Miami Hurricanes DE Jonathan Garvin has become dominant force

As the season began the talk about the Miami Hurricanes defensive line centered around Senior tackle Gerald Willis and Junior end Joe Jackson. Sophomore end Jonathan Garvin has shown that he too is a dominant force up front.

Through the Miami Hurricanes first four games, Garvin leads the team with 23 tackles, is second to Willis with 8.5 tackles for loss and is tied with Jackson behind Willis for the team lead with 1.5 sacks.

Garvin, Jackson and Willis have led a dominant Miami Hurricanes front four. Miami leads the nation with 46 tackles for loss. That puts the Hurricanes on pace for 138 tackles for loss this season. They had 111 last season. Miami’s 8.54 TFLs per game in 2017 ranked fourth in FBS.

Willis currently leads the nation with 10 TFLs and Garvin’s 8.5 is tied for fourth nationally. After making an impact with one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in a part-time role last season Garvin, Willis and the Miami Hurricanes defensive unit has been hot since the second half of the season opener against LSU.

Overall, Miami is second in the nation in total defense allowing 223. 8 yards per game, fifth against the run at 78.75 yards per game, fourth in yards per carry at 2.14 and seventh in pass defense allowing 145 yards per game.

A lot of that success has come because of the pressure that Garvin and the rest of the defensive line have put on opposing offensive lines. The Hurricanes have also improved significantly on third down getting off the field. We examined this earlier today with a look at if the 2018 Miami defense can be more dominant than 2017.

"“Last season the Miami defense allowed opponents to convert 38.55 percent on third down. In 2018 the Hurricanes lead the nation allowing 17.54 percent on third down. That has been an important factor in the decrease in opponents scoring.”"

Miami Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz spoke to Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald about if this season’s defense can be as dominant as 2017.

"“My coach instinct says it’s too early in the season to compar…but in terms of, ‘Have they done what we’ve asked them to do?’ more often than not the answer has been absolutely yes.We are showing more dominance than we did a year ago, because our run defense did not start off great last year, and now we’re much better this year on third down. The number of snaps we’re playing on defense compared to last year is just amazing.’’"

The Miami defense gets its next challenge against a below average North Carolina offense. The Tar Heels are 81st in the country in total offense averaging 394 yards per game. UNC has played only three games after their September 15 game scheduled against Central Florida was canceled because of Hurricane Florence.

What has been most impressive about Garvin this season is his consistency. He has had a least five tackles and a TFL in every game this season but Toledo. He finished with two tackles and no TFLs against the Rockets. He began the season with eight tackles and three tackles for loss in each of the first two games.

Garvin bounced back with five tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a half sack against FIU on Saturday. As the Hurricanes get into conference play with the game against the Tar Heels on Thursday night they should continue to create havoc for opposing defenses. Willis and Garvin are one-two in TFLs in the ACC.