What UM’s Rob Likens looks for in recruits and why it hints at breakout for former five-star
Rob Likens’ biggest disappointment since taking over as the Miami Hurricanes’ wide receivers coach is having spring practices cut short. The coronavirus pandemic limited Miami to just four practices before spring sports were canceled across the NCAA.
Likens’ second biggest disappointment is the cancellation of the spring evaluation period for recruiting. Nowhere in the country produces more high-level wide receivers than South Florida and the new assistant coach was excited to get to work watching players all across the region
“Miami is just a great place,” Likens said. “I was just excited to go out and watch some practices, just watch some kids run around.”
Instead, Likens is currently reduced to recruiting off whatever limited video is available, just like every coach is right now. The new position coach said he looks for two attributes in particular while out recruiting and one of those — toughness — is particularly tough to evaluate without seeing the prospect in person.
On the field, Likens said he prioritizes players’ ability to play on the outside and beat press coverage. It means he’s not necessarily evaluating speed off 40-yard dash times.
“You look for lateral quickness, spot quickness,” Likens said. “They don’t have to be a 4.3, 4.4. You can get by with guys in the high 4.5s, a 4.6 flattish-type guy if he has great lateral movement.”
Unprompted, Likens mentioned how much he likes prospects such as wide receiver Mark Pope, who was a five-star prospect in the Rivals.com rankings coming out of Miami Southridge. Although he’s only 6-1 and 171 pounds, Pope was a high school star because of his lateral quickness and his ability to beat cornerbacks off the line of scrimmage. The Hurricanes initially recruited Pope as a wide receiver who could play outside or in the slot, although the junior has had a mostly underwhelming career so far.
Still, Pope’s struggles have mostly been about understanding the offense. Likens has a track record of success with receivers similar to Pope, so he might be equipped to get the most out of the former blue-chip recruit.
“You need to look for guys that can play outside because if you can play outside then, theoretically, you can play inside,” Likens said. “One of the things you look for is guys — they’ve got to be able to get off press coverage.”
After finding a prospect who can beat press coverage, Likens then wants to make sure he is “tough.”
Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is a potential first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and he played for Likens with the Arizona State Sun Devils last year. Likens accompanied him to the 2020 Senior Bowl in January, and it gave the coach Likens plenty of chances to talk to NFL scouts. One of his big takeaways was how excited they were to watch the practices in Mobile. At practice, scouts could really get a sense of how tough a player was — how well he could handle adversity.
“They don’t watch them while they play. They watch them in between plays,” Likens said .”How does that kid respond to getting his butt kicked on the line of scrimmage against press? Is he going to put his head down and pout? Is he going to come out and is he going to play harder the very next play, and does he love it?”
Likens has yet to land a commitment of his own since arriving in Coral Gables, and the focus will be on recruiting South Florida first — it’s the Hurricanes’ general philosophy.
Likens, though, has coached in the Pac-12 Conference in all but two seasons since 2013. He said he will lean on his West Coast ties, too.
“I think there are a lot of kids that are out in California that they want to experience something different, like they don’t maybe necessarily want to go to a big brand-name school that’s over there on the left coast in the Southern California area. They may not want to do that. They may have been around that their whole life and say, ‘You know what? I want something different,’” Likens said. “I just think there’s some kids over there that want to experience something different, and you might be able to pull a gem out of there.”
This story was originally published April 13, 2020 at 3:19 PM.
