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After Saturday’s practice, Miami Hurricanes offensive line coach Garin Justice broke down his group through the first two days of camp.
“I’m really, really impressed with our athleticism, these guys can run, we can run really well,” Justice said. “Now, we’re still learning how to play in a lot of ways and growing up in a good way. As far as the talent, ability, athleticism - it’s all there. The high majority of these guys have played, so they have snaps and hopefully we can get better on the field.”
According to Justice, during practice one, first unit on the OL was (from LT to RT) John Campbell, Ousman Traore, Corey Gaynor, DJ Scaife, and Kai-Leon Herbert.
Things changed up in practice two, where it was Campbell, Zion Nelson, Gaynor, Scaife, and Jarrid Williams starting the day with the ones.
Justice also added that sophomore Jakai Clark would begin the day with the ones at left guard during Sunday’s practice after previously working as the #2 center behind Gaynor.
“We’re having tryouts at different spots - tomorrow will be Jakai’s day at left guard,” Justice said. “The last two days, he’s been playing our backup center. We have to get someone steady and reliable behind Corey. If he’s not the staring left guard, he’ll be the guy that comes in for Gaynor if something happens to him.
“Jakai, if you did a combine test, Jakai is going to be in the bottom half. But as far as football field awareness, understanding football, he’s one of the better guys we have. There are so many different body types, skill sets, and it’s up to me and our coaching staff to put the right pieces in play. That’s what we’re doing right now. If you’re looking at projections, it’s hard to say Gaynor and Scaife won’t be in the mix, but we’re trying to figure out what our best combination is.”
With three different players on the first unit in three days, left guard seems to be a legitimate position battle between Clark, Traore, and Nelson, who had exclusively worked at tackle at UM up to this point. Nelson is now up to 312 pounds after playing 2019 at around 290.
“With [Nelson’s] weight gain and how he’s progressed there, he’s more versatile,” Justice said of Nelson. “Zion is a viable guy at left tackle, we’re just trying to give him some reps at guard.”
Justice also feels Scaife has developed into Miami’s most versatile linemen, but that right now the team prefers him at right guard.
“Scaife could probably play all five positions. He’s a guy that really flashes, shows up,” Justice said. “The thing about Scaife - for lack of a better word - he has that dog about him, he’s a competitor, loves to play football. Fundamentally, there are things we have to fix on him, but when it comes to ball, he loves ball, is a competitor, and one of the more talented guys.”
“He fits best at guard for us, more suited at guard, but we’re a little deeper at tackle with Williams, Herbert is now a junior, Zion was the starting left tackle (in 2019), Campbell started the season opener last year at tackle. (Zalon’tae) Hillery has played some tackle. So you have four or five guys that have played college games at tackle, that’s not including Scaife.”
At right tackle, Herbert is competing with Houston grad transfer Williams for the starting job, although Williams offers starting QB and fellow Cougars’ transfer D’Eriq King some familiarity.
“D’Eriq feels a lot more comfortable with Jarrid because he’s used to Jarrid protecting for him,” Justice said. “The good thing with D’Eriq is the play’s never dead, the bad thing is the play’s never dead. The play is never over until after the whistle because we could have a guy on one side give up a pressure, he could be scrambling around and make this wonderful play. If we stop, give up on those, bad things can happen. He’s electric, dynamic, the guys have a lot of confidence when he’s behind center and taking those snaps. We’re excited about what he can do.”
Miami’s prized OL recruit in the 2020 signing class was Jalen Rivers, and Justice feels the freshman has made strides since working at guard in the spring; Rivers has worked at tackle so far this fall.
“He is beginning to progress,” Justice said of Rivers. “He’s a very conscientious guy who tries to do everything right - if you coach it, he’ll do everything in his ability to make sure he does it exactly the way you coach it. He’s going to be a really good football player here.
“I don’t know where he’ll end up. I put him at guard in the spring so football can slow down for him. And we had him working with the second group in the spring - I didn’t want him to get totally overwhelmed right away. Jalen could probably play all four positions, guard or tackle.”
Justice then compared and contrasted Rivers with fellow freshman Issiah Walker, another highly recruited prospect that ended up at Miami via a different route. After enrolling at Florida for the spring, Walker decided to transfer home to Miami, and he is still waiting to hear back from the NCAA on his transfer waiver to see if he will be eligible to play in 2020.
“Jalen’s more of a bigger body than Issiah, is more of a thumper,” Justice said. “He’s got more in his legs, thicker in his legs. Issiah is a little quicker of foot, but Jalen can move guys from point A to point B.
“Issiah is a guy with big, big upside. But people sometimes see these high recruits, especially offensive line is such a technical position. We see that potential, that ability. There’s no doubt he’ll be a really good player for us, but there’s a lot of coaching that goes into getting him ready to play. We see him as a tackle, likely a left tackle. He has good length and brings all those things to the table, all those reasons he was so highly-recruited out of high school.”
With the coronavirus pandemic changing the way the game is played in 2020, Justice admits there is a challenge coaching the OL, a position that is defined by close contact with the DL.
“When it’s football, it’s hard to get around it being football. So that’s the inevitable,” Justice said. “The smart thing I have to do is, in my drills, be really conscious of keeping as much spacing as I can. Have to get used to props - instead of bodies let’s use bags. Maybe that gives you two more feet of separation instead of face-to-face.
“We’re really conscious of when guys are not in drills, we have lines keeping them away from the rest of the guys. It seems our GA’s and equipment guys are telling them not to congregate, spread out. When it’s a walkthrough tempo, masks are up, those type mentalities. We’re trying to be as safe as we can, but football is football, there’s going to be some close contact. But when you add it up, it’s not going to be the 15 minutes the CDC says is ‘close contact’, it's a lot of two to three minute contact with people throughout practice.”
“I’m really, really impressed with our athleticism, these guys can run, we can run really well,” Justice said. “Now, we’re still learning how to play in a lot of ways and growing up in a good way. As far as the talent, ability, athleticism - it’s all there. The high majority of these guys have played, so they have snaps and hopefully we can get better on the field.”
According to Justice, during practice one, first unit on the OL was (from LT to RT) John Campbell, Ousman Traore, Corey Gaynor, DJ Scaife, and Kai-Leon Herbert.
Things changed up in practice two, where it was Campbell, Zion Nelson, Gaynor, Scaife, and Jarrid Williams starting the day with the ones.
Justice also added that sophomore Jakai Clark would begin the day with the ones at left guard during Sunday’s practice after previously working as the #2 center behind Gaynor.
“We’re having tryouts at different spots - tomorrow will be Jakai’s day at left guard,” Justice said. “The last two days, he’s been playing our backup center. We have to get someone steady and reliable behind Corey. If he’s not the staring left guard, he’ll be the guy that comes in for Gaynor if something happens to him.
“Jakai, if you did a combine test, Jakai is going to be in the bottom half. But as far as football field awareness, understanding football, he’s one of the better guys we have. There are so many different body types, skill sets, and it’s up to me and our coaching staff to put the right pieces in play. That’s what we’re doing right now. If you’re looking at projections, it’s hard to say Gaynor and Scaife won’t be in the mix, but we’re trying to figure out what our best combination is.”
With three different players on the first unit in three days, left guard seems to be a legitimate position battle between Clark, Traore, and Nelson, who had exclusively worked at tackle at UM up to this point. Nelson is now up to 312 pounds after playing 2019 at around 290.
“With [Nelson’s] weight gain and how he’s progressed there, he’s more versatile,” Justice said of Nelson. “Zion is a viable guy at left tackle, we’re just trying to give him some reps at guard.”
Justice also feels Scaife has developed into Miami’s most versatile linemen, but that right now the team prefers him at right guard.
“Scaife could probably play all five positions. He’s a guy that really flashes, shows up,” Justice said. “The thing about Scaife - for lack of a better word - he has that dog about him, he’s a competitor, loves to play football. Fundamentally, there are things we have to fix on him, but when it comes to ball, he loves ball, is a competitor, and one of the more talented guys.”
“He fits best at guard for us, more suited at guard, but we’re a little deeper at tackle with Williams, Herbert is now a junior, Zion was the starting left tackle (in 2019), Campbell started the season opener last year at tackle. (Zalon’tae) Hillery has played some tackle. So you have four or five guys that have played college games at tackle, that’s not including Scaife.”
At right tackle, Herbert is competing with Houston grad transfer Williams for the starting job, although Williams offers starting QB and fellow Cougars’ transfer D’Eriq King some familiarity.
“D’Eriq feels a lot more comfortable with Jarrid because he’s used to Jarrid protecting for him,” Justice said. “The good thing with D’Eriq is the play’s never dead, the bad thing is the play’s never dead. The play is never over until after the whistle because we could have a guy on one side give up a pressure, he could be scrambling around and make this wonderful play. If we stop, give up on those, bad things can happen. He’s electric, dynamic, the guys have a lot of confidence when he’s behind center and taking those snaps. We’re excited about what he can do.”
Miami’s prized OL recruit in the 2020 signing class was Jalen Rivers, and Justice feels the freshman has made strides since working at guard in the spring; Rivers has worked at tackle so far this fall.
“He is beginning to progress,” Justice said of Rivers. “He’s a very conscientious guy who tries to do everything right - if you coach it, he’ll do everything in his ability to make sure he does it exactly the way you coach it. He’s going to be a really good football player here.
“I don’t know where he’ll end up. I put him at guard in the spring so football can slow down for him. And we had him working with the second group in the spring - I didn’t want him to get totally overwhelmed right away. Jalen could probably play all four positions, guard or tackle.”
Justice then compared and contrasted Rivers with fellow freshman Issiah Walker, another highly recruited prospect that ended up at Miami via a different route. After enrolling at Florida for the spring, Walker decided to transfer home to Miami, and he is still waiting to hear back from the NCAA on his transfer waiver to see if he will be eligible to play in 2020.
“Jalen’s more of a bigger body than Issiah, is more of a thumper,” Justice said. “He’s got more in his legs, thicker in his legs. Issiah is a little quicker of foot, but Jalen can move guys from point A to point B.
“Issiah is a guy with big, big upside. But people sometimes see these high recruits, especially offensive line is such a technical position. We see that potential, that ability. There’s no doubt he’ll be a really good player for us, but there’s a lot of coaching that goes into getting him ready to play. We see him as a tackle, likely a left tackle. He has good length and brings all those things to the table, all those reasons he was so highly-recruited out of high school.”
With the coronavirus pandemic changing the way the game is played in 2020, Justice admits there is a challenge coaching the OL, a position that is defined by close contact with the DL.
“When it’s football, it’s hard to get around it being football. So that’s the inevitable,” Justice said. “The smart thing I have to do is, in my drills, be really conscious of keeping as much spacing as I can. Have to get used to props - instead of bodies let’s use bags. Maybe that gives you two more feet of separation instead of face-to-face.
“We’re really conscious of when guys are not in drills, we have lines keeping them away from the rest of the guys. It seems our GA’s and equipment guys are telling them not to congregate, spread out. When it’s a walkthrough tempo, masks are up, those type mentalities. We’re trying to be as safe as we can, but football is football, there’s going to be some close contact. But when you add it up, it’s not going to be the 15 minutes the CDC says is ‘close contact’, it's a lot of two to three minute contact with people throughout practice.”
