Miami Hurricanes defensive line continues dominance in Spring Game
A week after accumulating seven sacks in the first scrimmage the Miami Hurricanes had nine in Saturday’s Spring game. The biggest thing we learned from Saturday we already knew. The defensive line continues to be far ahead of the offensive line.
After last Saturday’s offensive line debacle, Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Mark Richt and Offensive Line Coach Stacy Searles made the decision to move right guard Navaughn Donaldson to right tackle. Hayden Mahoney was moved into Donaldson’s vacated right guard spot. That demoted George Brown who previously had played with the first team for the previous nine spring practices to the second team.
Freshman defensive end Greg Rousseau continued to do the most damage with the defensive line. Rousseau tied rising Sophomore Jonathan Garvin for the team high with three sacks. Rousseau had four in last Saturday’s first scrimmage.
Rising Junior defensive ends Scott Patchan and Joe Jackson and Freshman defensive back Gilbert Frierson also added one sack each. Richt continues to be pleased with the play of his defense and frustrated by his offensive line. Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald chronicled Richt’s thoughts in the Miami Herald.
"“It starts with the offensive line on offense…We’ve got to set the top five and let these guys work together all summer and all fall, and get ready for the season. You’ve just got to have a cohesive unit and right now we’re still trying to find answers. We think we’ve got the right answer. It’s just going to take a little time for Navaughn [Donaldson] to become the tackle that we know he can become.”"
The rest of the Miami Hurricanes offensive line is from left to right, Tyree St. Louis at left tackle, Jahair Jones at left guard and Tyler Gauthier at center. If the positions are the same on opening night against LSU in September Gauthier will be the only returning starter on the offensive in the same position as he was at the end of last season.
The poor play of the first team offensive line made it difficult for Malik Rosier to develop a rhythm. Miami is still high on the potential of their tackles with St. Louis and Donaldson now seemingly projected to be the starting bookends this fall.
K.C. McDermott moved from left guard to left tackle at the end of the 2016 season. He remained there for 2017 and earned third-team All-ACC. Richt discussed the problems at tackle in the Palm Beach Post.
"“When we got here (in 2016), I thought of all the position groups on the field, that position had the least amount of guys that were ACC championship-caliber…We’re still kind of fighting that battle.”"
Miami has done an exceptional job recruiting on the offensive line in the last two classes. Donaldson earned Honorable Mention All-ACC last fall and Freshman All-America. Sophomore Kai-Leon Herbert and Redshirt Freshman Zalon’Tae Hillery were part of the same class with Donaldson.
The Hurricanes added Delone Scaife, John Campbell and Cleveland Reed in this year’s class. Campbell and Scaife are already on campus and competing in spring practice.
Next: Five questions for Miami Hurricanes offense in spring game
Miami will resume practice this week on Tuesday. They will have one more practice on Thursday before the third and final spring scrimmage Saturday.