Hello, UM football. Spread attack reveals scrimmage playmakers — on both sides of ball
In the age of COVID-19, the Miami Hurricanes returned to some semblance of normalcy Sunday night.
“It’s good to be able to talk about some football,’’ UM coach Manny Diaz said Monday during an interview on WQAM, about only 10 hours after his Hurricanes wrapped up their first scrimmage of 2020 late Sunday. “Just to have the opportunity which was not promised to us... Anything that makes you feel normal is a fantastic thing.”
The scrimmage, closed to the media and public, apparently revealed some outstanding results for the University of Miami’s new hurry-up, spread offense — on both sides of the ball.
“We worked until about 1:30 grading it,’’ Diaz said. “We all looked at each other as we were leaving the building and said, ‘We’ve never felt so good to stay at work until 1:30 to do something.’’
University of Miami gave only partial statistics, and for obvious reasons, spoke of all the positives, which for now are enough to give hope to football-starved Canes fans after a disappointing 6-7 2019 season.
Offensive takeaways
▪ New starting quarterback D’Eriq King, a graduate transfer from Houston and one of the most prolific playmakers in the nation, played like a winner in his first game action with the Hurricanes.
UM reported that King completed 15 of 26 passes for 178 yards and four touchdowns.
“He’s had a great camp so far and had a great night last night,’’Diaz told WQAM. “I mean four touchdown passes. And on a couple of those, I’m talking about outstanding coverage, [he] made some really, really good throws.”
Diaz stressed that the defense was not allowed to tackle King, who nonetheless is also one of the best escape artists in the nation.
“The guy is hard to tag. We’re still playing tag on him. He’s hard enough just to put a hand on, let alone when we have to bring him to the ground.
“What we’ve been talking about is someone that the entire offense trusts and can rally around, and he’s given us that. It was fun to watch him go out there and perform in a setting where you gotta move the ball and make things happen.”
▪ The No. 2 quarterback job is still in flux.
Judging by what Diaz said, former part-time starter N’Kosi Perry and Tate Martell, both redshirt juniors, appear to be the front-runners for the No. 2 job, with true freshman Tyler Van Dyke in the mix, but adjusting to college play. “If they don’t happen to make the competition go one way or another, we’ll keep letting it play out through next weekend’s scrimmage,’’ Diaz said.
▪ Tight end Will Mallory is a fall camp star.
Diaz only mentioned Mackey Award finalist Brevin Jordan briefly, but he gushed about junior Mallory, who had four catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. “Will Mallory is having himself a camp,’’ the coach said. “I think D’Eriq has a lot of trust in him. He’s a problem, and that’s going to make Brevin better. Will has had a fantastic August.’’
▪ The offensive line is doing much better with the spread.
Last year’s struggling line, which allowed 51 sacks, has grown up and added some substantial talent — and the spread has helped a lot.
“I don’t remember D’Eriq getting sacked except maybe once on a naked bootleg where he was just rolling out and [defensive end] Jaelan Phillips made a Jaelan Phillips weird play. And another one on a third down where he was holding on to the ball and Jaelan chased him down.’’
“They’re really coming together.
▪ Youthful talent abounds among the runners and receivers.
True freshman running backs Jaylan Knighton and Don Chaney dominated, with Knighton, out of Deerfield Beach High, rushing for 126 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, and Chaney rushing for 57 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Diaz added that Knighton’s touchdown run was about 70 yards, and that Chaney had a 40-yarder.
“They are explosive,’’ Diaz said, “which is what you saw in high school. ...When they burst through the line they can really blow out some explosive runs. It was fun to see those guys make big things happen down the field.’’
The receivers in new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee’s offense will be rotated constantly.
“This is not an offense where you can just throw it to one guy over and over again,’’ Diaz told Joe Rose, “because you’re just going to run out of gas.’’ The coach mentioned talented veterans Mike Harley, Dee Wiggins and Mark Pope as “older guys’’ making progress this camp. But the young ones didn’t disappoint.
Deerfield Beach alum Xavier Restrepo “had a great night,’’ Diaz said. “He scored on a long reverse [for 70 yards] and had another big explosive play down the field.’’ Restrepo caught two passes for 54 yards. Diaz also cited fellow true freshman receivers Keyshawn Smith, Mike Redding and Dazalin Worsham.
Redshirt freshman Jeremiah Payton “ended the scrimmage with a really great touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone.’’
For as well as the offense played, there were still defensive standouts.
Defensive takeaways
▪ The young talent is considerable behind expected starts Phillips and Quincy Roche at defensive end.
Redshirt freshman Jahfari Harvey “is as quick as anybody we have off the ball,’’ Diaz told WQAM, “but in terms of his knowledge of the defense and understanding how to play the run and the zone read and all the movements, he has really made a big jump.’’
Diaz said redshirt freshman end Cam Williams had been “fantastic’’ in camp, and praised freshman Chantz Williams, who had five tackles and two sacks. He added that freshman Elijah Roberts out of Miami Columbus “is going to be a really good player for us.’’
▪ The linebackers are going to be much deeper and improved.
“One of the most pleasing things has been the return of Bradley Jennings,’’ said Diaz, who said Jennings would have played a lot last year before he had “a very difficult injury [and] rehab. Diaz said Jennings has moved inside to middle linebacker, and fifth-year senior Zach McCloud has moved to the weak side. Also, redshirt junior Waynmon Steed, who has been injured much of his career, is well and “tackled very well and played the run very well.’’
But it’s the youngest linebackers who are making coaches the most hopeful. Besides talented Sam Brooks, freshmen Corey Flagg and Tirek Austin-Cave “will smack you,’’ Diaz said. “Both those guys had some big hits and got the sidelines energized.”
The linebacker rotation is so competitive that it might “continue to evolve over the whole year,’’ Diaz told Zach Krantz.
▪ Other highlights included an interception by freshman cornerback Marcus Clarke and a team-high seven tackles by junior safety Gurvan Hall.
UM had its first day of classes Monday, and will return to practice Tuesday.
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 11:35 AM.
