In an interview with the Joe Rose Show on WQAM Wednesday morning, Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee stated that seeing the offensive players in person made him realize the talent is much better than what he saw in tape.
The hiring of Rhett Lashlee as the Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator is expected to revolutionize the offense. Lashlee brings an up-tempo, spread offense to Miami. Lashlee brings a new attitude to the Hurricanes and the Miami offense into the 21st Century. The pro-style offense is gone for now.
Lashlee had four practices to see the Miami Hurricanes football players compete this spring. Miami went in spring break after the first week of spring practice. While Miami was off college sports were shut down for the remainder of the academic year. The Hurricanes return most of their offense in 2020.
Miami returns seven starters on offense. All five starters on the offensive line return with tight end Brevin Jordan and wide receiver Mike Harley. The most significant players Miami has to replace on offense are running back DeeJay Dallas and leading receiver K.J. Osborn. D’Eriq King is a huge upgrade at quarterback over Jarren Williams.
During an appearance Wednesday morning on the Joe Rose Show with Zach Krantz on WQAM, Lashlee discussed the talent Miami has returning in 2020, how well the Hurricanes players performed during the abbreviated spring practice, his background and expectations for the 2020 season.
"“I was happy with what we did have. It was a lot better than what I anticipated on tape coming in. Just getting four practices, I know our offensive staff specifically, we were excited. We were excited about the rest of the spring and the offseason…just saw that our guys had a chance. That’s all you can ask for as a coach.My mind-set has always been, ‘I’m going to look at what we have and not what we don’t have.’ We had momentum…In 2013, when I went to be offensive coordinator at Auburn and Gus [Malzahn] got the head job they had been 0-8 and 3-9…That was bad. We were bad all spring and in the summer.But we came in as a coaching staff and we tried to focus on what we had. We were hoping to go to a bowl game and long story short we ended up playing for the national championship that year. You never know what can happen but we’re excited because we like the guys we have, we like their energy level and how much they’re buying into what we’re doing.’’"
Miami needs the offensive line and wide receiving corps to mature. Navaughn Donaldson leads the Hurricanes offensive line entering his fourth season as a starter. Harley will likely start with juniors Mark Pope and Dee Wiggins at WR. There will be a lot of targets for the Miami receivers in the Lashlee offense.
Cam’Ron Harris is set to take over from Dallas as the lead ball RB with freshman Jaylan Knighton and Don Chaney Jr. expected to receive plenty of carries. Miami should average about 15 more offensive plays per game going by Lashlee’s history as a play-caller. Lashlee has shown a good ability to adapt to his personnel.