Some promising OL signs revealed by PFF grades. And Miami-UL gets frustrating time change
After D’Eriq King dove into the end zone in the second quarter for his first touchdown run as a Miami Hurricane, the quarterback headed to the sideline for the opportunity to be the second player in 2020 to don Miami’s new touchdown rings.
Instead of wearing them on his own fingers, the quarterback sought out some offensive linemen. He handed one to Corey Gaynor and the celebrated giving the Hurricanes a first-half lead on their way to a 31-14 win against the UAB Blazers at Hard Rock Stadium.
“Those guys deserve it. I think they’re the reason our team’s going to win a lot of games this year,” King said after the win Thursday in Miami Gardens. “They work extremely hard and they don’t get a lot of praise, so every time we score I think a skill guy should give the rings to the offensive line because they deserve it.”
In Week 1, there were some promising signs for the unit. Maligned for years and much to blame for the Hurricanes’ disastrous 2019 season, the offensive line was had two major bright spots Thursday in the form of Jarrid Williams and Gaynor, according to Pro Football Focus’ grades. There are reasons to believe it can perform even better, too.
Williams, who started at right tackle in his first game for Miami after transferring from the Houston Cougars, was the Hurricanes’ third highest rated player on offense and the second highest rated starter behind only King, and four of Miami’s five starting offensive lineman graded out better than 70 as pass blockers, while allowing just three total pressures.
King took two sacks in the Hurricanes’ win and was credited as at fault for both. The offensive line also only committed two penalties.
Williams was the best across the board, grading out at 73.1 as a pass blocker and 71.1 as a run blocker. Ousman Traore, who started at left guard, was the top pass blocker at 86.5, although he was the lowest graded starter overall on offense because of some poor run blocking numbers. DJ Scaife Jr., the team’s offensive most valuable player last year and the starting right guard, also had a disappointing debut with a 46.4 pass-blocking grade and the second lowest overall grade among offensive starters.
Fellow offensive lineman John Campbell Jr., the starting left tackle, was the third lowest-graded starter on offense and Gaynor, the starting center, was the sixth highest-graded offensive starter.
Williams was the only starter with a run-blocking grade better than 70, even though Miami (1-0) ran for 337 yards on 6.5 yard per carry. Those numbers, however, were buoyed by a 66-yard touchdown run by running back Cam’Ron Harris and King’s 6.9 yards per carry largely coming in scramble situations. Only 16.5 percent of the Hurricanes’ rushing yards came before contact.
Still, Manny Diaz was happy with the way his offensive line held up in its first game in offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee’s system. The Hurricanes ran 78 plays and Diaz felt it wore down UAB, which sold out to stop the run.
The results, especially compared to a year ago, were hard to deny and Miami’s new offensive system places even less of an emphasis on line play. If Scaife can return to his 2019 form, the line should be even better moving forward.
“I was proud of the way those guys got after that UAB front,” the coach said. “All those rushing yards came into a loaded box where they had an extra hitter, so you had to be moving some people. I thought they did a really nice job.”
More Miami Hurricanes PFF grades
According to PFF, UM’s five highest-graded players on offense Thursday were, in order: King, running back Jaylon Knighton, Williams, Harris and wide receiver Marshall Few.
The five highest-graded players on defense were, in order: safety Gurvan Hall, defensive ends Cameron Williams and Jaelan Phillips, defensive tackle Jordan Miller and safety Bubba Bolden.
Traore was the lowest-graded starter on offense and safety Amari Carter the lowest-graded starter on defense.
Miami-Louisville moved to 7:30 p.m.
Miami’s Week 2 game against the Louisville Cardinals next Saturday is moving from the day to nighttime.
Corporate partners ABC and ESPN had hoped to avoid scheduling UM’s game in Louisville, Kentucky, opposite Game 3 of the Heat-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals next weekend. But that ultimately proved unavoidable when COVID-19 forced the postponement of next Saturday’s Virginia-Virginia Tech game.
ABC originally planned to air the UM game at 3:30 p.m and the Virginia game at 8 p.m. — a decision fueled by the Heat playing at 8:30 p.m. that night and a determination to avoid splitting the South Florida audience between two games.
But with the Virginia game postponed, ABC announced Saturday that it will move the UM game to 7:30 p.m., with kickoff an hour before the Heat and Celtics tip off at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN. UCF-Georgia Tech replaced UM-Louisville in ABC’s 3:30 p.m. window next Saturday.
