Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz released a new depth chart on Monday, most notably shaking up all three receiver spots into an open competition for the starting jobs.
“All we’re really doing is changing the emphasis - Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will matter for who trots out for the first play of the game, first play of the second half,” Diaz said. “The rotation itself, what we want is to play a lot of guys. It’s not ‘These guys can’t do it and these can’. Players are improving, we had a couple of shots down the field with Keyshawn Smith. Whether it’s Keyshawn, (Michael) Redding, (Xavier) Restrepo - (Jeremiah) Payton has continued to develop. (Mike) Harley had a TD catch, we thought Mark Pope played very well on Saturday, played hard. We’re trying to get more guys who can play because that ultimately makes the whole football team better.”
The changes come after UM got only 8 catches from their wide receivers against Pitt, half of which came on screens and touch passes. Still, Miami took care of business in defeating the Panthers 31-19 on Saturday, and Diaz has liked the demeanor of the team since.
“We had a good evening last night, came in (today) and had a light practice,” Diaz said. “Proud of the team effort we had on Saturday, had some sore individuals yesterday, I’m sure Pitt had the same. A lot of collisions out there. But guys were in a good attitude, still a chance to correct things that need to be corrected going forward. This team can play better. But you have to celebrate the wins, they’re hard to come by. And I’m proud of the effort of the team.”
Coming off the disappointing loss to Clemson the week before, Diaz was proud of the focus and intensity of preparation shown by his team during the week, and then being able to translate that effort to the field so as to not have a letdown game vs. Pitt.
“We had to do it,” Diaz said. “We addressed it as the elephant in the room during the week because we knew it was out there. We had a good week of practice, but we all heard that story before, a good week of practice and then didn’t play well. The moment for me was really in the third quarter. That’s when we had thrown the pick, down to the one-yard line, they scored. We had the ball on offense, punted again and there it is, in the balance. Momentum is definitely on Pitt’s side, kind of dead in the stadium. And our guys, we were in the defensive huddle, our guys were excited to play. It was Quincy Roche, Quincy for as good as his play was on the field, what he did on the sideline was unbelievable. `Let’s go, this is our chance, let’s do it.’ And him and Jaelan (Phillips) end up on the strip sack.
“Proud of the guys. They did something that is hard to do, and we celebrated that yesterday. Now here comes another one (vs. UVA), similar type - same thing, we’re not in a marquee matchup. But it’s a football game that demands your best… This team is much more intentional in understanding the difficulty in winning a football game against everybody and giving every opponent we play the proper respect they deserve."
The Canes’ defensive front got after the Pitt O-Line, holding the Panthers to 22 rushing yards while also contributing 9 TFL and 3 sacks. Diaz also praised the play of Nesta Silvera after being asked about the junior DT’s improvement in 2020.
“His effort has been the most important thing,” Diaz said of Silvera. “He has good foot speed - when your big guys can run, that presents problems in a lot of different ways. And he’s always had the ability to make a play. Nesta has always been able to finish.”
Miami moves on to play Virginia in a night game at Hard Rock Stadium, and similar to Pitt, the Cavaliers have their starting QB listed as questionable with an injury, as Brennan Armstrong is still recovering from a concussion suffered 2 weeks back.
“Virginia is always a challenge,” Diaz said. “Very multiple in their fronts and coverages. Another week of uncertainty at starting quarterback. With what Virginia has shown, they do change who they are offensively based who their quarterback is. It’ll be a challenge for our defense to see what we’re going to get because we probably will not know until Saturday.”
With the Canes again favored to win the ACC matchup with UVA by double-digits, Diaz says the team is going back to the same formula of focus and preparation it took to beat Pitt, which starts with respecting your opponent every week.
“We have a league of good football teams and I don’t know they’re always valued to how good they are,” Diaz said. “It’s real easy - you have to play your best every week. And if you play in a league where you don’t have a certified talent advantage, if you don’t play your best, you’re going to get beat… In our effort and attitude and way we’ve attacked every week, our leadership has done a good job to make sure we’re the same team every week. We couldn’t say that a year ago. We’re not even halfway done, so we’re not making any proclamations that we’re this or that, but they understand the challenge, how hard it is to prepare.”
Diaz also mentioned that he’s really seen improvement from 2019 classmates Jahfari Harvey, Avery Huff and Jared Harrison-Hunte, and pointed out that you usually see a big jump for second year players in the spring, something that was limited to just 1 week this offseason because of COVID restrictions at the time.
“That (2019 class) was the class that not having a spring hurt the most, your true freshmen are newer, we had a lot of midyears, but that’s the group that came in and this is their time,” Diaz said. “Not even the 7-on-7 in the summer - it would make sense that as the year goes on that the younger section of your team should probably start to contribute more and more. We certainly hope that continues to happen.”
LB’s Sam Brooks and Corey Flagg have seen their snap counts rise over the past two games, and Diaz has been impressed at how they’ve handled the increased reps.
“Corey is so instinctively sound,” Diaz said. “He has a great feel for the position, understanding gaps, playing blocks, very intelligent, can get everyone lined up. MLB, he’s the quarterback of our defense. His ability to manage everything, that puts everyone else at ease when he’s out there. And he can run and tackle.
“Sam had a foot injury somewhere during training camp, a span of three to four weeks he wasn’t 100 percent. But Sam picks up the speed we have at the linebacker position. We’re trying to get faster at that position, are trending in that position… As the year goes on, we’re always looking for what the best rotation is.”
