Former Auburn and Houston DB Keionte Scott is transferring to Miami.
On Tuesday evening, the Hurricanes landed a signature from former Auburn and Houston nickel Keionte Scott. A former junior college All-American, Scott spent three seasons with the Tigers, where he accumulated 1337 snaps on defense in the SEC. A large percentage of his time on the field came playing the slot corner position.
He’s totaled 115 tackles, six coming for a loss, and one interception.Scott, who has one more year of eligibility, transferred to Houston during the winter transfer window to reunite with Zac Etheridge. Etheridge was named Miami’s defensive backs coach in late January, and Scott is now joining the program as well.
At 6-foot-1, 192-pounds, Scott is also an impact punt returner, leading the SEC in punt return average (14.8 yards) and taking one for a score during the 2023 season at Auburn.
While primarily playing the nickel spot during his first two years on The Plains, Scott allowed 56 catches on 88 targets for 680 yards and two touchdowns while breaking up five passes. During the 2023 season, Scott also posted a strong 78.2 run defense grade per Pro Football Focus. In coverage, Scott averaged a 70 coverage grade during those two campaigns.
During the 2024 season, Scott transitioned to the outside cornerback position, where his production dipped. He started the first three games of the season before transitioning into a reserve role.
In Miami, Scott will be back to a full-time nickel role, where he performed in college football’s top conference. The addition also rounds out the Hurricanes’ secondary in a major way with Miami rostering Xavier Lucas, OJ Frederique, Damari Brown, Ethan O’Connor, and Charles Brantley at cornerback, while having safeties in Zechariah Poyser, recent Tennessee transfer addition Jakobe Thomas, and quality depth pieces in Markeith Williams and Dylan Day.
Miami has now added 18 total transfers this off-season, with Scott being the seventh incoming player of the spring window.
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Bullpen has been a key to Hurricanes’ success
A look at the Miami Hurricanes bullpen during their recent stretch of success.
Christopher Stock
Christopher Stock
May 6th, 8:42 PM
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. — When J.D. Arteaga and Laz Gutierrez looked at ways to improve the team from last season with identifying players in the transfer portal, one of the key areas was improving the bullpen.
The 2024 Hurricanes’ bullpen featured a number of young who had their struggles. An overhaul to the pitching staff in the offseason included bringing in a more veteran presence with transfers to the bullpen—which is striking out more, walking less and blowing less save opportunities compared to last year—combined with roles changing throughout the season, most notably Brian Walters moving from the rotation to closer, has paid off and been a key to the Hurricanes’ success as they enter the final two games of the regular season having already won more games (29) than last year’s team (27) and poised to make a return to the NCAA Tournament.
The bullpen recently had a string of 19 consecutive innings (across six games) without allowing an earned run before N.C. State plated two runs in the ninth inning in Saturday’s 10-3 win.
During Miami’s 10-game conference winning streak, the bullpen has a 1.72 ERA and has not allowed more than two earned runs in a game.
“We feel really good of the job our bullpen has been doing here as of late and guys are kind of settling into their roles,” Arteaga said.
The pitching staff as a whole has been great during ACC competition, ranking second in the league in runs allowed per game at 5.3 after ranking ninth last season at 7.3.
Miami’s bullpen this season has a combined record of 10-4 with a 4.64 ERA and has converted 10 of 15 save opportunities. They have combined to average 9.4 strikeouts and 4.4 walks per nine innings.
Since moving to the bullpen, Walters, a redshirt junior, has converted all seven of his save opportunities and has a 0.79 ERA in eight appearances compared to going 2-2 with a 6.16 ERA in seven starts.
“I don’t think he failed as a starter,” Arteaga said. “I think we pushed him to be a starter and maybe he’s just not a starter. He’s a better reliever and as similar to his brother (Andrew Walters) his junior year, we’ve messed around in the fall a little bit with him being a starter. But he’s a closer, that’s the mentality that he has. And that’s the similar mentality to Brian. He comes out for an inning or two and just empties his tank and goes right after hitters. It’s tough to do that for 100 pitches as a starter. He’s just more successful when he comes out in the eighth and ninth inning.”
Senior Carson Fischer has also been a big part of the Hurricanes’ success of late with a scoreless inning streak of 11 2/3 innings in his last six appearances since April 13. He has only allowed three hits and one walk with six strikeouts over that span. It has been quite the turnaround for the Division II transfer starting pitcher from Davenport as his numbers were not great with a 7.50 ERA and 1.94 WHIP in 17 appearances. Still, Arteaga believed in his abilities and stuck with him.
“When it comes to the bullpen I think the numbers. just throw them out the window because this the amount of innings aren’t enough to tell you the whole story,” Arteaga said. “So you go off of his ERA when you only have 15-20 innings and if you’ve got two or three bad innings and that’s going to have have that 6.00 ERA. But as of late the last 15-20 games he’s been outstanding for us as one of our top guys out of the bullpen and that’s why he’s in that role as a set-up guy.”
