Miami Hurricanes football coach Mario Cristobal has recruited Miami with the identity he wants in the offensive and defensive lines.
So, the U is back.
But can Miami football stay at or near the mountaintop? Is this a one-off magical run to the College Football Playoff national championship game or is this something sustainable?
Miami's calling card during the playoffs has been a big, physical offensive line and a relentless pass rush led by edge rushers Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor.
While there's no denying the elite individual talent — offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa, Bain and Mesidor all could be first round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft — Miami coach Mario Cristobal has absolutely been building the team with this kind of identity.
Miami football's blueprint in the trenches
It's no surprise that the first assistant coach Cristobal hired at Miami in 2021 was offensive line coach Alex Mirabal. The two were high school teammates at Columbus in Miami and Mirabal was on Cristobal's staff at both FIU and Oregon.
The two have a clear understanding and vision for Miami's offensive line. Big, violent maulers who can push people off the ball. In the Fiesta Bowl win against Ole Miss, it wasn't that the line was opening big holes as much as it consistently was knocking defenders backward.
In an era of teams looking to instantly upgrade position groups through the transfer portal, three of the Hurricanes five starting lineman have spent their entire careers at Miami. Starting guards Anez Cooper and Matthew McCoy were three-star recruits that Miami's coaching staff identified and developed.
In 2024, four of Miami's starting linemen were homegrown talents, with Indiana transfer Zach Carpenter being the lone addition. This year, James Brockermayer (TCU) is the lone starter brought in from the transfer portal.
Winning the line of scrimmage
There's absolutely no way to understate how much first-year defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman has meant to the Hurricanes and this postseason run.
Miami also has hit on some solid starters in the transfer portal, including defensive backs Keionte Scott and Jakobe Thomas and linebacker Mohamed Toure.
But some of the key players, specifically Bain and Mesidor, have both in the program for at least three seasons. The same goes for All-ACC second-team defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr., a late-bloomer in high school who was a part of Cristobal's first signing class at Miami.
The edge rushers have been crucial to Miami's success, especially against Texas A&M and Ohio State.
How will Miami's lines look in 2026?
Miami's lines will look at lot different at the start of next season.
Three offensive linemen are seniors. That does not include consensus All-American Mauigoa, who has started every game the past three seasons and could be the first offensive lineman taken in the NFL draft. McCoy is the only starting offensive lineman expected back.
And while Miami could add in the portal, it's second-string up front is almost all players that it signed out of high school and has developed: tackles Deyrc Plazz (Mandarin) and Tommy Kinsler (Trinity Catholic) and interior linemen Samson Okunlola and Max Buchanon (Seminole).
Defensively, it's very similar — both in terms of what Miami is losing and what's already in the program.
Moten is the only starter expected to return on the defensive line. But the Hurricanes have a group of highly rated recruits that have been biding their time, including Armondo Blount (Miami Central), Marquise Lightfoot, Justin Scott, Herbert Scroggins III, Booker Pickett (Wharton) and Artavius Jones (Blountstown).
How has Miami recruited the offensive and defensive lines recently?
Did you see the video of Cristobal celebrating in the hallway during the ACC spring meetings in May? He was on the phone with Jackson Cantwell, the nation's top-rated offensive lineman in the 2026 class, who had just committed to the Hurricanes.
Cantwell recently became the first offensive lineman to be named the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award and could be a starter from the first day he steps on campus.
He was one of six offensive lineman the Hurricanes signed in the 2026 class. The list includes four-star tackle Ben Congdon and four-star guard Joel Ervin (Fort Myers).
Defensively, Miami signed seven linemen in the 2026 class. That's more than any other position group in the class. The haul up front includes four-star tackle Keshawn Stancil (flipped from Clemson), four-star edge Asharri Charles (Venice), four-star edge Jordan Campbell (Miami Northwestern) and four-star edge DeAnthony Lafayette (Lake Nona).
Miami has targeted many of the top offensive lineman in the 2027 class, including St. Thomas Aquinas five-star tackle Mark Matthews and Pennsylvania five-star tackle Maxwell Hiller.
The Hurricanes currently have four commitments in the 2027 class. Two of those four — Cardinal Gibbons four-star edge rusher Demarcus Deroche and Palm Beach Central three-star offensive tackle Zaquan Linton — are linemen.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Hurricanes regained elite status by by recruiting the trenches
Category: General Sports
