Brian Monroe who is was a Punter with the Miami football team and is the analyst on the postgame show sent out a Tweet on Tuesday evening stating that UM “haven’t had luck with the first couple of (OC) choices” and that a key player is deciding if he will transfer.
Earlier this offseason Freshman quarterback Jarren Williams was reportedly going to transfer. He was talked out of leaving the Miami football program by former Head Coach Mark Richt and his son Jon who was the quarterbacks’ coach. Mark announced his retirement on December 30 and Manny Diaz was hired less than 12 hours later.
The following day, Diaz relieved the entire offensive staff of their duties. Diaz returned to Miami after spending 17 days as the Temple Head Coach. Formerly the Defensive Coordinator and given what seemed like complete control Diaz kept the entire Hurricanes, defensive staff.
Diaz also hired former Louisiana Tech Defensive Coordinator Blake Baker to the same position, sharing the job with former Miami safeties coach Ephraim Banda. Banda had been promoted to Co-Defensive Coordinator with Linebackers Coach Jonathan Patke. When Baker was hired Patke was also moved to Special Teams Coordinator.
In addition to Williams genuinely pondering a decision to transfer, his classmate, running back Lorenzo Lingard was also considering leaving the program as well according to some speculation. Lingard was the highest rated player in the 2018 Miami recruiting class. He was their only five-star player.
I’m hearing the reason for silence on the OC search is that they haven’t had luck with the first couple choices . Also a key player is waiting to hear on the hire before he plans to transfer or not . Could come as early as next week (if it happens then I will confirm the player)
— Brian Monroe (@B_Monroe15) January 9, 2019
Lingard led the Miami football team with eight yards per carry this season. He had 17 carries for 136 yards and two touchdowns before suffering a season-ending knee injury following Miami’s loss to Virginia.
Miami will return Lingard, Freshman Cam’ron Davis and Sophomore DeeJay Dallas at running back in 2019. Travis Homer who led the Hurricanes in rushing each of the past two seasons decided to forego his Senior year to enter the NFL Draft.
With Lingard out Davis got a chance to play late in the season. He ran for 166 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns and caught two passes for 18 yards and another touchdown. Davis’ 5.9 YPC was third on the Miami football team to Homer and Lingard.
Williams received playing time in only one game this season. With Malik Rosier and Redshirt Freshman N’Kosi Perry struggling it tough to figure out why Richt did not get Williams into a few more games with the new redshirt rule. Players are now allowed to play in up to four games per season and maintain a redshirt.
The two Offensive Coordinator Candidates that Miami likely didn’t have luck with are former North Carolina Head Coach Larry Fedora and former Houston Head Coach Major Applewhite. Both were recently fired. Diaz went against Fedora’s offenses in the ACC the last three years. Applewhite and Diaz worked together at Texas.
If Monroe’s report is accurate Miami still has a few ways to go for the new Offensive Coordinator. Toledo OC Brian Wright and Clemson Co-Offensive Coordinator Jeff Scott who doesn’t call the plays for the Tigers have been the most recently rumored candidates.