Who shined in the Miami Hurricanes final Spring practice?

The Miami Hurricanes conducted their final practice of Spring 2018 in front of family members and football alums. The emphasis on Saturday’s game was a situational scrimmage and getting players with less experience more playing time.

Freshman Greg Rousseau continued to be the star of Miami Hurricanes Spring Football. Rousseau finished Saturday’s controlled scrimmage with four tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss.

Rousseau has been the best player on a Miami Hurricanes defensive line that has been dominant all Spring. He has played exclusively with the second string defense against the second team offensive line this Spring.

The OL has struggled to stop the Miami defensive line throughout most of the Spring. That has been a constant throughout the depth chart. Other contributors on the defensive line were Jonathan Garvin with two tackles and a sack, Joe Jackson with a sack and defensive tackle Gerald Willis with two tackles and a pass breakup.

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Below per the Miami Hurricanes Athletic Department via the Sun-Sentinel is a list of some of the other defenders who shined.

"Rising Sophomore linebacker Bradley Jennings: five tacklesStarting Rising Junior linebacker Mike Pinckney: four tacklesSafety Robert Knowles: four tackles,Rising Senior linebacker Terry McCray: four tacklesSafety Amari Carter: three tackles"

Several players on the more extensive list, plus McCray, haven’t received much playing time in the past nor are they likely to this season.

As Head Coach Mark Richt explained during the week, the coaching staff wanted to get a look at less experienced players on Saturday. That also applied to the offense. Below is a look at the players who got an extensive look on offense on Saturday.

Passing

N’Kosi Perry: 7 of 12, 54 yards

Jarren Williams: 2 of 3, 31 yards

Malik Rosier: 3 of 4, 82 yards, TD

Cade Weldon: 9 of 12, 113 yards

Rushing

Travis Homer: 4-29

Lorenzo Lingard: 7-30

Jarren Williams: 2-13

DeeJay Dallas: 1-5

Robert Burns: 8-31

Receiving

Darrell Langham: 3-32, TD

Michael Irvin II: 5-65

Brian Hightower: 1-25

Dayall Harris: 2-39

Robert Burns: 1-26

Jeff Thomas: 3-50

Brian Polendey: 2-9

Dee Wiggins: 2-15

Mike Harley: 1-6

Lorenzo Lingard: 1-13

The Sun-Sentinel quoted Richt explaining the goal for the third and final scrimmage of the Spring.

"“All the situational stuff was against each other. Some was ones versus ones, some was ones versus twos…Then at the end we pulled guys that have played a lot of football and didn’t play them a lot.There were more guys, probably, on defense that didn’t get reps than on offense, because we don’t have a bunch of guys have played enough to think that they didn’t need more work.”"

The defense is almost always ahead of the offense in Spring Practice. For the Hurricanes it’s especially true with more experience on the defensive side of the ball. The Hurricanes are also deeper at wide receiver than any other position on the team except defensive end.

Next: Miami Hurricanes QBs Perry and Williams need to learn to lead

The difference at wide receiver is that a lot of that talent has yet to produce consistently over a full season. No one player has emerged this Spring like Rousseau has. Hightower had an exceptional spring game with 100 yards receiving and two touchdowns. He hasn’t been as consistent as Rousseau though.