Zechariah Poyser is motivated for several reasons. His daughter Za’Kylie, who is one year old, is the largest of them. “Being a father is a blessing,” Poyser remarked. “For now, I have something to live for. I was barely getting by before I had my kid, but now that I had her, I know I have something to return home to. I can’t give up. Poyser, a sophomore safety who is a redshirt, is just beginning the next phase of his collegiate football career. Poyser transferred to Miami this offseason after attending Jacksonville State for his first two seasons. His primary motivation for selecting UM was the “family environment” that coach Mario Cristobal and the Hurricanes offered, which is now very important to him as a father.
The Hurricanes are certainly grateful they have Poyser as part of their family now as they are looking at him as a key cog to help bolster a secondary that was one of Miami’s weak spots during their 10-3 season last year. “We found ourselves a real one,” Cristobal said. “ZP is just made of the right stuff, raised the right way. He is mature, smart, really, really physical.” He looked the part at Jacksonville State. Poyser recorded 75 tackles, three interceptions, 11 defended passes and two fumble recoveries in 13 games for the Gamecocks last season en route to being named a Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America.
The Hurricanes are hoping he can replicate that success as he faces tougher competition, moving from Conference USA to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Poyser is up for the challenge. “I’ve been getting better day by day,” Poyser said Tuesday following the Hurricanes’ fourth spring practice. “I’m the type of dude that I think God programmed me to be like a robot. I’m a day-by-day type of dude. Every day, I’ve been getting 1% better and ultimately I’ll be the best version of myself.”
But it’s not just Poyser who is hoping to make strides. The Hurricanes will need that from the secondary as a whole. The position group went through nearly a complete overhaul. While a few contributors return — namely cornerbacks Damari Brown, OJ Frederique Jr. and Jadais Richard along with safeties Zaquan Patterson and Markeith Williams — there are plenty of new faces that will be part of the reset. In addition to Poyser, Miami added cornerbacks Charles Brantley, Emmanuel Karnley, Xavier Lucas and Ethan O’Connor via transfer this offseason. They also have two new defensive backs coaches in Zac Etheridge and Will Harris as part of new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman’s staff. To Poyser, the fact that there are so many new contributors all going through the process of getting acclimated to UM together will be beneficial in the long run. “We’re all fresh,” Poyser said. “We’re all asking questions. We’re all learning together. That’s big. I feel like that helps us learn each other even more. We’re always around each other.” While he’s primarily a safety, Poyser said he has been cross-training at basically every position in the secondary early in spring practice and said he thinks he fits “pretty well” into Hetherman’s scheme, which puts an emphasis on creating chaos up front that results in forcing turnovers in the back end.
