Miami Hurricanes relied heavily on defensive starters vs. Florida

Defensive tackle:

• Jon Ford 45 snaps Pat Bethel 36, Chigozie Nnoruka 11 and Jordan Miller four.

Ford was the Miami Hurricanes fourth-highest scoring player and third on a defensive line that scored high against Florida by Pro Football Focus. The 6’5 junior DT scored a 69.6 overall against the Gators, but only a 21.4 tackling on Saturday night. Ford has to become more dominant, but he is off to a good start.

Linebacker

• Shaq Quarterman 56 defensive snaps, Michael Pinckney 47 snaps, Zach McCloud nine snaps.

The Miami linebackers, specially Quarterman and Pinckney performed far below their standards. Quarterman and Pinckney were not the reason Miami lost the game as one fan stated on Twitter. They were specifically subpar in pass coverage. Daniel Gould, the Miami Herald’s metrics guru, revealed Florida was perfect throwing against the Miami LBs.

The Gators were 3-3 for 28 yards against Quarterman, 2-2 for 16 yards against Pinckney and 1-1 for 18 yards against McCloud. Those numbers make it easy to understand why Diaz and Baker used Finley and Frierson for 47 snaps at striker.

Striker:

• Romeo Finley 35 snaps, Gilbert Frierson 12.

Expect Finley and Frierson to get a lot of playing time this season. They are the only two strikers on the Miami roster and There is not much depth at LB behind Quarterman, Pinckney and McCloud. They are going to have to get better in coverage. Frierson was in coverage on the 65-yard completion to Florida’s Josh Hammond in the fourth quarter.