Miami’s LBs are mostly same as last year. Here’s why UM expects they’ll be better, anyway
The Miami Hurricanes, whether it was when Manny Diaz was still coach or after Mario Cristobal took over late last year, knew they needed their linebackers to be better in 2022. It’s why Wesley Bissainthe was one of Miami’s No. 1 recruiting targets for the Class of 2022 and why the Hurricanes went out and added Caleb Johnson via the transfer portal in April.
It also meant it was a little bit of a surprise to see two familiar faces running with the first-team defense whenever Miami provided those brief glimpses of training camp. Corey Flagg Jr. and Waynmon Steed could both be the starting linebackers Saturday — although, to be fair, the Hurricanes have not put out a depth chart and swear the front seven will see heavy rotation — and still Miami has confidence it will go better than it did a year ago.
“I feel like my game has been taken to another level,” Flagg said Tuesday.
Flagg is one reason, maybe the biggest. Cristobal on Monday singled out the 5-foot-11, 230-pound sophomore as one of the most improved players in fall camp and new linebackers coach Charlie Strong last week said he had the best camp of anyone at the position.
Strong is a reason, too. There’s a new defensive system in place — implemented by new defensive coordinator Kevin Steele — and Strong, who was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ inside linebackers coach last season, is bringing a more sophisticated, more “NFL scheme,” Flagg said.
“He’s a great coach,” Flagg said. “He’s definitely taken our game to the next level.”
Altogether, it means the Hurricanes trust this group of linebackers as currently constituted, with Johnson still battling Flagg for playing time rather than being anointed a starter, and Bissainthe still trying to catch up to the veterans rather than immediately surpassing them.
A pessimist could wonder whether Johnson and Bissainthe have underwhelmed. An optimist could trust Flagg, Steed and fellow linebacker Keontra Smith, with the tutelage of Strong and Steele, have improved.
Flagg, in particular, is right at the point when this should be happening, anyway. This will be his third season in Coral Gables, and he has already played in 20 games and started 12. He led Miami with 60 tackles last year and was the Hurricanes’ most consistent linebacker, only it came with scrutiny because the position group, as a whole, struggled and missed tackles plagued the entire defense.
In a new system, Flagg is well suited to take the lead. Since he’s undersized, Flagg succeeds using intelligence and instincts, and it helps him quickly grasp a new defense, especially one stressing patience in the box rather than disruption at the line of scrimmage.
“He’s stepped up big time. He has,” coach Mario Cristobal told WQAM on Monday. “We’re looking for him to have an excellent year, and really appreciate the way he has stepped up and bought into the culture.”
As the year goes on, Johnson and Bissainthe will keep pushing, and maybe they’re just the types of players, because of physical gifts or something else, better suited for live-game situations than practices.
For now, Miami feels good about its veterans, though, and Flagg is in the center of it all as the middle linebacker and quarterback of the defense.
“It’s a unique position. You have to be different, you have to have a different mindset, you have to come in and work every single day,” Flagg said. “I’m an upperclassman now and I just bring it. I know people are watching me, so I can’t slack.
“I just feel I improved as a person.”
