As a 4th year starter, senior LB Mike Pinckney was one of the defensive leaders that took to heart the criticisms that Miami head coach Manny Diaz leveled in his press conferences last week about the lackluster play of the defense.
Instead of dwelling on the past, Pinckney rose to the challenge offered by his head coach and left no doubt that the defense would be improved.
“Everyone knew what it was, what (Diaz) was talking about. He can talk about us in the media, say those things, knows we take that to heart,” Pinckney said. “We can do one of two things - fold or you can come back and adjust, what we need to do. It’s the truth. That’s something me and Shaq (Quarterman) had to look ourselves in the mirror, say `We’re not playing our best ball right now.’ We had the opportunity the next week to go out and fix it, I feel we did.”
After holding #20 UVA to just 9 points last week, is this defense now back to the Miami standard?
“Oh, we’re very close,” Pinckney said. “Every week is a challenge. It’s hard to come off a win - (Diaz) said something coming into this week that no one has a book on how to prepare for success, but everyone has books on how to prepare for failure. We’re in that position right now. Beat a highly ranked team, feeling good about yourself. And Georgia Tech, they’re just as good a team. So we have to come out and prepare like we prepared last week.
“It’s hard to be successful in everything you do, and I learned that just from being in college. You have to wake up and do the same thing you did yesterday. Everyone’s expecting more out of you, especially the older guys.”
Pickney also admitted that Diaz having more of a hand in the weekly game prep for the Cavaliers ended up making a difference on the field.
“Nobody does it how coach Diaz does it, constantly in your ear, constantly improving smaller things that really count,” Pinckney said. “He knows what we need on the defensive side of the ball and he emphasized it - that was one of the things that helped us play a great game.”
Despite the win, at 3-3, the Canes aren’t quite where they wanted to be at midway through the season. However, with all three losses coming by less than 7 points, Pinckney feels that the team is right on the doorstep of breaking through.
“If you look at the games we lost - it’s really the Florida game, one drive, North Carolina, one drive," he said. “We’re one drive away from being an undefeated team, so close in this program to where we want to be at. We’re going in the right direction.”
Georgia Tech (1-5) comes to town this weekend for a Coastal matchup with a new offense, and Pinckney is glad it won’t be the Yellow Jacket’s famous triple-option.
“It’s definitely a relief,” Pinckney said. “They have a new scheme and we’re going to prepare.”
**With a team-leading 7.5 TFL and 5 sacks, redshirt freshman DE Gregory Rousseau is slowly beginning to make a name for himself, although he doesn’t feel like he’s quite where he wants to be just yet.
“A lot of people probably don’t know about me yet,” Rousseau said. “I’m just keep on building on it, be ready for anything they throw at me, but just keep on working hard.”
During his first career start last week, Rousseau had his best performance of the season, racking up 7 tackles, 2 TFL, a sack, a forced fumble, and a QB hurry; Rousseau gave part of the credit to his fellow starting DE Jonathan Garvin.
“He draws so much attention because he’s such a great player,” Rousseau said of Garvin. “It does open some things up for me for sure.”
With just 309.5 yards per game, upcoming opponent Georgia Tech comes into Miami Gardens this weekend with the worst offense in the ACC (121st nationally).
“They do a lot of different things, move around a lot,” Rousseau said of GT. “Those offensive linemen are pretty athletic, are used to chopping, moving a lot. They play with high effort, high intensity. Even though they’re 1-5, we’re taking them seriously just like we should.”
What is Rousseau working on improving in practice?
“Keep my pad level down because I’m a tall guy,” Rousseau said. “I’ve just been working on that for a minute.”
Instead of dwelling on the past, Pinckney rose to the challenge offered by his head coach and left no doubt that the defense would be improved.
“Everyone knew what it was, what (Diaz) was talking about. He can talk about us in the media, say those things, knows we take that to heart,” Pinckney said. “We can do one of two things - fold or you can come back and adjust, what we need to do. It’s the truth. That’s something me and Shaq (Quarterman) had to look ourselves in the mirror, say `We’re not playing our best ball right now.’ We had the opportunity the next week to go out and fix it, I feel we did.”
After holding #20 UVA to just 9 points last week, is this defense now back to the Miami standard?
“Oh, we’re very close,” Pinckney said. “Every week is a challenge. It’s hard to come off a win - (Diaz) said something coming into this week that no one has a book on how to prepare for success, but everyone has books on how to prepare for failure. We’re in that position right now. Beat a highly ranked team, feeling good about yourself. And Georgia Tech, they’re just as good a team. So we have to come out and prepare like we prepared last week.
“It’s hard to be successful in everything you do, and I learned that just from being in college. You have to wake up and do the same thing you did yesterday. Everyone’s expecting more out of you, especially the older guys.”
Pickney also admitted that Diaz having more of a hand in the weekly game prep for the Cavaliers ended up making a difference on the field.
“Nobody does it how coach Diaz does it, constantly in your ear, constantly improving smaller things that really count,” Pinckney said. “He knows what we need on the defensive side of the ball and he emphasized it - that was one of the things that helped us play a great game.”
Despite the win, at 3-3, the Canes aren’t quite where they wanted to be at midway through the season. However, with all three losses coming by less than 7 points, Pinckney feels that the team is right on the doorstep of breaking through.
“If you look at the games we lost - it’s really the Florida game, one drive, North Carolina, one drive," he said. “We’re one drive away from being an undefeated team, so close in this program to where we want to be at. We’re going in the right direction.”
Georgia Tech (1-5) comes to town this weekend for a Coastal matchup with a new offense, and Pinckney is glad it won’t be the Yellow Jacket’s famous triple-option.
“It’s definitely a relief,” Pinckney said. “They have a new scheme and we’re going to prepare.”
**With a team-leading 7.5 TFL and 5 sacks, redshirt freshman DE Gregory Rousseau is slowly beginning to make a name for himself, although he doesn’t feel like he’s quite where he wants to be just yet.
“A lot of people probably don’t know about me yet,” Rousseau said. “I’m just keep on building on it, be ready for anything they throw at me, but just keep on working hard.”
During his first career start last week, Rousseau had his best performance of the season, racking up 7 tackles, 2 TFL, a sack, a forced fumble, and a QB hurry; Rousseau gave part of the credit to his fellow starting DE Jonathan Garvin.
“He draws so much attention because he’s such a great player,” Rousseau said of Garvin. “It does open some things up for me for sure.”
With just 309.5 yards per game, upcoming opponent Georgia Tech comes into Miami Gardens this weekend with the worst offense in the ACC (121st nationally).
“They do a lot of different things, move around a lot,” Rousseau said of GT. “Those offensive linemen are pretty athletic, are used to chopping, moving a lot. They play with high effort, high intensity. Even though they’re 1-5, we’re taking them seriously just like we should.”
What is Rousseau working on improving in practice?
“Keep my pad level down because I’m a tall guy,” Rousseau said. “I’ve just been working on that for a minute.”
