Comments by four-star quarterback Jaden Rashada in June foreshadowed his de-commitment with Miami winning only four times in nine games this season and the offense struggling significantly. Rashada spoke with Brandon Huffman of 247 Sports in June following his commitment to Miami.
Jaden Rashada praised Miami head coach Mario Cristobal and offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and their track record of success. Cristobal is headed for his first losing season since finishing 3-9 in 2012 during his final season as head coach at FIU. Gattis leads a Miami offense that is 90th in scoring and 65th in yards per game.
Miami is averaging 24.7 points per game, 397.0 yards per game, 265.1 passing yards per game and 131.89 rushing yards per game. The Miami offense has regressed significantly in their first season with Gattis as the offensive coordinator than they did the last two seasons under his predecessor Rhett Lashlee.
The question that has been asked rhetorically throughout Miami-related social media is why would any elite skill position players and specifically Jaden Rashada want to play in the Gattis offense based on the regression this season. Rashada wants to compete for championships and Miami is struggling to qualify for a bowl game.
For #Miami, call a spade a spade. Think anyone would have a hard time sending their son with NFL aspirations into that offensive operation right now. Good news, Emory Williams is locked in. He wakes up as priority No. 1, need to keep him in the boat. Time for MC to play defense.
— Cooper Petagna (@cpetagna247) November 11, 2022
"“Playing for a proven head coach in coach (Mario) Cristobal, who has proven himself as a winner, playing for an offensive coordinator in Josh Gattis, who has proven himself a winner, being in that system, that was appealing to me.Competing for an ACC championship and a potential national championship, if you run your division, you have a chance to win the ACC and then compete for a national championship and I think Miami will be competing…The transition from California to Florida will go pretty well, living wise and it’s a little familiar as a big city.The weather, the scene, it kind of relates a little more to Miami…I got to talk football with them…The time before I never got to talk football. We got to see the city a little bit too this time. It was a good visit…It’s a huge relief, because now I get to go get better and go start learning the playbook, and stop dealing with the recruiting piece of football.”"
Miami has struggled to win its own division. Since joining the ACC in 2004, Miami’s sole Coastal division title was in 2017. This is the last season of divisions in the ACC. Beginning in 2023, the two teams in the ACC with the best conference record will qualify for the conference championship game.
Miami is clearly far from that. The de-commitment from Rashada dropped Miami from the seventh to ninth-rated 2023 recruiting class. It’s difficult to expect multiple true freshmen to make an impact. Rashada was the first Miami de-commitment since wide receiver Lamar Seymore in June.
Several reports have stated that the rest of the 2023 Miami recruiting class is locked in. To insure that none of the current commits, particularly offensively, start questioning their commitment to Miami, the Hurricanes need to show improvement in the last three games. With Clemson next week that could be difficult.
Miami needs wins in two of their last three games to qualify for a bowl game. Playing in a bowl game will help Miami for multiple reasons. Miami has not finished with a losing record since 2007. Finishing with six wins and qualifying for a bowl will continue their streak of non-losing seasons and provide 10-15 extra practices.