Miami signed three wide receivers yesterday during the first day of the early signing period. I had a chance to talk with wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield to discuss all of the additions to his receiver room, starting with Michael Redding.
“If you look at him, he has the size. When you look at the numbers as far as what he does athletically, with the broad jump, the vertical jump, the 40, with his weight, he is a put-together kid,” Stubblefield said of Redding. “He will add a physical presence in regards to how he plays because he wants to destroy the competition. He wants to make every play. He is never satisfied. He is hungry. He loves to compete in everything he does, including the classroom. I’m thrilled to have him as a person in the wide receiver room. I’m really excited to work with him to continue to improve on his skill level so that his skill level can match his athletic ability.”
Stubblefield continued going into more detail on what Redding does well and what he can improve on.
“I had the opportunity with some of the one-day stuff to work with him,” Stubblefield said. “The more comfortable he feels with what he is doing, the more natural he is. It’s just little things about wide receiver play that he needs to learn. Sticking a route, running - I know coach (David) Feeley is going to do a great job with him and his development and speed work. His eagerness to learn and his aggressiveness is really going to be welcoming in our room.”
Next, Stubblefield discussed Xavier Restrepo and all that makes him such an intriguing wide receiver prospect.
“He has had to prove that he can play his entire life. He hasn’t been the guys that’s on a Wheaties box, but what he does is he performs, and he flat out competes,” Stubblefield said of Restrepo. “He’s a gym rat, so is Redding. He wants to try to perfect his craft. The reason why he plays so many positions is because he wants to play. He just flat out loves football. A lot of guys love recruiting, a lot of guys love catching a ball, but he loves football and he loves competing. His parents have done a tremendous job of instilling in him to always look for room for improvement and that is what he does.”
Stubblefield also went into great detail about what Restrepo does well and what he wants to work with him on when he arrives on campus in less than a month.
“His football I.Q. is pretty high. He learns quick. He is competitive,” Stubblefield said. “Some of those intangible things are going to help him play fairly quickly. He does a good job of attacking defenders when he needs to attack them. He does a pretty good job with his second-level release. We will need to make sure that we work on him as far as not freestyling too much. He does an excellent job of understanding leverage and understanding angles. He understands if he needs a speed cut, a square cut, a vertical cut, or a hard angle cut. He will continue to improve his hand placement, whether he is at the line of scrimmage or if it is a second-level release to make sure that he can combat the jam.”
Stubblefield also discussed the possibility of Restrepo returning punts and playing on special teams as early as next season.
“I think that is definitely a possibility for him,” Stubblefield said. “He will have the opportunity to make a play and be a part of every return unit. The great thing is that he will want to be a part of it all. Whether that is blocking, whether that is tackling, or whether that is returning. He is just the kind of guy who wants to eat and wants to help his team win. He is a Miami guy.”
Finally, Stubblefield discussed Dazalin Worsham. Coach Stubblefield went into great detail on Worsham’s recruitment and why he eventually decided to come to Miami.
“Dazalin did have an interesting recruiting process even years ago,” Stubblefield said of Worsham. “LSU was really hot on him. He had done a silent commitment to LSU. He goes down to an Alabama camp about a year and a half ago. They offer, and he commits there. He was committed with them but he thought that he wanted more. He wanted to go someplace different. He came on an official visit, which was awesome. He had a great official visit, he de-committed from Alabama, and we thought he was going to commit right away as well.
“I think for him he was just coming back from his injury and he wanted to put some film together and put a body of work together so that when he did commit, he could have some new stuff. I think he also wanted to make sure he didn’t get caught up in the hype of coming down to Miami, seeing the warm weather, seeing the palm trees and the beach… He wanted to make sure it was the right fit. I think the relationship that my family built with his family really helped go a long way in his process.”
Stubblefield also discussed Worsham’s senior season, a season in which he probably dealt with more adversity than anyone else in the class had.
“I really commend Dazalin because he was coming off an injury that took him like six or seven months to come back from,” Stubblefield said. “You come back and are feeling good, but you know you are not quite where you want to be. He had to work. He had to grind. Then his QB gets hurt, then the backup gets hurt… That can be very frustrating for a receiver to have a third-string QB, who was a starting safety.” Stubblefield continued, “He stayed strong mentally. He lost probably 15 pounds because he was not able to do anything for a while. He kept his mind sharp. He kept his hunger, he kept his thirst. When you see him now he is working on some part of his game almost every night.”
“If you look at him, he has the size. When you look at the numbers as far as what he does athletically, with the broad jump, the vertical jump, the 40, with his weight, he is a put-together kid,” Stubblefield said of Redding. “He will add a physical presence in regards to how he plays because he wants to destroy the competition. He wants to make every play. He is never satisfied. He is hungry. He loves to compete in everything he does, including the classroom. I’m thrilled to have him as a person in the wide receiver room. I’m really excited to work with him to continue to improve on his skill level so that his skill level can match his athletic ability.”
Stubblefield continued going into more detail on what Redding does well and what he can improve on.
“I had the opportunity with some of the one-day stuff to work with him,” Stubblefield said. “The more comfortable he feels with what he is doing, the more natural he is. It’s just little things about wide receiver play that he needs to learn. Sticking a route, running - I know coach (David) Feeley is going to do a great job with him and his development and speed work. His eagerness to learn and his aggressiveness is really going to be welcoming in our room.”
Next, Stubblefield discussed Xavier Restrepo and all that makes him such an intriguing wide receiver prospect.
“He has had to prove that he can play his entire life. He hasn’t been the guys that’s on a Wheaties box, but what he does is he performs, and he flat out competes,” Stubblefield said of Restrepo. “He’s a gym rat, so is Redding. He wants to try to perfect his craft. The reason why he plays so many positions is because he wants to play. He just flat out loves football. A lot of guys love recruiting, a lot of guys love catching a ball, but he loves football and he loves competing. His parents have done a tremendous job of instilling in him to always look for room for improvement and that is what he does.”
Stubblefield also went into great detail about what Restrepo does well and what he wants to work with him on when he arrives on campus in less than a month.
“His football I.Q. is pretty high. He learns quick. He is competitive,” Stubblefield said. “Some of those intangible things are going to help him play fairly quickly. He does a good job of attacking defenders when he needs to attack them. He does a pretty good job with his second-level release. We will need to make sure that we work on him as far as not freestyling too much. He does an excellent job of understanding leverage and understanding angles. He understands if he needs a speed cut, a square cut, a vertical cut, or a hard angle cut. He will continue to improve his hand placement, whether he is at the line of scrimmage or if it is a second-level release to make sure that he can combat the jam.”
Stubblefield also discussed the possibility of Restrepo returning punts and playing on special teams as early as next season.
“I think that is definitely a possibility for him,” Stubblefield said. “He will have the opportunity to make a play and be a part of every return unit. The great thing is that he will want to be a part of it all. Whether that is blocking, whether that is tackling, or whether that is returning. He is just the kind of guy who wants to eat and wants to help his team win. He is a Miami guy.”
Finally, Stubblefield discussed Dazalin Worsham. Coach Stubblefield went into great detail on Worsham’s recruitment and why he eventually decided to come to Miami.
“Dazalin did have an interesting recruiting process even years ago,” Stubblefield said of Worsham. “LSU was really hot on him. He had done a silent commitment to LSU. He goes down to an Alabama camp about a year and a half ago. They offer, and he commits there. He was committed with them but he thought that he wanted more. He wanted to go someplace different. He came on an official visit, which was awesome. He had a great official visit, he de-committed from Alabama, and we thought he was going to commit right away as well.
“I think for him he was just coming back from his injury and he wanted to put some film together and put a body of work together so that when he did commit, he could have some new stuff. I think he also wanted to make sure he didn’t get caught up in the hype of coming down to Miami, seeing the warm weather, seeing the palm trees and the beach… He wanted to make sure it was the right fit. I think the relationship that my family built with his family really helped go a long way in his process.”
Stubblefield also discussed Worsham’s senior season, a season in which he probably dealt with more adversity than anyone else in the class had.
“I really commend Dazalin because he was coming off an injury that took him like six or seven months to come back from,” Stubblefield said. “You come back and are feeling good, but you know you are not quite where you want to be. He had to work. He had to grind. Then his QB gets hurt, then the backup gets hurt… That can be very frustrating for a receiver to have a third-string QB, who was a starting safety.” Stubblefield continued, “He stayed strong mentally. He lost probably 15 pounds because he was not able to do anything for a while. He kept his mind sharp. He kept his hunger, he kept his thirst. When you see him now he is working on some part of his game almost every night.”
