UM reaches out to two coordinators. And former players speak out on program.
A six-pack of Hurricanes notes on a Friday:
▪ UM, in search of an offensive coordinator to run an up-tempo spread offense, has reached out to Virginia offensive coordinator Robert Anae and SMU offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, according to a source.
Lashlee has spoken to UM but is said to also be considering other options. Anae, as of early Friday afternoon, hadn’t decided whether to accept UM’s invitation to interview for the job this weekend.
Anae has experience running an “Air Raid” fast-paced spread offense at BYU, and Manny Diaz has announced UM is moving to a spread offense.
Lashlee has run a high-octane spread offense at SMU. Diaz holds him in high regard, and one UM person said the Canes would be happy to get him, though other candidates are being considered.
UPDATE: As I reported exclusively here, UM is hiring Lashlee. Miami also reached out to Anae on Friday afternoon that they are going in a different direction, with Lashlee the choice.
Before becoming Virginia’s offensive coordinator in 2016, Anae was offensive coordinator at BYU during two different stints, 2005 to 2010 and 2013 to 2015.
Virginia ranked just 88th in yards this season (388.9) but 40th in points at 32.1. UM, by comparison, averaged 367.2 yards and 25.7 points. Under Anae, Virginia ranked 21st in total offense (yards) in 2018.
And under Anae, 61, BYU ranked 26th and 21st in the country in passing offense and 14th and 34th in scoring offense during Anae’s final two seasons there. In 2014, BYU averaged 37.1 points under Anae, most for the program since 2001.
As for Lashlee, his SMU offense ranked ninth nationally in total offense this season (489.8 yards per game) and seventh in points (41.8).
Lashlee, 36, runs an up-tempo spread offense, which Diaz wants to use with the Hurricanes.
▪ As usual, former players are weighing in on the state of the UM football program, and two former offensive linemen made interesting points in recent days:
Former All-American offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie, who went to campus with former Canes standout Brett Romberg to offer tips to Canes linemen this past summer, tweeted that “[not] having former players around like the past is probably why the program has gone in the direction it has. Stop hiring friends and hire people who are capable of doing the job. I’d make these coaches contracts incentive-based as well for the first two years until they prove themselves.
“What’s funny is some of these guys will make it to the next level and actually play way better there then they did here, and I’m gonna say coaching has a lot to do with that. Not being able to get through to the player.”
Offensive line coach Butch Barry previously worked at Central Michigan with Dan Enos, who was dismissed as UM’s offensive coordinator last week. I’m not sure how many offensive line coaches would have extracted more from this unit, but Barry couldn’t get them to pass block or run block effectively.
Coach Manny Diaz and the new offensive coordinator — whoever that will be — likely will jointly decide whether to keep Barry and the other offensive assistants.
Then there was this tweet from former UM lineman Rashad Butler, a host on 790 The Ticket:
“Do we really have the “TALENT” Miami Hurricanes Fans ??? I ask because, I had an FIU Coaching Staff Member personally tell me that after the first series of that game, their DBs (FIU) came to the sidelines and said, “COACH, THEY’RE SOFT”!!!
On WQAM’s UM postgame show, Butler also said some UM players don’t care enough about football, which is consistent with what I’ve heard from one frustrated player on the team.
▪ Why did UM seemingly give up on five-star running back Lorenzo Lingard, who announced plans to transfer to Florida?
One player said he never seemed to study the plays, and coaches didn’t trust his knowledge of the playbook enough, in terms of blitz pickup and other responsibilities.
Nevertheless, UM practically encouraged Lingard to transfer by not playing him. Now he will need to sit a season elsewhere instead of competing for playing time here.
▪ UM has had 31 players who were listed on ESPN’s top 200 list of recruits for the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 classes. But that doesn’t do any good if one of UM’s two five-star recruits — Lingard — doesn’t get any playing time and decides to transfer, and if the other five-star recruit — receiver Mark Pope — touched the ball only 23 times this season.
What’s more, of those 31, only seven were starters this season and only three (tight end Brevin Jordan, cornerback Al Blades Jr., running back Cam’Ron Harris) played particularly well, with Jordan missing the final four games and Harris averaging just 2.6 yards per carry in the bowl game.
Among UM’s other top 200 recruits for 2018, Nesta Silvera (50th) had nine tackles as a backup defensive tackle, quarterback Jarren Williams (106th) played poorly in the final three games, receiver Brian Hightower (141st) transferred, guard Cleveland Reed (143rd) quit the team and now plans to return; safety Gurvan Hall (178th) was decent but not great; striker Gilbert Frierson (188th) was a modest contributor and tight end Will Mallory (190th) struggled before coming on late in the season.
Among the 2017 top 200 UM recruits on the ESPN list, several have been disappointments: quarterback N’Kosi Perry, guard Navaughn Donaldson (to an extent, though far from a bust), offensive tackle Kai-Leon Herbert and running back Robert Burns, and the top defensive recruit — DJ Johnson — transferred.
So if you land all of these top 200 prospects, what does it matter if they don’t play like it?
▪ UM said it will neither increase nor decrease season ticket prices next season. The Canes’ home schedule includes Temple, Wagner, Alabama Birmingham, Duke, FSU, North Carolina and Pittsburgh.
▪ UM’s basketball team enters its big home game against No. 2 Duke on Saturday with a top-third-in-the-country offense, with UM ranking 106th of 353 teams in scoring (75.4 per game), 59th in field-goal percentage (46.8) and 17th in three-point shooting (38.9). That’s the main reason behind this 9-3 start.
But this isn’t yet a very good defensive group, which is unusual for a Jim Larranaga team. Miami is allowing 71.2 points per game, which is 200th in the country. And opponents are shooting 44.3 percent against Miami, which is 255th and worst in the ACC.
To have any chance of an upset, UM clearly must be a lot better defensively against Duke, which is seventh in the country in scoring (83.3 per game) and 41st in shooting percentage (47.5). Duke scored 87 in a 12-point win over No. 11 Michigan State earlier this month.
Larranaga has been imploring his team to defend better.
ESPN’s lead announcing team of Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas announce the game on ESPN at 8 p.m.
This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 12:16 PM.
