What new UM coordinator Lashlee told his players, and one other advantage to the spread
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Tuesday:
▪ New UM offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee met with his players for the first time Sunday, and this was one of his messages:
“Like I told our players [Sunday] night, make no mistake: There’s nothing finesse about [his up-tempo spread offense],” Lashlee told WQAM’s Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey Jr. on Hurricane Hotline.
“We want to be tough at every position. We want to be physical. I believe you have to throw the ball to score and run the ball to win. That’s a fancy way of saying you have to be balanced and take what the defense gives you. We want a physical hard edge at every position. We want our identity to be it’s fast and physical.”
With Lashlee running SMU’s offense last season, the Mustangs had 35 touchdowns in the air and 35 touchdowns on the ground.
▪ Expect UM to strongly pursue Houston grad transfer quarterback D’Eriq King, who announced Monday night that he’s entering the transfer portal.
King, who recently started following Lashlee on Twitter, will have many options, including Arkansas, which now employs his former offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Houston (Kendal Briles).
Under Briles, King had 36 touchdown passes and ran for 14 touchdowns in 2018. He played in four games last season and redshirted.
Speaking in general about what he wants at quarterback, Lashlee told Zagacki and Bailey:
“Teams still around in the NFL [playoffs] have real quarterbacks; you have to have someone consistent and efficient at that quarterback position to make it go. It’s a privilege, it’s not a right, to be quarterback at the University of Miami.
“That’s what those guys need to understand, whether it’s someone currently on our roster or new guys coming in. We’re going to be searching for a guy who’s a leader, who can earn the respect of teammates. We need a leader. We need a winner, a guy who can make those around him better. We’ve got to be more productive; we’ve got to be more efficient. The guys know that.”
▪ Lashlee said it’s easier to recruit top offensive talent with this type of up-tempo, spread offense than other systems:
“Kids would rather play in this offense than a lot of others ones out there,” he said. “Clemson runs the same offense we run; Chad Morris installed it, and he learned it from Gus Malzahn [for whom Lashlee played in high school and coached alongside at several stops].
“Receivers, quarterbacks, tight ends, running backs want to play and they want the ball. We averaged 81 plays a game [last season at SMU] and ran over 100 plays twice in a game. The more plays you run, the more touches for your playmakers. Guys see opportunities.
“You can have running back with 25 or 30 carries and still throw it 35 times. That’s pretty do-able when you’re running with some tempo because you’re going to run enough plays. It’s fast, explosive, exciting. It makes it a lot easier to recruit.”
▪ Lashlee said new offensive line coach Garin Justice is a good fit because of “the fact Garin has a lot of experience in tempo; he played for Rich Rodriguez [at West Virginia] when they were rolling with Pat White.
“He believes in tempo and knows how to coach the offensive line to go fast and be productive. He’s had a lot of success running the football [in coaching stops at FAU, UNLV and elsewhere].”
UM was fourth-worst in the country this past season in sacks allowed (51) but Lashlee expects that number to go down because “we want to get the ball out quick. Tempo helps the o-line in the run game and pass game.”
Incidentally, under Lashlee’s direction, SMU was third in the country last season in number of plays that went for 30 yards or more.
▪ In the wake of issues discussed in this piece on Sunday, we’re told UM coach Manny Diaz has implemented a drug program with stiffer penalties.
There’s a new three-strike system in which the first failed test is a one-game suspension, a second failed test is a multigame suspension and a drug education course and a third failed test results in dismissal.
Under UM’s most recent football drug policy, the penalty for a first offense on a failed drug test is 10 hours of community service. The punishment for a second offense is players are withheld from 10 percent of their season’s competition (one game for football) and a third suspension requires missing 30 percent of the season’s games (three or four for football).
Diaz made a point in recent days that he expects rules to be followed and a clean locker room, among other things.
One UM official told us that the Canes’ drug-testing policy is much tougher than some other Atlantic Coast Conference schools. One athlete at another ACC school said he was tested only once in four years there. So UM is trying to do the right thing.
The NCAA’s mindless drug testing program allows for wide variations in penalties, incidentally. The NCAA requires that teams have some sort of policy and that they follow the policy, but that’s the extent of the policy for regular-season games.
▪ Basketball notes heading into Wednesday’s game at North Carolina State: Don’t underestimate the importance of UF senior grad transfer Keith Stone, who’s expected to be out until early February after a knee procedure.
UM is 6-1 when he plays, 4-4 when he doesn’t. His numbers are modest (5.5 points, 3.8 rebounds), but he gives the Canes’ thin power rotation much-needed size, defense and veteran savvy…
Chris Lykes is having a very good year (15.3 points, 44 percent shooting) but is just 11 for his last 38 from the field, with 10 assists and six turnovers.
And coach Jim Larranaga told Zagacki that teams are doing a good job wearing down the 5-7 point guard.
“There are several things we’re seeing,” Larranaga said. “Teams are switching and often times trying to put a bigger guy on Chris. Any time he gets by his own defender and gets in the paint, the other teams are racing to take away his layups and try to make him a two-point shooter from the foul line.
“They are playing him so physically and bumping him all the time; that becomes exhausting. They are denying him the inbound pass, but he has to use energy to get the ball from the baseline to midcourt. It’s wearing him down. I can see it. We’re trying to get him some rest.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 2:15 PM.
