After Wednesday’s drills, Miami head coach Manny Diaz updated some personnel news, saying RB DeeJay Dallas would miss the rest of the season with an elbow injury suffered against FIU. Diaz also mentioned TE Brevin Jordan practiced and would be ready for the Duke game, and that WR Jeff Thomas was questionable for Saturday.
“Jeff’s been limited with a back deal, so that’s what he’s been working through,” Diaz said of Thomas.
In practice this week, Diaz says the team has continued to work on what has been a season-long struggle to improve player accountability.
“We’ve tried to put something in place this week, trying to get it to be a little more player-led,” Diaz said. “If there’s something like a guy jumps offsides, another guy will say ‘Let’s get five up-downs’, that kind of thing. We’re trying to get the players bonded to each other from their accountability.”
Diaz spoke more on the effort level of practice, saying today felt like it had greater energy and spirit. Regarding players that loaf in practice, Diaz feels it more important for the other players to notice it and call it out.
“The whole key is that the players see it… You’re trying to draw that line of what does it mean to be fully into the program. Those are all the challenges in trying to get this rolling and building the culture of what it means to be a Miami Hurricane.”
Diaz also mentioned that yesterday’s practice was the second fastest practice of the year per the Catapult system, something Diaz found encouraging.
“Yesterday, I thought our practice was good watching it,” Diaz said. “Watching the film, it was much better than it felt... We run the Catapult system that measures every step, our speed. Turns out, yesterday was our second fastest practice of the year in how guys were running. We can’t run fast without straining. That was very encouraging to hear, because what that is telling you is that a football team in week 14 of a season after such a bad loss came out here and put the work in.”
Last week, FIU players appeared to be faking injuries to stop the clock and allow the Panthers to get the right personnel on the field. Does Diaz feel there’s anything the NCAA can do to adjust the rules to prevent that in the future?
“That’s beyond me. No one likes it, but the officials say `We’re not allowed to judge intent,’” Diaz said. “Right now, it’s a loophole in a rule that I think everyone wants solved, I don’t think anyone wants to watch that. They’ll have to figure out some kind of way to curtail it.”
The Canes’ offense took a big step back from where they were the past two games against FSU and Louisville, and Diaz feels that youth and inconsistency is holding that unit back.
“There’s two things - one, we’re young on offense… Secondly you still have to look at where we were coming from, what was the culture on the offensive side of the ball,” Diaz said. “You’re looking for a way you can get guys that are not just defined by their talent but defined by what they do out here (in practice). When you look at the year in its totality, the development of Dee Wiggins, Cam Harris, Mike Harley and how he stepped up as the year’s gone on, those kind of guys. Mark Pope had a touchdown last week. That’s a positive sign to rebrand what we’re doing on that side of the ball.”
Diaz said he challenged the team following the FSU win to be the same team every week starting with Louisville, and after the big win over the Cardinals, he thought the team turned the corner.
“My mistake was to think that it was cured, because I told them I didn’t think they could be this team every week,” Diaz said. “That’s my arrogance to think that we had it solved that when obviously we didn’t.”
“Jeff’s been limited with a back deal, so that’s what he’s been working through,” Diaz said of Thomas.
In practice this week, Diaz says the team has continued to work on what has been a season-long struggle to improve player accountability.
“We’ve tried to put something in place this week, trying to get it to be a little more player-led,” Diaz said. “If there’s something like a guy jumps offsides, another guy will say ‘Let’s get five up-downs’, that kind of thing. We’re trying to get the players bonded to each other from their accountability.”
Diaz spoke more on the effort level of practice, saying today felt like it had greater energy and spirit. Regarding players that loaf in practice, Diaz feels it more important for the other players to notice it and call it out.
“The whole key is that the players see it… You’re trying to draw that line of what does it mean to be fully into the program. Those are all the challenges in trying to get this rolling and building the culture of what it means to be a Miami Hurricane.”
Diaz also mentioned that yesterday’s practice was the second fastest practice of the year per the Catapult system, something Diaz found encouraging.
“Yesterday, I thought our practice was good watching it,” Diaz said. “Watching the film, it was much better than it felt... We run the Catapult system that measures every step, our speed. Turns out, yesterday was our second fastest practice of the year in how guys were running. We can’t run fast without straining. That was very encouraging to hear, because what that is telling you is that a football team in week 14 of a season after such a bad loss came out here and put the work in.”
Last week, FIU players appeared to be faking injuries to stop the clock and allow the Panthers to get the right personnel on the field. Does Diaz feel there’s anything the NCAA can do to adjust the rules to prevent that in the future?
“That’s beyond me. No one likes it, but the officials say `We’re not allowed to judge intent,’” Diaz said. “Right now, it’s a loophole in a rule that I think everyone wants solved, I don’t think anyone wants to watch that. They’ll have to figure out some kind of way to curtail it.”
The Canes’ offense took a big step back from where they were the past two games against FSU and Louisville, and Diaz feels that youth and inconsistency is holding that unit back.
“There’s two things - one, we’re young on offense… Secondly you still have to look at where we were coming from, what was the culture on the offensive side of the ball,” Diaz said. “You’re looking for a way you can get guys that are not just defined by their talent but defined by what they do out here (in practice). When you look at the year in its totality, the development of Dee Wiggins, Cam Harris, Mike Harley and how he stepped up as the year’s gone on, those kind of guys. Mark Pope had a touchdown last week. That’s a positive sign to rebrand what we’re doing on that side of the ball.”
Diaz said he challenged the team following the FSU win to be the same team every week starting with Louisville, and after the big win over the Cardinals, he thought the team turned the corner.
“My mistake was to think that it was cured, because I told them I didn’t think they could be this team every week,” Diaz said. “That’s my arrogance to think that we had it solved that when obviously we didn’t.”
