MIAMI GARDENS - Miami’s preseason has been built around one simple idea: the more the Hurricanes push each other, the sharper they’ll be when the games count.
That has been especially true on the Greentree Practice Fields, where the offense and defense have gone at it for nearly a month. The loudest collisions and most competitive reps have come when Miami’s receivers line up against a secondary that looks every bit as deep and battle-tested as the group across from it.
Sophomore wide receiver Malachi Toney and sophomore safety Bryce Fitzgerald have been right in the middle of it, trading wins and making life difficult for each other every day. That matchup makes sense considering what both did last season.
Toney was named the 2025 ACC Rookie of the Year and a freshman All-American after piling up 1,211 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, which ranked fifth nationally in yards. Fitzgerald also earned freshman All-American honors after grabbing a team-high six interceptions in 2025, a total that tied for second nationally.
“It’s great,” Fitzgerald said of facing Toney in camp. “Every one-on-one rep, we go first and it’s just a battle, the best of the best.
It’s iron [sharpening] iron. He gets me, I get him.
It’s great going against Mali. I’ve said it - I feel like he’s the greatest receiver in the country.
So, going against him in practice every day, it’s going to make it easy for me in the game.”
Toney sees the same value on the other side.
“The entire DB room is great. You’ve got guys that they’re in the process of mastering their craft. … I feel like we’ve got the best DB room in the country, so just going up against those guys [is going to] make it easy for us on Saturdays.”
That work gets its first real payoff Friday, when the seventh-ranked Hurricanes open at Stanford against a Cardinal team that has already played once. Stanford beat Hawaii 37-27 after holding off a 20-point fourth quarter from the Rainbow Warriors.
The Cardinal’s secondary had plenty to handle in that game. Hawaii threw it 52 times and completed 60 percent of those passes.
Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson came away impressed with what Stanford showed on the back end.
“I think they’ve done a really good job of getting more athletic in the back end. I think their corners run very well,” Dawson said of Stanford’s defense.
“You watch the game, and I think Hawaii throws the ball probably as good as anybody in the nation. That’s what they do, and you didn’t see them running wide open.
[Stanford was] running right with them. … Their DBs are there.
They’re in the right spot. I think their safeties are very aggressive.
… They’ll play them in the box. They can basically be a linebacker at time, and then they’re going to be guarding slot receivers and tight ends.
So, the athletic ability of their back end, I think, has increased.”
Miami has no shortage of options to throw at Stanford. Along with Toney, the Hurricanes bring back Joshua Moore and Daylyn Upshaw, while freshmen Tyran Evans, Vance Spafford, Milan Parris and Somourian Wingo are in the mix too. The transfer additions are just as notable: Cooper Barkate, a redshirt senior whose 1,106 receiving yards at Duke last season ranked second in the ACC, and redshirt junior Vandrevius Jacobs, who averaged 17.1 yards per catch at South Carolina last year.
That kind of depth has made practice miserable for Miami’s defensive backs in the best possible way.
“I mean, I have to come every day with it because if I don’t come with it, they’re going to take advantage of that,” said cornerback Romanas "OJ" Frederique Jr.“We have a lot of guys from older to younger that have a lot of fuel and I have to keep going and I have to do me because if I don’t come with it, I know they’re going to take advantage of that. So, I just want to thank my receiver guys for giving me the work and letting me compete at the high level I’m at right now.”
Xavier Lucas echoed that feeling, pointing to the daily back-and-forth that has helped both units improve.
“We make each other better every day. After practice, we pick their brains, what will help us be better, what will help them be better, stuff like that. We’re getting better every day.”
The secondary, though, has made sure the receivers get tested just as hard.
Along with Fitzgerald, Frederique and Lucas, Miami has Zechariah Poyser, who broke up six passes last year, recovered two fumbles and made 68 tackles; Damari Brown; Dylan Day; Ethan O’Connor; Boston College transfer Omar Thornton, who totaled 82 tackles last season; and freshmen Camdin Portis, Brody Jennings, Cortez Redding, Jaelen Waters and JJ Dunnigan, who has drawn strong praise throughout camp.
Upshaw said the group’s biggest strength is how many different looks it can throw at an offense.
“The thing I can say about our DBs is [that] they’re very versatile,” Upshaw said. “One play, you might be getting guarded by Ethan [O’Connor] and he might play a different technique.
Then OJ will come, then Damari will come, then Xavier Lucas will come. We’re just so versatile in the back end, you just never know what you’re going to get.”
For Miami, Friday is the first chance to see whether all that daily competition has hardened both sides the way the Hurricanes believe it has. And if the work on Greentree has done its job, the season should start with a team that’s already been through plenty of tough reps.
“Really, iron sharpens iron. The receiver group, the DB group, we’ve been attacking it, literally getting better every day, going at it with each other, making sure each player comes out with their best,” Moore said.
“And if you don’t come out with the best, it’s going to show. So, we’ve been attacking, just trying to get better and better.”
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