Miami Hurricanes defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman spoke with the media on Monday afternoon, recapping the Hurricanes 77-7 win over the FAMU Rattlers while getting ready to travel up north to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Check out what he had to say down below:
On the depth at the defensive back position: Yeah, we're excited about the guys still, how they came in spring football, how they competed in fall camp. And, I think especially the last couple weeks, our guys continue to get better and continue to grow every day. And I think you see them out there competing, and it allows us to do a lot of different things. Coverage-wise, what we're doing in the back end, it allows us to be very versatile, do a lot of different things.
On Damari Brown, Bryce Fitzgerald, Ethan O’Connor: Yeah, I think the biggest thing with the room that we have, especially, like, in spring football and then in fall camp when some of the guys came back, is just the competition. And I think, like, anytime you have a lot of competition in a room, it pushes that room to get better and better every single day. And I think that's where you can see, like, the way we roll on defense in camp, the way we do it, and, I don't really look at ones, twos, threes. It's just, hey, let's get guys in there. Let's get guys in. Let's roll them with different groups. So, you know, the guys, they've been in there with the ones, they've been in there with the twos, they've been in there with the threes. They've been against, the different receivers we have, the different looks that we show on offense, and I think they're used to playing together, where we move our guys around so much. It's not like you always play with the same linebacker or the same safety. They're constantly playing with a different safety there and a different voice. They're playing with a different linebacker, a different defensive end on that side if they're working with them. And therefore, I think the guys have grown together doing that, and that's what I think has built that group. And I think the younger guys, even coming up behind them, I think, some of those guys made some really good plays last week. Ryan Mack is a guy that constantly gets better. Portis continues to compete. Ewald, he plays that really well, at times can pick it off and run it back. But those guys continue to compete, continue to get better every day, and they're repping with all those groups, and I think that's what has us excited about that group.
On the underclassmen DB’s: The first two guys that come to mind, the guys have been here a little bit longer, you look at Ryan Mack and Chris Ewald. Those are guys that do a really good job. We play them at nickel, we play them at corner, we play them a little bit of safety. I thought they both played really well last week. I think they're guys that play on teams. I always like special teams too. Who's competing on special teams and who's giving us a lot of value there? Because those are game reps. Those are you're on the field, you're under the bright lights, you're flying around, and then when you can step up on special teams, now you can come play on defense, and that brings so much value to us. And then I think the freshmen, you watch Portis, you watch Brody, those guys are getting so much better. Like, those guys compete every single day. Their technique's getting better, their footwork's getting better, their eye discipline is growing and getting better every single day, and they're always in the building. They're always coming in. They're always meeting with our coaches. They're always watching film. And then, you know, we're watching the one-on-ones, we're watching the seven-on-seven, we're watching the team reps. So that way they can continue to push themselves and get better. So, when the situation comes up and they're in in that rep or they're in in that rep, they're going to be ready for the moment.
On JJ Dunnigan ability: Yeah, I think, every week it's going to be different, week to week. So a lot of people look at him as a corner. He can play strong, he can play nickel, he can play free. He's got good size. You can use him down in the box in different situations. He's a physical player. He's a good tackler. He blitzes well. So there's a lot of different things we can do with him, and that's what we want in recruiting. You know, going back to that, we want to evaluate people, not positions. Who are the best players, who can run, who can cover, who can blitz, who's physical, who can defeat blocks, who can tackle? Those are the things we want to evaluate, and I think, our recruiting staff did a really good job evaluating that, going to find the best players and putting us in a position there. But I think the way he approaches it, he's always in the office. He's always watching film. He asks great questions. He's always pushing himself to get better. You can see it. If he goes out and struggles, he's in, he's going to get it fixed, and the next day he doesn't make the same mistake again. And we've been lucky in this defense, the last couple years we've had some really good safeties that were young players that have stepped up. Obviously Fitz last year was a guy that stepped up into a role, had a really good year. And I think all those guys are guys that are extra competitive. They're constantly challenging themselves to get better. They're constantly pushing themselves to be the best player they can be in that situation. And there's always going to be, we're going to get a different look, we're going to get a different motion, we're going to get a different play, that we just going to keep teaching the rules so they can play faster and faster. But he's a guy, we trust him in a lot of areas. He's played at a really high level early, and I think we're going to continue to build on that, and, you know, as it goes in football, as a team, we're going to continue to push those guys to continue to get better.
On going against a dual-threat quarterback in Gio Lopez: Yeah, I think, last year you go through and we played some different guys, we did some different things, same thingz And this has been one of those ones where we do, different things in spring ball. You get some extra time in fall camp to get some clips or get some reps. They’re a group with what they do, pre-snap and then what they do with the quarterback. They give you some hard looks.
On the depth at the defensive back position: Yeah, we're excited about the guys still, how they came in spring football, how they competed in fall camp. And, I think especially the last couple weeks, our guys continue to get better and continue to grow every day. And I think you see them out there competing, and it allows us to do a lot of different things. Coverage-wise, what we're doing in the back end, it allows us to be very versatile, do a lot of different things.
On Damari Brown, Bryce Fitzgerald, Ethan O’Connor: Yeah, I think the biggest thing with the room that we have, especially, like, in spring football and then in fall camp when some of the guys came back, is just the competition. And I think, like, anytime you have a lot of competition in a room, it pushes that room to get better and better every single day. And I think that's where you can see, like, the way we roll on defense in camp, the way we do it, and, I don't really look at ones, twos, threes. It's just, hey, let's get guys in there. Let's get guys in. Let's roll them with different groups. So, you know, the guys, they've been in there with the ones, they've been in there with the twos, they've been in there with the threes. They've been against, the different receivers we have, the different looks that we show on offense, and I think they're used to playing together, where we move our guys around so much. It's not like you always play with the same linebacker or the same safety. They're constantly playing with a different safety there and a different voice. They're playing with a different linebacker, a different defensive end on that side if they're working with them. And therefore, I think the guys have grown together doing that, and that's what I think has built that group. And I think the younger guys, even coming up behind them, I think, some of those guys made some really good plays last week. Ryan Mack is a guy that constantly gets better. Portis continues to compete. Ewald, he plays that really well, at times can pick it off and run it back. But those guys continue to compete, continue to get better every day, and they're repping with all those groups, and I think that's what has us excited about that group.
On the underclassmen DB’s: The first two guys that come to mind, the guys have been here a little bit longer, you look at Ryan Mack and Chris Ewald. Those are guys that do a really good job. We play them at nickel, we play them at corner, we play them a little bit of safety. I thought they both played really well last week. I think they're guys that play on teams. I always like special teams too. Who's competing on special teams and who's giving us a lot of value there? Because those are game reps. Those are you're on the field, you're under the bright lights, you're flying around, and then when you can step up on special teams, now you can come play on defense, and that brings so much value to us. And then I think the freshmen, you watch Portis, you watch Brody, those guys are getting so much better. Like, those guys compete every single day. Their technique's getting better, their footwork's getting better, their eye discipline is growing and getting better every single day, and they're always in the building. They're always coming in. They're always meeting with our coaches. They're always watching film. And then, you know, we're watching the one-on-ones, we're watching the seven-on-seven, we're watching the team reps. So that way they can continue to push themselves and get better. So, when the situation comes up and they're in in that rep or they're in in that rep, they're going to be ready for the moment.
On JJ Dunnigan ability: Yeah, I think, every week it's going to be different, week to week. So a lot of people look at him as a corner. He can play strong, he can play nickel, he can play free. He's got good size. You can use him down in the box in different situations. He's a physical player. He's a good tackler. He blitzes well. So there's a lot of different things we can do with him, and that's what we want in recruiting. You know, going back to that, we want to evaluate people, not positions. Who are the best players, who can run, who can cover, who can blitz, who's physical, who can defeat blocks, who can tackle? Those are the things we want to evaluate, and I think, our recruiting staff did a really good job evaluating that, going to find the best players and putting us in a position there. But I think the way he approaches it, he's always in the office. He's always watching film. He asks great questions. He's always pushing himself to get better. You can see it. If he goes out and struggles, he's in, he's going to get it fixed, and the next day he doesn't make the same mistake again. And we've been lucky in this defense, the last couple years we've had some really good safeties that were young players that have stepped up. Obviously Fitz last year was a guy that stepped up into a role, had a really good year. And I think all those guys are guys that are extra competitive. They're constantly challenging themselves to get better. They're constantly pushing themselves to be the best player they can be in that situation. And there's always going to be, we're going to get a different look, we're going to get a different motion, we're going to get a different play, that we just going to keep teaching the rules so they can play faster and faster. But he's a guy, we trust him in a lot of areas. He's played at a really high level early, and I think we're going to continue to build on that, and, you know, as it goes in football, as a team, we're going to continue to push those guys to continue to get better.
On going against a dual-threat quarterback in Gio Lopez: Yeah, I think, last year you go through and we played some different guys, we did some different things, same thingz And this has been one of those ones where we do, different things in spring ball. You get some extra time in fall camp to get some clips or get some reps. They’re a group with what they do, pre-snap and then what they do with the quarterback. They give you some hard looks.
