Miami Hurricanes receivers coach assesses new players, offers surprising observation
While working at Arizona State, new Miami Hurricanes wide receivers coach Rob Likens developed first-round NFL Draft picks each of the past two years — New England Patriots second-year receiver N’Keal Harry and San Francisco 49ers rookie Brandon Aiyuk.
So it was mildly surprising when Likens said this on Tuesday night about UM redshirt freshman receiver Jeremiah Payton:
“His talent level is as good as any I’ve coached.”
Payton, who impressed teammates during practice last season, “has that talent; he has to get it put all together,” Likens said. “He knows that. We’ve had great discussions about that. He has to start progressing toward getting toward [the potential of his] talent level. I’m excited and want him to get there as much as everybody does.”
Likens addressed several issues in a Zoom session with reporters:
▪ He said Mike Harley Jr., freshman Xavier Restrepo and Marshall Few (now on scholarship) are working in the slot.
I asked Likens why Restrepo is positioned to be an effective slot receiver long-term.
“He has the lateral quickness, is a really good football-minded kid, understands defensive structure,” Likens said. “You have to be a really savvy player and know defensive structure to play in there, and for his age he’s way above normal. If you know the hole to get into, the difference between man and zone, that makes you such a better player than just blindly going out and running your routes.
“He understands all the defensive structure stuff, so that gives him a chance to be way ahead of schedule. He’s just a really hard-working guy, no-nonsense dude, tough as nails, really smart, takes great pride in doing everything right He makes our room better, pays attention to details, just a great dude.”
▪ On freshman Daz Worsham: “Daz Worsham, very similar body type as [fellow freshman] Keyshawn Smith. Grading them as pure route runners, I’d say Daz is really ahead of a lot of freshmen at this point. He’s been really coached well in high school; you can tell that from how he runs routes. We’re pleased with him.”
▪ On freshman Smith: “Outstanding athlete, great quickness, great speed. I don’t know how this year is going to be. There’s all kinds of things that can happen, but he is certainly practicing and making plays in a way that it’s definitely possible you can see him in a game this year.”
▪ He said freshman Michael Redding “has been battling a few things here and there, had the wrist thing coming into spring. And he’s been hobbled just a little bit during fall, so I haven’t had a chance to see him, but I’m extremely excited about him.
“Those four guys, you’ll look back in a couple of years and say `Wow, that was a really good wide receiver class.’”
▪ Likens said he expects to regularly use five or six receivers in games.
And that means two or three inexperienced players are assured of playing, because Harley Jr., Mark Pope and Dee Wiggins are the only genuinely experienced receivers. (Payton played briefly in four games last season — thus preserving his redshirt — and had one catch.)
“I know fans don’t want to hear that stuff, about inexperience, about growing pains and all that stuff,” Likens said. “I don’t want to hear about it as a coach, but there are going to be times a guy is supposed to go inside and goes outside. It’s the nature of playing young players and inexperienced players. How good we can become will be how fast we learn from our mistakes not just in practice but game day situations.
“Does a guy know to get out of bounds in the two-minute drill? Young guys have a tendency to cut it back to the middle of the field. Little things like that can have a tendency to drive you crazy at the beginning of the year. How good can we get from the first game to the second game to the third game? I’m kind of waiting to see how our guys respond to that, and that’ll determine how good this group is because we do have playmakers, athletic guys. But they don’t have experience.”
▪ Likens added: “I have a pretty good idea right now who are the top ones and the guys right up underneath them. But we have to get those twos to start playing like ones. And that’s when you know you’ll have a really good wide receiver group.”
QUICK STUFF
Cam’Ron Harris, the likely starting running back, said he gained weight “because I have a mind-set that we’re in a fast-tempo offense and I have to get back to the ball. So I gained my weight to wear down the defense.”….
Harley, who has reached 24 mph on the treadmill this summer, assessed the freshmen receivers this way:
“Jeremiah Payton, me and a couple of guys like Jeff Thomas, KJ Osborn, saw what JP has, know what he’s capable of. Me being the older guy, I’m trying to keep him levelheaded, consistent when it comes to practice.
“Keyshawn with the flash of speed, tracks the ball great, Restrepo in the slot with me and Marshall Few, he’s one of the toughest guys we have — great hands, great routes. We have Daz, Redding working on the outside. … they’ll be ready for the first game.”...
With players and coaches lobbying the Atlantic Coast Conference to play this season, UM will practice for a fifth consecutive day on Tuesday.
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 9:37 AM.
