Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - EXCLUSIVE: Hurricane Warning ISSUED for ACC Rivals | Will Miami's Defense FINALLY Match Its Offense?

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

MIAMI HURRICANES Football: ACC Title Drought Ends in 2025?Can the MIAMI HURRICANES finally claim their first ACC championship after 21 seasons? Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs break down the HURRICANES' path to success in 2025, analyzing the impact of quarterback Carson Beck and new defensive coordinator Corey Heatherman. The duo examines Miami's offensive firepower, defensive improvements, and key players like Reuben Hurricane Bane and Wesley Besaint. With predictions ranging from an 8-4 floor to an 11-1 ceiling, could this be the year MIAMI makes a playoff run? Tune in for expert insights on the HURRICANES' potential to reshape the ACC landscape and challenge powerhouses like Clemson, Notre Dame, and Florida.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

21 seasons in the ACC, and the Miami Hurricanes are yet to win a conference title. This year, it changes. You are Locked-on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team, Every Day. Shout out to the Everydayers, and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast.

network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State defensive lineman and co-host of Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono, host of Lockdown Cains, and today's episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code Lockdown College at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. On this episode, we'll talk Miami's offense, Miami's defense, playoff chances, ACC championship chances.

Because Kenton Gibbs, I think it's fair to say that for the past 21 years, Miami has been like the enigma of the ACC. Absolutely. I remember it well. When the hurricanes first joined the ACC coming off of several consecutive Big East championships and, you know, recent national titles, everyone just thought, hey, it's going to be Miami versus Florida State in the ACC championship every year. Miami has only been to the ACC championship game once.

They haven't won the conference. yet. So, I mean, it's, it's been quite the roller coaster for me to be on for all these years. And the most interesting part about it, Miami was a coastal team. For those of you who don't know, the coastal was the weaker side of the division of the conference by a mile. It's not like it was like, oh, yeah, you don't know which year is going to produce which, you know, but that's another story for another time. We're not here to talk about the past. We're here to talk about the future of Miami football, Donnell. And let's start on the offensive soccer ball, okay?

You're losing a number one overall pick in Cam Ward. A guy that was the Superman, he threw on his cake for this team, plenty of times and was enough to get him over to hump more often than not. How do you replace that type of quarterback play? Do you think Carson Beck is up to the task or is it a situation where it's like, we don't need Carson Beck to be up to that talk? of the task because he'll exceed another or the team will exceed in other areas where they did not last year. Well, first things first, I think Miami owes Cam Ward a formal apology for not

fielding a defense last year because had they fielded a defense ward, I don't know if Miami would have won a national title. That's getting a little greedy. But Miami would have won an ACC championship had the defense been decent because the offense was the best in the country. In terms of of replacing Camp Ward. He's irreplaceable, Kenton, in a lot of ways. I mean, in terms of, and I think he's going to be a really good pro, but like in terms of collegiate quarterbacks, he really was generational.

I mean, there was not a throw he couldn't make and didn't make an incredible athleticism and improvisation. I mean, Ward, Cam Ward was just special. And I think Miami understands that it's, it's like one in a million that you find a guy to plug into your offense who's going to do the same thing that Cam Ward does. I do think in Miami going out and getting Carson Beck, I think the important criteria that they wanted to fill was getting a guy with tremendous experience,

having played in almost every big possible game you could play in the SEC, having been at Georgia, having played in SEC championship games and, you know, big time bowl games and, you know, bigger regular season games and you usually see at a place like Miami, having, you know, the 24 and 3 record as a starter that Beck has. And, like, his ability to make, to make almost any throw and, you know, being able to really effectively run an offense, right? And, you know, I don't want to put the dreaded, like, game manager label on Carson Beck. But, like, compared to Cam Ward, he is more of that than Ward was. So I think to have someone to be able to play within the confines of the offense.

and it sounds as though he, Beck, feels like he's already fitting pretty well in Shannon Dawson's offense at Miami. But like you said it, you characterized it well, Kenton, when you talk about, you know, the other pieces to Miami's offense, because I think the real strength and the real bread and butter of what Miami can potentially offer on that side of the football this year is, perhaps the best offensive line in the ACC, one of the better ones in the country, a really good running game because a lot of this is going to fall on the shoulders of Mark Fletcher and Jordan Lyle at running back.

And I'm hearing really good things about the offseason workouts for Chimar Brown, who's going to be Miami's third running back that they brought in from North Dakota State this year. So I think the running game to complement Carson Beck and the passing game. And it's like I don't think Beck necessarily needs to be as dynamic as Ward was last year for Miami's offense to work this year. I think they'll probably lean a little bit more on the rushing attack and just hope that Beck can make some big time throws

and avoid the big time mistake. He did throw too many interceptions to Georgia last year with 12. They want to cut that back into the same division. Absolutely. I completely understand that. Now let's stick with the quarterback for the theme of replacements for a second. Miami loses their quarterback, obviously,

which means your leading passer. You lose Xavier Estrepo, a guy who's littered throughout the record books at Miami, your top receiver, and Damien Martinez has gone on as well, leading Russia from last year. And so you come out of all of that and you do have proven pieces in some places. Obviously, Mawano and that offensive line, you know what they are. Fletcher, you've seen him at a high level. But the quarterback in the receiving, what level of concern? do you have about the fact that we're just now hearing reports of, you know,

Beck having the ability to throw the ball around again and kind of get in rhythm with his receivers on scale of one to 10, how concerned are you that we're like, we're basically up against 4th of July here and we're just hearing that he's back throwing to his receiver. Yeah, I'm at about a 6.5 out of 10. And, you know, you mentioned a couple of the big losses. Damien Martinez was a great player, but I just, I don't think they're going to miss him as much based on what they have in the running back room. Tremendous player, but I think they're going to be okay at running back. But outside of Cam Ward, I think Xavier Restrepo is going to be the guy that they missed the

most from the offense last year. And, you know, Ward was at Miami for one year and lit up the stat sheet. Restrepo had four seasons at Miami where he was the go-to guy for, you know, maybe not his true freshman year, but for three out of those four years, he was the go-to receiver in that Miami offense. a big loss. And so I think this is a situation where why I'm buying some stock in Miami's offense just based on how good the offensive line is, but I do have some concerns because they're replacing a ton of talent at receiver because Kent, it's not just Restrepo,

Jacoby George, who was their second leading receiver. You know, they lose tight end Elijah Royo from last year. They're replacing him with another Elijah, I think, is really good in Elijah Lopton. But Elijah Royo was fantastic last. year at tight end. They're losing Sam Brown at receiver and Isaiah Horton at receiver who transferred to Alabama. So they're they've lost most of their, you know, top receiving production from a season ago. So it's, they're going to be relying on some really talented young players and some transfers. Like I'm, I'm really high on Keel and Marion, who transferred in from BYU, who I think it's going to be a really dynamic kick returner in addition to hopefully being a good receiver,

but we haven't seen him play at Miami. C.J. Daniels, from LSU. It's been productive. Is it Liberty and LSU? Really productive receiver. Haven't seen him do it at Miami, haven't seen him do it with Carson Beck. Jojo Trader, who's heading into his second year at Miami. He had some really good moments last year in limited playing time, look good in spring, but he doesn't have a whole lot of experience. So there's just going to be a lot of wait and see with Miami's passing game. So it would not surprise me if like early in the season Miami may lean more on the running game and maybe adapt the passing game throughout because just based on the fact that there's uncertainties there, we don't exactly

know what the passing game is going to look like. There's going to be some wait and see there. Well, let's play a game, a real quick game for this last question, because I know we got to go to break here, but let's play top five for a second, okay? Will Miami, or let me rephrase and say it this way, Miami's offense will be top five in the nation, the ACC, the state of Florida. which one do you see this team as like a they're going to be top five most likely in one of these good categories man i'm i'm going to say the acc um now they they had the number one offense in the entire country last year uh i think there's going to be and we're going to talk about the defense so i don't want to i don't want to spoil anything uh but i think the offense may

take a slight dip and the defense is going to make a little bit of a surge so things are kind of going to kind of even out there. It's just, you know, Cam Ward did so many incredible things last year. I don't think Miami should be expected to do that again this year, and I'll tell you why. But I think the offense will be top five in the ACC. I would say maybe top 10, top 15 in the country, but I'll go top five in the ACC, and certainly top five, if not number one, in the state of Florida. All right.

Well, we'll be right back to talk about the defense, but you already here first. You have fans, your Florida state fan. UCF in there to everybody. All right. Miami is going to have the number one offense in the six point. And we got to talk about that defense because the defense cost them at least an ACC championship game last year, if not an ACC title. You want to keep it locked right here. We're previewing the Miami Hurricanes for the 2025 season on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Folks, I am so glad Monarch Money is with us here on the Locked on Podcast Network is I really believe in what they're doing and what they've done for my family,

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Guys, it's helped me get serious and take control. So you can take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on college at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's monarchmoney.com code locked on college for half off your first year. Thank you so much for making locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch. For your next listen, make sure you check out our other shows. Kenton Gibbs and Grace and Boone do an incredible job covering all things NC State on Lockedon Wolfpack. I cover all things Miami on Locked on Cains.

There's a lot of ebbs and flows and momentum, Kenton, because like at the end of at the end of June, Miami was landing like one verbal commitment in recruiting per day so far. July, it's been crickets. But there's, there's always something to talk about recruiting offseason stuff. And we're, you know, a few weeks away from training camps starting around the country. So there's that. All right. Kenton was a tough year for Miami's defense last year. So let's talk about it. Well, first thing, first, look at how spoiled Miami fans are. We haven't landed a single recruit in July. We are reporting this on July 3rd, everybody. That is the expectation for Miami recruiting three days.

They start looking around and shuffling feet. What's going on? I ain't nobody here. But let's talk about that defense for a second, okay? Because we know top in talent, nobody has better top in talent than the hurricane's defense, particularly Ruben Hurricane Bain, who sustained some injuries last year. But there is still an inexcusable amount of mental errors of inevitability, to adjust to basic motions and blown assignments, miscoverses and all that that cost Miami

heavily last year. If you were to tell Miami fans, hey, this is why we will be better. This is why those things will not permeate into this defense. I know that you've got a new defensive coordinator, but tell me, you speak to Miami fans right now. Why should you be confident in this defense this year? So not to throw shade here, but there was there was a certain safety who wore the number seven last year who seemed very confused. He's no longer, he's no longer with this program. So I don't know, maybe there might be some addition by subtraction. First things first.

Yeah, you bring up, you know, I think we both know, and you know, you're a little coy about it, but you, I mean, coordinators can make a difference. And I think in the case of Corey Heatherman coming in, I think he understands what a, what a Miami defense should like, should look like if you're kind of fitting the sort of of athletes that Miami has. And we're expecting a much more direct approach to rushing the passer. Communication is something that they have to work on, specifically in the back end because nobody seemed to be communicating last year.

So I think the safety room being completely different from last year is probably not a bad thing. You know, the cornerback room has a lot of additions. A notable exception to the additions is the guy who was Miami's statistically their best cornerback last year was OJ. Frederique, who was, you know, he was the fourth rated true freshman corner in the country, according to pro football focus last year. He is back this year, which is important for Frederique.

You know, you had Xavier Lucas, the man who's, you know, created lawsuits and controversy over the country. He comes in. He's had a good start. It was very good in spring for Miami to play cornerback. Zechariah Poiser, you know, a player that they added from Jacksonville State at safety is someone that I really like. They also added former Tennessee volunteer safety Jacobi Thomas to that defense,

who I think is trending well. But it's like I'm going to mention a lot of names, Kenton. I'm going to mention a lot of players that I think could break out in 2025. But I think an important theme to remember here is kind of similar to what I said about Miami's passing game. There's a lot of new. There's a lot of new players. There's a new coordinator, a lot of new position coaches, because the only returning position coach is Jason Taylor, the Hall of Famer, coaching the defense events.

Every other defensive position coach is new. And so, you know, one of the reasons why, and I've admitted this and sometimes Locked on Kane's listeners are like, hey, why aren't you giving us more credit? I think until proven otherwise, Clemson are the favorites in the ACC, over Miami, and a lot of that has to do with the continuity that they have in the returning talent and coaches and coordinators from last year. There's a lot of new. And new can sometimes work, right?

I mean, I know you wondered this last year, and even I kind of wondered it before we saw it, like how quickly was Cam Ward going to fit in Miami's offense? Like, he exceeded all of our expectations. Like sometimes new can work very quickly. And Miami's got some really good new players on defense. Another example I'll give you of someone who has been really kind of the talk of the offseason workouts is,

Rutgers transfer linebacker Mohamed Torre who was he missed all of last year with an ACL so he's coming off of an injury but he's been lighting up the offseason workouts and he was one of the better linebackers in the Big Ten two years ago so he's got to return

to that sort of form but then I think the most important thing about Miami and this is where Corey Heatherman and Miami's defensive line coaches they have to nail this because I thought there was over scheming and overthinking when it came to their approach to rushing the pastor last year.

Too many stunts and twists last year. And in the case of this season, the philosophy's changing. I believe Miami has the personnel. You mentioned Ruben Hurricane Bain, who was banged up last year. He's coming into the year healthy. He's even dropped some weight because I think by his own admission, he got a little too heavy to come off the edge last year. Keem Mesidor back for his senior year.

There's even a true freshman on the defensive line, Hayden Lowe from California who's been generating a lot of buzz. It wouldn't surprise me if he has like sort of a Rubin Bain from two years ago type of effect. And then a defensive tackle, I really like Justin Scott, who's a former five-star commit, who's heading into his second year. He didn't play a lot last year, but I think he's kind of ready to break out. So I think I think the personnel is there this year. And I think Corey Heatherman, the new D.C., who came in from Minnesota, like has a philosophy

that everyone's on board with. So, like, all the ingredients are there, Kenton, for the defense to be significantly better. Like, there's no reason why they shouldn't be like a top three defense in the ACC this year because they have the talent, right? And they, you could argue they probably had top three or four talent last year on defense, but they, you know, they weren't that, right? So it's all about kind of finding that, that magical elixir. And you know what? I think it's very interesting the talent that you just spoke about there calling a true freshman saying he could have a reuben hurricane bang type of effect for those of you who are around for what uh rubin bain did his freshman he was terrorizing offenses he was absolutely terror so to have two of those on the defense but

one of them is the older more refined version that's absolutely terrifying so what i'm hearing is what we're expecting that the defensive line is probably going to be the stars of the show in this upcoming season. Am I correct there? Yeah, I think I think that's fair to say. And, you know, last year was a weird year because, again, Bain, Bain was banged up for most of the season. You know, one of Miami's top edges last year, Tyler Barron, who's now in the NFL, he was, like, very streaky and inconsistent. Like, he would have two sacks in a game and then three games without a sack and then two sacks in his next game. So they just need to find more consistency. there. I mean, at edge, they've got

guys from coming all over the place. Like another one, Marquise Lightfoot heading into his second year, I think could have a big season. They're a little bit thinner in the interior than they are on the edges, but I still think they have more than enough where they should have one of the better defensive lines in the ACC. And yeah, that

should be the strength of the team on that side of the football anyway. Offensive line and defensive line should be the strengths of the team. All right. Now, before we get into predictions here, Miami is one of those schools. They're so good at producing talent at every position. They're almost considered in everything school in terms of football.

But that linebacking court, Miami was up there in those linebacker you conversations in terms of Vilma and Ray Lewis and so many other guys that were extremely. I mean, you go back to the days of Snellenberger Company and they had great linebackers even back then. So who are the guys that you're looking at now? I know you mentioned Toray as a guy that, hey, he's coming off injury. He could be something special this year. But who are the guys that you're looking on that linebacker court to say,

they're going to sure this thing up and they're going to give you that second level pop needed to kind of make sure that you got a good defense at all three levels? Yeah, the most important player in the linebacker room is senior Wesley Besant. This is a money year for him. He's got all the tools physically. I would say to his first three years at Miami, he's always been very good. He's just kind of yet to have like consistently the 12 plus game every week, great year. You know, but there's a lot to like about West Besant.

I mean, he's, you know, he's very, he's very mature. He takes football very seriously. He's taking his final season at Miami very seriously. So I think this is the year where Wesley Besant needs to really become and embody what Kiko Maui Noah, who's off to the NFL now was for Miami the last couple of years. Now, like, the entire defense struggled, obviously, last year. And Kiko had a down year compared to the year prior. But like Kiko was really like the heart and soul of that defense.

And, you know, Bessaint has been playing with him for the past two years. It's really time for Wesley to pick it up and be the leader. that defense. And like physically, he's capable of a lot. He's just, he's yet to kind of put it together consistently. Another linebacker that I'm, I'm looking forward to getting a ton of opportunities this year. You know, Miami's formation would start two linebackers. And even if he's not a starter, I think he's going to get on the field a lot, is Popo Aguirre, Raul Popo Aguirre, who's, he was part of Miami's like great 2023 top five recruiting class. You know, he hasn't been a consistent starter to this point, first two years because he was

playing behind a bunch of other guys like Wesley and Kiko. But Popo's been doing really well. So I think he's got to step up and play well. And then I think the X factor of the linebacker core is Cameron, Bobby Pruitt, who's heading into his second year out of Alabama. Because he's, he's one of those guys, Kenton, where he's always making plays in practice. Like when you're watching who's who's kind of jazzing everybody up and creating those plays that gets the defense trash talking. Bobby Pruitt is usually the guy making some of those big hits and kind of energizing the whole sideline.

So I think he's kind of the X factor there. And one of the things is like the linebacker room underperformed last year. I mean, there were certain the pass rush was okay last year. Defense of secondary was awful except for Frederic. Linebacker room was hit or miss last year. That unit's got to step up. And yeah, those names that I mentioned are the ones that really have to have to hold the water for that unit. And we'll talk some predictions when we come back because, again, Miami's got an uphill climb because good looking team on paper.

They're not favored to win the ACC. So what has to happen for them to get there? You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Make sure for your next listen, you check out our very good friend, Brian Smith on the portal podcast. You see, like, Brian had a YouTube short because he goes out to all these camps. He's out at rivals, five star. He's out at Under Armour Future 50.

He does this in person. Scott. Like, he had a YouTube short, Kenton that had like four or five million views. Like, yeah. That is viral. That is what you call viral. I'll tell you what. He keeps his boots on the ground.

He keeps his boots on the ground so much I expect to hear where the fans at any moment. So, you know, he's definitely a hardworking. fellow there. Now let's get into the predictions for this team. Okay. In terms of Miami, what do you see as the floor for Miami this year in terms of record? That's a great. I think the floor, I think is eight and four. And I, which I would say is a relatively high floor. And I put it there because I think if you can out muscle people in the line of scrimmage on both sides, because even on Miami's worst day, Miami should be winning battles with their O line and their D line. And on your worst day, you figure you're dropping some footballs, you commit a couple of stupid turnovers,

but they should have enough at the line of scrimmage to overcome some of that to the point where I think 8 and 4 is about the floor. And it's it's a tricky schedule this year, Kenton, because out of conference, they've got a couple of games that you could say they could. easily lose. They could win them both, but they could easily lose to Notre Dame at home to open the season. They could lose to Florida week four. Those are their two toughest non-conference. And as Miami has shown over the years, they are capable of losing to anyone in the ACC. They're capable of beating anyone in the ACC, but they're also capable of losing anyone. But yet, I still think they have a relatively high floor because I've been covering the team for a long time. And I, you know, Of course, they actually have to show it to you on the field starting in a couple of months.

But I don't think I felt this good about both lines of scrimmage since around 0405, which is like right before they really started to drop off. And like those teams in that, like we're talking late Larry Coker era, you know, they always found a way to lose a couple of games, but they were like eight and four, nine and three type of floor teams because they were so good specifically on defense. and then Art Kehoe's offensive lines in those days were great. So I would say the floor is around the eight and four range. I definitely feel you on that.

If you can win both the lines, you'll be in every game. That's a guarantee. You'll be in it. Not to say that you're going to win it, but you'll be there with a chance for most games. So I give what you're saying there. But that eight and four floor is harder what most people would give,

Miami. We'll see if that comes to patents. Let's talk sick. Everything goes right. Just sitting up there smiling from here. air and talking to all other folks. Oh, hey, Brendan Olson, how you doing over there, Florida? Oh, hey, there, Brian Smith. How's Florida State, though? What is the ceiling for this team? Is this a playoff team? Is this a potential national champion contender? How good do you believe this iteration

of Miami football can be? Yeah, it's a tough one. I'll start with, like, what I think, like a regular season record, and then I'll talk about postseason stuff. Absolutely. I'm going to say, I'm going to say 11 and one ceiling because I think even if they take care of business and win their toughest games, going undefeated is difficult, especially for a team that hasn't done it in, you know, over 20 years. Like it's, it's difficult because you're going to have some slip ups, right? So I think like they're, if they beat Notre Dame and they beat Florida, still, I feel like they would find a way to lose, you know, one game, which this day and age, one loss hurts less than it used to in the old days. So I would say 11 and 1 is like the regular season ceiling.

And then it's like, okay, I start to try to sound like a little bit too much of a home or if I start to think how far they could actually go. If they were to get to the ACC championship game, you'd assume you'd take on Clemson. You would assume Miami would be probably a slight underdog in that game. I think that they have the talent where it would not be inconceivable to say that they could beat Clemson and ACCC title game. So I think doing that and getting, you know, I guess you don't get a top four seed necessarily, but an automatic playoff bid now that they've changed the seating format. I don't, I think it would, you know, I don't think the ceiling is necessarily national

championship. I don't think that they're quite on the level of, you know, some of these Ohio states and Oregon's of the world. Georgia could be very good again this year. I think the ceiling would be 11 and 1, 12 and 1 ACC championship possibly and maybe winning your first playoff game and making a little bit of a run. I think something like that, Miami fans would still find a way to criticize that because if you get that far, it's like, how come you didn't win it all if you got that far? So some Miami fans would still find a way to criticize that.

But yeah, I think the ceiling could be get into the playoffs, win a game, make a little run. Okay, all right. Now, what do you think will actually happen? What do you think is the most likely scenario where you're saying, all right, you don't got to pinch me. I'm not dreaming. But this also ain't a nightmare scenario either, where it's like, oh, my God, we've got injuries everywhere at every break that could go wrong.

What do you think actually is the outlook for Miami season record-wise? Yeah, just for argument's sake, I have to assume that Carson Beck is fully healthy as he seems to be physically and that he's able to create a good bit of chemistry with his receivers. If I am to make that leap of faith, I don't know, I could see this team, Kenton having a similar year to what they had last year, but being a little bit better or maybe a lot better on defense, a little bit worse on offense because it's hard to do what you did last year on O. Maybe go 10 and 2. Then, you know, maybe you lose the ACC championship game against Clemson and maybe you still get into the playoffs because, you know, ECC got two teams in last year

and conference champion conference runner up. So I think something like that, I think kind of a similar year to what they had last year, maybe two losses, regular season, but then get a little bit of a fortunate draw and get into the playoffs that they barely missed last year. I could see something like that because, again, I think that I don't think,

I think Beck is going to be good. I don't think he's going to be, you know, electric like Ward was last year. But I also think Miami's defense is going to be significantly better. So I'm looking at probably second in the ACC, maybe get into the playoff and, you know, hope you can get a win there or something like that. You heard it here first, folks. Bombshell, Alex Donnell says that Miami does not make the playoff. It is a disappointment of a year.

They have failed Miami. No, but in all seriousness, thank you so much for breaking down Miami. You are a Miami guy, even though you're the co-host of this show, and I love you for it. And I really am excited for this Miami team because I'm excited for Miami. for the same reason people are excited to go to actual Miami, right? It's so exciting. It's so all the bright lights and the beautiful scenery, but also don't find yourself in Liberty City.

Things can go wrong. No, but seriously, it's a situation where things could be a spectacular season or things could be a train wreck to where you're like, I can't look away from this. I cannot look away from this and not in a good way. So thank you so very much, Donald. And you're not wrong about that. I think that's one of the things that makes Miami so exciting is you don't really go into any game thinking this is an easy win.

I mean, there's a lot of Miami fans like, hey, right? Don't you have to remind me about that one. I remember a lot of Miami fans like, do I really need to stay up until two in the morning until the end of the Cal game? Because it should be an easy win. It's like, no, at 1.30, we're like, oh, is Cam Ward really going to do this? So you expect the unexpected with Miami. I mean, I set a floor of eight and four. I know the Florida state fans are watching this like,

your floor is three and nine or something. You never know. You never know with Miami. Absolutely. We appreciate everyone making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch. And make sure you check out Kenton and Grayson on Lockedon Wolfpack. Follow Kenton on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. Follow me at Alex Dono and on Lockedon Caines.

And we'll talk to you again next time on another episode of Lockedon. on ACC. We're part of the awesome lockdown podcast network. Your team every day.