With the team heading into a week off for spring break, Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz gave a recap of the team’s performance through the first week of spring ball.
“It was a really good week, four days out of five playing the pace we played at,” Diaz said. “Our guys are in good shape, are competing. It’s been hard, the coaches have been relentless in terms of getting after them. They understand the expectations now.”
How has last season’s spring compared to the 2020 version so far?
“It’s different because of the people we have here,” Diaz said. “Everything this time last year was positive and ‘Hooray’. There’s 130 teams playing spring ball and no one is talking about ‘We’re going to find a way to go 0-12.’ Everyone has some sense of optimism. There’s just not the same people here as last year. However, it appears on the surface, it’s just different.
“Now, there’s no question what’s happening offensively, the pace of play at practice changes everything. Every guy in the locker room will tell you we’re not playing the same sport we played a year ago. Again, it’s not going to be the scheme that saves us, the magical plays. It’s the young men we have, the decisions being made and the `how’ that we’re playing with. We have to force the `how.’ Because it doesn’t work at half speed. It has to be done with all you have at all times, and that will be the biggest difference.”
Diaz pointed to the defensive line as having a strong first week, praising the play of redshirt freshmen DE’s Jahfari Harvey and Cameron Williams.
“Defensive end, those guys are right in line with what the University of Miami should have,” Diaz said.
At defensive tackle, Jalar Holley is coming off a redshirt season, but has jumped right into the mix and has seen first team reps.
“He’s a very active player, probably has the most active hands, as violent hands as anyone in our defensive tackles room,” Diaz said of Holley. “He, like most young players, is still learning pad level. But you can see when he plays with the technique that coach (Todd) Stroud teaches that he has the athleticism to make a play.”
Holley’s classmate in DT Jared Harrison-Hunte has made some waves as well mainly working with the second team.
“What’s shown up this week is his power,” Diaz said. “He’s knocked some guards down.”
The Canes have made some new off the field hires over the offseason, including Telly Lockette as an offensive analyst and Ed Reed as Chief of Staff.
Of Lockette, Diaz said he is still going through the hiring process, but that he’d be able to help recruit prospects when they are on campus, as well as having other responsibilities once things are official.
“We’re really excited about when it officially becomes official,” Diaz said. “[Analysts] can work with the position group, be in meeting rooms, be part of the film study, those type of things. They can’t be involved in the direction of the players in a coaching manner.”
On Reed, Diaz said the Hall of Famer was not able to get around the team this week, but that it was expected.
“We knew early on there were things he was already committed to,” Diaz said. “He was around the majority of our offseason program, this was a week he was going to be gone. When we’re back from spring break, he’ll be back.”
With the offense running at a quicker tempo, Diaz feels it has been that much harder for the younger players to pick up, with some guys not really accustomed to how things are run at the college level in general.
“Some drills we did today, young guys are always going to get exposed, but in this [offense] it looks really, really bad,” Diaz said. “So, it’s been good for them. We’re trying to create a chaos that we’re so used to playing in, that when we get into games, it’s easy.”
Speaking on Houston transfer QB D’Eriq King, Diaz says he’s brought great intangibles and off the charts athleticism to the quarterback room.
“We had heard good things about D’Eriq, and to see it now is really exciting,” Diaz said.
The team also participated in full tackling drills for the first time today.
“The guys are seeing a different edge about us, certainly offensively and that will get us better defensively,” Diaz said.
Of the offensive line, Diaz has been impressed that, overall, they have been picking up the scheme quickly, especially in the running game.
“I have been so impressed that you can take a running play which everyone runs, which is inside zone, and in four days they look like they’ve been running it for their entire life,” Diaz said. “To the point I went up to one of our graduate assistants and said `I can’t believe we’ve been doing this for four days. It looks so polished.’ By no means does that mean we have it all figured out, but they are making obvious improvements.”
In injury news, Diaz confirmed that junior TE Brevin Jordan had foot surgery over the offseason.
“It was a really good week, four days out of five playing the pace we played at,” Diaz said. “Our guys are in good shape, are competing. It’s been hard, the coaches have been relentless in terms of getting after them. They understand the expectations now.”
How has last season’s spring compared to the 2020 version so far?
“It’s different because of the people we have here,” Diaz said. “Everything this time last year was positive and ‘Hooray’. There’s 130 teams playing spring ball and no one is talking about ‘We’re going to find a way to go 0-12.’ Everyone has some sense of optimism. There’s just not the same people here as last year. However, it appears on the surface, it’s just different.
“Now, there’s no question what’s happening offensively, the pace of play at practice changes everything. Every guy in the locker room will tell you we’re not playing the same sport we played a year ago. Again, it’s not going to be the scheme that saves us, the magical plays. It’s the young men we have, the decisions being made and the `how’ that we’re playing with. We have to force the `how.’ Because it doesn’t work at half speed. It has to be done with all you have at all times, and that will be the biggest difference.”
Diaz pointed to the defensive line as having a strong first week, praising the play of redshirt freshmen DE’s Jahfari Harvey and Cameron Williams.
“Defensive end, those guys are right in line with what the University of Miami should have,” Diaz said.
At defensive tackle, Jalar Holley is coming off a redshirt season, but has jumped right into the mix and has seen first team reps.
“He’s a very active player, probably has the most active hands, as violent hands as anyone in our defensive tackles room,” Diaz said of Holley. “He, like most young players, is still learning pad level. But you can see when he plays with the technique that coach (Todd) Stroud teaches that he has the athleticism to make a play.”
Holley’s classmate in DT Jared Harrison-Hunte has made some waves as well mainly working with the second team.
“What’s shown up this week is his power,” Diaz said. “He’s knocked some guards down.”
The Canes have made some new off the field hires over the offseason, including Telly Lockette as an offensive analyst and Ed Reed as Chief of Staff.
Of Lockette, Diaz said he is still going through the hiring process, but that he’d be able to help recruit prospects when they are on campus, as well as having other responsibilities once things are official.
“We’re really excited about when it officially becomes official,” Diaz said. “[Analysts] can work with the position group, be in meeting rooms, be part of the film study, those type of things. They can’t be involved in the direction of the players in a coaching manner.”
On Reed, Diaz said the Hall of Famer was not able to get around the team this week, but that it was expected.
“We knew early on there were things he was already committed to,” Diaz said. “He was around the majority of our offseason program, this was a week he was going to be gone. When we’re back from spring break, he’ll be back.”
With the offense running at a quicker tempo, Diaz feels it has been that much harder for the younger players to pick up, with some guys not really accustomed to how things are run at the college level in general.
“Some drills we did today, young guys are always going to get exposed, but in this [offense] it looks really, really bad,” Diaz said. “So, it’s been good for them. We’re trying to create a chaos that we’re so used to playing in, that when we get into games, it’s easy.”
Speaking on Houston transfer QB D’Eriq King, Diaz says he’s brought great intangibles and off the charts athleticism to the quarterback room.
“We had heard good things about D’Eriq, and to see it now is really exciting,” Diaz said.
The team also participated in full tackling drills for the first time today.
“The guys are seeing a different edge about us, certainly offensively and that will get us better defensively,” Diaz said.
Of the offensive line, Diaz has been impressed that, overall, they have been picking up the scheme quickly, especially in the running game.
“I have been so impressed that you can take a running play which everyone runs, which is inside zone, and in four days they look like they’ve been running it for their entire life,” Diaz said. “To the point I went up to one of our graduate assistants and said `I can’t believe we’ve been doing this for four days. It looks so polished.’ By no means does that mean we have it all figured out, but they are making obvious improvements.”
In injury news, Diaz confirmed that junior TE Brevin Jordan had foot surgery over the offseason.
