Here’s the key area of Hurricanes football that Manny Diaz said he needed to ‘modernize’
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Tuesday:
▪ Manny Diaz has brought UM’s recruiting department out of the dark ages. And he hopes this 2020 class that was rated 12th in the nation by 247 sports — despite the 6-7 record last season — will begin to validate his changes.
Over the past year, Diaz received permission from athletic director Blake James to revamp the department with several new employees.
“When I became the head coach, I thought we had to modernize our recruiting efforts,” Diaz told WQAM’s Joe Zagacki. “I thought it was outdated. I credit Blake and [UM deputy director of athletics] Jenn Strawley for allowing me to restructure our staff. We had to reinvent some positions. We brought in Andy Vaughn. What DeMarcus Van Dyke, David Cooney and Edwin Pata have done,...our recruiting has taken a major step forward.”
And let’s be clear: “Recruiting is everything,” Diaz said. “I feel good with the way we’ve been able to recruit and guys that fit our culture.”
The ability to land several high-end prospects, including safety Avantae Williams as UM’s final signing on Feb. 5, “is massive,” Diaz said. “These kids grow up in an era, like the NBA, the Dream Team era, they want to go where the other great players are. It makes waves when players you mention pick the Hurricanes.
“You are talking about getting the nation’s top player at a position, Avantae, and those things stand out to the next wave. That’s why we made an effort to modernize our recruiting efforts and make it a 365 day a year [priority] for everyone in this program. If we get it rolling and recruit the way we want to recruit, we can be one of those teams” like Clemson, Diaz said.
The way Diaz has structured recruiting, Vaughn is the essentially behind-the-scenes organizer, and Cooney and Van Dyke — who are well-liked — control the pulse on the ground level.
Before Diaz’s changes, UM did not have full-time recruiting employees in the positions that Cooney and Van Dyke hold now. Those jobs on staff were quality control staffers. But the Hurricanes are better served by having those employees in a recruiting role.
▪ Will UM continue to rely on grad transfers as much as the past two years?
“We want to be a developmental program and stack reps on the field and in the weight room,” Diaz said. “We knew we had to get a quarterback [D’Eriq King]. We knew we had to get a kicker [Jose Borregalas]. Will that be the new normal going forward? Probably not far away from that going forward. But that’s using the new rules to your advantage.”
▪ Appearing at a UM Sports Hall of Fame event on Monday night in South Miami, former UM receiver Randal Hill made clear he appreciates the Canes’ hiring of Ed Reed but wishes something else had happened, too.
“I like what Ed Reed brings to the program, but everyone knows Alonzo Highsmith should have been a part of this program,” Hill said of a decision made by Diaz, who clearly felt a better comfort level with Reed.
▪ Former UM running backs coach Don Soldinger, asked at that South Miami event about why no UM head coach has been able to fix this thing for 15 years: “We solved it for a while,” he said. “We should have had back to back championships. The worst we were was 9-3. As soon as they let us go, in 2005, they haven’t done anything since.
“We weren’t just lucky. We surrounded ourselves with good people. And if you surround yourself with good people, you’re going to be successful. I like Manny. I liked Al Golden. Some of them don’t get it. You can’t live on somebody else’s laurels.”
▪ Former UM linebacker Mike Pinckney recently learned that he has a torn labrum in his right hip and will need surgery, which will sideline him six to nine months, agent Deryk Gilmore told me.
Pinckney is meeting with teams at the Combine in Indianapolis but not working out. The injury has bothered him since late in his junior season but nobody knew it was a torn labrum.
The injury could hurt his stock in the draft, but he still has a chance to go on the third day. If not, he will assuredly get multiple offers as a priority free agent.
UM has eight players at the Combine this week, with defensive ends Trevon Hill and Jon Garvin, linebacker Shaq Quarterman and running back DeeJay Dallas, considered by some to be the best prospects of the group.
▪ The annual UM Sports Hall of Fame banquet was set for April 2 at the Doubtree by Hilton Miami Airport Convention Center. The inductees: football’s Jay Brophy and Phillip Buchanan and Kevin Williams; baseball’s Yasmani Grandal; basketball’s Johnny Hemsley; soccer’s Brittney Steinbruch; tennis’ Laura Vallverdu and track and field’s Mike Ward.
Here’s my Monday night piece with news on a player changing positions, the surprise site of the spring game and more.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 3:27 PM.
