Podcast: Assessing transfer QB options, and the Alonzo Highsmith saga takes another turn
Bringing in Rhett Lashlee wasn’t the end of the work the Miami Hurricanes are doing to revamp their offense.
Miami followed its offensive coordinator change by making another change to its offensive coaching staff Saturday. Butch Barry is the latest coach on his way out, and Garin Justice is in as the Hurricanes’ new offensive line coach.
Changes might not be ending anytime soon in Coral Gables, though, and the Eye on the U podcast takes a look at all the changes which have already happened and could be on the horizon for Miami. David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes beat writer for the Miami Herald, break down the Justice hire, the search for a new quarterback and the looming possibility of Alonzo Highsmith joining the program on the latest episode of the show.
The work isn’t done for the Hurricanes, but Miami at least has already taken moves to fix two of their most glaring weaknesses this offseason. Lashlee will bring a total scheme change as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and Justice brings a spread background, too, as he tries to repair the Hurricanes’ offensive line, which was among the worst in the country in 2019.
The next step for Lashlee and Co. is figuring out who the quarterback will be in 2020, so we run through a long list of the potential transfer quarterbacks Miami has been linked with since the start of the year. Could the Hurricanes make a big splash and pry quarterback D’Eriq King away from the Houston Cougars with the promise of Lashlee’s overhaul or will Miami take a flier on someone such as Boston College Eagles quarterback Anthony Brown to try to add more competition at the position?
We wrap things up with another round of Highsmith talk as the saga has taken another turn. The Cleveland Browns vice president of player personnel said Thursday the “door closed” on any chance he would take some sort of role with the Hurricanes, but he met with athletic director Blake James reopening the door for the possibility he might come home to Miami. We try to figure out what might have chanced and what the addition of the executive might mean for the Hurricanes — and what his role might actually entail in South Florida.
