What we’re hearing on the Hurricanes’ offense. And the freshman who is the ‘real deal’
A six-pack of Tuesday notes on the Miami Hurricanes offense:
▪ Two UM players recently delivered a clear message:
In the limited sample size that teammates have seen him, freshman quarterback Tyler Van Dyke is the real deal. Those were the exact words used by two Canes offensive players.
Van Dyke was only on campus less than two months before classes were suspended due to coronavirus. He and teammates participated in just four spring practices.
But two players on the team said there’s something different about him — in a very good way.
One said he’s really, really good — the best of the quarterbacks competing to back up D’Eriq King. He’s accurate, bright, has a maturity about him and a strong arm. “He’s a gunslinger,” the other said.
Both expect him to be the starter in a post-D’Eriq King era, either immediately or soon after.
N’Kosi Perry and Van Dyke appear the top contenders to back up King, and Perry’s significant game experience and work in a spread offense could give him the edge. Getting Van Dyke some mop-up duty in 2020, while preserving his redshirt, could ultimately be the best approach.
▪ A couple of interesting notes from Pro Football Focus’ piece on King:
In 2018, PFF graded King the second-best quarterback in the country, behind only Kyler Murray. King regressed considerably in PFF’s grading system last season before he decided to redshirt after four games at Houston.
“While the drop-off in play as a passer is something to be worried about for King, we shouldn’t ignore the damage he did in 2018 over a much larger sample size through the air as well as his top-tier rushing ability,” PFF said. “King’s athleticism makes him one of the most potent dual-threat quarterbacks in the college game.”
In 2018, King averaged 4.65 yards after contact per rushing attempt, which was best in the country. He ran for at least 10 yards on 23.5 percent of his carries in 2018 and a whopping 34 percent last season, which was best among quarterbacks.
As PFF noted, “whether it was a designed carry or a scramble, King was lethal with the ball in his hands and looked like a running back with the way he avoided tackles and created after contact.”
The only concern, albeit a mild one, is the drop in accuracy in the four-game sample size last year. On throws of at least 10 yards, King completed 50.3 percent of his attempts in 2018, but just 26.1 percent last season.
“It’s a small sample, but it was obvious Dana Holgorsen’s Air Raid offense wasn’t for King,” PFF said.
PFF notes that King excelled in run/pass options and new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee “very much knows how to utilize an athletic and mobile quarterback like King dating back to his days at Auburn with Nick Marshall in 2014. If Lashlee integrates more Run N’ Shoot, which was integral in King’s elite 2018 campaign, we may see the best comeback of the year.”
As ACC Network analyst and former UM coach Mark Richt told WQAM’s Marc Hochman and Channing Crowder: “King can run all the things you want a quarterback to run with zone reads, QB draws. He can throw well on the move, can create big plays off scrambles.
“He’s been a starter. It’s not like you’re breaking in a freshman. I doubt there’s any new concepts. Might be a couple new concepts Lashlee will put in. In the Coastal, they are going to have as good a chance as anybody to win it. Nobody has showed to be a dominant team on that side.”
▪ With senior Navaughn Donaldson expected to be sidelined for the start of training camp because of a knee injury, the best approach likely would be to redshirt him, which would allow Miami to use him in four late-season games and all of 2021.
The top candidates to replace Donaldson at left guard: Jakai Clark (who started 12 games at right guard as a freshman last season) and former junior college player Ousman Traore, who played in only two games last season under former offensive line coach Butch Barry but intrigues new offensive line coach Garin Justice, who had Traore with the starters in the four spring practices.
Traore was good enough to earn an offer from LSU out of Hutchinson Community College in Kansas last year. D.J. Scaife is the likely starter at right guard. Cleveland Reed, reinstated by UM this spring after entering the transfer portal last September, has enough physical gifts to possibly become a factor. Richt, for one, loved Reed’s upside.
▪ Though Houston graduate transfer Jarrid Williams has some starting experience at left tackle at Houston in 2017, UM at this point intends to use him at right tackle, where he’s the front-runner to start. John Campbell appears the favorite to start at left tackle, with Zion Nelson and Kai-Leon Herbert (UM believes he can be salvaged) among the other options. Corey Gaynor assuredly will start at center.
▪ Other positions: Among receivers, it’s clear that Mike Harley Jr., Mark Pope, Dee Wiggins and Jeremiah Payton (who impressed on the scout team last year) will play. Among the four freshmen (Michael Redding, Daz Worsham, Xavier Restrepo, Keyshawn Smith), keep an eye on Restrepo, who impressed everyone in four spring practices and could get immediate work in the slot. “He’s real quick, real shifty, probably one of the fastest guys on the team already,” said safety Amari Carter, adding that Restrepo’s ability to get yards after the catch reminds him of Braxton Berrios….
Speedy, shifty freshman running back Jaylon Knighton will have every chance to win a job on third down. The other question is whether ballyhooed freshman Don Chaney Jr. will beat out bruising back Robert Burns for the No. 2 job behind Cam’ron Harris….
Though Brevin Jordan, Will Mallory and Larry Hodges should be the top three tight ends in that order, don’t be surprised if freshman Dominic Mammarelli forges a role; Manny Diaz said he provides a skill set UM might not have, as a skilled blocker who can control “the gap outside the offensive tackle.”
▪ A Canes offensive linemen who was told not to report to voluntary practices this week because of concerns he might have COVID-19 has tested negative, according to a source. UM isn’t revealing how many - if any - football players have tested positive for coronavirus, even though no law prohibits that disclosure.
This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 5:38 PM.
