The Miami Hurricanes concluded their 11th Spring Practice on Wednesday. They will now prepare for their second scrimmage of the spring coming up on Saturday.
Miami’s Offensive and Defensive Coordinators Thomas Brown and Manny Diaz spoke to the media for the first time since the team’s inaugural scrimmage this past Saturday. Both Brown and Diaz discussed the positives and negatives of Saturday’s first scrimmage.
“It’s like anything else, there is always good plays and bad plays,” Diaz said. “But I thought overall, No. 1 the thing you evaluate in a scrimmage is tackling, because we don’t get to tackle to the ground all that often. We tackled very well, there was not a lot of yards after contact, those type things. That’s good, we don’t get a lot of chances to do that.
"“And the fact that we tackled, makes you hard to score on. You try not to give up big plays and get the ball on the ground. Run defense did a good job too, so there was a lot of positive takeaways and then certainly a bunch of things that we still were not quite pleased with.”"
Brown was pleased with the play of his offensive line but noted some missed assignments.
"“The first unit I thought was pretty good,” Brown said. “Again, it just comes down to one or two guys, either using bad technique, going the wrong way or having some missed assignments."
The Hurricanes offensive line struggled with a lack of depth last season. They fell to a low point in a 37-16 loss at Virginia Tech in October. The Hokies recorded eight sacks with Miami having injury problems on the offensive line heading into the game at VA Tech.
"“Obviously, depth is an issue behind the first guys we had, the first five guys. There just needs to be more competition. So thankfully, we have some guys coming in during the summer time to add to it, and hopefully push those guys to be better or beat them out.”"
The biggest question on Miami’s offense heading into 2017 will be who is going to be under center. Brown impressed by the play of Malik Rosier and Evan Shirreffs.
"“I thought it was really good,” he said. “I would say with (Evan) Shirreffs and Malik (Rosier), mostly Shirreffs to see him stand in the pocket and take some shots. And be able to take charge and be in command and be poised and not be rattled.“Obviously, Malik did some really good things with the ball in his hands, as well. (He was) able to make some really good decisions and also move around the pocket well. But just being consistent every single day is going to be the key to that spot.”"
Brown discussed the direction that the program is heading in.
"“Obviously, Miami is a very attractive place,” he said. “I am not from here. I am from Georgia. But Miami (was) my favorite school growing up, my entire life. Watching Miami play — and I am not saying that just because I am here — you guys can ask anybody who has known me for years. If you look on my walls from when I was a kid, it was Miami Hurricane gear just because it was the best players in America (who) came to Miami. And every single week they lined up and gave you their all.“And if you beat them, which was rare, you didn’t want to play them a second time.”"
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There was no update on Miami Quarterback Jack Allison who suffered a mild separated shoulder in last Saturday’s scrimmage. Freshman Cade Weldon who didn’t play in the first scrimmage is supposed to get playing time in the second scrimmage this week.