Historically, Miami wide receivers have been the best in the country. Miami has four receivers that have eclipsed 10,000 career receiving yards in the NFL: Michael Irvin - 11,904 yards and 65 touchdowns, Reggie Wayne - 14,345 yards and 82 touchdowns, Andre Johnson - 14,185 yards and 70 touchdowns, and Santana Moss - 10,283 yards and 66 touchdowns.

According to NFL.com, Miami has produced the most NFL draft picks at the wide receiver position.

New wide receivers coach Kevin Beard played with Johnson, Moss, and Wayne during his time at Miami from 1999 to 2003. He is now tasked with raising the level of production from the wide receiver group.

According to Pro Football Focus, the position group received a 69.9 grade in 2022 good for 77th in the country.

"I'm trying to help them eliminate the fear of failure. Once they understand that right now it's okay to fail, because the only way to get to success is by learning how you fail and once they understand how they are failing now they can stop doing that, and do the next thing to help them succeed, and once they see it that starts the believing process."

The players are responding to Beard's guidance with rave reviews, calling him the best wide receivers coach they have ever had.

"Coach Beard, you can trust him," sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Horton said. "He'll tell you the good, he'll tell you the bad too. And he'' tell you about his failures...he's telling us what he did wrong so he can help ourselves."

Horton has made a significant jump this spring and is competing for a starting position despite playing minimally last season due to injury.

"Coach Beard is getting me better," Horton continued. "Developing me not just as a player, but as a man too as well. I appreciate that as well. Coach Dawson's a great coach also. They're both player-coaches, love to play for them."

Beard feels offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson's offense will be a selling point in itself for recruits and the results on the field during the season encourage local talent to stay home.

"It's going to be really exciting. That's why I am trying to get everyone to come down and just see it, because now once you come down and see it in the beginning stage, and you still see plays being made. When the games come and you see the results of what you know was put into it, that's what's going to make everybody say, I'm staying home, I want to be a part of this, and I want to bring this place back to where it's suppose to be, not where it was, but where it's suppose to be, because we can't do 2001 again. We can't do a do-over. We have to create that 2001 in 2023 for this year, so that's the part that I'm really excited about."

The current receivers see a clear difference from the coaching received in the past and describe a connection with Beard that is unparalleled.

"I don't want to speak on the past but he's the best coach I've had so far," junior receiver Jacolby George said. "Because he connects with us. He let's us know what we're doing wrong and he let's us know it's okay to fail and to learn from it."

Beard and George are both graduates of Plantation High School in South Florida. The South Florida connection was already helping to develop George way before Beard returned to Greentree Practice field. Chris Lammons, a five-year current NFL player, also an alum from Plantation, was mentored by Beard, and Lammons in-turn mentored George.

"Everything I've put into Chris, he's put into Jacolby," Beard said. "So now that I've actually come here and I'm coaching him, it's exciting for Chris because I knew you got somebody that can continue what I started. It's easy for him to listen to me because he knows I've been down this road."

The projected top two returning receivers Xavier Restrepo and Colbie Young also had positive things to say about Beard.

"He's a technician," Restrepo said. "I really love him as a receiver coach. Thankful for him. Behind the scenes and out here, he never changes so that's a thing I appreciate about him."

"Amazing," Young said of Beard. "Coach [Mario] Cristobal does a great job of putting people that have been around greatness. Been around great players. He has a plan here and he's been around great receivers that have made it to the first round. Just an amazing guy, really good to learn from a great receiver."

Fans will get their first official look at just how this receiving corp has improved in Friday's Spring Game. The game is scheduled for 7:30 PM at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

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