Miami Hurricanes coaches dish on bunch of players, including a spring surprise on offense
A 12-pack of notes after Day 9 of Miami Hurricanes spring ball on Wednesday:
▪ Receivers Mark Pope and Dee Wiggins have become proverbial punching bags for some Canes fans because of their drops (each had six last season) and inability, at times, to come down with contested catches.
In fairness, both made their share of plays last season, too — Pope had 33 catches for 403 yards (12.2 yards per reception) and two touchdowns and Wiggins had 31 catches for 358 yards (11.5 average) and three touchdowns.
WQAM’s Joe Rose and Zach Krantz, acknowledging that criticism, on Wednesday asked receivers coach Rob Likens what he tells those two.
“The first thing I tell them is you cannot listen to other people because sometimes criticism paralyzes people,” Likens said. “Any time in life you face adversity, you’ve got two choices: you can either learn from it or you’re going to die from it.
“I say, ‘This is an awesome opportunity to trust in the process. Criticism is part of the process to become a better player. It can make you tougher and give you motivation to become a great player.’
“They work so hard. One thing I can promise the fan base, those guys — each one -has caught over 100 balls, tennis balls every single day. Once they get off the practice field, they test every single day. Those two guys specifically, I tell them, ‘You can’t worry about what other people say about you bad. Just trust in the process.’”
▪ Likens told WQAM that “you see some flashes and athletic ability” with new receiver Charleston Rambo, the transfer from Oklahoma and that he’s just beginning to master the level of detail that coaches at Miami expect from players.
“One of the things about coaching is we are so detail oriented,” Likens said. “Sometimes a kid coming into the program can feel a little bit suffocated with all the details.. We coach guys with extreme detail.
“It took nine, eight days [for Rambo to become acclimated to that]. He looks at me like I’m crazy sometimes. I tell him, ‘Trust in the process. You’re starting to meet the standard of the work ethic that others have put into place.’
“He’s going to get a lot better and grow. Over the summer, when he gets a chance to throw with D’Eriq [King] — he hasn’t had a chance yet to do that with D’Eriq — the wide receiver/quarterback work ethic when they’re by themselves, without the coaches, is when they develop their relationships.”
▪ Likens loves how Xavier Restrepo has come along.
“I see it on a daily basis,” Likens said. “You can live for 1,000 years and I don’t know that you’ll find anyone who loves football more than the X man. He has put himself in position to be in a lot of conversations with playing. I’m very excited about the X man. He is a ball player and a playmaker.”
▪ Likens said because of NCAA restrictions related to COVID-19, he hasn’t had a chance to sit down and talk in person with incoming receivers Romello Brinson, Jacolby George and Brashard Smith. None of those three enrolled early.
“I’m excited to meet the guys,” Likens said. “Haven’t had a chance to sit down with them face to face.”
▪ Found this interesting: Likens said he tells his receivers who is ahead of whom on a daily basis.
“If the game was tomorrow, you just beat that guy out,” is how Likens described what he says to his receivers. “We try to do that on a daily basis to create competition.
“When you get to a new place, the hardest thing is setting the standard. They’re correcting each other, they’re getting on each other and holding each other to the standard.
“In the spring, every day is a freaking grind and you’ve got to go out and win your position every day. When you get to the season, you’ve got to set your lineup and hold them to a standard. This is the greatest time as a coach in the spring because everybody is equal. You want different receivers [playing] with different quarterbacks.”
▪ Likens said UM coaches have an agreement with each other not to discuss players at other positions in conversations with reporters but said of the quarterbacks: “If I was a young wide receiver, I’d be excited” to play here.
▪ Defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson said cornerback Al Blades Jr. — who is rebounding from a COVID-related cardiac issue — “is doing some things on the field, a little bit more than he has. We’re excited about him to keep coming.”
▪ Robinson likes what he has seen from safety Avantae Williams, one of the nation’s top safeties in the 2020 class who sat out last season with an undisclosed football-related medical issue.
“Avantae is getting comfortable, adjusting to playing football again,” Robinson said. “Showing him how to be physical, head up, not ducking. We have to clean up technical issues with him. At night, he calls you and says, ‘I want to go over this again.’ I’m excited about Avantae; he’s a really talented player. He’s not where he needs to be, but moving toward that.”
Safety Bubba Bolden said Williams “doesn’t need to write things down” to remember it. “It’s a great improvement every day by him. On the interception [in last Saturday’s scrimmage], he just went up and got that one.”
▪ Robinson said the one early enrollee at safety, Kamren Kinchens, “is a phenomenal young player, very very intelligent, all the things you want your son to be. He is going to be a fine football player.”
▪ Former four-star prospect Jalen Harrell, who moved from safety to cornerback, “is big and physical” and well-suited for cornerback “especially outside how we play,” Robinson said.
“He can put hands on people and run vertical down the line and has great straight ahead speed. Different speed, that gives him difficulties. He’s been doing a fine job of learning what to do” and a “decent job” of applying it.
▪ Robinson — who had been defensive coordinator at South Carolina — should be a great asset in recruiting.
Once the NCAA allows players to visit campuses again (not permitted through at least May), “getting them on our campus will separate us from other people,” Robinson said. “I didn’t know Miami, the university, was as gorgeous as it is. When they open this thing up finally - I’m praying it happens - we can get guys on campus. They’ve done a great job with facilities and the campus.”
▪ Couple notable comments from Bolden: He discussed how impressive young quarterbacks Tyler Van Dyke and Jake Garcia have been in the absence of King, who continues to recover from a torn ACL and remains on track to play in the opener against Alabama.
“Van Dyke has an arm like no other, puts balls in places others can’t,” Bolden said. “Garcia has crazy, Patrick Mahomes throws sometimes. They’re on a path to being great.”
And even though Avantae Williams and five-star summer arrival James Williams will be part of the safety competition this summer, Bolden said he, Amari Carter and Gurvan Hall “are the three best safeties. That’s how it’s going to be throughout the season.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 12:24 PM.
