How Travis Williams is embracing UM’s history as ‘Linebacker U’ to motivate his group

On the first day Travis Williams met with his linebackers in one of the Miami Hurricanes’ meeting rooms, the new assistant coach surveyed them about the Miami’s history.

He asked every one of his players to think about their favorite former Hurricanes linebacker and go write the legend’s name on the board. There was no shortage of choices — Miami, after all, is “Linebacker U,” Williams said. Ray Lewis, Jonathan Vilma, Dan Morgan, Jon Beason and about a dozen others would have been fair picks. He wants those names to loom over everything the Hurricanes do in 2021.

“I really want them to understand we are at the U, which I really think is ‘Linebacker U,” the new inside linebackers coach said. “They just have to understand that these guys that laid the foundation and laid the bricks around here — when you watch them play on Saturdays you’ve got to understand some of these guys really take them serious. When it comes to playing football — especially linebacker — at Miami, they have to understand that.”

Williams officially joined the Hurricanes on Monday as the final piece of the defensive staff — a replacement for former defensive coordinator Blake Baker, who left to become the LSU Tigers’ linebackers coach Thursday. He takes over a particularly maligned position on the defense. In the regular-season finale last year, the North Carolina Tar Heels gashed Miami on the ground to set a record with 554 rushing yards against the Hurricanes. Miami’s efforts to replace former linebackers Shaquille Quarterman and Michael Pinckney are still incomplete a year after they departed.

On Wednesday, Williams spoke publicly for the first time since joining the Hurricanes as part of Miami’s National Signing Day press conferences. He didn’t have any new recruits to talk about, so he instead spent most of his 15-minute session discussing the state of the position in Coral Gables.

Last season, the Hurricanes primarily leaned on Zach McCloud and Bradley Jennings Jr., but also gave starting opportunities to fellow linebackers Sam Brooks Jr. and Waynmon Steed. While Miami has a few incoming freshmen and McCloud is moving to defensive line, the 2021 group will otherwise be identical to 2020.

Williams’ goal is to inspire confidence in the group. In the first meeting, he made a bold prediction.

“We have,” he recalled saying, “an all-conference linebacker in this room.”

Repairing the unit, he said, begins with the mental side of the game.

“You have to love being physical, you have to love coming to work every day and playing linebacker at the U,” said Williams, who spent the last five seasons as the Auburn Tigers’ linebackers coach and was an all-Southeastern Conference linebacker in 2000s. “You have to love the pressure week in and week out, going out there and dominating, and having that pressure of all your former brothers watching you. I’m up for the challenge, the guys will be up for the challenge, but it just starts mentally. We have it in the room, we’re going to get everything out of them. I’m just fired up for the opportunity.”

D’Eriq King’s progress ‘very encouraging’

Spring practices will begin in March, but the most important work will be put in behind the scenes, in training rooms and doctors offices away from Greentree Practice Fields.

The Hurricanes’ hopes for the 2021 season mostly hinge on the right knee of quarterback D’Eriq King, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the 2020 Cheez-It Bowl and is currently rehabilitating. The quarterback will miss the entire spring, yet Miami expects him to be ready for opening day against the Alabama Crimson Tide in September.

More than a month after King tore the ligament, Manny Diaz said progress has been “very encouraging” in the early stages of his recovery.

“I was chatting with him today. He’s so eager to get back and it’s just the way that he is, and anything he’s allowed to do, he’s doing,” the coach said. “He’s working hard in his rehab, everything’s been very encouraging so far and, again, it’s all about him just reaching his benchmarks, but everything right now has been very encouraging.”

With King sidelined, spring practice will be a showcase for quarterbacks Tyler Van Dyke, Jake Garcia and Peyton Matocha — none of whom have significant experience in college football.

N’Kosi Perry, meanwhile, remains enrolled at the university, although he won’t participate in the spring, Diaz reiterated. The quarterback is just finishing his degree before he transfers elsewhere later in the spring or summer.

“That’s a cool story,” Diaz said. “That’s putting education first, which I think we do applaud. N’Kosi Perry is a University of Miami success story for coming here and getting his degree, and he’s going to have a great opportunity, I’m sure, to go somewhere after graduating and continue his career.”

Injury, health updates for Miami

Running back Jaylan Knighton and offensive lineman Issiah Walker Jr. are both on track to participate in the spring, Diaz said. The status of defensive backs Al Blades Jr. and Avantae Williams, however, remains uncertain.

Knighton missed the final two games of the 2020 season with a shoulder injury, while Walker sat out with an undisclosed medical issue after he transferred in from the Florida Gators. Both freshmen, who were four-star recruits in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2020, could be in line to contribute in 2021 and Knighton finished last year as the Hurricanes’ fourth leading rusher.

Blades started the first seven games at cornerback before being benched in favor of fellow cornerback Te’Cory Couch. Team doctors then diagnosed the junior with myocarditis as part of COVID-19 screening and he missed the final three games.

Williams didn’t play at all as a freshman because of an undisclosed medical issue. The safety was Miami’s top-ranked player in 2020 recruiting class.

“We’re still waiting. He’s got an appointment that will come up here in the next few weeks. We’ll find out more,” Diaz said. “The same thing is true with Al, in terms of him getting his clearance.”

If Williams is cleared, he’ll add even more depth to a crowded safeties group. Safety Amari Carter is exercising his extra season of eligibility — granted by the NCAA because of the coronavirus — and returning to the Hurricanes in 2021, Diaz said, after he started nine games last year.