Miami Hurricanes have national playoff-worth talent at two positions. Here’s one of them

Some Miami Hurricanes notes on a Tuesday:

▪ You will know the Hurricanes will be a national championship contender again when they have at least a handful of position groups that rank among the best in the country.

This UM team has only two: quarterback (thanks mostly to Tyler Van Dyke) and safety, where James Williams, Avantae Williams and Kamren Kinchens anchor an exceptional group.

Even though opponents know how good they are, Avantae Williams predicts they will still be surprised.

“It’s going to be scary because we’re all going to be rotating,” he told Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey Jr. on WQAM. “Everyone is going to be fresh. The opposing coaches might never know what they’re going to see. They may study us two, and two more safeties come out.”

Defensive backs coach Jahmile Addae assessed his top safeties this way:

Besides his physical gifts, James Williams is “a sharp, cerebral kid. You give him something and it sticks.

“Avantae is a lot like my son; you have to keep a thumb on him. He’s doing a heck of a job. Never a lack of effort. Always on go.

“Kinchens is very physical in run game, able to play very good coverage on the outside. We don’t have any prima donnas. All will be asked to tackle” in the run game.

Al Blades Jr., a former cornerback, and Brian Balom figure to be the fourth and fifth safeties.

“Blades is a jack of all trades,” Addae said. “He has a chance to finish off his career the right way. He’s handled his business the right way. He will help us this year in big ways.”

▪ One player who has been very much on the rise: cornerback Malik Curtis, who was singled out by both Mario Cristobal (regarding returns) and defensive coordinator Kevin Steele (regarding his developing skills at cornerback).

Steele said Curtis “has blossomed, and the guy can run.”

Cristobal said Curtis “is a guy that’s really popped” as a returner.

Van Dyke said Curtis is as improved as any player on the team.

▪ Xavier Restrepo, Tyrique Stevenson and Curtis are the team’s primary punt returners, according to Cristobal.

▪ I found it interesting that UM staffers made a point to praise cornerback DJ Ivey to Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy this offseason.

And Cristobal followed that up this week, noting that Ivey is a “great performer, team leader. … He has commanded the respect of his teammates.”

▪ Unlike past regimes, there was no UM depth chart released early in the week.

“We’re not big on depth charts anymore,” Steele said. “The day and age of you have 11 starters — just doesn’t work that way if you’re going to be successful. You have to have a lot of numbers.

“On the core and the edge we’re 6 and 7 deep. They’ve put on video that they deserve playing time. That’s a pretty big number.”

▪ Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, on his tight end room: “We’ve got a really good room. “When you look at getting Will Mallory back, didn’t have him in the spring. He’s a big-time player. Elijah Arroyo has had a really good camp, has developed himself the most in the room of trying to be a complete tight end. …

“Dom Mammarelli has had a great camp, stepped up, and Jaleel Skinner is in that mix as well, Kahlil Brantley too. So we’re looking at five deep that can contribute. The top of that group: Will and Elijah. The other guys, we look forward to establishing themselves in that rotation as well.”

▪ Gattis will call offensive plays from the press box. Steele will call defensive plays from the sideline.

▪ Among Canes released by NFL teams this week: Charleston Rambo (Carolina), Mike Harley Jr. (Cleveland), Zach McCloud (Minnesota), KC McDermott (Jacksonville) and Quincy Roche (Giants). Seattle previously waived Bubba Bolden.

Cam’Ron Harris, D’Eriq King, Amari Carter and Navaughn Donaldson never even made it to training camp. The Dolphins cut Deandre Johnson in moving from 85 to 80 players.

Only one draft-eligible player from Manny Diaz’s final UM team made an NFL roster this summer: Jon Ford with the Packers. Diaz’s inability to lure NFL-level talent was as big a reason as any for his undoing. (Of the above players, McDermott and Roche were obviously not on UM’s team last year.)