The hiring of Rhett Lashlee as offensive coordinator and addition of quarterback D’Eriq King to the roster gives the Miami Hurricanes offense an identity in 2020.
The Miami Hurricanes offense was mediocre at best and ineffective at worst in 2019. The hiring of offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee from SMU and addition of quarterback D’Eriq King as a transfer from Houston is expected to give the offense an identity in 2019. Lashlee and King have proven track records running an offense.
The annual speculation of Miami as a contender in the ACC Coastal Divison was discussed by Brandon Marcello of 247Sports on Monday in his article titled “ACC: Projected order of finish, superlatives for 2020.” Marcello predicts Miami will finish third in the Coastal. North Carolina and Virginia Tech were first and second.
North Carolina is the trendy pick in the Coastal in Mack Brown’s second season of his second tenure with the return of quarterback Sam Howell for his sophomore season. Miami lost to the Tar Heels and Hokies in the final minutes of both games last season. Miami needs to make clutch plays late in 2020.
The seven losses by the Miami Hurricanes in 2019 were by a total of 51 points. Miami lost 28-25 at North Carolina with 2019 with the game-winning TD coming with 1:01 remaining in the game. Virginia Tech scored the game-winning TD with 1:03 remaining in a 42-35 victory in 2019 at Hard Rock Stadium.
The up-tempo, spread offense that Lashlee runs is perfectly suited for King. Lashlee has run successful offenses with QB Nick Marshall at Auburn who was better running the football at Shane Buechele at SMU in 2019 who is more of a Pro-Style QB. Marcello summarized the 2020 outlook for Miami.
The most fun part of writing the annual Ifs List is envisioning the world in which all the Ifs happen for a team. Gotta say, "Lashlee creates perfect hybrid spread, D'Eriq King goes for 4000/1250, and The U is appt viewing" made me black out a little. Let's make that happen. pic.twitter.com/tozqdp4maJ
— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) June 3, 2020
"Virginia Tech and Miami will challenge, but the Tar Heels have the best offense and quarterback in the division and should emerge as the winner, particularly with home games against Tech and Pitt. Circle the trip to Miami on Nov. 24 (it’s actually November 14) as the game that potentially decides the division.Tech has too many unknowns after an avalanche of departures in the offseason. The defense should be the strength for the Hokies, but the secondary needs to be more consistent. Are we giving Miami too much credit?That offense can go nowhere but up after only averaging 26 points per game and looking terrible in the bowl game last season. Rhett Lashlee is on board as offensive coordinator after serving at SMU, UConn and Auburn and should give the offense some sort of identity with Houston transfer D’Eriq King on board.Miami’s offense should improve enough to rise to the top half of the Coastal and potentially challenge for the divisional crown."
King is a threat to break a big play with either his arm or his legs. Entering the 2020 season, King has an NCAA record 15 game streak passing and rushing for a TD. The streak was previously held by 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. During his 2018 breakout season, King accounted for 50 TDs.
King threw for 36 TDs, ran for another 14, had 2,982 yards passing and 674 yards rushing for Houston in 2018. It has been well documented that King redshirted last season after playing in the first four games with the Cougars only winning one. In 2020, behind Lashlee and King, the Miami offense should be greatly improved.