Keelan Marion had one final shot to leave a college football legacy. After previous stops at UConn and BYU, the speedy wide receiver and return specialist knew he needed to make the right call for his last collegiate season.

He chose the Miami Hurricanes.

“I committed here without my parents even knowing,” Marion said. “They were looking crazy at me. Coach (Mario) Cristobal had a conversation with me on my visit and told me everything I needed to know, and I said I wanted to play for that guy.”

Marion wasn’t alone.

He is one of 10 senior transfers who wound up playing a pivotal role for the Hurricanes this season.

He is one of the key reasons No. 10 Miami (13-2) has reached the College Football Playoff National Championship game, where it will face No. 1 Indiana (15-0) on Monday at Hard Rock Stadium — the Hurricanes’ home field — with a chance to win the program’s first national title since the 2001 season.

They came from the SEC — from Georgia (quarterback Carson Beck), LSU (wide receiver CJ Daniels), Auburn (cornerback Keionte Scott) and Tennessee (safety Jakobe Thomas).

They came from TCU (center James Brockermeyer), Rutgers (linebacker Mohamed Toure), BYU (Marion) and Louisiana Tech (defensive tackle David Blay), FAU (kicker Carter Davis) and Tulane (tight end Alex Bauman).

They came to Miami with one year left to ply and one singular goal: compete for a national championship.

They bet on the Hurricanes; they bet on themselves.

And now, they’re closing their college careers with a chance to play for a national title.

“Almost exactly a year ago, I made a decision to come to this university,” Beck said after Miami’s 31-27 College Football Playoff semifinal win over Ole Miss at the Fiesta Bowl. “I remember me and Coach Cristobal talking on the phone for the first time. I was sitting in Jacksonville in my house in my room. I just had a big smile on my face, and he had a big smile on his face. He said, ‘Let’s get to work.’ I believed in his vision. I believed in what he’s been able to build here and add on to the culture of what Miami is. Man, what an unbelievable year.”

Beck, as the quarterback with the big reputation and the multimillion-dollar name, image and likeness deal, is the face of the class. He had to replace a Heisman Trophy finalist in Cam Ward, who went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

He isn’t flashy like Ward. He wasn’t asked to be heroic every week like Ward.

But when it mattered the most, Beck made the plays needed.

He enters the title game having completed 73.3% of his passes (which would shatter Ward’s single-season mark of 67.2% set last season) for 3,581 yards (fourth most in a season in UM history, 62 shy of moving to second) and 29 touchdowns (tied for second most in a season in UM history) with 11 interceptions.

“Honestly, every expectation I had coming in, it’s been completely blown out of the water,” Beck said. “This place has just been unreal. It’s been amazing. ... A year I’ll remember forever.”

Brockermeyer, the lone new face in the middle of a veteran and established offensive line, built an immediate rapport with his fellow linemen and with Beck despite the quarterback not being able to participate in spring drills while recovering from offseason elbow surgery. Pro Football Focus has Brockermeyer rated as the seventh-best center nationally in terms of pass blocking (85.9 overall grade) and tied for 31st out of 111 centers in run blocking (67.8 grade) among centers with at least 650 snaps. He has not allowed a sack all season.

Meanwhile, Marion and Daniels have been on the receiving end of plenty of big plays with Beck. Along with true freshman Malachi Toney, they helped offset the departures of Xavier Restrepo, Jacolby George, Elijah Arroyo, Isaiah Horton and Sam Brown.

Together, Marion and Daniels have caught 102 passes for 1,235 yards and nine touchdowns.

Bauman, who has split time at tight end with sophomore Elija Lofton (whose status for Monday is up in the air), has 17 catches for 144 yards and a touchdown.

Daniels, whose career started at Liberty before transferring to LSU and then Miami, said his one year at UM has allowed him to “show my true attributes.”

“For me, it’s not just about the accolades I have; it’s what I do, which is doing the best for the team,” Daniels said. “Like I just said, as much as I want to catch the ball, as much as I want to make a play down the field, I’m willing to go in and block a safety, go in and block a corner to have explosive plays on the run game. Coming to Miami, I was blessed with this opportunity. ... That’s the biggest thing for me on why I was able to come and be a factor in this offense.”

And then there are the four one-year players on defense who were integral in overhauling the group from a liability into a top-10 unit nationally.

Toure, who has overcome two ACL tears in his college career, leads the Hurricanes with 73 tackles and embodies the violent, physical nature defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman demands of his defense. Toure would know what to expect; he played for Hetherman at Rutgers.

His highlight play thus far was when he sacrificed his body for a game-saving pass breakup at the goal line against Texas A&M, one play before Bryce Fitzgerald sealed the first-round win with his second interception of the game.

Blay has been a cog on the interior of Miami’s defensive line. He has battled through injury but has been part of a strong defensive tackle rotation that also includes Ahmad Moten Sr., Justin Scott and Armondo Blount. Blay has 27 tackles and 2 ½ tackles for loss.

Thomas and Scott have put together storybook endings to their college careers. Thomas went from starting his career at Middle Tennessee State to being a rotational player at Tennessee to a full-time starter at Miami. Scott’s journey began at Snow College at the junior college level before going to Auburn, where he struggled playing outside corner instead of his more customary nickel spot before landing at Miami.

Together, they have seven combined interceptions this season, three of which have been returned for touchdowns. They’re the first pair of Miami teammates with pick-sixes in the same season since Gilbert Frierson and Kamren Kinchens in 2022. They also have 132 combined tackles.

Scott has 13 tackles for loss, tied with edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. for second on the team, and five sacks, which ranks third behind Akheem Mesidor and Bain.

Scott said the “trials and tribulations” from his rough 2024 season at Auburn forced him to reset. Miami, between Cristobal, safeties coach Will Harris and cornerbacks coach Zac Etheridge, gave him the opportunity to do that.

“They all believed in me,” Scott said. “I just felt like that was a place I felt like I could go, because all of those guys believed in me when no one did.”

The Hurricanes believed in each other. Even when they dropped two games in a three-week span to put their season on life support, they knew they could still reach their ultimate goal if they banded together and grew from their mistakes.

“We never flinch in the face of adversity,” Beck said.

And now, they’re playing for a national title in their lone season at Miami.

“That’s what we came here for, man,” Toure said. “We had a plan, we had a mission. My guys talked about it before the season. We had dreams and aspirations of playing for the national championship. ... We had some bumps in the road, but we just kept pushing, kept fighting. We’re going there now, baby.”

College Football Playoff

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

No. 10 seed Miami vs. No. 1 Indiana, 7:30 Monday, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens TV: ESPN Line/OU: IU by 8 ½; 47 ½

• • •

Sign up for our Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.

Every weekday, tune into our Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast to hear reporter Rick Stroud break down the biggest stories in Tampa Bay sports.

Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on X and Facebook.