Enos, Baker preview Gators, talk team ahead of opener

Enos, Baker preview Gators, talk team ahead of opener

Stefan Adams
Along with getting his players up to speed in a brand-new offense, Miami offensive coordinator Dan Enos is also facing the challenge of preparing redshirt freshman Jarren Williams for his first career start on Saturday against the Florida Gators.

“My thing with all quarterbacks, whether it is their first start or 30th start, is the really good ones have a way to maintain their focus regardless of the surroundings or the atmosphere,” Enos said. “We need to focus on the preparations and then when you get to the game, you can’t let your mind wander to the crowd, the fans, the music, or whatever it is. You are not going to be focused on your job. When you get in a game, you can’t just flip a switch and focus. You have to train yourself to do it… He is certainly going to be amped up. His sense of urgency is going to be very high, but hopefully through preparation and communication we can help him.”

Since Williams was named the opening game QB last week, Enos has already begun to see Williams take charge of the offense in certain ways.

“I think he is trying to be a little bit more vocal with his teammates. I am sure that he is doing some things behind the scenes,” Enos said. “Ever since I have been here, Jarren has been diligent with his preparation. He has been very good in meetings and that has carried on. He is a very young player and he is going to continue to improve. I have to coach him. He has a good mindset and a good focus to him and he is working very hard.”

In his first game calling plays as UM’s offensive coordinator, Enos says he will be on the field rather than up in the booth.

“I’ve always been on the field,” Enos said. “I like to have eye-to-eye, face-to-face communication with the quarterbacks. It eliminates the middle-man. I like to have direct, quick, immediate communication with them.”

The Canes announced yesterday that they would be starting two freshmen at each of the offensive tackle positions in Zion Nelson and John Campbell, something Enos said he has never done before.

“Those guys are good players,” Enos said. “Just like Jarren, those guys are going to play hard. Coach (Butch) Barry has done a good job preparing them. They’ll play this week and continue to improve throughout the season. We’re excited about those tackles, the offensive line in general.

“We’re very, very young offensively, we get that. We’ll play with effort, toughness and hopefully we’ll see a team that gets better and better as the season goes on.”


**When watching tape of the Florida Gators’ offense from last season, one of the things that stood out to Miami defensive coordinator Blake Baker was the progression of starting QB Feleipe Franks and his weapons throughout the year.

“I think the biggest thing is when you look at the quarterback, he seemed more and more comfortable as the year went on,” Baker said of Franks. “I think they have really good running backs that are strong and didn’t lose any strength during the season—it was like they got stronger as the season went on. Those two things stood out. Then their receiving corps in general is impressive. You could see game in and game out of last season that every person on that offense got more comfortable with what was being asked of him. We will have our hands full.”

Despite the team’s huge rivalry matchup against top 10 UF on Saturday, Baker is not preparing his defense any differently than he would compared to any other week.

“It is the same mentality as going into every game - it’s a nameless, faceless opponent,” Baker said. “If we can allow the opponent to score less than our offense scores, we win. That’s our objective every game. I don’t think our mentality will change at all week-to-week.”

Having gone up against Dan Mullen offenses in the past, Baker says he is well-aware to expect the unexpected from the UF head coach.

“Having experienced going against him a couple time, I’m sure he will have a couple wrinkles for us that he hasn’t shown us before. We have to be alert for everything,” Baker said of Mullen. “I think he does a very good job of calling plays and keeping things balanced. When you look at their run/pass splits over his history, he has always done a good job of doing that. We have to be alert for a new wrinkle that he hasn’t shown us. I’m sure he has something in his back pocket.”

In terms of player personnel issues, Miami’s secondary took a hit last week when two second teamers in CB Nigel Bethel and S Derrick Smith decided to transfer. Baker pointed to guys like CB Te’Cory Couch, S Keontra Smith, and S Bubba Bolden as those that needed to step up.

“It’s a next man up mentality,” Baker said of the departures. “I feel good with the depth.”

Having a four-year starter at middle linebacker would be any college defensive coordinators dream, and Baker says he feel lucky to have inherited a guy like Shaq Quarterman.

“I think the two things I’ve challenged Shaq with - one, bringing his teammates along with him. He knows the schemes really well. I’ve challenged him to really just bring people along, challenge them to meet his expectation level,” Baker said. “And the second part is to learn the entire concept of certain defenses, not just his job, but the WILL linebacker’s job.”

Asked about how incoming transfers Bolden, Trevon Hill, and Chigozie Nnoruka were transitioning to the Miami defense, Baker had praise for all three and sees them making an impact for Miami in 2019.

“I think all three guys have done a great job of rolling up their sleeves and coming to work with a blue-collar mentality,” Baker said. “For whatever it is worth, all three of those guys have not said much from a vocal standpoint. They just want to work and get better every day. All three of those guys are going to add huge value to our defense.”

On Hill: “I think Trevon is going to get better and better as the season goes on. He is working himself into playing shape, but really in the last week we have seen what we saw on tape from Virginia Tech. I have been really impressed with what he has done. He is learning a new defense and he is going to get better and better.”

On Nnoruka: “Chigozie is quick twitched and very strong inside. He is hard to move. He is a bright kid that is picking up on the defense very well.”

On Bolden: “Bubba is the same thing, he is picking up on the defense too. He came later than the other two, but he is a very smooth athlete with phenomenal ball skills and a willing tackler. He has great length and he has a great future here at Miami.”
 

Comments (8)

The toughest opponent in this game is "NOT" the gayturds never has been from the start , listen to the Enos,Diaz and the other coaches.

IT'S "US" WE MUST BE FOCUSED, HYPE WILL KILL US.

Enos said it BEST ignore the HYPE the band,the fans ,the press everything and we can WIN without question.

GOCANES
 
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I’ve noticed how this staff puts an emphasis on guys being vocal. You notice in a majority of interviews they always reference if a guy is vocal or not. I don’t know if it will be this week but this team at some point in the near future will have an amazing culture of leadership because of it.
 
Probably the best coaching I experienced ever was in high school preparing to play South Dade High opener , I was a sophomore first start at RT plus going both ways.
Coaches kept secret I was going to play over a 1st team All American DE Willie Jones.

We won 7-6 coaches gave me a ceremonial game ball announced GOCANE05 just held Willie Jones to zero sacks and 2 tackles this is when I first got noticed by the big three.

Why would I share this?

Coaches did not want me to get HYPED or EXCITED they wanted to keep me in regular game prep.

STAY AWAY FROM HYPE...

GOCANES
 
I'm confident that our D can hold it down until the O finds it's rhythm
 
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