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- May 14, 2016
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- 33,490
Offense:
Tyler Van Dyke - 34/49 381yds & 3TD’s
Jaylon Knighton - 13att 51yds & 1TD, 3rec 29yds
Charleston Rambo - 8rec 101yds & 2TD’s
Mike Harley - 13rec 96yds
Jacolby George - 3rec 80yds
Will Mallory - 3rec 34yds
Xavier Restrepo - 2rec 30yds & 1TD
Thad Franklin - 6att 45yds & 1TD
Gained 530 yards of total offense (390 passing & 140 rushing) making 33 first downs going 8-17 on 3rd down, 3-3 on 4th down at 5.9 yards per play off 91 total plays with 32:38 in time of possession.
Congrats to Mike Harley on becoming the all-time leader in receptions in school history.
He also set the record for most receptions in a single game today as well, very nice way to go out in his last game as a Cane. He started off rough in his first couple of seasons playing in Richt & Enox’s offense, but once he started playing in Lashlee’s system he elevated his game to being one of our most reliable & clutch WR’s we have. Really good kid with a great work ethic, I’m proud of him & glad he was a Cane.
Thad Franklin did a good job in pass protect picking up the outside rusher on the first TD pass to Restrepo, if he doesn’t identify the LB & get a hat on him TVD gets sacked, but instead it was an easy pitch catch on the 21 yard seam route for a TD, good finish to a 10 play 75 yard drive.
Thad also had some nice runs, as I said last week, he’s a big bodied locomotive that gets north & south without any wasted motion, his pad level is really good despite his size. The kid is legit 6’2 245lbs & while not having the dazzling 4.4 speed, he’s a workhorse back that can get tough yards & move the chains. Thad, Chaney & Knighton can be one **** of a trio next year if everybody stays healthy.
That was a terrific back to back plays by Jacolby George, first with a really nice Curl route that went for 39 yards & then an amazing one handed catch on a back shoulder fade that went for 36 yards.
Charleston Rambo has been an absolute BEAST for us this season, it goes to show that one of Oklahoma’s castaways was easily our best WR we’ve had since Ahmmon Richards. It just highlights the difference in talent level that we’ve been operating from. Whether we want to or not, the next HC has to forge a pipeline into TX, the old adage of “South FL 3-stars are like 4-stars everywhere else!” Just flat out isn’t true, Rambo has been by far the best player on the team this season & last year it was D’Eriq King.
https://twitter.com/canesfootball/status/1464683960990978053?s=21
This was the end of the Lashlee era, IMO he was the best OC we’ve had in a decade. Many don’t like him & were hypercritical of his play calling, but think of it like this, how many games do you think Miami wins last year without him? Same as this season, IMO we won 7 games because we had an OC who saved the season from being a sub .500 disaster, because we certainly had no help from the defensive side of the ball & if you really think about it, Miami won 8 games last year with a seemingly worse QB than TVD. King is not as gifted as a passer as TVD is, but yet we still won with him, the common denominator? OC.
I’m looking forward to seeing how he does at SMU, for a guy who was dragged all through **** by our fans it’s interesting to see him get a HC job when most on this board would’ve had fired him, funny how that works.
We’ve debated ad nauseum about the next HC & the future direction of the program, but what’s understood by all on both sides of the argument is that we have an incredibly dangerous offense that is loaded with weapons & is primed for eruption next season. IMO, we need an Air Raid OC & HC who understands the importance of QB play & high octane offense, because in this new era of football, the name of the game is SCORING. You give TVD, Knighton, George, Brinson, B. Smith, Restrepo, Key Smith, Chaney, Thad, Mallory & Arroyo to a high level offensive mind & we would boatrace most teams we play next year.
Put this in perspective, Miami gained 3,076 yards of total Offense since the UVA game with 6 games of 400+ yards (two 500+) of offensive output. Most of yall think Lash is an average play caller, so even for an average play caller we put up big numbers, now imagine what this offense would look like with an Elite play caller??
TVD will go into next season as a without doubt preseason All-ACC player, it’s really really important we put him with the right OC in order to maximize his talent for the next 2 seasons that we have him. If we plan on making a run, who is hired specifically to be OC/QB’s coach will be the difference between us being a mid-level Coastal team & a real threat to challenge for the conference.
Defense:
Corey Flagg - 7tcks
Waynmon Steed - 6tcks
Marcus Clarke - 5tcks 1INT
Avantae Williams - 5tcks
Kamren Kinchens - 5tcks
DJ Ivey - 4tcks 1TFL & 1 sack
Ryan Ragone - 3tcks
Gilbert Frierson - 3tcks 1.5TFL’s
Jordan Miller - 3tcks 1TFL
Chase Smith - 3tcks 1TFL
Te’Cory Couch - 3tcks
Zach McCloud - 3tcks
Amari Carter - 3tcks
Nesta Silvera - 3tcks
Keontra Smith - 2tcks 1TFL 1 sack & 1FF
Jahfari Harvey - 2tcks
Tirek Austin-Cave - 2tcks
Leonard Taylor - 2tcks
Defense gave up just 219otal yards & held Duke to just 62 yards rushing, with 10TFL’s 2 sacks & 1 turnover.
That was good play recognition & tackling by Marcus Clarke in getting the tackle on 3rd down to finally stop Duke’s first drive & force them to settle for a FG. He had a good game to finish the season, he always plays well vs Duke.
Keontra Smith did a good job shooting the gap in the A gap Blitz & getting to their QB to force a fumble, if Leonard Taylor falls on it we get the turnover, but that was a very good sequence by our Defense.
Chase Smith did a great job shooting his gap & getting to the runner & getting a stop on 4th down. That kid has freakish ability, it’s a shame it took him this long to actually get on the field, but hopefully whoever the next HC is they recognize this kid’s sky rocket upside & keep him on the field at LB. His combination of size, speed & athleticism is exactly what the old Cane LB’s used to be & it’s fitting that he’s the son of a former Cane Legend Willie Smith.
Kam Kinchens & Tae Boogie played well as the Safeties, the trio of JoJo, Tae Boogie & JW has the potential to be pretty good under the right DC who will utilize their skill set to our advantage. The safety room is fairly loaded with good Depth heading into next season, the next DC will have some flexibility on the backend with that unit, thank you Banda.
The CB group IMO is in dire straights, if Stevenson doesn’t come back we are screwed. It’s pivotal for whoever the next HC is to convince Stevenson to stick around & hit the Portal heavy for CB’s, IMO we should take two of them, even if Graves sticks & still signs with us, we need a whole new revamped & reconstructed CB room.
The LB group needs a Portal addition as well, if we play a 3-4 or even move to a 3-3-5, we need a legit big play big game LB to come in & set the tone for the rest of the group. Hopefully we keep TAC, but maybe he bolts, otherwise Chase Smith & Keontra Smith need to be the 2 of the potential 3 or 4 LB’s we play next year, those two are starters, the rest are just rotational bodied that you can play in certain sub-packages.
The DL has some pieces as well, but we need a premier pass rusher & even though I always joke about, no do not #BringBackPatchan or #BringBackMcCloud lol we need an elite game changing DE that can disrupt the game for the opposing offense & make the job a little more easier for our very weak CB group who can barely cover for longer than 3 seconds.
Our Special teams was atrocious this game & has been all year, nothing new there. Patke is a glorified GA & never had any business being a full time assistant coach on this staff, dude is basura.
Ultimately, we finally have come to the end of the Diaz era. The roller coaster ride is finally coming to a full stop & we can all get off now. Diaz made his own bed, he was in way too far over his own head & simply was never cut out to be a HC, at best he’s a middle level G5 coach, but under no circumstances should he have been hired as the HC here. Fck you Blake James.
But now that’s it’s finally all over, I wish that goofy Mayor’s son well, good luck on your next endeavor wherever it is & take Patke with you.
A thread was made yesterday asking if if we felt sorry for Manny & of course in that thread I said no, but watching Manny today he looked completely demoralized & actually looked sad. He knows he’s fired & has known he’s fired for a while now, but today you could tell that he knew this was his last game a HC for The Hurricanes.
Moving forward the hiring of the AD is the next step to turning the program around, there’s several good options out there available, with Jurich being the most talked about name obviously & Zo possibly being given a “Director of Football” type of title. There’s even some talk he gets named as AD outright, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, but maybe it is, who knows
lol, either way I’m just ready for a new era in Canes football & Canes athletics in general, the entire program needs a re-boost.Another disappointing Canes season finishing 7-5 & getting a Bowl game that we’ll probably lose, it’s been 18 years of this sh*t & every time we think it’s coming to an end & new dawn is upon us, things turn to Groundhogs day & it’s the same thing all over again.
We’ve been stuck in the Edge Of Tomorrow (Tom Cruise movie if you haven’t seen it, I recommend it), where we literally have had to relive the same day over & over again for years, stuck in this same timeless loop of repeating the exact same mistakes each time while trying to defeat the same monster... Except the monster isn’t another team or any other program, the monster is us. We’ve been trying to recreate the year 00-01 every single year & have never been able realize that that’s the main crux of what has stifled this program from a mentality standpoint for the last decade plus.
It’s time for progress & the only way to progress is to move forward, not backwards, here’s to hoping the new AD & HC realize this.
Go Canes.
