In the midst of a three game losing streak, Mark Richt brushed off questions about the status of his staff members after Tuesday’s practice.
“First of all, I don’t make decisions like that midseason,” Richt said. “I can answer that I have a lot of faith in this staff.”
With the offense struggling immensely and unable to top 14 points in the past 3 games, Richt says he hasn’t even considered giving up play-calling duties to someone else on the staff.
“Right now, I have not even thought about that,” Richt said.
Miami is well-behind the Coastal Division lead, and while not mathematically eliminated, are a longshot to repeat as division champs. Despite this, Richt feels confident his roster has the potential to win an ACC title in the coming years.
“We want to be the team that has the type of roster that can be a dominating football team,” Richt said. “We’re building that, but we’re not there yet.”
The Canes starting QB has yet to be determined, and both saw time last week against Duke. Will Richt play both against Georgia Tech this week as well?
“I haven’t figured that part out yet,” Richt said. “It would be tough to start rocking and rolling guys in there (due to GT’s offense), we’ll probably have to stick with whoever is the starter."
RB Travis Homer missed today's practice, working off to the side on the excercise bike, but Richt is not concrned about his availability for GT.
“He strained his calf muscle, think he’ll be fine,” Richt said.
With the early signing period approaching next month, Miami has hit a wall recruiting, seeing multiple 2019 commits leave the class in recent days.
“Guys have de-committed, a couple, and it’s not all that uncommon,” Richt said. “If you look around the country, there’s people committing, de-committing all that kind of thing. Certainly, when you’re struggling, and people have some fuel to pour on what they consider a fire, they can get into kids’ heads. We have to do a good job of just staying in contact with them and letting them know everything’s going to be okay. That’s certainly something that has to be managed and we’re staying on top of it.”
The Canes have reached out to Clemson transfer QB Kelly Bryant and have started making contact with some class of 2019 QB’s as well. Will Miami take a QB in this class?
“Well we’re always on the lookout,” Richt said. “I do think the young quarterbacks (we have) are talented. I do think they’ve got the skillset to get the job done. I think they’re learning as they go, whether it’s through N’Kosi [Perry] getting some game reps or guys still just getting practice reps. I do believe these guys have the ability to get it done. We’re always open-minded about finding ways to get us better at that QB position and really every position across the board.”
Richt is pretty familiar with Miami’s next opponent, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – he faced off against them every season during his tenure at UGA as an in-state rival. The Miami head coach is 15-2 overall in his career against GT, including 2-0 since coming to Coral Gables.
“I know what it’s like to play in their stadium - been there a bunch over the years in my career,” Richt said. “I know their fans will do a good job. I think they’ve got their ‘white out,’ which is kind of a big thing for them. As we know, everybody in America knows, it’s tougher to win on the road than it is at home. We’re going to be at their house, so it’ll be a great challenge for us. A lot of things will be a challenge for us, the way they play offense, as far as how important every drive will be on our offense. It’s going to be a very important game for us. With that, I’ll open it up.”
The Canes will have to make their offensive possessions count on Saturday, because the Yellow Jackets love to control the ball with their triple-option rushing attack.
“Playing against them… it is tough on an offense to be sitting there waiting, waiting, waiting for an opportunity,” Richt said. “But our defense has played well against them in the past and I have a lot of faith and confidence in this week. Bottom line is, the best way to beat them is somehow get turnovers or get them behind the sticks a little bit - whether it’s through a penalty or whether it’s through a negative yardage play, which is hard to do, because most everything is downhill coming at you.
“Paul [Johnson] is very patient. He doesn’t mind going for it on fourth down. He doesn’t mind getting two [yards], three, four and two yards on fourth down, getting a first down, and keep doing it. You always have to be ready for that shot. You never know when they’re going to take that deep ball. Just like last week, it went 86-yard touchdown on the first pass of the game, and I don’t even know if they threw any more passes - I didn’t watch every minute of it, but they don’t throw it very often. But when they do, it’s usually some type of a deep shot. You have to be ready for that, too.”
Richt announced the captains for this week as well: Travis Homer, Michael Jackson, Gerald Willis, and Mike Smith.
“First of all, I don’t make decisions like that midseason,” Richt said. “I can answer that I have a lot of faith in this staff.”
With the offense struggling immensely and unable to top 14 points in the past 3 games, Richt says he hasn’t even considered giving up play-calling duties to someone else on the staff.
“Right now, I have not even thought about that,” Richt said.
Miami is well-behind the Coastal Division lead, and while not mathematically eliminated, are a longshot to repeat as division champs. Despite this, Richt feels confident his roster has the potential to win an ACC title in the coming years.
“We want to be the team that has the type of roster that can be a dominating football team,” Richt said. “We’re building that, but we’re not there yet.”
The Canes starting QB has yet to be determined, and both saw time last week against Duke. Will Richt play both against Georgia Tech this week as well?
“I haven’t figured that part out yet,” Richt said. “It would be tough to start rocking and rolling guys in there (due to GT’s offense), we’ll probably have to stick with whoever is the starter."
RB Travis Homer missed today's practice, working off to the side on the excercise bike, but Richt is not concrned about his availability for GT.
“He strained his calf muscle, think he’ll be fine,” Richt said.
With the early signing period approaching next month, Miami has hit a wall recruiting, seeing multiple 2019 commits leave the class in recent days.
“Guys have de-committed, a couple, and it’s not all that uncommon,” Richt said. “If you look around the country, there’s people committing, de-committing all that kind of thing. Certainly, when you’re struggling, and people have some fuel to pour on what they consider a fire, they can get into kids’ heads. We have to do a good job of just staying in contact with them and letting them know everything’s going to be okay. That’s certainly something that has to be managed and we’re staying on top of it.”
The Canes have reached out to Clemson transfer QB Kelly Bryant and have started making contact with some class of 2019 QB’s as well. Will Miami take a QB in this class?
“Well we’re always on the lookout,” Richt said. “I do think the young quarterbacks (we have) are talented. I do think they’ve got the skillset to get the job done. I think they’re learning as they go, whether it’s through N’Kosi [Perry] getting some game reps or guys still just getting practice reps. I do believe these guys have the ability to get it done. We’re always open-minded about finding ways to get us better at that QB position and really every position across the board.”
Richt is pretty familiar with Miami’s next opponent, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – he faced off against them every season during his tenure at UGA as an in-state rival. The Miami head coach is 15-2 overall in his career against GT, including 2-0 since coming to Coral Gables.
“I know what it’s like to play in their stadium - been there a bunch over the years in my career,” Richt said. “I know their fans will do a good job. I think they’ve got their ‘white out,’ which is kind of a big thing for them. As we know, everybody in America knows, it’s tougher to win on the road than it is at home. We’re going to be at their house, so it’ll be a great challenge for us. A lot of things will be a challenge for us, the way they play offense, as far as how important every drive will be on our offense. It’s going to be a very important game for us. With that, I’ll open it up.”
The Canes will have to make their offensive possessions count on Saturday, because the Yellow Jackets love to control the ball with their triple-option rushing attack.
“Playing against them… it is tough on an offense to be sitting there waiting, waiting, waiting for an opportunity,” Richt said. “But our defense has played well against them in the past and I have a lot of faith and confidence in this week. Bottom line is, the best way to beat them is somehow get turnovers or get them behind the sticks a little bit - whether it’s through a penalty or whether it’s through a negative yardage play, which is hard to do, because most everything is downhill coming at you.
“Paul [Johnson] is very patient. He doesn’t mind going for it on fourth down. He doesn’t mind getting two [yards], three, four and two yards on fourth down, getting a first down, and keep doing it. You always have to be ready for that shot. You never know when they’re going to take that deep ball. Just like last week, it went 86-yard touchdown on the first pass of the game, and I don’t even know if they threw any more passes - I didn’t watch every minute of it, but they don’t throw it very often. But when they do, it’s usually some type of a deep shot. You have to be ready for that, too.”
Richt announced the captains for this week as well: Travis Homer, Michael Jackson, Gerald Willis, and Mike Smith.
