The Miami Hurricanes missed a chance for these four big plays in loss to Florida Gators

The numbers, apparently, lied in the case of Jarren Williams — at least according to Dan Enos. Although the quarterback completed more than 65 percent of his passes in a 24-20 loss to the No. 8 Florida Gators, Enos was critical of Williams’ play in the redshirt freshman’s first career start.

“We left a lot of plays on the field. Jarren left a lot of plays on the field. I was very, very disappointed from that standpoint,” said Enos, who doubles as the quarterbacks coach. “There’s a lot of plays on tape, we’ve got receivers running wide open and either we can’t protect or we can’t get to the ball to them for some reason or another.”

Enos specifically pointed to four plays — two on the Hurricanes’ first drive, another on their second and one more in the third quarter — when Miami had a big-play opportunity and someone made a mistake, whether it was in the Hurricanes’ protection or with Williams’ decision-making.

Let’s take a closer look at the four plays he mentioned:

Example 1: Drive 1, Play 3. Pass complete to DeeJay Dallas for no gain.

Miami finished the first drive of the game with a field goal and a 3-0 lead, but Enos saw two opportunities for the Hurricanes to score a touchdown they missed out on. The first was on the third play of the game with Miami at its 45-yard line in a first-and-10 situation.

The Hurricanes called a play action with Williams rolling to his right after faking a handoff to Dallas going right, too. Defensive lineman Jabari Zuniga, lined up at left end, runs by John Campbell Jr. untouched. “Right tackle doesn’t grab the four technique,” Enos said.

Wide receiver Jeff Thomas, who had motioned into the right slot pre-snap, gets wide open running a corner route with defensive back Marco Wilson playing soft coverage, but Williams is forced to backpedal and throw a checkdown to Dallas with Zuniga in his face. The halfback barely gets back to the line of scrimmage.

Example 2: Drive 1, Play 7. Williams sacked for loss of 7 yards.

Of the four plays Enos alluded to, this one was the one he specifically pinned the blame on his quarterback. Miami had a second-and-5 at Florida’s 17 and lined up Thomas in the left slot. The receiver feigns like he’s going to run a corner route, cuts back to run a post to the middle of the end zone and gets star cornerback Trey Dean spun around.

“He’s wide open for a touchdown,” Enos said. “Turn the tape on.”

Williams has a window to make a touchdown pass, but, for whatever reason, he hesitates. Linebacker Ventrell Miller comes on a delayed blitz up the middle and hits Williams for the Gators’ first sack of the game.

Example 3: Drive 2, Play 2. Williams sacked for a loss of 11.

Offensive lineman Zion Nelson had issues all throughout his debut Saturday. One of the most prevalent was just how slow he was getting out of his stance and blocking the pass rushers at left tackle.

On Florida’s second sack of the game, Nelson was just too slow and linebacker Jonathan Greenard burned him off the line. Williams fakes a handoff to Dallas and by the time he has set his feet Greenard is already in his face. “Left tackle gets beat,” Enos said.

Thomas is lined up in the right slot and running a crossing route across the field. The wide receiver hasn’t yet come out of his break by the time Williams is running for his life, and the redshirt freshman eventually gets dropped by Zuniga and fellow defensive lineman Adam Shuler.

Example 4: Drive 7, Play 4. Williams throws incompletion in direction of Brevin Jordan.

Enos doesn’t specify this play, but it appears to maybe come with Miami facing a second-and-21 at its 31. Williams again faces heavy pressure and is forced to throw the ball away.

“We’ve got K.J. Osborn open in the third quarter again on a big crossing route,” Enos said. “Left tackle got beat again.”

The Hurricanes line up in an I-formation with fullback Realus George Jr. offset to the left. Both George and Nelson block defensive lineman Zachary Carter, leaving defensive back Shawn Davis to run free at Williams on a blitz from the left slot while linebacker Jeremiah Moon beats Campbell at right tackle. Osborn, who had been lined up wide left, runs a long crossing route and gets open near midfield, but Williams is forced to step up into the pocket when Moon gets around the edge, then he has to roll right to evade Davis. By the time the wide receiver is open, Williams is nearly sacked and throws the ball away.

This story was originally published August 27, 2019 at 10:40 AM.