Podcast: Somehow, Miami’s offense seems to be in good shape (but we have said this before)
The Miami Hurricanes, once again, look like college football’s offseason champions. They started it by making a splashy offensive coordinator hire in January, and continued it later in the month by landing two of the hottest commodities on the transfer market with a record-breaking quarterback and an All-American defensive lineman. It was all just the start.
Miami hired two other new coaches, grabbed a new starting kicker, signed a top-15 recruiting class and lured home a top local offensive lineman when Issiah Walker Jr. decided to transfer from the Florida Gators before even playing a game. The flashy offseason culminated Sunday when Jarrid Williams, an offensive lineman for the Houston Cougars, decided to come to Coral Gables as a graduate transfer.
The Hurricanes spent all season trying to fix what went wrong during a disastrous debut season for coach Manny Diaz, and the addition of Williams should help Miami fix its most glaring remaining weakness: the offensive line. On a new episode of the Eye on the U podcast, David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes beat writer for the Miami Herald, discuss where Williams fits in and why there are real reasons to be excited about the Hurricanes’ offensive potential.
Deja vu? We felt the same way after we went into the 2019 season feeling good about Miami’s offensive potential, but Wilson and Degnan explain what the Hurricanes did differently with their roster construction this year to ensure improved results. At worst, a second offseason of tinkering means Diaz at least realizes all Miami’s problems and is working to try to fix them.
We close things out with some more talk about the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests. The Hurricanes finally have access to Greentree Practice Fields again, which is crucial for new quarterback D’Eriq King, who missed out on an opportunity to build a rapport with his receivers because of an abbreviated spring practice schedule. Meanwhile, Miami continues to handle its role in the ongoing protests well, giving its athletes a platform to speak out on systematic racism, police brutality and inequality.
