There is something a little different about a player who wears both Miami uniforms. Miami Hurricanes stars becoming Miami Dolphins does not happen every year, but when it does, it’s a treat for South Florida football fans.

This ranking weighs three things: what the player accomplished at Miami, what he actually did with the Dolphins, and how much the connection matters in local football history.

Honorable mentionsJaelan Phillips: He was an All-American-level pass rusher at Miami in 2020 with 8 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss, then set the Dolphins’ rookie sack record with 8.5 in 2021 and had 22 sacks with Miami through April 2024.Duke Johnson: He left UM as the program’s all-time leading rusher with 3,519 yards, then gave the Dolphins a nice late homecoming in 2021 with 330 rushing yards and three touchdowns in five games.Randal Hill: He was a first-round Dolphins pick out of Miami in 1991. His best Dolphins season came in 1996, when he had 21 catches for 409 yards and four touchdowns, plus return-game value.Allen Hurns: He put up 32 catches for 416 yards and two touchdowns for the 2019 Dolphins.5. QB Bernie Kosar

Kosar’s Dolphins run was short, but his overall South Florida football footprint is too big to leave off a list like this. At Miami, he helped deliver the program’s first national championship in 1983 and finished his Hurricanes career with 5,971 passing yards and 40 touchdowns. He was also the 1984 Orange Bowl MVP after throwing for 300 yards in the 31-30 win over Nebraska.

His numbers with the Dolphins were modest as he played 14 games for Miami from 1994-96 and threw for 987 yards with six touchdowns. But, his place in Dolphins lore is secure because Dan Marino credited Kosar with helping spark the famous fake spike, one of the signature moments in franchise history. That is enough to put him in this conversation even if his best NFL work came before he got to Miami.

4. DE Olivier Vernon

If this list were only about actual Dolphins production, Vernon would have a real argument to be even higher. The Miami native played three seasons for the Hurricanes and finished with 82 tackles, nine sacks and 21 tackles for loss before the Dolphins drafted him in the third round in 2012.

With the Dolphins, he had 29 sacks in 64 games with Miami from 2012-15, which is strong production for a player who developed into a full-time starter after entering the league as a third-round pick.

3. RB Frank Gore

Gore did not spend his prime with the Dolphins, but few names on this list carry more weight. He remains one of the greatest running backs in NFL history, finishing his career with 16,000 rushing yards, which ranks third all time behind Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton. That alone gives him a place near the top.

In 2004, Gore rushed for 945 yards and eight touchdowns. Then, years later, he came home and led the 2018 Dolphins in rushing with 722 yards while starting all 14 games he played.

2. RB Lamar Miller

At Miami, Miller put together one of the better rushing seasons in school history. In 2011, he ran for 1,272 yards and finished his Canes career with 1,918 rushing yards while averaging 5.7 yards per carry.

Then he gave the Dolphins four productive seasons after they drafted him in the fourth round in 2012. Miller ran for 2,930 yards and 19 touchdowns with Miami. He topped 1,000 rushing yards in 2014 and followed that with 872 rushing yards, 397 receiving yards and 10 total touchdowns in 2015.

1. OL Vernon Carey

Carey gets the top spot because he is the best combination of Hurricane pedigree and Dolphins longevity. The Miami native was part of those loaded early-2000s Hurricanes teams, earned first-team All-Big East honors in 2003, and then became one of a record six Miami first-round picks in the 2004 draft.

Miami drafted Carey in the first round in 2004, and he spent his entire eight-year NFL career with the Dolphins.

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