One of South Florida’s finest running backs of recent history is coming home to Miami.
Henry Parrish, a former four-star running back at Ole Miss football, announced his decision to transfer to UM Sunday while visiting Coral Gables.
“I am forever grateful to the Olemiss fanbase for an amazing two seasons in the amazing city of Oxford,” Parrish wrote in a posted graphic on Twitter. “Last but not least I would like to thank my Olemiss coaches and teammates for development and friendship. Especially Coach Lane Kiffin, thank you for the opportunity and love that you provided me. With that being said I would like to announce that I plan to enroll at the … University of Miami. I’m looking forward to a great opportunity in Miami and to making the Crib great.”
A former standout at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Parrish will join UM’s new running backs coach Kevin Smith, who accepted the role Friday, after competing at Ole Miss for two years. Parrish averaged 42.5 rushing yards per game as the Rebels’ fourth-leading rusher this season, having ran for 553 total yards. The 5-foot-10 back also helped lead Columbus to its first and only state championship in 2019 beforehand.
The transfer decision offers notable impact to a Hurricanes program that lost veteran running back Cam’Ron Harris tothe 2022 NFL Draft. Harris registered back-to-back conference outings with over 100 rushing yards, until a season-ending knee injury sidelined the Opa-Locka native in mid-October.
Sophomore running back Jaylan Knighton, who averaged a team-high 70.5 rushing yards per contest for the eighth-most in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season, is expected to sustain his starting role in 2022. Sophomore Don Chaney, Jr. will likely fill the backfield combination, following a recovery from an ACL tear in the Canes’ Week 2 matchup against Appalachian State.
As Parrish and Chaney, Jr. prepare to jumpstart the running game for a passing-prioritized Hurricanes offense, freshmen Thaddius Franklin, Jr. and Cody Brown will likely assume similar backup roles from 2021. The two combined for five rushing touchdowns and were touted by ex-head coach Manny Diaz as “two young guys with a lot of promise,” at the time of Chaney, Jr.’s injury.