 You're like, oh, he's only going to be here for one year,
01:59 but he's also got loads of experience.
02:00 Again, this guy.
02:01 And it's funny because, Brian, people people have kept asking me
02:04 since he committed last night, like, you know, can this guy really play
02:07 or is this just a jag? Is this guy like a roster filler?
02:10 I'm like, OK, so Miami fans, you know, I love Miami, obviously,
02:14 but our team just went seven and six and we got some fans
02:17 who are looking at a guy who started on a team that played
02:21 in the national championship game, and they're wondering if that dude's a jag.
02:24 Like, he'll be OK. All right.
02:26 I think he's very likely to contend for a starting spot
02:29 in the Miami Hurricanes this year.
02:31 Some more of the stats.
02:32 Brian gave a couple of them to you had three interceptions,
02:35 like you mentioned, including a pick six, 38 tackles, two and a half tackles for loss.
02:39 One of those, by the way, Brian, I know that Mish is capable of hitting
02:45 and hitting hard because one of the clips that's been going around,
02:47 I did retweet it or re-exit on my ex account at Locked on Canes
02:52 is him just putting on a big hit on an Oregon running back.
02:56 And you look at that, it's like, OK, is this guy's going to fit right in down here
03:00 at Miami?
03:01 You need that kind of example from your safeties,
03:05 especially when you had those two guys last year.
03:07 Yeah. Williams and Kitchens.
03:09 Again, you're not going to replace them, but it's nice to have that presence
03:12 in the back end of the defense, and you almost have to have it with Lance's
03:15 approach to defensive football because he wants to bring guys.
03:19 You're going to be one on one a lot of times, even as a safety and safeties
03:22 generally aren't that kind of mentality.
03:24 But this kid's been in that and in the Pac-12, he's seen about as many good
03:28 receivers as you're going to see.
03:29 He saw him every day in practice, that's for sure.
03:32 They had the best wide receiver corpse in the country.
03:34 There's no debating that.
03:36 So I think he will do well.
03:38 I'm hoping that he's going to be able to hit the ground running.
03:41 I'm probably, except for Cam Ward, is excited to see him as anybody else.
03:45 Yeah. Ring ball, because if you don't figure out safety in today's world,
03:49 you will get destroyed.
03:51 Teams will find a way to hit big plays on you.
03:54 Again, your point about he's played three years is vital.
03:58 The other young man's played one.
04:00 He's still experienced.
04:01 But, you know, it's not like he's proven it over several years.
04:04 So this is as big an addition to the roster minus Cam Ward
04:08 as the Canes have gotten.