‘We have to be obsessed with the football’: UM preaching turnovers on defense
New Miami Hurricanes defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman has one overarching message for his group.
“We have to be obsessed with the football,” Hetherman said.
Hetherman’s defense thrives on chaos up front that leads to turnovers on the back end. It’s a formula that succeeded at his last stop at Minnesota, which tied for seventh nationally with 17 interceptions.
That’s a number the Hurricanes haven’t hit in a single season since 2017, when they tied for third nationally with 31 total turnovers (17 interceptions, 14 fumble recoveries). They went 10-3 that season, albeit dropping their final three games in a road loss to Pitt, an ACC Championship Game defeat to Clemson and Orange Bowl loss to Wisconsin.
The Hurricanes followed that 2017 season with another top-20 season in total turnovers in 2018 with 25 takeaways (16 interceptions, nine fumble recoveries) but have more or less been outside the top tier since. Only once in the past six years has Miami ranked in the top 25 nationally in turnovers forced.
2019: 20 turnovers (10 interceptions, 10 fumble recoveries) tied for 40th nationally
2020: 16 turnovers (seven interceptions, nine fumble recoveries) tied for 40th nationally
2021: 11 turnovers (eight interceptions, three fumble recoveries) tied for 119th nationally
2022: 22 turnovers (14 interceptions, eight fumble recoveries) tied for 22nd nationally
2023: 18 turnovers (12 interceptions, six fumble recoveries) tied for 59th nationally
2024: 18 turnovers (14 interceptions, four fumble recoveries) tied for 58th nationally
Hetherman hopes to change that.
“There’s a group of guys that every day they’re obsessed with the ball and that’s the No. 1 thing in practice. How many strip attempts do we get and how many times the ball touches the ground. If the ball is down, we are scooping and scoring and then for balls in the air, we have to have it. That’s been the No. 1 message.”
While the entire defense is responsible for making turnovers happen, Hetherman will need to see production from his a secondary that has been nearly completely overhauled from last season.
Sophomore cornerback OJ Frederique is the only returning starter from the unit. Redshirt sophomore Damari Brown, who missed almost all of last season with a foot injury, and sophomore Dylan Day, who played almost exclusively on special teams, are the only other returnees that seem poised for playing time early.
Beyond that, Hetherman has a half dozen transfers at his disposal, several of whom have shown they have ball-hawking potential at their previous stops.
Safety Zechariah Poyser was a Freshman All-American at Jacksonville State last year after logging three interceptions, eight pass breakups and a pair of fumble recoveries while allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete just 47.8% of passes against him in coverage.
Sophomore Xavier Lucas, who is poised to start at cornerback opposite Frederique, intercepted a pass and and had three pass breakups in 21 targets against him last season in a limited role with Wisconsin.
And cornerback Ethan O’Connor, a redshirt sophomore, intercepted four passes and six pass breakups in 60 targets against him last season at Washington State.
Safety Jakobe Thomas and cornerbacks Keionte Scott and Charles Brantley round out the newcomers.
Hetherman said last week that right now he has five cornerbacks he’s comfortable playing and that there will likely be a rotation at safety, with Poyser, Thomas, Day and a fourth likely to include one of Markeith Williams, Bryce Fitzgerald and Isaiah Taylor.
“We start every single unit meeting with the ball tape. How many times did we affect the ball in practice today?” Hetherman said. “There’s been days where it’s been good and there’s other days where the offense has done a really good job of protecting the football. In camp, it’s weird, we want to get as many as we can, but on offense they don’t want to give it to us at all. But we do as many drills as we can, we try to affect throwing lanes for the quarterback, strip attempt drills or different ways to get the football out in our [individual] periods and in our defensive periods.”
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