Miami Hurricanes new offense shows fast pace in first scrimmage

The expectation that the Miami Hurricanes offense will play with more pace in 2020 came to fruition during the first scrimmage on Sunday night.

Speaking after the Miami Hurricanes first scrimmage on Sunday night, head coach Manny Diaz was pleased with the pace and efficiency of the offense. Miami is transitioning to an up-tempo spread offense from a more traditional pro-style run offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee in his first season in Coral Gables.

Lashlee is succeeding Dan Enos after one season. Miami also ran a pro-style offense under Mark Richt from 2016-18. The hiring of Lashlee and addition of graduate transfer quarterback D’Eriq King from Houston has big expectations for the Miami offense in 2020. The first scrimmage was a good indication of the potential in 2020.

Diaz was pleased with the tempo that Miami had on offense Sunday, the plays the offense made and how efficient the Hurricanes were. Miami ran about 80 plays on Sunday according to the stats that were released by the Hurricanes athletic department. That will likely be the goal amount of plays to run on offense in 2020.

SMU ran an average of 79.76 plays per game in 2019 with Lashlee as the offensive coordinator. Miami ran an average of 64.92 under Enos to rank 91st last season. The Miami Hurricanes ran 64.23 plays per game to rank 98th nationally under Richt in 2018. More offensive plays per game are expected from the Miami offense in 2020.

"“The tempo of the offense was telling. We were able to run a lot of plays, got a lot of action and I thought was highly competitive. I thought both sides, made a lot of things happen…What I was pleased with was the operation for a first time out as a scrimmage.Your pre-snap penalties, guys lining up the wrong way, just not knowing what to do, I thought we were outstanding in that. I thought coach Lashlee and the staff did a great job and getting his guys prepared.I’m sure they’ll watch the film and realize they can be so much better, but again, just in terms of functioning in a scrimmage setting for the first time out and not having a spring, I was very impressed.”"

The efficiency that the offense ran at is just as impressive as the tempo the Hurricanes used. The Miami offense should see an extremely positive transformation in 2020. The entire Miami team was 93rd nationally in penalty yards in 2019. The Hurricanes seven penalties per game tied for 105th in FBS.

Becoming a more efficient offense in 2020 is just as important as the increased tempo. Lashlee appears to have taught the offense well installing the up-tempo spread. The new offensive coordinator has stated throughout the offseason that his offense is simpler and easier to learn than the antiquated pro-style.

Miami players have reiterated that the Hurricanes’ new offense relies more on tempo and putting the athletes in a position to make plays more than the system and scheme that the pro-style offense did. With three and a half weeks more of training camp, the offense should continue to evolve before the opener against UAB.