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On Friday afternoon, Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz took questions from the media in a Zoom presser regarding multiple issues, including if he expected there to even be a season to prepare for this fall.
“I do think there will be college football, that’s been pretty consistent, the optimism from our leaders on campus and the conferences throughout the country,” Diaz said. “In terms of getting prepared, what we’re all trying to come to terms with is a universal start date for practice that every school has the same opportunity to get their team ready. We feel like a six-week time period would be the minimum to get our team ready, although we’ve worked on contingencies in case it’s less.
“The sooner we can get everyone back together and assess their conditioning, when that happens, whenever it is, we’ll make it work.”
Touching on some injured players, including TE Brevin Jordan (foot), OL Navaughn Donaldson (knee), S Bubba Bolden (ankle) and others, Diaz says he has been encouraged by the progress they’ve made and expects players that have had surgery will be able to get back in the facilities starting next week.
“Reports we’ve been getting, they’ve been on a Zoom therapy session every day - all the reports are good,” Diaz said. “There have been no setbacks in any of our guys.”
The Canes have hit the transfer portal hard under Diaz’s tenure, most recently adding Florida OL transfer Issiah Walker last weekend, and Diaz didn’t rule out the possibility of adding another transfer to the 2020 roster.
“We have the ability to add players,” Diaz said. “We’re always looking for ways we can potentially improve our football team.”
Of how the next few weeks will go, Diaz stated they are going to try and keep things as normal as possible for the team regarding summer activities.
“Summer A would start Monday, so we’ll pick up with positional meetings and things like that,” Diaz said. “We’ve been watching other opponents that we’ve going to play, have had some guest speakers come in and talk to our guys (via Zoom), some former players. That’s where we’ve been at.”
Diaz says the school is still formulating guideline for the testing and then quarantining of students that do test positive for the coronavirus, but does have concerns on how that could affect practice and, ultimately, the season.
“I know there’s no school who has a University president who is an expert in pubic health like President Frenk,” Diaz said. “If they say we have to be socially distant, we have to be socially distant. If you have to wear a mask, wear a mask. It’s about protecting the team. If you’re a corner and are asymptomatic and are playing bump and run on our receivers, and four receivers get it, we’re going to have issues running an offense.”
The SEC is voting next week about whether they should allow players back on campus as soon as June 1, and Diaz gave his thoughts on that move.
“`We’ll see,' is the answer,” Diaz said. “Who decides who gets back on campus is a government decision, it’s not something leagues decide. It’s your state vs. your state, we all have to follow our elected leadership and when they give us the green light on what we’re able to do, we go from there.”
Once players and recruits are allowed back on campus, how does Diaz anticipate Miami will handle official visits?
“From an official visit standpoint, we’ll wait to find out if July is also dead, which we suspect it will be,” Diaz said. “Once that happens, you’re pushing it into the fall. Everybody will be clamoring for the same couple of weekends, have to have more visits in the fall than the past. We have not been a big summer official visit team, push guys to December or January. There’s going to be an unpredictability to this recruiting cycle. It’s just going to be different.”
With the NCAA moving to allow players to profit off their own likeness, Diaz says he is intrigued by the possibilities of what that could mean for the program.
“It’s fascinating because right now it’s such a moving target,” Diaz said. “One thing is we need to take the next eight months, through next spring, and try to figure out the best way to incorporate it into what we now know as the college model and what does that exactly look like? Try to bring some commonality to all of that. And until you know what that is it’s hard to comment on because it’s hard to know exactly what it will look like. It appears something is coming, until we know what it is it’s hard to opinion one way or the other.”
Diaz stated the older players were originally more nervous than others on the team when things got shutdowns, mainly because of the uncertainty on how their final years of eligibility would be affected.
“At first they might have been more scared than anybody, because the more you’re around, the more you understand how short a college career is,” Diaz said. “When you’re a freshman, you think you’ll play forever.
“What we have told them from a messaging standpoint, which is the theme of spring ball: Just play the next play. Control what you can control. … What can we control now? We will have guys in (virtual) summer school starting on Monday. Other than that, what we’re doing is: 1. Stay healthy, and 2. Get your body in as good a conditioning so when we come back, you’ll be as game ready as you can. We all need hope. There is hope. Learn to live with this even if it’s a new normal.”
Ultimately, have there been any positives Diaz has taken out of this situation?
“From a football standpoint, I think this has really been a boost for our recruiting efforts,” Diaz said. “We had a great opportunity during a time-frame when we’d be in the midst of spring ball - whether evaluating recruiting tape, getting onto Zoom calls with our recruits, really fostering great relationships with some of the families of recruits. And we’re not alone in doing this, but new members of our staff who are all outstanding recruiters, it’s given us the opportunity to really play catch-up in some spots, start to solidify some relationships in the recruiting process because everyone is home. Not just us, but the young men.
“From a personal standpoint, just the idea of family. I have three sons. Not just how busy my life is, how busy their life is. We’re all overbooked, have gotten a big red stop sign the last 9 to 10 weeks, have to slow down. Time with the family - that time, once they get in high school, they zip out of that thing, it happens fast. On one hand I feel for the high school students, a part of their high school experience is taken away. But as a parent nice to know you have some time there that is not promised to us.”
“I do think there will be college football, that’s been pretty consistent, the optimism from our leaders on campus and the conferences throughout the country,” Diaz said. “In terms of getting prepared, what we’re all trying to come to terms with is a universal start date for practice that every school has the same opportunity to get their team ready. We feel like a six-week time period would be the minimum to get our team ready, although we’ve worked on contingencies in case it’s less.
“The sooner we can get everyone back together and assess their conditioning, when that happens, whenever it is, we’ll make it work.”
Touching on some injured players, including TE Brevin Jordan (foot), OL Navaughn Donaldson (knee), S Bubba Bolden (ankle) and others, Diaz says he has been encouraged by the progress they’ve made and expects players that have had surgery will be able to get back in the facilities starting next week.
“Reports we’ve been getting, they’ve been on a Zoom therapy session every day - all the reports are good,” Diaz said. “There have been no setbacks in any of our guys.”
The Canes have hit the transfer portal hard under Diaz’s tenure, most recently adding Florida OL transfer Issiah Walker last weekend, and Diaz didn’t rule out the possibility of adding another transfer to the 2020 roster.
“We have the ability to add players,” Diaz said. “We’re always looking for ways we can potentially improve our football team.”
Of how the next few weeks will go, Diaz stated they are going to try and keep things as normal as possible for the team regarding summer activities.
“Summer A would start Monday, so we’ll pick up with positional meetings and things like that,” Diaz said. “We’ve been watching other opponents that we’ve going to play, have had some guest speakers come in and talk to our guys (via Zoom), some former players. That’s where we’ve been at.”
Diaz says the school is still formulating guideline for the testing and then quarantining of students that do test positive for the coronavirus, but does have concerns on how that could affect practice and, ultimately, the season.
“I know there’s no school who has a University president who is an expert in pubic health like President Frenk,” Diaz said. “If they say we have to be socially distant, we have to be socially distant. If you have to wear a mask, wear a mask. It’s about protecting the team. If you’re a corner and are asymptomatic and are playing bump and run on our receivers, and four receivers get it, we’re going to have issues running an offense.”
The SEC is voting next week about whether they should allow players back on campus as soon as June 1, and Diaz gave his thoughts on that move.
“`We’ll see,' is the answer,” Diaz said. “Who decides who gets back on campus is a government decision, it’s not something leagues decide. It’s your state vs. your state, we all have to follow our elected leadership and when they give us the green light on what we’re able to do, we go from there.”
Once players and recruits are allowed back on campus, how does Diaz anticipate Miami will handle official visits?
“From an official visit standpoint, we’ll wait to find out if July is also dead, which we suspect it will be,” Diaz said. “Once that happens, you’re pushing it into the fall. Everybody will be clamoring for the same couple of weekends, have to have more visits in the fall than the past. We have not been a big summer official visit team, push guys to December or January. There’s going to be an unpredictability to this recruiting cycle. It’s just going to be different.”
With the NCAA moving to allow players to profit off their own likeness, Diaz says he is intrigued by the possibilities of what that could mean for the program.
“It’s fascinating because right now it’s such a moving target,” Diaz said. “One thing is we need to take the next eight months, through next spring, and try to figure out the best way to incorporate it into what we now know as the college model and what does that exactly look like? Try to bring some commonality to all of that. And until you know what that is it’s hard to comment on because it’s hard to know exactly what it will look like. It appears something is coming, until we know what it is it’s hard to opinion one way or the other.”
Diaz stated the older players were originally more nervous than others on the team when things got shutdowns, mainly because of the uncertainty on how their final years of eligibility would be affected.
“At first they might have been more scared than anybody, because the more you’re around, the more you understand how short a college career is,” Diaz said. “When you’re a freshman, you think you’ll play forever.
“What we have told them from a messaging standpoint, which is the theme of spring ball: Just play the next play. Control what you can control. … What can we control now? We will have guys in (virtual) summer school starting on Monday. Other than that, what we’re doing is: 1. Stay healthy, and 2. Get your body in as good a conditioning so when we come back, you’ll be as game ready as you can. We all need hope. There is hope. Learn to live with this even if it’s a new normal.”
Ultimately, have there been any positives Diaz has taken out of this situation?
“From a football standpoint, I think this has really been a boost for our recruiting efforts,” Diaz said. “We had a great opportunity during a time-frame when we’d be in the midst of spring ball - whether evaluating recruiting tape, getting onto Zoom calls with our recruits, really fostering great relationships with some of the families of recruits. And we’re not alone in doing this, but new members of our staff who are all outstanding recruiters, it’s given us the opportunity to really play catch-up in some spots, start to solidify some relationships in the recruiting process because everyone is home. Not just us, but the young men.
“From a personal standpoint, just the idea of family. I have three sons. Not just how busy my life is, how busy their life is. We’re all overbooked, have gotten a big red stop sign the last 9 to 10 weeks, have to slow down. Time with the family - that time, once they get in high school, they zip out of that thing, it happens fast. On one hand I feel for the high school students, a part of their high school experience is taken away. But as a parent nice to know you have some time there that is not promised to us.”
