Howdy, y’all. Hope your week has gotten off to a good start.
We are still in the college sports dead period, but things will be getting going soon enough. Still, there are Miami Hurricanes-related tidbits, so let’s get to them.
1) Cam Ward was 99.9% going to be the Tennessee Titans’ Week 1 starting quarterback (absent injury himself). That just bumped up to 100%.
The Titans QB2, Will Levis, has opted for surgery as Titans training camp gets underway. He’s been dealing with issues in his throwing shoulder, and now, he will be out for the 2025 season, which completely clears the way for Ward to open his rookie season as the Titans’ starting QB (again – knocks on wood – absent injury). The only other QBs on the roster for Tennessee are Brandon Allen and Tim Boyle.
It’s been a hot minute since a Miami Hurricanes quarterback has been a starter in an NFL game, so for Ward to trot out on the field on September 7 against the Broncos in Denver, it’s going to be a sight that Miami fans will be excited to see, and it looks like it’s all but a lock at this point.
Really looking forward to seeing Cam spin it this year. He’s been impressing some Titans folks I know from what they’ve seen in workouts so far.
2) Missing on Derrek Cooper isn’t rough from the perspective that Miami has a solid RB room. But, after further contemplation on my part, it is tough in that Miami continues to lose top-tier talent to out of state schools.
I know I talked last week about not losing sleep on missing on Cooper because of him being a running back, and Miami being in good shape at the position. But it’s another example of Miami seeing the top player or two nationally at their position leave South Florida and not play for the hometown team. It’s happened twice this year, with five-star Miami Northwestern WR Calvin Russell going to Syracuse and now with Cooper. Jeremiah Smith still burns from last year. Jerry Jeudy, Calvin Ridley, Patrick Peterson all still sting. It goes back a long way. You’re going to have misses, but Miami has had misses for a long time on top-tier hometown talent. An unfortunate trend.
3) Man, what a great year it was to be a second-round NFL draft pick, and Elijah Arroyo was a big beneficiary of it.
The Seattle Seahawks took the former Cane in the second round with the 50th overall pick of this year’s draft. Thanks to the Houston Texans giving fellow second-round pick (34th overall) Jayden Higgins a fully guaranteed deal, all other second-round picks held off from signing until they got a similar deal.
Arroyo put pen to ink in the last week, signing a four-year, $8.813 million deal with $6.872 million guaranteed.
Seahawks signed second-round pick, TE Elijah Arroyo, to a four-year, $8.813 million deal, including $6.872 million fully guaranteed, per his agents Drew Rosenhaus and Shawn O’Dare.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 18, 2025
That comes out to 78% guaranteed for Arroyo, if my math is mathing. Not bad.
Arroyo is set to take on a substantial role in the Seahawks’ new-look offense in 2025 after Seattle parted ways with veteran tight end Noah Fant. Canes fans should keep an eye on the West Coast to see the next great NFL tight end from Miami start to take flight.
Go Canes!