UM without three starters this spring. And Diaz sheds light on one key defensive position
The Miami Hurricanes will be without three key starters when spring football practice begins Monday: quarterback D’Eriq King (recovering from an ACL injury) and tight end Will Mallory and defensive tackle Nesta Silvera, who are both recovering from shoulder procedures.
Cornerback Al Blades Jr., a starter until the final few games of 2020, has been cleared medically after dealing with a COVID-related cardiac issue but won’t be a full participant in spring, as he works his way back from a cardiovascular standpoint.
And freshman quarterback Jake Garcia, dealing with a foot injury, will be limited early in spring ball but is able to throw and will be on the practice field on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes are hoping some of their young linebackers will develop. Sam Brooks and Corey Flagg have displayed flashes.
Two others to keep an eye on this spring: Tirek Austin-Cave (who didn’t play as much as fellow freshman Flagg last season) and Avery Huff, who has played sparingly in two years here.
Huff, a physical specimen, was ranked by Rivals as the No. 8 inside linebacker and the No. 19 player in Florida and the 171st-best player overall in the country in the 2019 class. But he has played mostly special teams for UM; he logged only 11 defensive snaps last season after redshirting in 2019.
Austin-Cave — rated by Rivals as the No. 24 inside linebacker in the 2020 class — played only 30 defensive snaps last season, but UM is optimistic he will take a step in Year 2.
“This is a big spring for Tirek and Avery,” Manny Diaz said Friday. “They simply have to learn what they’re doing out there and how to get lined up and who to look at and what’s your gap responsibility. It’s not complicated. We’ve obviously had three true freshmen start at linebacker in this scheme in the past. You have to lock in and learn it.
“We’re going to have a real good competition this spring. Those guys understand the urgency. Look, they’re still young players. In recruiting and the Internet, there will be a lot of pressure for a guy to get it. Guys get it at different times. They will get all the reps they can handle this spring. The one thing they both have is they can both run. Tirek, that’s what we loved about him in high school. They can both hit, but you’ve got to learn which way to run and who to hit and that’s what they’ll do this spring.”
UM hasn’t ruled out adding a linebacker in the transfer portal.
“If we come out of spring and feel like we maybe don’t have what we need to compete for things we want to compete for, that is an option,” Diaz said. “You have to be smart in terms of how you use your numbers and how long a guy can be in the program. There’s a lot that goes into all of those. I’m excited what’s on our campus.”
With Mallory out, UM will have three scholarship tight ends available this spring: early arrival Elijah Arroyo, Larry Hodges and Dominic Mammarelli.
Also noteworthy: UM will hold a spring game on April 17 at Hard Rock Stadium, but Diaz said it’s “highly unlikely” fans will be in attendance because of the pandemic.
RUNNING BACK UPDATE
Cody Brown, UM’s newest acquisition at running back, won’t be available for spring practice because he’s not planning to enroll until the summer.
Brown originally signed with Tennessee this winter, but the Volunteers released him from his letter of intent after firing coach Jeremy Pruitt. He never enrolled at Tennessee.
“I almost chose Miami the first time around because I really connected with the coaches, and I fit the offense really well,” Brown told Rivals’ Chad Simmons. “The Miami coaches never really stopped recruiting me until I signed at Tennessee, and the second I was released, they were blowing up my phone trying to get me.”
Brown chose UM over UCF and Missouri.
“It was really hard at first because I thought the whole recruitment thing was behind me,” he told Simmons. “But all of the sudden I was back in it and had to make that hard decision all over again.
‘But this time around I had some more insight about the business of college football and I knew what to look for.”
Brown, who’s 6-0 and 217 pounds, is considered a power back with good speed and could end up being UM’s best option in short-yardage situations.
Credit UM coaches — including running backs coach Eric Hickson — for keeping in close contract even while he was orally committed to Tennessee.
Brown ran for 5,221 yards in his high school career and was rated the No. 10 running back by 247 Sports and the 11th-best running back by Rivals. Those two websites rated him the 193rd and 232nd best player overall in the 2021 class.
In fact, all of UM’s top five backs were rated among the top 250 players in their recruiting class by Rivals or 247 Sports.
Cam’Ron Harris was rated the No. 6 back and No. 81 overall prospect by Rivals in 2018.
For the 2020 class, Don Chaney Jr. was rated the 11th running back and 114th-best player by 247 Sports, which had Jaylon Knighton 10th and 106th that year.
For the 2021 class, UM freshman Thad Franklin was rated the 13th-best back and 235th-best overall player in the Rivals evaluations.
LARRANAGA’S THOUGHTS
With the NCAA granting players another year of eligibility due to the pandemic, the six seniors on UM’s basketball roster have a decision to make with three potential options: 1. Return to play a bonus year of eligibility at UM. 2. Transfer to another school — including another ACC school — to play another year of college basketball or 3. Turn pro.
Those six: Chris Lykes, Nysier Brooks, Rodney Miller, Sam Waardenburg, Elijah Olaniyi and Kam McGusty. We hear Lykes is interested in playing for Georgetown, in the region where he grew up.
Larranaga said he has had conversations with all six but that it was too early to speculate which of those six would return to his program. Olaniyi declined to speculate as well.
“I’m not going to try and interpret everything they said as a decision,” Larranaga said. “What I asked them to do is realistically look at what their journey is going to be, which direction they are going in.
“These guys are 22 years old — Chris, Deng, Sam. I said to them, `I was married when I was 21.’ … `What do your futures look like? You don’t need to tell me today, but you need to ask yourself `what direction do I want to go in?’ Do you want to return to Miami? Turn professional? Consider putting your name in the transfer portal and go somewhere else and try to realize a better future where you think the grass is greener someplace else?’
“Every one of those guys would love to play professional basketball. Are they physically ready, mentally ready? Is professional basketball even going to be an opportunity because of COVID? If you want to go to Europe, for example, are any jobs going to be available? … Would you rather make $35,000 in the G League or come back and play college basketball? I won’t know which way they’re leaving until probably April.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 11:41 AM.
