During Monday’s presser, Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz did not confirm if it was a COVID-19 outbreak or contact tracing issue that caused the Canes to be shorthanded in the win over UVA this weekend; 6 freshmen - DB Brian Balom, LB Corey Flagg, WR Michael Redding, WR Xavier Restrepo, DL Elijah Roberts, and QB Tyler Van Dyke - all were listed as “Unavailable” despite having no known injuries heading into the game.
However, Diaz did clarify this afternoon that contact tracing or a positive test would cause a player to be on the unavailability list and spoke about how long he would expect a player to be out in either scenario.
“The range is 10-14 days,” Diaz said. “We’re just in line with our University policy. Those players are quarantined away from the team, rest of the student body (like) any other UM student.”
With the 19-14 win over Virginia this weekend, UM is standing at 5-1 heading into the midway point of the season and their second bye week. Diaz said a key focus of this bye week will be to further develop the younger players on the roster, and he has seen a lot of promise from some of the underclassmen guys that could have an expanded role in the second half of the season.
“We’ll start on offense, the offensive line, I’d say Jalen Rivers,” Diaz said. “Jalen got a couple of snaps in our heavy package on Saturday, we’re excited about Jalen’s development as a tackle, which is pretty unique for a guy his size. The wide receivers have all gotten into games, showed their potential. Dom Mammarelli played a lot (vs. UVA), was outstanding on special teams, and then Tyler Van Dyke. We’re excited to watch Tyler every week in practice. He’s getting better and better and has everyone on this side of the program excited about him... Issiah Walker has come in and done some things, showed his skillset, helping us out with those scout team guys.
“Defensively you’ve seen Brian Balom, Isaiah Dunson get in some games. Jalen Harrell got pushed into duty this past Saturday - for what he was asked to do, ran around, made some good tackles. Linebackers, everyone’s seen Corey Flagg, but Tirek Austin-Cave, when he and Avery Huff get (the playbook) down - those guys will improve once they know what they’re doing. Up front, Elijah Roberts, Chantz Williams, Cameron Williams, all those guys flashed for us in practice. It’s a talented class."
Can Van Dyke challenge N’Kosi Perry as the number 2 QB?
“I’d say that’s true, we want competition,” Diaz said. “Both those guys know they have to stay prepared, can go in at any time.”
Diaz was also asked which freshman WR has stood out above the rest of the four man class.
“They’re all just different,” Diaz said. “Keyshawn (Smith) maybe flashes the most because of his outstanding speed. But Michael Redding has a knack for stacking people, making plays down the field. And Xavier Restrepo and Daz Worsham - talented as well. They’re just all a little different. Keyshawn’s speed probably flashes above all the skill sets.”
After a strong start to the season, Miami’s offensive line continued on a downward trend vs. UVA, giving up 11 TFL and 5 sacks, and there were multiple other close calls in those departments as well. In their past three games combined, UM has now given up a whopping 14 sacks and 37 TFL; still, Diaz has been encouraged by the play out at the tackle spots thus far.
“We think Zion Nelson has really developed and played well, John Campbell has been able to take some snaps," Diaz said. "Jarrid Williams has calmed some things down at the tackle position. You feel you have even more than two tackles that can compete. It has been better this year. We didn’t play great on the right side this Saturday, but that’s been sort of the outlier this season. And just recruiting, we have to recruit, recruit, recruit, every year try to stack recruiting classes and improve our roster.”
Another priority for Miami during their bye this week? Recruiting, according to Diaz.
“We have a chance to dive into some film. There hasn’t been much film to evaluate,” Diaz said. “A couple of the private schools started earlier, but most of the public schools just started Friday. We don’t pay attention to rankings, we want to see how you play football. We haven’t seen a lot of football, nor has anyone else. We’ll see how guys are performing, dig into the 2022’s and 2023’s, see what’s available.”
Recruiting during the pandemic has had its challenges in certain areas for most programs, and Diaz said it has been no different for UM in terms of getting accurate evaluations, especially for future classes outside this current 2021 cycle where most of the evals had already been done.
“It has had a massive effect we won’t be able to measure until four to five years from now when we see how the class shakes down,” Diaz said. “It’s a major issue for the 2022 class. There was no spring football, no camp series in the summer. Evaluation for that 2022 class will be unlike any other. There are some really good players in that 2022 class that no one knows anything about. It’s very hard to tell, but the impacts will be immense.”
However, Diaz did clarify this afternoon that contact tracing or a positive test would cause a player to be on the unavailability list and spoke about how long he would expect a player to be out in either scenario.
“The range is 10-14 days,” Diaz said. “We’re just in line with our University policy. Those players are quarantined away from the team, rest of the student body (like) any other UM student.”
With the 19-14 win over Virginia this weekend, UM is standing at 5-1 heading into the midway point of the season and their second bye week. Diaz said a key focus of this bye week will be to further develop the younger players on the roster, and he has seen a lot of promise from some of the underclassmen guys that could have an expanded role in the second half of the season.
“We’ll start on offense, the offensive line, I’d say Jalen Rivers,” Diaz said. “Jalen got a couple of snaps in our heavy package on Saturday, we’re excited about Jalen’s development as a tackle, which is pretty unique for a guy his size. The wide receivers have all gotten into games, showed their potential. Dom Mammarelli played a lot (vs. UVA), was outstanding on special teams, and then Tyler Van Dyke. We’re excited to watch Tyler every week in practice. He’s getting better and better and has everyone on this side of the program excited about him... Issiah Walker has come in and done some things, showed his skillset, helping us out with those scout team guys.
“Defensively you’ve seen Brian Balom, Isaiah Dunson get in some games. Jalen Harrell got pushed into duty this past Saturday - for what he was asked to do, ran around, made some good tackles. Linebackers, everyone’s seen Corey Flagg, but Tirek Austin-Cave, when he and Avery Huff get (the playbook) down - those guys will improve once they know what they’re doing. Up front, Elijah Roberts, Chantz Williams, Cameron Williams, all those guys flashed for us in practice. It’s a talented class."
Can Van Dyke challenge N’Kosi Perry as the number 2 QB?
“I’d say that’s true, we want competition,” Diaz said. “Both those guys know they have to stay prepared, can go in at any time.”
Diaz was also asked which freshman WR has stood out above the rest of the four man class.
“They’re all just different,” Diaz said. “Keyshawn (Smith) maybe flashes the most because of his outstanding speed. But Michael Redding has a knack for stacking people, making plays down the field. And Xavier Restrepo and Daz Worsham - talented as well. They’re just all a little different. Keyshawn’s speed probably flashes above all the skill sets.”
After a strong start to the season, Miami’s offensive line continued on a downward trend vs. UVA, giving up 11 TFL and 5 sacks, and there were multiple other close calls in those departments as well. In their past three games combined, UM has now given up a whopping 14 sacks and 37 TFL; still, Diaz has been encouraged by the play out at the tackle spots thus far.
“We think Zion Nelson has really developed and played well, John Campbell has been able to take some snaps," Diaz said. "Jarrid Williams has calmed some things down at the tackle position. You feel you have even more than two tackles that can compete. It has been better this year. We didn’t play great on the right side this Saturday, but that’s been sort of the outlier this season. And just recruiting, we have to recruit, recruit, recruit, every year try to stack recruiting classes and improve our roster.”
Another priority for Miami during their bye this week? Recruiting, according to Diaz.
“We have a chance to dive into some film. There hasn’t been much film to evaluate,” Diaz said. “A couple of the private schools started earlier, but most of the public schools just started Friday. We don’t pay attention to rankings, we want to see how you play football. We haven’t seen a lot of football, nor has anyone else. We’ll see how guys are performing, dig into the 2022’s and 2023’s, see what’s available.”
Recruiting during the pandemic has had its challenges in certain areas for most programs, and Diaz said it has been no different for UM in terms of getting accurate evaluations, especially for future classes outside this current 2021 cycle where most of the evals had already been done.
“It has had a massive effect we won’t be able to measure until four to five years from now when we see how the class shakes down,” Diaz said. “It’s a major issue for the 2022 class. There was no spring football, no camp series in the summer. Evaluation for that 2022 class will be unlike any other. There are some really good players in that 2022 class that no one knows anything about. It’s very hard to tell, but the impacts will be immense.”
