Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson spoke with the media ahead of Miami's Week 1 game against the Stanford Cardinal. He touched on Darian Mensah, wide receivers, and the upcoming game against Stanford. Check out everything he had to say during his Monday Press Conference down below:
On the advantage of watching Stanford play Week 0: It's better than not. Before that, you could go back in time and try to guess what they were going to do, right? I would assume that they're going to have more stuff. Obviously, game one, everybody's who they are. But it's nice to be able to watch them play and figure out the people, figure out basic schemes and stuff like that. Yes, absolutely.
On the biggest unknown going into the first couple of drives of the first game:The thing you want to see is just the cleanness of it, the communication. Because when you practice and you try to set up things as close to game type as you can get, especially when you scrimmage, right? But ultimately, nothing's like turning the lights on and having a different opponent across the field. And so just seeing how kids respond to their actual, like, jobs whenever, the game is really being played, like do they line up right? Are we going to the right? Especially people that haven't played a lot, making sure that they're not big-eyed. I don't think we will be, but I mean there'll be some of that, obviously. It's always the case in game one when you're, playing some guys that haven't played a ton. But you expect that. You see it basically across the nation.
On Darian Mensah and having a quarterback who has been here since January: Well, we'll see, right? We'll see Friday. It's nice to have a guy that's been here for spring practice and everything. Last year was odd in a lot of different ways because he wasn't healthy until right towards the end of the summer, and probably not 100% for a little while, just to be honest. I mean, building—I mean, offensive football is about chemistry, being on the same page, timing, and all the rest. And so having a guy out there that is taking those reps, reps are vital. That's what it's all about. And so banking those reps during spring and the way summer's organized now, you get to do a lot of stuff during the summer too. So it's vital. You want that, right? You want that as much as you can get. Obviously we didn't have it last year, and you got to deal with the situation that's presented to you, but it's nice to have it this year.
On the offensive line: Coach Mirabal does a phenomenal job getting multiple people ready to play that position. He's probably the best I've been around at rotating offensive linemen throughout the course of camp, throughout the course of summer, and throughout the course of spring. And so we're not an operation that one guy plays one position. And so we can move those guys around, and we'll have multiple people ready to go at that position if something happens. But I trust him, and I've watched him prepare, and I know who's available, and I feel very confident in that.
On Darian Mensah and his preparation to have a successful season at Miami: Just figuring out how his mind works more than anything. Everybody views the game a little bit different, especially in that position. Everybody's comfort level is a little different for certain things, and so it's always a process of just getting to know those guys and getting to know what they respond to, what kind of coaching they respond to, but more importantly, watching him just execute offense and then having meetings with him and talking to him about, hey, man, like, I'm not the one playing quarterback, and so I'm very honest about that approach. It's like, you know, this is all about you and what you feel good about. So I keep asking those questions, and kids are typically pretty honest, and I try to just put together a package that fits those guys. You know, I mean, it's going to look a little different every year. Even if the plays are somewhat the same, just the people executing them is going to make them look a little different because of their skill set. And so, we kind of find time, getting to know each other. He's an awesome kid, very charismatic, and I'm excited to watch him play.
On Darian Mensah chemistry with the wide receiver room: I have a good feeling about it. I do think that games are different than practice. I'm excited to watch him play in the game. The speed of the game is something that, when you go into game one, and that's one thing that Stanford has right now is they played a game, right? And so ultimately we're going into our first game, and so we'll see how that chemistry is against another opponent. But at this point, based on the knowledge I have, I feel really good about it. Now ultimately, you got to do it when it matters the most, right? And so we're going to see that Friday.
On the outside receiver position: We’re going to roll a handful of guys in there. I mean, we have a lot of depth at that position, and I feel good about the depth all around, really. And so we're going to roll guys in and stay fresh and see who's got the hot hand, who can manage the game the best. And so I feel very confident about a handful of guys, really a handful of those receiver positions. And so I'm excited about being in a place where you don't really care about who's in the game. Like just put them in and let's see what they got, right? And so they've shown it in practice, we trust them. That's the one thing that I think the word that needs to be used more whenever you talk about playing a lot of guys is trust. Typically coaches don't play guys they don't trust. And so how do you build trust? Well, you build trust through camp. You build trust by doing the right thing. And so when you go out there every day, if you can just stack days of doing your job and, you know, lining up right, execute right, being in the right spot, making plays, yeah, you're going to build trust on a daily basis, and then when it comes time for the game to come around, then we trust to play you, and obviously you got to do it in the game.
On Stanford's defense: They're big. I think they've done a really good job of getting more athletic in the back end. I think their corners run very well. You watch the game, and I think Hawaii throws the ball probably as good as anybody in the nation, and that's what they do, right? And you didn't see them running wide open. They were running with them. I don't know how many contested catches Hawaii made, but I can't remember many off the top of my head. Their DBs are there. They're in the right spot. I think their safeties are very aggressive, five and six. They'll play them in the box. They can be basically a linebacker at times, and then they're going to be guarding slot receivers and tight ends. So the athletic ability of their back end, I think, has increased. Their front and their linebackers, in my opinion, I mean they take pride in not wanting you to run the football. That's obvious. It's obvious by how they play. It's obvious by the scheme they play. And so we have to be a physical offense to be successful in this game.
On the advantage of watching Stanford play Week 0: It's better than not. Before that, you could go back in time and try to guess what they were going to do, right? I would assume that they're going to have more stuff. Obviously, game one, everybody's who they are. But it's nice to be able to watch them play and figure out the people, figure out basic schemes and stuff like that. Yes, absolutely.
On the biggest unknown going into the first couple of drives of the first game:The thing you want to see is just the cleanness of it, the communication. Because when you practice and you try to set up things as close to game type as you can get, especially when you scrimmage, right? But ultimately, nothing's like turning the lights on and having a different opponent across the field. And so just seeing how kids respond to their actual, like, jobs whenever, the game is really being played, like do they line up right? Are we going to the right? Especially people that haven't played a lot, making sure that they're not big-eyed. I don't think we will be, but I mean there'll be some of that, obviously. It's always the case in game one when you're, playing some guys that haven't played a ton. But you expect that. You see it basically across the nation.
On Darian Mensah and having a quarterback who has been here since January: Well, we'll see, right? We'll see Friday. It's nice to have a guy that's been here for spring practice and everything. Last year was odd in a lot of different ways because he wasn't healthy until right towards the end of the summer, and probably not 100% for a little while, just to be honest. I mean, building—I mean, offensive football is about chemistry, being on the same page, timing, and all the rest. And so having a guy out there that is taking those reps, reps are vital. That's what it's all about. And so banking those reps during spring and the way summer's organized now, you get to do a lot of stuff during the summer too. So it's vital. You want that, right? You want that as much as you can get. Obviously we didn't have it last year, and you got to deal with the situation that's presented to you, but it's nice to have it this year.
On the offensive line: Coach Mirabal does a phenomenal job getting multiple people ready to play that position. He's probably the best I've been around at rotating offensive linemen throughout the course of camp, throughout the course of summer, and throughout the course of spring. And so we're not an operation that one guy plays one position. And so we can move those guys around, and we'll have multiple people ready to go at that position if something happens. But I trust him, and I've watched him prepare, and I know who's available, and I feel very confident in that.
On Darian Mensah and his preparation to have a successful season at Miami: Just figuring out how his mind works more than anything. Everybody views the game a little bit different, especially in that position. Everybody's comfort level is a little different for certain things, and so it's always a process of just getting to know those guys and getting to know what they respond to, what kind of coaching they respond to, but more importantly, watching him just execute offense and then having meetings with him and talking to him about, hey, man, like, I'm not the one playing quarterback, and so I'm very honest about that approach. It's like, you know, this is all about you and what you feel good about. So I keep asking those questions, and kids are typically pretty honest, and I try to just put together a package that fits those guys. You know, I mean, it's going to look a little different every year. Even if the plays are somewhat the same, just the people executing them is going to make them look a little different because of their skill set. And so, we kind of find time, getting to know each other. He's an awesome kid, very charismatic, and I'm excited to watch him play.
On Darian Mensah chemistry with the wide receiver room: I have a good feeling about it. I do think that games are different than practice. I'm excited to watch him play in the game. The speed of the game is something that, when you go into game one, and that's one thing that Stanford has right now is they played a game, right? And so ultimately we're going into our first game, and so we'll see how that chemistry is against another opponent. But at this point, based on the knowledge I have, I feel really good about it. Now ultimately, you got to do it when it matters the most, right? And so we're going to see that Friday.
On the outside receiver position: We’re going to roll a handful of guys in there. I mean, we have a lot of depth at that position, and I feel good about the depth all around, really. And so we're going to roll guys in and stay fresh and see who's got the hot hand, who can manage the game the best. And so I feel very confident about a handful of guys, really a handful of those receiver positions. And so I'm excited about being in a place where you don't really care about who's in the game. Like just put them in and let's see what they got, right? And so they've shown it in practice, we trust them. That's the one thing that I think the word that needs to be used more whenever you talk about playing a lot of guys is trust. Typically coaches don't play guys they don't trust. And so how do you build trust? Well, you build trust through camp. You build trust by doing the right thing. And so when you go out there every day, if you can just stack days of doing your job and, you know, lining up right, execute right, being in the right spot, making plays, yeah, you're going to build trust on a daily basis, and then when it comes time for the game to come around, then we trust to play you, and obviously you got to do it in the game.
On Stanford's defense: They're big. I think they've done a really good job of getting more athletic in the back end. I think their corners run very well. You watch the game, and I think Hawaii throws the ball probably as good as anybody in the nation, and that's what they do, right? And you didn't see them running wide open. They were running with them. I don't know how many contested catches Hawaii made, but I can't remember many off the top of my head. Their DBs are there. They're in the right spot. I think their safeties are very aggressive, five and six. They'll play them in the box. They can be basically a linebacker at times, and then they're going to be guarding slot receivers and tight ends. So the athletic ability of their back end, I think, has increased. Their front and their linebackers, in my opinion, I mean they take pride in not wanting you to run the football. That's obvious. It's obvious by how they play. It's obvious by the scheme they play. And so we have to be a physical offense to be successful in this game.
