Asking and answering five key questions on offense heading into Hurricanes spring practice
With Miami Hurricanes football practice starting on Monday, exploring five key questions/issues on offense:
▪ Where should DJ Scaife play, who’s the right tackle and who emerges as starters alongside Zion Nelson, Scaife and Jalen Rivers?
OK, that’s technically three questions, but all three interlock.
Scaife has been clearly better as a guard than a tackle, and Pro Football Focus rated him 33rd of 537 guards last season. So why would UM possibly consider moving him from right guard to right tackle? A case could be made to do so only if he’s the best option at the position.
There are at least seven possible 2022 starting right tackles on the roster: John Campbell, Justice Oluwaseun, Scaife, Rivers, Chris Washington, Isaiah Walker and Michael McLaughlin.
And the possibility of Anez Cooper or Matthew McCoy seizing a starting job as freshmen cannot be ruled out. And UM remains among finalists for top Seattle-based tackle prospects Josh Conerly, who plans to announce in March after visiting two Pacific-12 schools.
Allowing Campbell, Oluwaseun, Washington, Walker and McLaughlin to compete for the right tackle job would be the least disruptive, because it would leave Rivers and Scaife at guard, the positions they began last season as starters.
Rivers missed the last nine games and is still working his way back from his knee injury.
But there remains the possibility that Rivers or Scaife might be deemed a better right tackle option than Campbell (who missed last season with a knee injury) and Oluwaseun or two players with no real college experience -- Walker or McLaughlin.
Barring the addition of another veteran transfer, the likelihood is that Nelson (left tackle), Scaife and Rivers will start in three of the five positions on the offensive line.
Jakai Clark will battle Oregon transfer Logan Sagapolu for the center job, with Sagapolu and Clark also options at guard.
Per PFF, Clark graded out below average at center last season after taking over for Corey Gaynor, who graded out even worse and is now at North Carolina.
Sagapolu missed last season with injury and hasn’t played a snap in two college seasons, but new coach Mario Cristobal and new offensive line coach Alex Mirabal wanted him on the roster after recruiting him to Oregon.
The fifth starting spot could go to the loser of that center battle or Campbell, Oluwaseun, Walker (who has been dealing with personal issues, according to former coach Garin Justice) or Ousman Traore or one of three second-year players: McLaughlin, Washington or Laurence Seymour.
Veterans Cleveland Reed and Zalont’ae Hillery are long shots to start. Reed and Hillery have never started a game; Traore has started two.
If UM emerges from the spring believing it needs more offensive line help, another transfer could be added.
▪ Can Henry Parrish do enough in the spring to enter the equation for the starting running back job?
Four running backs realistically have a shot to win the starting job: Don Chaney Jr., Jaylan Knighton, Parrish and freshman Tre’Vonte Citizen. Even second-year players Thad Franklin and Cody Brown cannot be entirely ruled out.
But of the first four, only Knighton and Parrish are expected to be present and at full strength for spring ball. Chaney is still working back from last season’s knee injury. And Citizen isn’t yet on campus.
New running backs coach Kevin Smith coached Parrish at Mississippi and knows him better than any other back on the UM roster.
Both Parrish and Knighton are listed at 5-10, 190 pounds.
But if it’s mostly a Parrish/Knighton battle in the spring, Parrish enters not only with more familiarity with his position coach but a stronger career body of work.
Parrish, in 161 career carries over two seasons, has averaged 5.1 yards per rush, including 5.2 last season in the nation’s toughest conference (the SEC).
Knighton, in 197 career carries over two seasons, has averaged 3.9 yards per rush, both in his career and last season.
Knighton is the more explosive receiving threat; he has 31 career catches for 415 yards (13.4 average) and four TDs. Parrish has 28 for 232 (8.3 average) and no TDs.
New offensive coordinator Josh Gattis used multiple backs at Michigan, but the bigger, more physical back usually played on first down. That suggests that Chaney (5-10, 208) or Citizen (6-0, 218) could seize the starting job if Parrish doesn’t. Knighton seems more likely to compete for a third down role.
▪ Who seizes rotation spots at receiver?
Nine are essentially competing for five or six spots. Key’Shawn Smith - who started every game last season and caught 33 of 59 targets for 405 yards - and Xavier Restrepo (24 for 373) are close to automatic.
Restrepo is the front-runner to replace departing Mike Harley Jr. in the slot.
Daz Worsham and freshman Isaiah Horton seem the least likely of the nine to claim rotation spots this season.
So unless Worsham or Horton makes a strong case, that leaves five players competing for three or four slots: Clemson transfer Frank Ladson, Michael Redding and last season’s trio of talented freshmen: Jacolby George, Romello Brinson and multi-purpose weapon Brashard Smith.
Barring injuries, all except Horton should be available for spring ball.
The guess here - and it’s just my speculation - is that Ladson and George will emerge with rotation spots, joining Smith and Restrepo.
That could leave Brinson, Redding and Smith competing for spots 5, 6 and 7, with Worsham and Horton also competing.
Ladson battled injuries at Clemson, starting eight games and appearing in 22 others over three seasons and producing 31 catches for 428 yards (13.8 average) and six touchdowns.
But the battle among the top seven will be spirited and highly competitive.
▪ Who emerges as the No. 2 tight end behind senior Will Mallory?
Elijah Arroyo enters with a slight edge after spending a year in a college weight room; he’s now listed at 6-4 and 235 pounds. But ballyhooed freshman Jaleel Skinner, who’s on campus, will try to overtake him.
Skinner needs to put on weight- he’s listed at 6-5, 215 - but there are no questions about the physical gifts; Rivals rated him the No. 2 tight end in the class and the 136th best player overall.
Last year, Rivals rated Arroyo the No. 9 tight end and No. 214 player overall in the 2021 class.
Arroyo last season caught five of eight targets for 86 yards. Khalil Brantley also will compete for time.
Gattis played two tight end sets last season far more than predecessor Rhett Lashlee did. That could bode well for Arroyo and Skinner.
▪ Does Jake Garcia, coming off a foot/ankle injury that sidelined him much of last season, show enough this spring to earn any non-blowout game snaps behind Tyler Van Dyke?
A strong case could be made to play Van Dyke every snap of every game except during blowouts; he already looks like one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
But if Garcia is exceptional this spring and in August, would UM selectively give him a series or two in certain games this season, depending on how the game is going?
UM very much hopes Garcia sticks around. If Van Dyke turns pro after next season, this could be Garcia’s team in 2023.
This story was originally published March 6, 2022 at 1:35 PM.
