The Miami Hurricanes Defense has improved significantly in two seasons under Coordinator Manny Diaz. A recently released list by CBSSports.Com had the top five coaching candidates on the rise for 2018. Diaz was not included.
In 2015, the season before Diaz took over the Miami Hurricanes defense allowed 27.8 points per game. That was 71st in the country.
The 2015 Miami Hurricanes defense allowed 404.8 yards per game and 5.8 yards per play. Miami gave up 203.5 passing yards per game, 201.3 rushing yards per game and 5.3 yards per carry. The defense had 15 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries. UM compiled 66 tackles for loss and 26 sacks in 2015.
The 2016 team decreased the total yards allowed per game to 346.8 yards per game and 4.8 yards per play. Miami finished 12th in the nation in scoring defense allowing 18.5 points per game.
They allowed 213.8 passing yards and 133.1 rushing yards per game while allowing 3.8 yards per carry. The 2016 Miami Hurricanes defense had eight interceptions and 11 fumble recoveries. Under Diaz, the 2016 defense increased tackles for loss to 108 and had 38 sacks. Both Sacks and TFLs were nearly a 50 percent increase from 2015.
The 2017 defense was even better. Miami led the nation in sacks and finished fourth in tackles for loss. Miami averaged 8.5 tackles for loss per gamer with a total of 111. They averaged 3.38 sacks per game for a total of 44. The improvements under Diaz are largely due to a more aggressive style of defense.