SUNDAY BUZZ COLUMN
"With spring practice opening Tuesday, the list of issues that Mark Richt needs to fix with this Hurricanes football program is pretty substantial. Some buzz on five critical ones and what UM coaches are saying about them:
• Rushing defense. One constant in recent years: The Canes have usually been gouged by opponents that run the ball effectively. Miami finished 102nd of 127 FBS teams in run defense last season, allowing 201 yards per game.
By contrast, how have new coordinator Manny Diaz’s defenses fared against the run?
It’s a mixed bag. In his last four full seasons as a coordinator (2011 and 2012 with Texas, 2014 with Louisiana Tech and 2015 with Mississippi State), his units ranked sixth, 101st, 23rd and 70th vs. the run.
UM returns a decent group of defensive tackles, including Courtel Jenkins, Kendrick Norton, Anthony Moten, former Gator Gerald Willis (impressive on the scout team). But there’s no can’t-miss star in the group (though Norton and Willis have high ceilings). The linebackers and ends also must do a better job against the run.
“First and foremost, we’ve got to improve our run defense,” Diaz said. “We’ve got to make it harder to run the football on because if they can run it on you, they can do whatever they want to. That will be a major point of emphasis this spring. We have to get the guys we have to be better. There’s no free agency. We are going to make sure we are defined by our toughness first. And the toughest guys will play.”
• More pressure on the quarterback. UM ranked 61st, 115th, 44th, 63rd and 65th in sacks in Mark D’Onofrio’s five years as coordinator. By comparison, Diaz’s defenses ranked 30th, 16th, 16th and 42nd in sacks in his last four full seasons as a coordinator.
Diaz blitzes more than D’Onofrio did and lets his linemen play more instinctively, something players are excited about.
“You can’t have robots,” UM cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph said. “[Last season], I saw as an outsider looking in, just watching, some days it was players not playing tough, some days not enough energy. Who knew what it was? [This defense] is going to be really fun. We want to get the fun back into the game.”
• Rushing offense. UM averaged a meager 3.4 yards per carry last season, which ranked 102nd of 127 teams, and down from 5.2 in 2014, when Duke Johnson received the majority of carries.
Conversely, Georgia ranked 8th and 16th in yards per carry the past two seasons, at 6.0 and 5.2.
Former coordinator James Coley said blocking was primarily to blame for UM’s low rushing average last season. Ballyhooed freshman Mark Walton averaged just 3.5 yards per carry and said he improved only when he stopped trying to appease the former coaches.
Every running back and starting offensive linemen return, and UM also welcomes back Gus Edwards (5.4 career average) from injury.
Richt intends to use a fullback more than UM did last season. “You look at what's he done in the past, he's been very successful with a fullback in the game,” said tight ends coach Todd Hartley, who was on Richt’s staff at Georgia. “I would think he would want to try to find one. We have some guys on campus we think can do that.”
Respected offensive line coach Stacy Searels, Art Kehoe’s replacement, said: “We are going to have the KISS philosophy. Keep it simple, stupid, and play fast. We are in a system we’re very comfortable with. It’s a system we ran at LSU and Georgia.”
• Third down offensive issues and predictability. UM converted only 35 percent of third-down chances into first downs, ranking 107th in the country.
And that’s nothing new. UM was 98th in 2013, 95th in 2014. That’s clearly underachieving considering Miami’s talent level. In the Sun Bowl, in particular, too many third-down throws were well short of the first down line, reminiscent of the Dolphins.
Georgia --- under Richt --- was awful on third downs last season (119th, 31.3 percent), but that appears to be an anomaly and Richt did not call the plays, something he will do at Miami. The Bulldogs were 17th in third down conversions in 2012 and ninth in 2014 (49.1 percent).
Then there’s the predictability issue on offense, which was apparently more of a problem than most knew. According to a UM offensive player, Clemson and North Carolina players were calling out UM’s plays seconds before they were run. Under Richt, UM presumably will become less predictable in certain formations.
This staff wants to leave defenses guessing.
“It's a multiple pro style offense,” Hartley said. “People think pro style, they think two back, I-formation. There's going to be some of that. There's also going to be a lot of one-back, too.
“You go back and look at his last few years at Georgia, they were shotgun probably more than they were under center. They were three wide receivers and a tight end [some]. He is going to do what best fits the personnel on the roster.”
• Penalties. Richt has told people that UM must become more disciplined, and that’s pretty obvious. UM’s 84 penalty yards per game led the nation.
Hoping it translates to the field, Richt has tried to build discipline by making players run early-morning sprints if they’re a minute late to a meeting or have messy locker-room. If one player messes up in arduous “mat drills,” the entire position group must do the exercise again.
From a penalty perspective, Georgia had mixed recent results under Richt. Georgia ranked in the bottom half of penalty yards from 2011 through 2013 (67th, 91st, 69th) but had the 27th and 25th fewest penalty yards the past two seasons."
"With spring practice opening Tuesday, the list of issues that Mark Richt needs to fix with this Hurricanes football program is pretty substantial. Some buzz on five critical ones and what UM coaches are saying about them:
• Rushing defense. One constant in recent years: The Canes have usually been gouged by opponents that run the ball effectively. Miami finished 102nd of 127 FBS teams in run defense last season, allowing 201 yards per game.
By contrast, how have new coordinator Manny Diaz’s defenses fared against the run?
It’s a mixed bag. In his last four full seasons as a coordinator (2011 and 2012 with Texas, 2014 with Louisiana Tech and 2015 with Mississippi State), his units ranked sixth, 101st, 23rd and 70th vs. the run.
UM returns a decent group of defensive tackles, including Courtel Jenkins, Kendrick Norton, Anthony Moten, former Gator Gerald Willis (impressive on the scout team). But there’s no can’t-miss star in the group (though Norton and Willis have high ceilings). The linebackers and ends also must do a better job against the run.
“First and foremost, we’ve got to improve our run defense,” Diaz said. “We’ve got to make it harder to run the football on because if they can run it on you, they can do whatever they want to. That will be a major point of emphasis this spring. We have to get the guys we have to be better. There’s no free agency. We are going to make sure we are defined by our toughness first. And the toughest guys will play.”
• More pressure on the quarterback. UM ranked 61st, 115th, 44th, 63rd and 65th in sacks in Mark D’Onofrio’s five years as coordinator. By comparison, Diaz’s defenses ranked 30th, 16th, 16th and 42nd in sacks in his last four full seasons as a coordinator.
Diaz blitzes more than D’Onofrio did and lets his linemen play more instinctively, something players are excited about.
“You can’t have robots,” UM cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph said. “[Last season], I saw as an outsider looking in, just watching, some days it was players not playing tough, some days not enough energy. Who knew what it was? [This defense] is going to be really fun. We want to get the fun back into the game.”
• Rushing offense. UM averaged a meager 3.4 yards per carry last season, which ranked 102nd of 127 teams, and down from 5.2 in 2014, when Duke Johnson received the majority of carries.
Conversely, Georgia ranked 8th and 16th in yards per carry the past two seasons, at 6.0 and 5.2.
Former coordinator James Coley said blocking was primarily to blame for UM’s low rushing average last season. Ballyhooed freshman Mark Walton averaged just 3.5 yards per carry and said he improved only when he stopped trying to appease the former coaches.
Every running back and starting offensive linemen return, and UM also welcomes back Gus Edwards (5.4 career average) from injury.
Richt intends to use a fullback more than UM did last season. “You look at what's he done in the past, he's been very successful with a fullback in the game,” said tight ends coach Todd Hartley, who was on Richt’s staff at Georgia. “I would think he would want to try to find one. We have some guys on campus we think can do that.”
Respected offensive line coach Stacy Searels, Art Kehoe’s replacement, said: “We are going to have the KISS philosophy. Keep it simple, stupid, and play fast. We are in a system we’re very comfortable with. It’s a system we ran at LSU and Georgia.”
• Third down offensive issues and predictability. UM converted only 35 percent of third-down chances into first downs, ranking 107th in the country.
And that’s nothing new. UM was 98th in 2013, 95th in 2014. That’s clearly underachieving considering Miami’s talent level. In the Sun Bowl, in particular, too many third-down throws were well short of the first down line, reminiscent of the Dolphins.
Georgia --- under Richt --- was awful on third downs last season (119th, 31.3 percent), but that appears to be an anomaly and Richt did not call the plays, something he will do at Miami. The Bulldogs were 17th in third down conversions in 2012 and ninth in 2014 (49.1 percent).
Then there’s the predictability issue on offense, which was apparently more of a problem than most knew. According to a UM offensive player, Clemson and North Carolina players were calling out UM’s plays seconds before they were run. Under Richt, UM presumably will become less predictable in certain formations.
This staff wants to leave defenses guessing.
“It's a multiple pro style offense,” Hartley said. “People think pro style, they think two back, I-formation. There's going to be some of that. There's also going to be a lot of one-back, too.
“You go back and look at his last few years at Georgia, they were shotgun probably more than they were under center. They were three wide receivers and a tight end [some]. He is going to do what best fits the personnel on the roster.”
• Penalties. Richt has told people that UM must become more disciplined, and that’s pretty obvious. UM’s 84 penalty yards per game led the nation.
Hoping it translates to the field, Richt has tried to build discipline by making players run early-morning sprints if they’re a minute late to a meeting or have messy locker-room. If one player messes up in arduous “mat drills,” the entire position group must do the exercise again.
From a penalty perspective, Georgia had mixed recent results under Richt. Georgia ranked in the bottom half of penalty yards from 2011 through 2013 (67th, 91st, 69th) but had the 27th and 25th fewest penalty yards the past two seasons."
