A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Monday: 
While monitoring a fairly weak class of portal quarterbacks, the Hurricanes are working to address other roster needs. Tulane’s Alex Bauman, one of the best receiving tight ends in the transfer portal, will visit UM on Thursday, according to multiple reports. Bauman caught 20 passes for 212 yards (10.6 average) and seven touchdowns this season, after catching 35 for 286 and five touchdowns in 2023. Bauman, who has played 39 games at Tulane, was graded below average as a run blocker by Pro Football Focus. But at 6-5, he’s an excellent red zone threat and a skilled receiver. He averaged 5.4 yards after contact this season, which is very good. Bauman, who has one season of eligibility remaining, had two drops and one penalty in 2024.
UM needs depth at the position behind freshman Elija Lofton and Jackson Carver. UM has two incoming freshmen tight ends — Brock Schott and Luka Gilbert. UM is losing three tight ends: Elijah Arroyo is turning pro; Cam McCormick is out of eligibility; and Riley Williams is in the transfer portal. Meanwhile, TCU center James Brockermeyer will visit UM this week and the Canes are considered the heavy front-runner for him. He allowed one sack this season.
As for quarterback, it’s expected that the Canes will continue to search for one to supplement Emory Williams (who struggled in the bowl game), Judd Anderson and Luke Nickel. But the remaining options aren’t particularly enticing beyond South Dakota State’s Mark Gronowski, an NFL prospect who has gone 49-6 as a starter with 93 TDs and 20 interceptions. Williams was unimpressive during the second half against Iowa State on Saturday, completing 5 of 13 passes for 26 yards and an interception. It’s difficult to imagine he would be the best option during the Labor Day weekend opener against visiting Notre Dame. But UM needs a better class of QBs to enter the portal in the months ahead and then must land one of them. Besides Gronowski, other QBs currently in the portal include Rice’s E.J. Warner (son of former Rams star Kurt Warner; 17 TDs, 13 picks this season), Ohio State’s Devin Brown (has twice lost the Buckeyes’ QB competition and is 27 for 48 for 331 yards, 3 TDs and 1 pick in three years), UNLV’s Matthew Sluka (6 TDs, 1 pick before leaving the team in an NIL dispute) and at least a half dozen FBS QBs who weren’t primary starters. Among lower-level players, Maverick McIvor put up numbers at Abilene Christian this year: 30 TDs and seven interceptions. He’s drawing interest from Western Kentucky and Miami of Ohio.
The Canes give significant playing time to a few young players in the 42-41 loss to Iowa State in Saturday’s Pop-Tarts Bowl. On offense, receiver JoJo Trader played 46 of Miami’s 72 offensive snaps and caught a touchdown; he played more than NFL-bound veteran Jacolby George, who played 36 snaps and also caught a touchdown. The other receivers who got snaps: Shemar Kirk 35, Ray Ray Joseph 24 and Ny Carr 21. Freshman Chance Robinson, the only other scholarship receiver, did not play. On defense, among the freshmen, safety Zaquan Patterson played 32 snaps, linebacker Cam Pruitt 14, defensive tackle Justin Scott 12, safety Dylan Day 7 and defensive lineman Armondo Blount 5. (As we noted last week, Blount already had played in four games, but a new NCAA rule allowed him to play in the bowl without burning his redshirt.)
UM’s playing time allocation was notable at several positions. Two NFL-bound veterans who played a lot this season played modest snaps: edge player Tyler Baron (22) and linebacker Jaylin Alderman (3). With Mishael Powell needed to play cornerback (he logged all 70 defensive snaps), UM had Jaden Harris (42 snaps), Markeith Williams (40) and Patterson (32) share safety reps, with Day playing a bit. Day allowed a touchdown on the only pass thrown against him (a 4-yard score). Patterson permitted a 49-yard completion on his only target. And Williams allowed 4 of 5 passes to be caught for 49 yards. UM badly needs better safety play next season; Jacksonville State transfer Zechariah Poyser should help. Dyoni Hill, OJ Frederique and Powell logged all the cornerback snaps. Frederique punctuated an excellent freshman season by allowing only one completion in five targets for 8 yards. UM went linebacker heavy, using Wesley Bissainthe for 57, Francisco Mauigoa 51, Raul Aguirre 46, Chase Smith 18 and Pruitt 14. Bissainthe allowed all four passes thrown against him to be caught for 31 yards, including two touchdowns.
PFF rated Damien Martinez, Cam Ward, Jordan Lyle, Arroyo and Trader as Miami’s five best players on offense in the bowl game. The website rated Elijah Alston, Powell, Rueben Bain Jr., Bissainthe and Harris as Miami’s best players on defense, in order.
Quick stuff: UM’s Xavier Restrepo, Jalen Rivers and Arroyo will play in the Senior Bowl. All signed with Rosenhaus Sports… Martinez on Monday turned pro, as expected. He became the first Canes running back with at least 1,000 yards since Thursday… Right tackle Francis Mauigoa was rated Miami’s best run and pass blocker in the game and allowed only one sack all season, per PFF.
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