Two things that were unacceptable to UM in recent years that Diaz has worked to change
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Thursday:
▪ Manny Diaz, as smart a modern college football coach around, is careful not to criticize members of the previous staff or past players by name. But his reference this week to two aspects of the program that bothered him previously — and have improved under his watch — made his feelings quite transparent.
Exploring each:
1. Coaching of the quarterbacks and accountability in the quarterback room are dramatically better. Watching offensive coordinator Dan Enos work with these quarterbacks — and seeing the results — reflects just how much was lacking in that area under the previous regime. It also speaks to the need for programs to be careful when coaches are allowed to hire their children, as was the case with Mark Richt hiring Jon Richt as quarterback coach.
UM’s quarterbacks have gone from subpar on the field and immature and unreliable off the field to being clearly above average on the field and generally reliable off it. That isn’t a coincidence, and it’s a testament to Enos, Jarren Williams and N’Kosi Perry.
“Dan Enos had a lot of jobs when he came here, but changing the culture in the quarterback room was top of the list in terms of how they study, how they watch film, how they prepare, how they do walk-throughs,” Diaz told WQAM’s Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey Jr. on Hurricane Hotline.
“We will be in a walk-through in a hotel ballroom and Dan will call a pass play and guys will run routes. [Jarren Williams] with his feet and eyes will go through his progressions, very robotically. You don’t have to do that. You’re in a hotel! He’s understanding, ‘My eyes go there.’ He’s also resetting his feet.
“That’s understanding every time a play is called that we could be in a hotel ball room or Hard Rock Stadium. There is one way it’s executed; every play is full-speed mentally.”
Diaz was just getting started.
“You see quarterback fundamentals and the way it’s being taught at Miami. And you see teams we’re playing against and you see sometimes the lack of, whether it’s the eyes or the feet. And that’s where our guys know they have an advantage.”
Diaz then mentioned how many high school quarterbacks are playing on the 7-on-7 circuit, and “in the 7-on-7 world of high school football, they just stand there and pass and they don’t have to work through a drop or their footwork…. It’s fun for me to watch our offensive staff... do their job and do it with excellence.”
2. UM doesn’t want to be used as some transitional bridge between high school and the NFL. Obviously, Diaz wants NFL prospects, but he also wants players who are not using their UM experience primarily as a stepping-stone. There were more than a half dozen Canes in recent years who turned pro early, only to be drafted very late or not at all.
“We had a run where Miami was being used a little bit by players [where they] do what you have to do and get out,” Diaz said on Hurricane Hotline. “And that’s left Miami in the spot it’s been, as opposed to it’s their job to get Miami back to where [it was]. Getting guys to understand that is [is paramount].
“The guys playing the best for us are the guys passionate about Miami and work really really hard for us. Is that a coincidence? I don’t know that it is.”
Diaz said of senior linebackers Shaq Quarterman and Mike Pinckney, “I would like to think they came back” not only because “they knew they could improve their individual stock in the draft, [but also] they knew their obligation to Miami and wanted to leave Miami in a better place than they found it.”
If only more players were like that.
▪ FIU has allowed only 13 sacks, tied for 15th best in the country. Greg Rousseau has 12 sacks on his own (five short of Daniel Stubbs’ single-season record at UM).
“They give up very few sacks and very few tackles for loss,” Diaz said of FIU, noting those are two areas that “are big for us” defensively.
In general, Diaz says: “If you don’t like getting sacks or tackles for losses, don’t come here, because we’re going to live in the backfield.”
Though FIU is an FBS program, Diaz noted bluntly, on Hurricane Hotline, that FIU players “have a chip on their shoulder and want to prove they can play at this level. And many of them can.”
▪ Brevin Jordan — who this week was named one of eight finalists for The Mackey Award — given to the nation’s top tight end, is deserving of it, according to Diaz, not only because of his contributions in the passing game (35 catches, 495 yards) but something else, too:
“The main reason Brevin should win the award,” Diaz said on Hotline, is his in-line blocking.
“A lot of guys are called tight ends and spend 75 percent of the game not lined up at tight end. In an era of spread offense, they’re lined up at wide receiver. Those are not tight ends if they’re lined up at receiver. What Brevin does and his ability to mix it up with defensive ends in the run game makes him a complete tight end and better than a lot of guys you see around the country.”
▪ UM says it was given 15,000 tickets for Saturday’s game at Marlins Park and had sold 8,000 as of early this week…
Besides all the memorable UM games that Diaz attended growing up, he recalled this week some of the other events he attended at the Orange Bowl, on the grounds of Marlins Park: The Dolphins’ 1982 AFC Championship Game win against the Jets “in a quagmire”; the Dolphins’ Monday night win against the previously unbeaten Chicago Bears in 1985; and concerts by Michael Jackson, U2, Joshua Tree and The Rolling Stones. “That,” Diaz said of the Orange Bowl, “was our spot. We had the Orange Bowl. That was our place.” Going back to those grounds Saturday, “there’s great nostalgia for all of us, but we also know time goes on.”
▪ Quick stuff: Diaz said Quarterman’s “conditioning level is at a level I have never seen for a linebacker. We always knew he was great, but it has gone to a different place.”...
Georgia and LSU have been pushing hard for UM’s best 2020 front-seven commitment — Oakleaf four-star defensive end Chantz Williams — but he has said he remains a solid Canes commitment...The Canes continue to push for four-star Homestead South Dade defensive back Jaiden Francois, even though he has decommitted twice, and he hasn’t ruled out Miami.
▪ Hoops notes in the wake of Miami’s 74-70 victory over Missouri State on Thursday in the first game of the Charleston Classic: DJ Vasiljevic scored 25 points, hitting 4 of 7 threes, and is now 15 for 34 on threes this season.... Kam McGusty continued his strong early season play, with 19 points.... Chris Lykes continued to struggle with his shot, going 3 for 14. He’s now 23 for 61 from the field... UM improved to 4-1. UM will play the Gators at noon Friday.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 4:30 PM.
