Miami Hurricanes 2020 projected offensive line depth chart
The poor play of the Miami Hurricanes offensive line in 2019 has been well documented. There are multiple reasons to believe that play upfront will be improved in 2020.
The Miami Hurricanes offensive line was one of the worst in college football in 2019. After the season head coach Manny Diaz revamped his offensive coaching staff. Out were offensive coordinator Dan Enos and offensive line coach Butch Barry, plus wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield left for Penn State.
Replacing Enos, Barry and Stubblefield are new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, new offensive line coach Garin Justice and wide receivers coach Rob Likens. All three have prior experience as an offensive coordinator and Justice has previous experience as a Division II head coach.
Lashlee will run an up-tempo spread offense that in tandem with graduate transfer QB D’Eriq King is expected to help the Miami Hurricanes offensive line improve. Miami did not lose any offensive linemen from the 2019 season. The Hurricanes were extremely young upfront in 2019, starting two true freshmen.
Rising senior guard Navaughn Donaldson, junior D.J. Scaife and redshirt junior Corey Gaynor are expected to provide leadership as the experienced players on the offensive line. Projected the starting unit after Miami was only able to get in four practices this spring is difficult.
Justice spoke to reporters this week about his expectations for the offensive line in 2020. One of the key topics he touched on is the Miami Hurricanes offensive linemen experience playing in the spread offense in high school and the prevalence of it in South Florida.
Hurricanes O-line coach Garin Justice on Zoom today: “When you’re coaching the offensive line, it’s like you’re trying to fix a beat up car. And right now we’re trying to fix the engine.”@NBC6Sports pic.twitter.com/YZiwInEysm
— Ruthie Polinsky (@ruthiepolinsky) April 3, 2020
"“Really we just have a young group. For all the misfortunes they went through last year, people forget they were really, really young. That takes a lot of development. It usually takes a couple of years before a lot of them truly, I guess, get it.The biggest thing I’ve been impressed with is the fact of their willingness to accept me, their willingness to be open to learn new things. They want to be good. They’re working hard to be good. It’s my job to try and figure out where to put those guys.With four practices I really don’t know those answers yet. But I have some ideas. Me talking about those ideas would just be speculation. You usually start to find that out toward the end of spring practice as far as what those fives would be….But I think we do have a handful of guys who could fill those spots…The good news about our guys is that our guys are a long, physical athletic bunch and that plays to our strengths. We can run. We gave guys who are going to have a high level of conditioning. That allows those guys to have a lot of success and they’ve embraced it.A lot of these guys or the majority of our guys on the roster are Florida guys and they come from high schools who do play spread offenses and guys who want to play up-tempo. That kind of fits their personalities as far as the way they want to play. It looks like they were thriving in it so far.We have a lot, a lot of work to do. The guys understand that. They’re committed to doing that. It’s been a really fun process so far. It’s a process I’m excited to get back into.”"
The Miami Hurricanes offensive line when healthy ended the 2019 season with Zion Nelson at left tackle, Donaldson at left guard, Gaynor at center, Jakai Clark at right guard and Scaife at right tackle. Justice did a lot of shuffling on the offensive line in the four practices Miami was able to get in last month.
Justice opened spring practice with redshirt sophomore John Campbell at left tackle, redshirt sophomore Ousman Traore who played in two games in 2019 at left guard, Gaynor at center, Scaife at right guard and Nelson at right tackle. Donaldson was out, still recovering from a season-ending injury at the end of 2019.
Redshirt junior Kai’Leon Herbert took some snaps during the four spring practices at right tackle, freshman Chris Washington who is likely headed for a redshirt season also took snaps at right tackle, redshirt sophomore Cleveland Reed received time at right guard. Gaynor and Donaldson are likely locked into their positions.
After Gaynor at center and Donaldson at LG, anything else is possible. The likelihood is that Scaife will start at a yet to be determined position on the OL. True freshman Jalen Rivers is a player to watch at guard or tackle to challenge for a starting position. Redshirt junior
and redshirt freshman
add depth.
The switch to the spread offense and the experience of King at QB is expected to help the offensive line be more productive. A year of immense growing pains should make a difference as well. As things stand with spring practice canceled projecting who will start where this fall is tough, but not impossible.
Clark seems destined to move back to center at the position he with Miami to play. Clark could potentially take a redshirt season if Miami does not need him for depth in 2020. Gaynor was a back up at guard as a freshman in 2017 and redshirted playing four games in 2018. Clark would be the starting center in 2022.
Next. Five things missed with Miami spring game. dark
The projection based on who Justice had with the first team OL in the shortened spring practice would be Campbell at LT, Donaldson at LG, Gaynor at center, Scaife at RG and Nelson at RT. That could all change based on a variety of factors. For what we know now that seems to be the most likely OL September 5 against Temple.