Mark Richt and Brad Kaaya Discuss Season at ACC Media Days

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The return of Mark Richt to the U is generating excitement. /

It has been a long time since there has been this much buzz heading into a football season at the University of Miami. The return of native son Mark Richt has ‘Hurricane fans the most excited they have been since the Larry Coker era.

Richt has put his stamp on the program far before the September 3 season opener against Florida A&M. Richt, Brad Kaaya, and Punter Justin Vogel represented the Canes at the ACC Kickoff 2016.

Vogel was an interesting choice as the U’s defensive player. It was mostly Richt and Kaaya answering the questions. Vogel was named the first-team All-ACC punter and Michael Badgley the second-team kicker. Numerous Hurricanes received third-team honors.

The coach and the quarterback also visited the Joe Rose show that was co-hosted by UM play-by-play announcer Joe Zagacki. They discussed the transition to Richt’s offense, any difficulties Kaaya had adjusting, the dedication put in during the off-season, the importance and depth in the running game, the freshman who can make and impact, Stacy Coley‘s upside and recruiting. The questions and answers are courtesy of theACC.Com

Learning a New Offense

Kaaya is learning a new offense for the third straight year, four offenses if you count that they installed a new offense from spring 2015 to the beginning of last season.

Here is an excerpt of Kaaya’s responses from to questions asked by the media at ACC Kickoff days. Courtesy theACC.Com:

"Q. Having Coach Richt onboard, what are one or two things you picked up in the spring that (has) helped your game? BRAD KAAYA: It’s hard to pinpoint one thing. I’d say one thing that Coach Richt has brought is a lot of blitz pickup stuff. I’m starting to understand blitzes more. I did have a general knowledge of blitzes last year, but it’s improved more this year in terms of our run game and pass game, knowing how to identify fronts, how to call certain Mike points, side adjustments that Coach Richt has really helped me out with. Q. Brad, has there been any difficulties that you’ve had with a new head coach coming in this year? BRAD KAAYA: “Yeah, just scheme-wise, at first. I played in three different offenses since I got here. Last year I was in shotgun a lot more… A lot of things, I guess the verbiage, the terms and stuff like that at first was hard to get down… Certain signals, trying not to mix stuff up from previous years has been a challenge. So far I think I’ve grasped it pretty well. Then just learning the different footwork for different routes. Coach might want me to speed up my feet… It’s getting to where coach can call a play, call protection, and I know exactly what the footwork is…quicker passes a lot of stress on me to find the open guy…Richt’s offense (has) so many different parts”"

Joe Rose Show: Kaaya

Kaaya discussed the upcoming season, the off-season, how closely he’s worked with Richt, and what needs work for the upcoming season.

Brad Kaaya– Kaaya has done a great job taking care of the ball, he has thrown for 42 touchdowns against just 17 interceptions in two seasons. The U lost just five lost fumbles as a team last season. In spite of that, he mentioned he needs to take care of the ball and not turn it over

Rose and Zagacki mentioned to Kayaa that he is close to some school passing records. Kaaya gave the politically correct team answer saying that “wins are what’s important…(and) all that will come…play good and consistent numbers will come.”

Kaaya is 245 completions and 3,127 yards away from the school records. He has a reasonable chance at both. Kaaya has averaged 229.5 completions and 3,218 yards through his first two seasons.

Brad Kaaya finds himself on the cusp of breaking @CanesFootball records held by some notable #Canes QBs: https://t.co/DObazx02kt
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) July 14, 2016

Kaaya said it’s has been beneficial to have a former Quarterback and offensive coordinator as the new head coach. Kaaya told Rose and Zagacki that Richt has seen every throw he has made since spring. Kaaya also said “Everything already in place for coach Richt to be successful. we are on a good track”

Richt has placed a great emphasis on the short passing game. Kaaya said “quicker passes a lot of stress on me to find the open guy…Richt’s offense so many different parts”

When discussing the passing game and the receiving returning receiving corps with Rose and Zagacki, Kaaya was asked “How good can Stacy Coley be? He responded, “(Coley) Can possibly be one of the best receivers in the country….freshman year was phenomenal…”

Coley is UM’s leading returning receiver.

Kaaya had an incredibly dedicated off-season. He said he was back in Southern California for only five days and now a resident of Florida.

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