Big changes are coming for the Miami football program in 2020. In an interview with Andy Staples of The Athletic, Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz extensively discussed the impact he expects from new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and transformation at QB.
It is widely regarded that South Florida has the greatest collection of high school skill position players in the country. Turning that into offensive success for the Miami football program has been a challenge for the Hurricanes for at least the last three seasons if not longer. New offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee hopes to change that.
In an extensive interview with national college football writer, Andy Staples of The Athletic, Miami head coach Manny Diaz discussed the change in offensive philosophy for the Hurricanes, the influences of the spread, the shifting of the culture in the program, hiring Ed Reed and the past success at Miami.
There have been numerous critical offseasons in the past 15 years for the Miami football program. Manny Diaz is arguably the first coach since Butch Davis left to become the Cleveland Browns head coach to embrace the need for Miami to change what was not working. Diaz discussed that with Staples.
Getting Lashlee’s offense to work will be the primary element for Miami to improve on the field in 2020. Off the field, the change in culture is the area that needs to be the focus in the 2020 offseason. Hiring Ed Reed as the Chief of Staff is expected to be the impetus for a shift in the players’ psyche.
"It’s reflective to a lot of the high school talent…It’s also still about finding the right fit, right time. The right fit and the right time for Rhett Lashlee to come here made a lot of sense.His combination of what he’s doing offensively now, where he’s been, who’s he’s learned from, the influences he’s had, the successes he’s had, the different types of quarterbacks. When Miami has had the quarterback position humming, Miami has competed for championships.When you develop quarterbacks, one with runners, one with non-runners, one with guys in between there are a lot of exciting things as well.”"
Manny Diaz talked about looking for Miami’s fatal flaws after a disastrous end to 2019.
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) February 17, 2020
The biggest change was switching to an offense that — let’s be honest — Randy Shannon or Al Golden should have switched to. https://t.co/9qRQqmLZnl
Miami is expected to have the quarterback to change the fortunes of the Hurricanes offense in 2020. Houston graduate transfer D’Eriq King threw for 36 touchdowns and ran for 674 yards and another 14 TDs on the ground with Cougars in 2018. King sat out the 2019 season after Houston started 1-3.
Lashlee has proven he puts QBs in the right place to succeed. He mentored Cam Newton and Nick Marshall at Auburn and Shane Buechele last season at SMU. Each brought different skill sets to the offense Lashlee was running. Manny Diaz discussed that with Staples.
"“That’s some of the influence of the air raid. That combination to what Rhett has done and what he’s trying to do to the QB. Athletes in a spread offense you’re trying to make an offense that’s QB friendly where you don’t have to have a first-round draft pick on offense. You perform regardless of QBs coming and going.As a guy that Miami has probably never had. Miami has had some great ones come through here. The dual-threat ability that D’Eriq possesses. His skill set is exciting. He’s been in big games, he’s put up the numbers. It’s exciting because when you get to know D’Eriq, how he ticks, how he thinks about the game, who he is.Being a student of the game, being a gym rat. We obviously needed a reboot in our QB room. Not just in terms of on the field production, but the culture in that room. To have a guy like D’Eriq who cannot only put up 50 touchdowns but is off the charts in all those cultural things.I told D’Eriq I want him to make the team better after he leaves. By his on the field performance and by showing our QBs how to be a big-time college football QB.”"
Staples reiterated what Diaz stated and relayed that Lashlee told him the Hurricanes’ new offensive coordinator said to the Miami signal callers after he was hired that:
“Its a clean slate with me, but we are going into the portal and probably getting an older QB. So you need to know that.”
Getting more production from the Miami offense is not as simple as running the spread. Installing the spread offense has been the cause backed to turn Miami into an elite offense. Diaz discussed with Staples the elements of what the spread is and can be.
"“It gets back to what is the spread. Miami ranked very well offensively for a lot of the years Al Golden was here…In the last four years, it’s kind of worked back the other direction. Does the spread offense mean the shotgun? Does that mean having three wide receivers on the field, four on the field?We’ve been doing that here for a while. There is a lot of really bad spread football teams that go fast…It gets back to the same thing you have to do it the right way and the right way is about people. It’s all in the details. The details are something the kids can execute. You make it easier.”"
The goal for Diaz, Lashlee and a mostly rebuilt offensive coaching staff is to change the style they run and the culture within the locker room. Particularly with the QB unit. King is expected to come in and show the younger and less experienced QBs on the Miami roster the work ethic it takes to succeed as a college QB.