Where Hurricanes finished in Top 25 voting. And offensive coordinator weighs in
The Miami Hurricanes aren’t technically a top 25 team this season. But if you exclude the teams that aren’t playing this fall, they apparently are, according to Associated Press voters.
UM, which finished 6-7 last season but augmented its roster in recent months, finished fifth in “also receiving votes” in AP top 25 voting released Monday, placing Miami 30th overall.
But nine teams from the Big Ten and Pac-12 aren’t playing college football during the next few months and hope to play a spring schedule. So among teams actually playing this fall, UM is 21st.
Among “others receiving votes,” UM (42 votes) finished behind only Memphis (86), Virginia Tech (85), Boise State (68) and Arizona State (66) and ahead of Louisville (32), Appalachian State (26), Washington (21), Kentucky (20), Indiana (19), Baylor (15), California (11), TCU (9), Virginia (7), Navy (6), Florida State (6), SMU and Mississippi State 3 and Air Force (3 each) and Northwestern and Alabama-Birmingham (one each).
As for the top 25, Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma are the top five. Ohio State, of course, is not playing this fall. Here’s the full top 25.
LASHLEE WEIGHS IN
In the wake of Saturday’s second UM scrimmage, offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee weighed in on several issues on The Joe Rose Show on WQAM-560:
▪ He said the offense was too sloppy: “We have to clean up techniques, execution,” Lashlee said. “The first scrimmage, we did a lot of really good things that gave our guys some confidence; this last scrimmage the first two drives the defense got after us. It was good to see how our guys responded to adversity. After those first two drives we got some momentum going in our favor.”
▪ On starting quarterback D’Eriq King, who had 95 yards passing and two touchdown throws:
“D’Eriq has been pretty steady,” Lashlee said. “The best thing is he hasn’t turned the ball over in either scrimmage. Our first offense hasn’t turned the ball over. That’s been really good to see. At the same time you have to make plays. The first scrimmage he really set the tone for our guys. He’ll be the first to tell you he wasn’t as sharp the second scrimmage. But he knows what to do with it, is going against a really good defense which makes him better. Overall I’ve been pleased; he gives us a chance to win football games.”
▪ Cam’Ron Harris, who had 13 carries for 77 yards in the scrimmage, “has experience and the young backs have really shown they’re fearless and will be able to help us out,” Lashlee said. “We believe in balance, running the football. We’re not trying to throw it 70 times a game. Also the strength of our team, we’ll play to the strengths and right now we have some good running backs.”
Jaylan Knighton finished with 12 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown, and fellow freshman Don Chaney Jr. closed with 48 yards on eight carries and a touchdown.
▪ Freshman Tyler Van Dyke completed 4 of 5 passes for a whopping 205 yards and one touchdown and one interception. But Lashlee declined to say who the backup quarterback would be.
“We have a pretty good idea, but there’s probably another week before we set anything in stone,” Lashlee said. “I think everybody wants to know who is starting here, there. The reality of it is none of us as new coaches have seen these guys in games. That’s what Manny Diaz tries to do in scrimmages is simulate a game atmosphere. We’ve got a lot of good stuff out of these scrimmages. But until you play UAB you’re not 100 percent sure how people well react. We have a lot of good options.
“N’Kosi Perry has been solid. He’s a guy who has played a lot of ball. Tyler took a really nice step in the second scrimmage. You look at a young guy in scrimmage one got his feet wet, did some good things, I saw a good jump in the second scrimmage, looked much more comfortable. And Peyton Matocha, Tate Martell, [walk-on] Ryan Rizk have made steps as well.”
▪ On an offensive line that permitted 51 sacks last season, Lashlee said: “I’ve been really pleased. Everybody in that room with coach Garvin Justice, they’re really coming together well. The guys have bought into what we’re doing. We’re running the football better each time we go out and practice, the pass protection has overall been pretty good.
“Coach Justice and I have a pretty good idea of what our starting group will look like for the most part. We have a little bit of time, but not much. … there’s seven or eight guys we think can help us win. It’s not `Man, I hope we can find five.’ Seven, eight, maybe even nine guys can help us, which in a year like this is big.”
Lashlee said Houston grad transfer Jarrid Williams, who appears the likely starter at right tackle, has “done a really nice job,” Lashlee said. “Jarrid is just huge, anytime you’re big and long that’ll help you on the offensive line. He’s played a lot of ball, started at Houston. Sometimes that’s what you need, some experience. He doesn’t say a lot, just goes out there and goes about his business. He’s meshed well with the offensive line room and he’ll help us win.”
▪ Lashlee said the wide receivers have “come along nicely. They’re finding what we’re doing, are playing hard. We don’t probably have that go-to guy. That’s actually a good thing. We have a lot of guys with ability that are learning what we want them to do. Honestly, as an offense you don’t want the defense to say `Hey, we’ll take this guy away from you.’ We have confidence in whoever we have out there that they can make plays.
“The biggest thing for us is we’ve had two scrimmages where our offense has been able to go against our 1 defense where they’re only going to make us better. … what we’ve got to do now is get to where we can execute at a high level. People say what do you miss not having spring ball — they know what to do, but how many times has D’Eriq King and Mark Pope thrown that route? How many times has the offensive line blocked this run scheme? You try to get as many reps as you can because it takes hundreds of reps to get really, really good at something.”
▪ Lashlee said he envisions tight ends Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory playing often together.
“They’ve been good,” Lashlee said. “Will Mallory has had an excellent fall camp. He’s steady, reliable. It was good to have Brevin get a good scrimmage in, he made some plays. Those guys definitely give you some versatility for what we’re wanting to do. … They really help our whole offense roll.”
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This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 1:02 PM.
