Our Canes Insider Alex Donno joins the show to preview the Pop Tart Bowl! How impressive has Cam Ward been? What has the impression been of him choosing to play in this Bowl Game? How do the Canes match up against Iowa State? Do the Canes have anything in the Holster for when Cam Ward leaves? How has the transfer portal affected teams ability to develop players? We briefly discuss how NIL has forced Jim Larrañaga into retirement.
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00:00Houston, we do not have a problem because our boy Dono is here.
00:05Dono is joining us to talk all things Miami Hurricanes.
00:10He is live at the practice facility.
00:12Dono, how are you, sir?
00:14What's happening, fellas?
00:15Leroy, Frogman, I appreciate you guys for having me on.
00:20I've grown.
00:22So Dono, I just want to, like, are people
00:28aware how impressive Cam Ward is by just the way
00:35he's going about not only the season, his approach,
00:39but the fact that he said, yeah, I'm playing in this game.
00:44Like, why wouldn't I?
00:46I think one of the things to appreciate from that,
00:49he realizes where he came from.
00:51He was a zero star recruit.
00:54And now he gets an opportunity to play on the biggest stage.
00:57Forget about the NFL or whatever.
01:00He enjoys this.
01:03So isn't that, I mean, that has to be,
01:06like, going through that organization,
01:08going through the building.
01:10Like, everybody has to be extremely impressed with that.
01:12It's super.
01:13It's super refreshing.
01:14And I know it's appreciated within the facility.
01:18And Mario Cristobal had a news conference this morning.
01:21And he talked about it.
01:22And just really bring it up, Cam Ward's DNA.
01:25Because he's wired different.
01:27He's not pragmatic about the business side of football
01:31the way that certain other players are.
01:32Like, in Ward's mind, it's like, why wouldn't I play?
01:35We have another game.
01:36Why?
01:37He's been in Miami for 11 and a half months.
01:41He's been the leader and the face of the team for that time.
01:44I also think it matters to him to set
01:47the example for his teammates.
01:49And I don't expect Miami to have 100% ops in tomorrow.
01:53But I think there are going to be a lot of players who
01:55are opting in because they followed Ward's lead.
01:58And I think it's a little bit infectious,
01:59the way that he does that.
02:01And for Ward, Ward talked about it
02:04over the last couple of weeks.
02:05Cristobal talked about it today.
02:07Cam Ward just wants to finish the job that he started here.
02:11He would view not playing in the Pop-Tart Bowl, to him,
02:14would be leaving his team high and dry.
02:17And that's just not the way that he approaches this.
02:20And I don't really think there's anything
02:22he could do to raise his draft stock at this point.
02:25He's obviously taken a little bit of a risk by playing.
02:28But I do think, for him, that's the thing that I question.
02:36Like, you can have a bad game, right?
02:40But how can one game jeopardize your status to the point
02:45where it drops you?
02:48And I would say this, that those people that are dropping you
02:52already had questions before that.
02:55Yeah, I think the only real risk he would take
02:57is the risk of potentially picking up an injury.
03:01That's the only thing.
03:02He does move a bit nonchalant in the pocket.
03:06I think that's one thing he has to fix.
03:09Also, I don't know of him ever, in his career,
03:12ever missing time due to injury.
03:15Like, he got sacked a lot at Washington State.
03:18Like, Miami kept his jersey pretty clean.
03:20At Wazoo, he was on the ground every other dropout.
03:24There's certain guys, Leroy, that are just,
03:27that their bodies are just more immune
03:29to picking up knocks and things.
03:31Right, and so I'm impressed by that and by him.
03:40Here's what worries me about this game.
03:44Anytime you play somebody out West,
03:48whether it's Southern, Northern,
03:52one of the things that they have in their DNA
03:54is scoring the football.
03:57Once you get out West, I have questions, as do we all.
04:04What has happened to this defense this year?
04:09Oh, the defense.
04:09The defense is the reason why Miami is not
04:13preparing for a playoff game.
04:15Why, because they're not undefeated.
04:17That's the reason why, Leroy.
04:20And it's why I think the Pop-Tart Bowl is
04:23going to be a high-scoring game.
04:24I think even with maybe some of Miami's receivers won't play,
04:28we're not sure about Restrepo.
04:30Isaiah Horton has already left, so we know he's not playing.
04:33Sam Brown and Restrepo are question marks.
04:36Elijah Arroyo, though, does plan to play Miami's star tight end.
04:39So you're going to have some young receivers.
04:41You will have your steady tight end.
04:42I still think Miami's running game,
04:44because Iowa State lacks some things
04:46to be desired with their rushing defense.
04:48So Miami should be able to have success there.
04:50All this to say, I think both teams are going to score.
04:52Which is why I was looking yesterday
04:55at an over-under of 55 and 1.5.
04:56That number has gone up to 57, and I
04:59think it should be even higher than 57, probably,
05:01for the over-under.
05:02It might be over 50 to 60s by the time the game starts.
05:05Yeah, so Miami's had extra time off,
05:09and they've had a chance to prepare for one opponent.
05:11Because they've known for, what, a month
05:14they're going to face Iowa State.
05:15So hopefully they've taken advantage of that time.
05:17But I don't think they can change
05:18the DNA of this defense from the end of the regular season
05:21until now.
05:22Can they try to do, like, I think part of the problem
05:27that they had on defense was, it almost
05:31seems like guys didn't know where they
05:33were supposed to be, or guys.
05:35And so it's not, and I don't know
05:38if it's the defense is too difficult, or too complicated,
05:41or what have you.
05:43But there's too many times during a game
05:46where they're looking at each other.
05:49And so it doesn't have anything to do with talent.
05:54So I always had a theory.
05:57If they ain't going to cover, blitz them.
06:00If your guys ain't covering, and you sitting there dropping back
06:03and giving up chunk plays, just blitz them.
06:06Blitz them all.
06:07Ain't nobody covering.
06:09So I'm wondering if, at some point in this game,
06:14you don't see a lot of that.
06:15A lot of them just being aggressive and saying,
06:21we're going to be aggressive.
06:22You got this, man.
06:23You got this, man.
06:24You got this, man.
06:24Let's go.
06:25You want the in-man defense, let's go.
06:27Yeah, I will say something else.
06:28That the best Miami's defense looked all season
06:32was in the opening game, when they had all that extra time
06:36to prepare for Florida.
06:38I wonder if they can make use of that extra time.
06:40And with Iowa State, what you see on film
06:43is what you get, because 100% of their team is opting in.
06:46So you're not going to get any different personnel.
06:49So you know what to expect from Iowa State's offense.
06:52And I agree with what you said, that at times,
06:54it looks like the scheme might be too confusing for some
06:57of these guys.
07:00So hopefully, Lance Guidry has either used this extra time
07:02to maybe simplify it, or maybe with all this extra time
07:06to prepare for one opponent, because you're not preparing
07:08for one opponent every week.
07:09You're preparing for one opponent over a month,
07:11so that they can actually look more
07:13that they more likely looked against Florida
07:15to open the year.
07:16Yeah, it's frustrating, because I'm
07:19going to be honest with you, that's not all on the coach.
07:22No?
07:22I don't know, dude.
07:24Don't blow it, Lance.
07:26Let me explain something to you, right?
07:29Something nice.
07:30If you simplify your defense or your offense,
07:36you know there's coaches on the other side
07:38that can figure that crap out.
07:40So stop making everybody say, oh, we've got to simplify.
07:44No.
07:45No, you're trying to devise a plan to win the game.
07:49And if you simplify it, the other team
07:52is going to pick you apart.
07:54And so no, absolutely not.
07:57So there's some of that.
07:59Maybe it's the verbiage, or the checks, or something like that.
08:03But defense is defense, right?
08:05Like, OK, what does that have to do with tackling?
08:09Right.
08:10And I just want to say, I'm not completely
08:13giving Lance Guidry a pass.
08:15No, I'm not either.
08:17And I just want to say that.
08:20I think there definitely needs to be
08:22some internal evaluation on why the defense went so awry
08:26this year.
08:27But to Leroy's point, in 2023, with the same defensive
08:30coordinator, the defense looked a lot better.
08:33In fact, the defense bailed out the offense
08:35on several occasions the previous year.
08:38So for the defense to regress so much,
08:42I guess you have to put a lot of that, or some of that,
08:45on coaching.
08:46But a lot of that also has to go to the personnel.
08:48When you've got the same coordinator,
08:50why did the defense look so much better the first year
08:52and so much worse the second year?
08:54Because the coaching has been a constant.
08:56Right.
08:57That's it.
09:00So the thing is, you're right about the high scoring.
09:05Now, moving forward, the Cam Ward experience
09:11has been awesome.
09:13Correct.
09:15Please tell me, please tell me, that next year,
09:21we got something.
09:22Donald, tell me we have something.
09:24I know we have something.
09:26Because we've been talking about Cam Ward for a year and a half,
09:30two years, before he got down here.
09:31There's a kid in Washington State.
09:33He's awesome, right?
09:34Please tell me that.
09:37Well, so they are, it seemed like they
09:40tried to get John Mateer, which did not materialize.
09:45You see what I did there.
09:46The Washington State quarterback,
09:48who has actually followed Cam Ward's footsteps,
09:50had an amazing year.
09:51He's going to Oklahoma.
09:52It seems like Miami tried to get him, and they failed.
09:54But it also seems like Miami's being really selective
09:56on quarterbacks that they go after.
09:58Now, maybe there could be a scenario where Quinn Ewers
10:02might become available, because if he decides
10:06not to go to the draft, he could go to the draft.
10:09But Texas Leroy would nudge him out,
10:11because they're itching to start the Arch Manning era there.
10:14The Arch has already been in the program for two years,
10:16be the third year next year.
10:18So maybe that could be something.
10:20At the same time, I'm not waving my pom-poms.
10:24I don't know if Quinn Ewers is Cam Ward.
10:29Oh, no, he's not.
10:31There is no Cam Ward walking through that door, Leroy.
10:33Like, whoever is Miami's quarterback next year,
10:37that's not going to be Cam Ward.
10:38Like, if you want to be better next year,
10:40you've got to be fortifying other areas.
10:43Now, I'm not all in lock, stock, and barrel
10:46on getting any transfer quarterback.
10:48Like, Miami didn't go after Fernando Mendoza,
10:51who ultimately went to Indiana.
10:53And I'm kind of glad that they didn't,
10:55because at a certain point,
10:56unless you're finding a Cam Ward caliber guy,
10:59you're going to end up like what Michigan did.
11:01Yes!
11:02Like, you've got to give the guys
11:04who are in your room an opportunity.
11:05Like, the quarterbacks you have right now,
11:07because the thing is, like, is the biggest, you know,
11:09and there'd be a competition.
11:11You got three guys in your quarterback room.
11:12Emery Williams, who's the most experienced
11:14relatively out of the three.
11:16Judd Anderson, who's going to his second year, hasn't played.
11:19Luke Nickle coming in as a true freshman.
11:21So, like, the big argument
11:22against giving these guys a shot would be,
11:25well, they don't have enough experience.
11:27But how do you get experience if you never play?
11:30And if you never play the quarterbacks
11:31you recruit out of high school,
11:32if you're bringing in transfers every single year,
11:35I get it.
11:36You're not going to get recruits.
11:37Right, you're not going to get recruits.
11:37Like, I get it.
11:38Like, when you have a chance to bring in Cam Ward,
11:40you do it, they did it.
11:41You have a chance maybe to bring in Mateer,
11:43they tried, it didn't work.
11:45But I'm not just going to bring in any quarterback.
11:47Is that, how do you ever recruit quarterbacks after that?
11:49If every year you're bringing in a guy.
11:51That was my next question is,
11:53is you have these guys in the room.
11:56At some point, you're going to have to show
12:00all of these guys you're recruiting at that position
12:03that you can develop a quarterback
12:05and put a top-notch quarterback on the field.
12:08Yeah.
12:08And if you go through the transfer portal,
12:11because as fans, we want to win now.
12:14Nobody gives a crap about development.
12:17Like, we don't want to see your quarterback struggle
12:19because he's never played
12:20and then come on strong at the end
12:22and you already have two losses.
12:25And so, like, a lot of these coaches feel that pressure
12:29and they go in win now mode.
12:31And then what happens is you end up like Florida State.
12:34Oh, yeah.
12:35You don't want to be that.
12:37They went in the transfer portal,
12:38they got all these players,
12:40they didn't really get any recruits.
12:42And now you have an empty team with DJ Ujuwangile.
12:48Not anymore.
12:48I think you finally, you finally have.
12:51Hey, Donald, he went to school with us.
12:54Yeah.
12:55I think he's 50.
12:57I'm like, so, yeah.
12:59So, like, how much of, like,
13:02how much of that fans have to be patient with
13:05because there has to be some development?
13:08We can get away with that.
13:10Like, we look at running back, we look at DB,
13:13we look at all these other positions, offensive line,
13:17and you could transfer a portal, all of them,
13:19nobody would care, right?
13:22But at your skilled positions,
13:25like, it wouldn't hurt to bring in a wide receiver, right?
13:29You're losing a few of those.
13:31Yeah. Right?
13:32But at quarterback, your main position,
13:36if you keep going in a transfer portal,
13:38you better be ready to do it for the next 10 years.
13:41Yeah. And there, you mentioned receiver.
13:43They already do have one committed, CJ Daniels,
13:46who was at LSU last year, that they really like.
13:49And I think they're going to try to bring in
13:50at least one more receiver.
13:53And yeah, we all know defense is an area
13:54they need to address,
13:55and they've already brought in three transfers
13:57on the defensive side, a couple of defensive backs,
14:00safety, Zachariah Poiser from Jacksonville State,
14:03who's very highly rated,
14:05cornerback, Charles Brantley,
14:07who's actually, they brought in four guys already
14:09from the defense, Charles Brantley,
14:12and Emmanuel Carnley,
14:15cornerbacks from Arizona and Michigan State, respectively,
14:18and David Blay, a defensive tackle from Louisiana Tech.
14:21And they're not done on the defense either.
14:22They're going to try to bring in more guys
14:24because the defense needs a facelift.
14:26Here's the other thing.
14:29Does something have to be done with the transfer portal?
14:31The timing is horrible.
14:32Oh, I hate it.
14:33Like right before bowl games and playoff games.
14:36It sucks.
14:39But here's the problem.
14:41Here's the problem.
14:43I acknowledge the problem.
14:45Student athletes, school starts January 6th.
14:48That's right, yeah.
14:50How do we, how do you get around that?
14:53Yeah, that's rough.
14:55Cause like I, and then the other.
14:57If you say the guy can play in the bowl,
14:59the coach ain't going to play him.
15:01Right, it's tough.
15:02I mean, they have also the spring portal window,
15:06which is like after spring football.
15:08But then the problem with that is that,
15:11you know, if you were to go like only to that one,
15:13then the problem is like, it's nice,
15:15especially if you're bringing in quarterbacks,
15:17it's nice to have them be a part of spring football
15:19and not come in afterwards, right?
15:21So the stupid academic calendar,
15:24the whole student athlete thing
15:26gets in the way of a great,
15:27cause I'm with you.
15:27Like, wouldn't it make sense to be able to,
15:29to do the transfer portal after the season's over?
15:32I would say,
15:36I don't know how you would do it
15:38because they want all these guys in spring ball.
15:40Yeah.
15:41But I mean, tough, right?
15:46Like you do it after that semester
15:53and you have to, to be fair with,
15:55like a lot of these guys,
15:56you shouldn't have to announce that in December.
16:00Yeah.
16:01Right, it's like you putting a kid in a bad spot, right?
16:05To have to go to his coach
16:07and then the coach have to go to the team and say,
16:09transfer portal.
16:10Yeah.
16:11Do it after, you know,
16:14after the season you can announce it, right?
16:17And maybe not go through the spring ball, you know,
16:22but yeah, like it's tough.
16:24Yeah.
16:25It is tough.
16:26Cause I had,
16:26I hadn't even thought about the academic calendar.
16:28It is tough because then it's like the enrollment
16:31is a whole mess and yeah.
16:33And then what happened with,
16:34what happened with like Michigan last year,
16:37they couldn't even go after a quarterback
16:40in the transfer portal because JJ McCarthy
16:44decided late because the season was late
16:46and then they ended up with Warren.
16:50Yikes.
16:50All the good options were gone.
16:51And then now Orji is,
16:55is in the transfer portal.
16:57Yeah.
16:58I would say to him that.
16:59Well, I would say.
17:00It don't matter what uniform you put on son,
17:02you can't throw.
17:03I would say Jim Laranega agrees with your point.
17:06Yeah.
17:07I saw.
17:08Yeah, I mean like,
17:09I feel bad for him because
17:12he has like exhausted himself developing.
17:17Oh yeah.
17:18These young men,
17:19guys who we never heard of that had some talent,
17:25putting them in the best position and they failed him.
17:28Well, he's, he's been,
17:29coach L has been coaching for 53 years.
17:34The landscape of college sports has changed more
17:36over the past three years than the previous 50.
17:39Right.
17:40He's 75 years old.
17:42I would venture to guess that if coach L was 55
17:46and not 75, he'd probably,
17:48he'd be willing to keep rolling and keep adapting.
17:51Right.
17:52But I mean, he's been doing this for so long and now,
17:55you know, whether, you know, what, what used to be right.
17:58Developing your, your under underrated players
18:01and having guys for three to four years
18:03and not having to worry about players transferring
18:05every single year.
18:06It's changed so much, you know,
18:08over the past three years for a guy in his seventies.
18:11Like I can, like he says, he's exhausted.
18:13I get it.
18:14Like, I understand why you wouldn't want to keep adapting
18:17at this point in your life.
18:18Cause coach L has nothing left to prove.
18:20Go out there and enjoy your retirement.
18:22Right. Right.
18:23It's unfortunate.
18:24I mean, it kinda, a lot of the older coaches,
18:27you look at Nick Saban, right?
18:29He just seemed exhausted.
18:31Yeah.
18:32Right. Just exhausted from,
18:34and I think just didn't, I would never, if I was a coach,
18:39I would never get exhausted dealing with kids, right?
18:41Love the young men.
18:43They, they want to come.
18:44They want to play.
18:45They want to do well.
18:46They want an opportunity to play at the highest level
18:49wherever that may be.
18:52It's the others in their life
18:55that don't quite understand how it works
19:00and trying to speak on behalf of the kid
19:03without that kid probably not even wanting to say that
19:06because they understand sports.
19:08They understand football.
19:09There ain't no kid playing a sport
19:13that thinks he should go onto a team and just start bowling.
19:18Right. Right.
19:19They all think they have to earn their way.
19:20That's how you, the first thing they tell you in football,
19:23leave your ego at the door.
19:25You, you eat what you kill, right?
19:28You earn it.
19:28You get it.
19:29And you, you bust your butt in the effort to earn it.
19:34Right.
19:35The one thing I appreciate about Miami is
19:38you had three, four first rounders in the same room
19:43and one wasn't even playing.
19:45Yeah.
19:46Like that doesn't happen anymore.
19:48No.
19:49Your one guy will play
19:51and then the other two or three will leave, right?
19:54That's why Mario did a hell of a job at running back
19:57because he rotated him pretty good.
19:59He did.
20:00But the problem with that is,
20:01is now how's one guy going to get his shine
20:04and move, go to the next level?
20:06Right.
20:07He did a really good job rotating running backs
20:11to the point where like three to four guys
20:14were getting steady playing time.
20:16I mean, I can remember when you used to have
20:18a featured back in college football
20:20and one guy was getting, you know, 80% of the carries.
20:24So it's not easy.
20:25Believe it or not, I was not,
20:27I wasn't even a featured back.
20:29I had, I played.
20:30I think you're featured back worthy.
20:32I played in the same backfield as a guy named Tony Bowles.
20:36He had like 1,500 yards rushing one year.
20:38Wow.
20:39Yeah.
20:40And we were in the backfield together.
20:42So it's crazy how,
20:44I never thought about like,
20:45ooh, I could go back home.
20:47And no, it's like, all right.
20:49Leroy ran the backfield.
20:51We ran the clock into the ground.
20:53Sorry.
20:54Dono, before we get you out of here.
20:55You know, I like talking to Dono.
20:58I love it, Leroy.
20:59Final score prediction on the way out, Leroy.
21:02I know we'll have time to talk about it later
21:04before Dono gets out of here.
21:06Final score.
21:08I'm going to go 38-33 Miami in a shootout.
21:14Yep.
21:15I say 35-30.
21:16Solid.
21:17So high scoring game.
21:18Oh, yeah.
21:20It, look, it's going to,
21:22now keep in mind,
21:23I don't know what the weather's going to be like.
21:25Dono, you got to bring your rain suit up there.
21:27I don't, I don't know.
21:28Let me see.
21:29Let me see if I can pull that up, Leroy.
21:30I just want to kill the clock even more here.
21:32Cause this is too important.
21:34It's a holiday clock.
21:35We ain't got no time.
21:36Holiday clock.
21:37Hold on, I got to, I got to find,
21:39Orlando.
21:40No, it's not going to,
21:41it's partly cloudy,
21:42but I don't see any rain in the forecast.
21:4477 degrees.
21:45Yeah, it should be,
21:47it should be a little cloudy,
21:48but no, no rain.
21:49Cool.
21:50Solid.
21:5177 with some clouds is good.
21:54Well, Dono, thank you for taking time out.
21:55I know you're a busy man.
21:56I know you did Joe Rose this morning.
21:59You're still stuck around.
22:00I'm sure you'll have a lot more coverage as this,
22:05I'm actually,
22:05I'm about to get on a bright line to Orlando.
22:08So, so a whole,
22:11I'm doing the bright line.
22:12And I, I got,
22:13I I'm, I'm pretty frugal,
22:14but I got a great deal on a first class ticket
22:17just for the way up on the way back.
22:19I'm going to be in coach,
22:19but I'm going to be,
22:20I'm going to be cruising first class
22:22in the bright line today.
22:23Gentlemen,
22:24there's not many people on that train.
22:26I'd be a holiday weekend going to Orlando.
22:29It's probably going to be packed.
22:30Yeah.
22:30All right.
22:31First class, baby.
22:32You deserve it.
22:34Thank you for joining us.
22:35And we will be right back with more Tobin and Leroy.