Hurricanes get ready to hit, show separation, after two days of spring ‘tag football’
Nothing like hitting in football, even if it’s building to the full-bore kind.
On Thursday, the Miami Hurricanes, who have been in shorts and jerseys without pads, will slip on the shoulder pads for some hitting that leads to full contact in the coming days. The linebackers, for one, will be thankful.
“Well, let me tell you, if we can do what we did the last two days and just play tag football, we’re going to be really good,’’ Miami Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz, who also is back as the defensive coordinator this season, joked Wednesday to Joe Rose and Zach Krantz on WQAM.
UM’s run defense and defense in general regressed last season, especially evidenced by the end of the season in losses to North Carolina and Oklahoma State — not to mention the telling final national statistics. UM went from 13th in total defense (309.8 yards allowed a game) in 2019 to 67th (408.4) in 2020. The Canes went from 23rd to 51st in scoring defense, from 17th to 76th in rushing defense, from 18th to 65th in passing defense. They stayed at No. 4 in tackles for loss, and dropped from No. 6 to 32 in team sacks.
“We got a little spoiled with all the great linebackers we’ve had through the years,’’ Rose told Diaz. “You got some young guys out there. How do you feel about that position?”
Linebacker development
“Look, we’ve got people,’’ Diaz replied. “We’ve got a competition going on. And that’s what should be important. The shoulder pads come on tomorrow [Thursday] and we’ll learn a lot. It starts as it always does in our defense up front. We’ve got to get much, much better play out of our defensive tackles, and I suspect that we will, with who we have coming back in terms of how we play the run — because that translates a lot into what goes on with the Mike [middle] and Will [weakside] linebacker behind.
“Not just by people, but by scheme, we felt the strength of our defense from ‘16 to ‘19 was being able to secure the A gaps and B gaps with those four spots and obviously that didn’t happen a year ago. We’ve got a lot of young linebackers that we think are talented. They just need reps. They gotta get in and they gotta play. 2020 was not the year to allow for that type of development.”
Rose reiterated about the run defense, starting with the tackles. UM will be without starter Nesta Silvera in spring as he recuperates from shoulder surgery.
“Is it getting off blocks, is it getting up the field enough. What’s the biggest problem, being stronger at the point of attack?”
“It’s securing your gap of responsibility,’’ Diaz said. “If it doesn’t start up front... The linebackers, when I am secure of where I need to go I can go there fast. If I’m a little unsure of what I’m seeing in front of me, then I’m going to be slower to go. The Miami model of the 4-3 defense has always been predicated on speed.”
Diaz said there are two types of speed. “Yeah, getting linebackers that can run really fast, and that is a priority. But speed of thought is [just] as important. Ideally you want to have both. If I’m a little unsure in terms of what I’m going to see in front of me, that will make me play a little bit slower.
“Nothing in football, but certainly nothing on defense, occurs in a vacuum. Everybody is working in concert... If there’s a breach anywhere sooner or later there will become a lack of trust — and everybody begins to play slower.”
Diaz recently revamped his defensive coaching staff, adding former South Carolina defensive backs coach/defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson, a Miami native, as UM’s new defensive backs coach. He also added former UM and NFL assistant Jess Simpson as defensive line coach, former Texas A&M assistant and Miami native Ishmael Aristide as outside linebackers (strikers) coach and moved Jonathan Patke to inside linebackers.
UM’s newest linebackers for 2021 will be 6-1, 200-pound Deshawn Troutman out of Orlando Edgewater and 6-2, 200-pound Tyler Johnson — the younger brother of former Canes standout Jaquan Johnson — out of Miami Killian.
Corey Flagg, a former three-star prospect out of Houston North Shore High, met the media Tuesday and said he is concentrating on middle linebacker and has lost 12 pounds and is down to 13-percent body fat.
“One thing I want to do is get faster,’’ said Flagg, who is competing with Bradley Jennings Jr. in the middle. “This game is about speed.’’
King, on crutches, signaling
Diaz said starting quarterback D’Eriq King, now rehabbing a torn ACL, has been at practice on crutches relaying signals and “still being a guy that has a presence.’’
“If D’Eriq were healthy we would still want to rep the younger guys,’’ the coach said of scholarship backups Tyler Van Dyke, Jake Garcia and Peyton Matocha. “We know what D’Eriq would do, but he would still be taking reps. You get better by reps. That’s the great thing about having Tyler [Van Dyke], especially with, unfortunately, the timing he missed due to COVID in the fall, which was out of our control.
“And to get Jake [Garcia] in here as a mid-year guy. Jake has thrown the ball really well the first two days. You can see some things with what Jake can do.
“I just think getting those guys in, letting them compete, letting them get to work with the wide receivers we have, it’s really going to benefit us down the road.’’
