Speaking last week before the Miami football team went on spring break following the first week of practice, new co-defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said that the entire staff he is working with is talking the same language and using the same terminology. The Miami defensive staff comes from the Alabama/Georgia tree.
Steele coached under Nick Saban at Alabama with Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. Miami linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Charlie Strong was also on the Alabama staff. Defensive backs coach Jahmile Addae was on the Georgia staff during their 2021 National Championship season.
Miami head coach Mario Cristobal was on the Alabama staff from 2013 through 2016. New Hurricanes defensive tackles coach Joe Salave’a was hired by Cristobal after previously being the defensive line coach at Oregon. New defensive ends coach Rod Wright is the only one on the Miami staff not from the Alabama tree.
According to Steele, the Miami football staff has been able to get off to a quick start this spring because of the staff’s familiarity with the language and terminology. Steele is impressed with the defensive staff he has to work with hired by Cristobal. Steele’s praised his new co-workers and how well they’ve messed already.
"“The defensive coaching staff that coach Cristobal has put together and I’m speaking not of myself, I’m speaking with other people…You know when you walk into a room and you’ve got Charlie Strong coaching the linebackers and you got Jahmile Addae coach in the secondary off of a national championship team…Before I move on I will say what makes that so easy is we’re from the same tree Charlie and I have been at the same place (Alabama) so he had terminology-wise it’s the same, so when I talk about things he’s been in that terminology…The Georgia tree is tied to the other (Alabama) tree and so Jahmile is the same way.I mean we don’t coverage-wise. We’re talking the same language and that’s…big on top of that they’re phenomenal teachers and they’re phenomenal recruiters… Then Joe Salave’a and Rod are you know the d-lineman that’s a hard job guys when you got 300 pounds on the right ear and 300 pounds on your left ear.You know that’s that’s a hard job to teach guys how to how to play technique and and be physical in that in that way…They’re just great teachers and good people so it’s we we’ve got a really room that is very close already… We all knew each other…I mean it’s not like we just came to town and say hey how you doing.You know we we knew each other. So we knew each other…We’re all on the same page.”"
Add Pro Football Hall of Famer Jason Taylor to the Miami Football staff working with Wright in an off-field role and the Hurricanes defensive staff is elite. Steele and Strong provide over 80 years of combined experience as coaches. The remainder of the Miami defensive staff gives the Hurricanes a nice balance of youth.
Cristobal stresses physicality from his team. Miami is reportedly practicing more physically this Spring. Even with the experience using similar terminology, Steele also said the players and staff are getting acclimated to each other and that they are not experimenting with a lot of different combinations on defense.
After taking this week off for spring break, Miami is scheduled to return to practice next Tuesday. Miami will have three practices per week through the Spring Game schedule for April 16 at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale the home of Inter Miami. The Miami Spring Game will be televised on the ACC Network.