Monday Musings: Talent pool at wide receiver is deep

Howdy, everyone. Hope your Monday has gone well and your week has gotten off to a good start. One more week until August, and then college football officially returns.

A bit of a quiet week, so let’s get to what’s rattling around in my brain today.

1) Miami checked in at No. 2 on CBS Sports’ list of best groups of pass catchers in college football. And it brings up a very overlooked area from the offseason.

CBS Sports writer Blake Brockermeyer posted his list, and the Hurricanes were one spot behind Oregon.

And that got me thinking. The talking heads across the country have focused a lot on some of Miami’s more notable transfers in key areas. And, certainly, they’ve warranted plenty of attention. Darian Mensah is a national championship caliber quarterback. That’s gonna garner buzz. Landing his top target and close friend Cooper Barkate, a 1000-yard receiver, is also massive. Getting arguably the top edge rusher on the market in Damon Wilson II is enormous. Omar Thornton looks to be the 2026 version of Jakobe Thomas as a bone-shaking enforcer on the back end. Lots of good parts.

But Mario Cristobal and Kevin Beard went deep diving at the receiver position this offseason, and they’ve added two players who had 500+ yards receiving last year at the Power Four level in Vandrevius Jacobs and Cam Vaughn. Jacobs had 32 catches for 548 yards and four scores (with a healthy 17.1 ypc) for the South Carolina Gamecocks last season. Vaughn had 35 for 541 and four touchdowns for West Virginia last year.

I’m not saying we’re going to see a 2024 type of year, where FIVE players surpassed 500+ yards receiving, but with Malachi Toney and Barkate occupying so much attention defensively, Miami’s WR3 and 4 could be set to feast this year. Whether that turns out to be Joshua Moore, one of the aforementioned portal duo, or someone else, Miami is going to get some significant production beyond their top two receivers in 2026. And they have oodles of talent to work with.

2) A social media post got Twitter buzzing a little bit, so I figured this was as good a place as any to address it.

That’s quite the group of triplets for six marquee programs. And frankly, it’s a bit off, as Ohio State’s should probably have Cris Carter on there, which would give it a significant boost (and perhaps Jaxon Smith-Njigba, if we’re being real; or even Jeremiah Smith, as he’s that good already). Amon-Ra St. Brown and Drake London merit current-day consideration for USC.

But let’s be real here. Which program has multiple players in the Hall of Fame and could — should — have all three in Canton, Ohio once it’s all said and done?

Yep, thought so. Debate over.

Go Canes!