UM’s new offensive players enroll this week. Here’s what Diaz says about each of them.
UM this week is expected to welcome 13 players from an 18-player recruiting class, a group that could offer immediate contributors on the defensive line, running back, receiver, potentially offensive tackle and elsewhere.
In Part 1 of a two-part series, UM coach Manny Diaz assesses the incoming players on offense, all of whom are expected to enroll this week and participate in spring practice:
▪ Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who will immediately be given a chance to compete for the starting job:
“Everyone knows Miami has been stuck in the mud trying to get going offensively with consistency at quarterback play,” Diaz told WQAM’s Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey Jr. “Tyler Van Dyke checks all the boxes in terms of we know what he can do with his arm talent, but especially off the field, his intelligence, football IQ, work ethic, acumen.
“First guy in the building, last guy to leave, all the things you want in that room,... which we feel the culture of our quarterback room has been needing. Getting him into that competition in the spring is exciting.”
Drew Gamere, Van Dyke’s prep coach at Suffield Academy in Connecticut, said Van Dyke has the skills to play in UM’s new spread offense and is looking forward to the opportunity.
▪ Running backs Don Chaney Jr. and Jaylon Knighton:
New coordinator Rhett Lashlee’s offense features a lot of running plays to the perimeter — as opposed to up the gut — and Chaney and Knighton are well-suited to that system.
“Both have home run hitting potential,” Diaz said. “My favorite thing about both those guys is they both want to play in the same backfield with one another.
“Jaylon wanted to come to a school where Donald was at, and Donald wanted Jaylon to come to Miami. There have been so many instances in the past at UM where you have running back rooms filled with great players and they feed off each other and they get that edge about themselves — where I have to run with that sense of urgency —- because I know if I don’t that guy will come in behind me and he for sure will.”
“To get both running backs [the top running back in Miami-Dade in Chaney and Broward in Knighton] in the same year is rare, doesn’t happen very often. For Chaney to stay committed as long as he did was a testament to him and his family.”
▪ Receivers Daz Worsham, Xavier Restrepo and Michael Redding:
With Worsham, “there was an interest going back to the spring,” Diaz said. “We had him come on a visit in the summertime. The city did what it does. The city sparkled, and they [the family] loved it here. He told us in the summer this is where he wants to be, and he would decommit from Alabama and come to Miami.
“But there was a process. He finally decommitted from Alabama but didn’t commit to us until October, November. He was rehabbing an injury. By the end of the year, he was able to regain the form he had as a junior. He can provide skill sets we have not had as a really good wide receiver.”
With Redding, Diaz said, “you walk in the weight room at IMG [in Bradenton]; they have athletes going to every school in America just about. You and ask the strength coach at IMG who’s your hardest worker, and he said Michael Redding…. [And] Xavier Restrepo is probably the most competitive guy in this recruiting class.
“We’re trying to rebrand the receiver room. We’re trying to be defined by guys who work and compete every day, not just the guys we can sit around the table and say they’re talented” but nothing more.
Look for Restrepo to get a long look in the slot in the coming months.
▪ Tight end Dominic Mammarelli:
“It’s so hard to find a tight end in high school that can block,” Diaz said. “They’re usually not tight ends; they’re big wideouts. There’s a need for that, but you’ve got to run the football and to run the football, you’ve got to have someone who can control the C gap, the gap outside the offensive tackle, and Dominic is a guy that’s been doing that.
“He played in a run-first offense, but he showed he has good hands and run after catch potential. He adds something we may not have on campus and thus provides immense value for us.”
▪ Offensive tackles Jalen Rivers and Chris Washington:
“Those are guys I remember recruiting them since early in the ninth grade, maybe in eighth grade. Jalen went to [Shaq Quarterman’s school, Oakleaf].”
Both have a legitimate chance to compete for a starting job on a disappointing offensive line, more likely at right tackle initially than left.
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 5:30 PM.
