Taking shortcuts or just not producing? Either way, Miami’s WRs need to build on UVA game
The Miami Hurricanes took some dramatic steps last month to challenge their struggling wide receivers.
After starting the same group of three wideouts all season, Miami fully opened up the competition at the position before the Hurricanes faced the Virginia Cavaliers, with nine players, including five freshmen, listed as co-starters on Miami’s weekly depth chart.
The three upperclassman starters responded by combining for 16 catches and 254 yards in the Hurricanes’ win. Mike Harley seemingly suggested he, Mark Pope and Dee Wiggins had gotten complacent.
“We were always taking the shortcuts,” Harley said after the 19-14 win in Miami Gardens. “We weren’t staying after practice, catching Jugs — we would just do the bare minimum.”
On Wednesday, Rob Likens refuted the notion the Hurricanes’ receivers weren’t practicing hard enough.
“I noticed that we were kind of getting in a lull. Not being comfortable — I know that’s easy to throw out there — but it was just more of a lull. It wasn’t like guys weren’t practicing hard. I would never allow that to happen,” the wide receivers coach said. “We’ve been busting our butt since the spring and guys just weren’t producing in games and I said, ‘Guys, it’s a production business. I’m sorry. That’s the way life is.’”
Either way, Harley feels good about the way No. 11 Miami’s receivers have tried to build on the breakout performance before the bye week.
“We’ve been locked in,” said Harley, who had 10 catches for 170 yards and a touchdown against Virginia. “We’ve been working hard, mainly being consistent and just making playing when our name is called, just doing all the little things right every day in practice.”
The Hurricanes (5-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast) will get a little bit of help Friday against the North Carolina State Wolfpack as star tight end Brevin Jordan is “healthy,” coach Manny Diaz said Monday. Wide receivers Xavier Restrepo and Michael Redding III also missed the last game because of COVID-19 related issues, a source told the Miami Herald, and the wideouts still managed to put together their best performance of the season.
A lot of it was simple: Miami’s receivers finally made some contested catches.
It started with tight end Will Mallory winning a jump ball on the sideline on the Hurricanes’ first play of the game and then Harley got loose for a 43-yard touchdown. Later in the game, Pope made a leaping contested catch along the right sideline, touching a foot inbound as he stretched to make a 38-yard diving grab. In the fourth quarter, Wiggins made a leaping catch on the left sideline, tapping a toe inbound for a 28-yard pickup.
Likens often tweets #DBS: “Don’t be soft.” His wide receivers finally embodied the attitude and he insists it can be taught.
“When you walk across that white stripe, you can be the nicest guy in the world, but then you better turn your hat backwards and put your hard hat on, and that is your football when it is in the air,” Likens said. “I’d rather die than let that ball hit the ground or me not catch it. I just think it is a mindset and I think you can develop that mindset.”
D’Eriq King isn’t entirely devoid of blame, either, and he knows it.
At times this year, the quarterback hasn’t been accurate on his deep balls. He has missed at least a few likely touchdown throws and his accuracy has been sporadic, particularly against good defenses like the No. 1 Clemson Tigers’ and Pittsburgh Panthers’.
During the bye week, King tried to hone in on one issue with his play so far. He noticed his accuracy tends to follow the soundness of his foot placement and eyes, which tracks with the Clemson and Pittsburgh games being his two worst of the season so far. Both teams have NFL-caliber defensive linemen capable of collapsing a pocket. In those two games, Miami gave up a total of nine sacks and King completed just 46.7 percent of his passes.
“My feet and eyes have a lot to do with how I throw the ball,” the redshirt senior said. “Some games I throw the ball really well, some games I’m off a little bit. So I think a lot of it has to do with my feet and eyes, so I’ve been focusing on that the last two weeks.”
