A closer look at how the Gators were able to sack the Hurricanes’ Williams 10 times

The Miami Hurricanes’ hopes for an upset against the Florida Gators ended in the waning moments Saturday when Jarren Williams, making his first start, ran out of time to make one last heroic throw.

The clock hadn’t ticked all the way down zero at Camping World Stadium, though. It was just the mental clock Williams should have had with two first-time starters at the two tackle positions protecting him.

Miami’s final drive began with 4:20 left at Florida’s 40-yard line and ended a little more than four minutes later at the Gators’ 26 after 10 plays, three sacks, two fumbles, another quarterback hurry and two offensive penalties.

All throughout the Hurricanes’ season-opening 24-20 loss to No. 8 Florida, Williams was hurried and hampered by porous offensive line play. The Gators finished with 10 sacks and most of those — at least those Williams wasn’t accountable for himself — came against Miami’s two freshman tackles.

The Hurricanes, going against a team that finished in the top 20 nationally in sacks, knew it was going to be a challenge for Zion Nelson and John Campbell.

Jabari Zuniga, who entered his senior season with 15 1/2 sacks, worked frequently against Nelson, the left tackle, and finished the game with six total tackles and 1 1/2 sacks. Jonathan Greenard, who put up seven sacks with the Louisville Cardinals in 2017 before transferring to Florida, put up the same stat line as Zuniga working often against Campbell. They were a perpetual terror for two offensive linemen making their first career starts, yet Manny Diaz isn’t panicking.

Almost immediately, the coach gave the entire offensive line a vote of confidence, but particularly the two freshmen. Diaz won’t make any changes to the starting group for Miami’s second game against the North Carolina Tar Heels next month after a bye week.

“Those are our guys and let me tell you something: They never flinched. They never blinked,” Diaz said Monday in Coral Gables. “They got beat and that’s going to happen. That’s hard. It’s hard to play as a true freshman in that setting and they’ve got some good dudes. They’ve got some dudes that seniors would have a hard time blocking, but we didn’t build this program for Aug. 24. The idea here is to build a monster that lasts and that’s sustainable.

“I’m proud of the way that those guys did. You could see it — early on in the game, especially — some nerves, which is to be expected when you’ve got an older guy against a younger guy, but you know what? I know this from coaching the linebackers the last three years: Payback’s a b**** and what happens to freshmen is they turn into sophomores and eventually they turn into juniors and if you get the right type of guy like we have at linebacker they turn into seniors. And sometimes those seniors they go up and play against some other freshman and, like I said, it’ll be fun to watch those guys develop.”

Diaz also made another important point at his weekly press conference: “Sacks do not define offensive line play,” he said, “at all.”

Offensive coordinator followed Diaz with a press conference of his own inside the Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence and reiterated some of Diaz’s latter sentiment.

While the offensive coordinator noted, “we didn’t have a lot of winning performances on offense as a whole,” he did also relieve his offensive line from some of the blame on half of the 10 sacks. Five of those sacks, Enos said, fell on Williams and the variety of issues is evident in rewatching how the 10 sacks played out.

1. The Hurricanes face a second-and-5 at the Gators’ 25 on their first drive and Jeff Thomas shakes star cornerback Trey Dean with a post route. Williams has a window to hit the wide receiver for a touchdown, but hesitates and linebacker Ventrell Miller sacks the quarterback on a delayed blitz for a 7-yard loss.
2. Miami faces a second-and-6 at its own 28 on the second drive and runs play action to running back DeeJay Dallas. Nelson is simply too slow getting out of his stance and Zuniga gets right by him. Zuniga and fellow defensive lineman Adam Shuler combine for an 11-yard sack.
3. The Hurricanes have a first-and-10 at their own 31 on their last drive of the first half and run play action to running back Cam’Ron Harris, but everyone misses their blocks. Nelson is again late getting out of his stance against Greenard and wide receiver Mike Harley’s chip against Dean, who blitzes from the slot, isn’t strong enough. Greenard and Dean combine for a 7-yard sack.
4. Miami has a first-and-10 at Florida’s 46. Dallas stays in to block and Miller comes on a delayed blitz, which offensive lineman Corey Gaynor fails to pick up. If Williams sees the blitz coming he can take a shot to tight end Will Mallory, who gets a step on star linebacker David Reese II, but he hangs on and Miller gets a 9-yard sack.
5. The Hurricanes have a first-and-10 at their own 41 and run a play action to Harris with Williams rolling to his right. Campbell and fellow offensive lineman DJ Scaife Jr. double team Shuler and Harris can’t cleanly block Greenard, who chases Williams to the right sideline. The redshirt freshman steps out of bounds for a 1-yard sack, but he should have thrown it away.
6. Miami faces a third-and-21 at its own 31 and leaves fullback Realus George Jr. in to block. He and Campbell both block defensive lineman Zachary Carter, which leaves defensive back Shawn Davis a free shot at the quarterback. Williams rolls left and he’s on his way down by the time anyone is open, although he could have potentially thrown away.
7. The Hurricanes have a fourth-and-9 at Florida’s 30 down 24-20 in the fourth quarter. They leave Dallas to block and Nelson gets beaten by Zuniga, which forces Williams to step up in the pocket. Thomas starts in the left slot and runs an out-and-up route. Just as the wideout breaks, Greenard is in Williams’ face. It would’ve been a tough throw, but it’s one Williams had to try on fourth down.

8. Miami faces a second-and-26 at its own 44 early on its final drive. Greenard beats Campbell, Zuniga beats Scaife and Dean comes on a delayed blitz to immediately send Williams scrambling to his right. He doesn’t throw the ball away, though, and Reese forces a fumble, which Dallas recovers for a 6-yard gain.

9. Miami faces a third-and-27 at its own 43 and Zuniga beats Nelson for an immediate sack.
10. The Hurricanes have a second-and-10 at the Gators’ 24 and this one is close to a coverage sack. Williams gets some time with Dallas staying as a blocker, but Greenard eventually beats Campbell and sends Williams scrambling right. There’s a shot he can take to Thomas or he can throw it away. Instead, defensive lineman Kyree Campbell forces a fumble and Scaife recovers for no gain.

Miami has always viewed its offensive line as a work in progress, which made Saturday an less-than-ideal way for an unproven group to be eased into the 2019 season.

Diaz doesn’t necessarily feel there was a quick fix available anywhere on the roster, though. The Hurricanes tinkered with Scaife and Donaldson at the tackle spots, and still settled on them as the left and right guards, respectively, despite their experience playing tackle in 2018.

Miami is trying to instill confidence in the two freshmen. If all goes according to plan, Saturday will be remembered as a learning experience.

“There’s a lot of tackles that are going to have a hard time with [Greenard and Zuniga] and those guys are going to be pros probably by next April, so it is what it is,” Diaz said. “I think we’ve got a lot of confidence in our guys.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2019 at 11:30 AM.