Miami football resurgence coincides with OL improvement

The three-game winning streak for the Miami football has coincided with the vast improvement the Hurricanes offensive line has made over the course of the 2019 season.

The 2019 Miami football season began with the Hurricanes offensive line allowing 10 sacks in a 24-20 loss to Florida. The sacks allowed in the loss to the Gators have contributed significantly to Miami one of the worst teams in the country allowing sacks this season. The Hurricanes are now 125th allowing 3.6 sacks per game.

According to Pro Football Focus via Inside the U, Miami allowed just eight QB pressures and one sack in the 52-27 victory over Louisville on Saturday. The performance of the offensive line against the Cardinals and last week against Florida State has allowed the Hurricanes to open up their passing game.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Jarren Williams threw for a career-high 313 yards against the Seminoles last week. Against Louisville, Williams had one of the most memorable performances in Miami history. The six TDs Williams threw against Louisville set a Miami football program record and tied the ACC record.

In the last two weeks, Miami has become one of the most explosive offenses in the country. What began this season as a flaw in the Hurricanes offense has now become a strength. Williams has six completions and five TD passes over the past two weeks where the ball traveled over 20 yards in the air over the last two weeks.

Following the victory over Louisville, Miami head coach Manny Diaz spoke to the media about the maturation of the Hurricanes offensive line. He praised the Miami O-line for playing well against a difficult Louisville defense to match up against.

"“I think they had an outstanding game. Against a 3-4 team that is sending somebody slanting and angling on every play, so there are opportunities for guys to forget who they have.I think Butch Barry (offensive line coach) has done a good job of rebuilding their confidence and doing it when there has been so much negativity around him last year and with the way things started this year. Then it is assignment wise we don’t have a lot of free guys popping in and messing things up.Then it is I think today we wanted to run the ball downhill and that happened over and over again and that sets up the RPO game. Getting the running game and offensive line going opens up everything.”"

Inside the U posted the information from Pro Football Focus on how well the Miami offensive line has played over the past five games and how the key offensive lineman for Miami performed against Louisville on Saturday.

• Virginia: eight pressures, two sacks allowed
• Georgia Tech: nine pressures, two sacks allowed
• Pittsburgh: 18 pressures, two sacks allowed
• Florida State: seven pressures, two sacks allowed
• Louisville: eight pressures, one sack

The beating that Williams took from Florida absorbing 10 sacks and pressured 25 times took its toll on his shoulder. Williams missed Miami’s game against Virginia and attempted only three passes against Virginia in relief of N’Kosi Perry. Once Williams’ shoulder healed and the OL improved the Miami offense has as well.

David Lake of Inside the U summarized the improvement of the Miami offensive line against Louisville. Lake reported that left guard Navaughn Donaldson, right tackles Delone Scaife and backup offensive lineman John Campbell did not allow any pressures against the Cardinals. Lake listed some of the grades from PFF.

• Scaife received an 82.5 pass-blocking grade
• Campbell earned an 81.3 pass-blocking grade.
• True freshman LT Zion Nelson four QB pressures and one sack.
• True freshman RG Jakai Clark two quarterback pressures, no sacks
• Donaldson 68.5 run-blocking grade

Barry who used to be an assistant offensive line coach in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has done an outstanding job. He has taken a very young group up front and oversaw a tremendous improvement over the last 10 games. None of the Miami offensive linemen are seniors. Only Donaldson is a junior.