Miami’s Cristobal ‘fired up’ about Knighton, who didn’t pout ‘and go home.’ Clemson next
Miami running back Jaylan Knighton never gave up on his future with the Hurricanes, nor did coach Mario Cristobal give up on Knighton.
Cristobal emphasizes delivering the truth to his players, regardless of their reactions. The truth sent the third-year sophomore to the bench at Virginia after a recurring fumbling problem. Rumors surfaced with the words “transfer portal” attached. But Knighton never flinched, kept battling, then ran for a game-high and season-best 118 yards and his first 2022 touchdown last week in UM’s 35-14 win at Georgia Tech.
Just in time for what is expected to be Miami’s toughest opponent this season: No. 9 Clemson (9-1, 7-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) on the road in South Carolina. The Tigers have the nation’s 19th-ranked rushing defense, holding opponents to 111.6 yards a game. UM (5-5, 3-3), constantly sustaining injuries on offense, has the 82nd-ranked rushing offense (140.1 ground yards per game).
“Coach holding me to a standard as a running back,’’ Knighton, out of Deerfield Beach High, said when asked about Cristobal being patient with him. “You look at the [Miami] history and see the names on the board. We got real gods that have been through this school, so I gotta get held to that standard. Just come back to work, hold the ball tighter, get the job done — just like Coach asked.”
All-time Broward rusher
Knighton, who left Deerfield Beach as the all-time Broward County rusher (5,150 yards), got the nickname “Rooster” in 2008 from a former youth coach who saw him break a 70-yard touchdown the first time he touched the ball.
“I had a big old Afro and my Afro was red,’’ Knight told reporters when he arrived at UM. “So, that’s where the name came from.’’
Last year, the 5-10, 190-pound Knighton was UM’s leading rusher, with 561 yards and a team-best eight rushing touchdowns in eight games. He also had 280 yards and three touchdowns receiving
This year, he is the team’s second-leading rusher, with 341 yards and a touchdown on 63 carries for a 5.4 yards-per-carry average.
But after sitting out the first game this season to rehab a muscle-related injury, Knighton struggled behind a continually injured offensive line and overall offensive inadequacies. By midseason, critical fumbles that led to touchdowns crept in, and Cristobal refused to baby him.
“The best part of him is he has a lot of pride,’’ Cristobal said immediately after the win at Georgia Tech, continuing to gush about Knighton on Wednesday. “He fumbled earlier this season and everybody is like [let him play]. No, let him earn it back. And he did by spending a ton of time on ball security, running harder, understanding the protection better. I don’t think people realize how well he protected tonight. Just really fired up by Rooster and the way he played tonight, but more importantly, how he approached adversity — because that’s what our team needs to keep growing.
“He made a conscious decision to work hard, as opposed to grab your ball and go home. ...We’ve got to face our circumstances and adversity, come out and punch right back.’’
Henry Parrish Jr.
The punching will likely be a lot more effective at Clemson if the Hurricanes get back the services of leading rusher Henry Parrish, Jr., who has run for 568 yards and four touchdowns, but has been injured and stayed home for the Georgia Tech game. Cristobal said Wednesday that he feels “real good” about Parrish’s status and that he’s had “consistent successful practices” this week.
The coach also said that Don Chaney Jr., who sat out most of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and then sustained a lower-body injury in August, was practicing “full-speed” this week. However, Cristobal said he’d have to wait “the rest of the week” to determine Chaney’s situation for Clemson. Though Chaney has had contact, there’s no tackling now in practice, so if he does get in the game it would likely be in a very limited role.
Knighton, who averaged 7.4 yards-per-carry last week, is ready to go. He said his confidence stayed strong during the recent rough patches. “I’m going to come to work every single day in practice and try to take it the game,’’ he said. “Obviously, it didn’t go right and I was just stacking days. I wouldn’t say it was an issue, but I just had to be more conscious of cross-tucking and different things. It wasn’t a problem...I just gotta get better at cross-tuck and being more physical holding the ball.”
Knighton was asked what worked for him at Georgia Tech.
“What was working was listening to [running backs] Coach [Kevin] Smith telling me to press, press, read it, read it... Make them commit and make a move — kill them with my speed, power and explosion. That was the main goal, break tackles and get in the end zone.
“Our confidence never went down as a team or nothing because we know we got the players, we got the coaches. ... The W’s going to come. We’re not tripping over the losses we took, we just take it game by game. We’re going to take it day by day against Clemson at their house.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2022 at 1:21 PM.
