Miami Coach Manny Diaz 'Pleased' With Final Scrimmage Before Thursday's opener
Miami quarterback D’Eriq King was outstanding in Friday’s final fall scrimmage at Hard Rock Stadium, according to coach Manny Diaz, going 24 for 34 for 330 yards and six touchdowns through the air, and rushing for 84 yards on nine carries.
King, the senior transfer from Houston, wasn’t the only bright spot from the scrimmage.
“I was pleased with the night,” said Diaz, whose team is less than a week from Thursday’s season opener against Alabama-Birmingham. "It’s the first time we’ve played in a mock game.
“We put Miami on one sideline and had some other guys that are simulating UAB on the other sideline so you’ve got your kicking substitutions, and mechanically I thought we were sound in terms of having the right guys on the field...so that was positive because obviously with UAB playing a game ahead of us they were able to work some of those things out. We’ve got to be ready to go Thursday.”
As has been the custom during these COVID-19 times, no fans or media were allowed to watch the scrimmage.
According to Diaz’s post-scrimmage comments, and the account on UM’s official website, there were three particularly strong areas – passing, receiving and defensive line.
Passing
King was as good as expected. He was strong in the first scrimmage with four touchdown passes, fell off a bit in the second and was apparently amazing in the third.
It’s not clear whether King had any bad plays or poor decisions but judging from the numbers, and from Diaz’s comments, King is ready for Thursday’s opener.
The major unknown at quarterback is who will serve as King’s backup among junior N’Kosi Perry, freshman Tyler Van Dyke and junior Tate Martell. No statistics from Friday’s scrimmage were made public for any of those quarterbacks.
Based on King’s performance you can assume pass protection was reasonably reliable, which is another encouraging sign.
Receiving
Senior wide receiver Mike Harley had five receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown, according UM’s official website. Freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Payton three receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown and junior Mark Pope had four receptions for 65 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman Michael Redding III had two touchdown receptions.
Going outside of the wide receivers, tight end Will Mallory and running back Cam’Ron Harris each had a touchdown reception.
Miami’s secondary is fairly strong so these numbers seem to be good news for the passing game. It indicates there might be diversity among touchdown targets (UM’s best pass-catcher, tight end Brevin Jordan, wasn’t even mentioned) and it seems Harris will be a solid target out of the backfield in offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee’s offense. Harris had two touchdown receptions in Miami’s second scrimmage.
Defensive line
Defensive end Jared Harrison-Hunte had two sacks to lead the way for the pass rush. Defensive ends Quincy Roche and Cam Williams, defensive tackle Nesta Jade Silvera and linebacker Sam Brooks each had one sack.
That’s encouraging because Miami’s pass rush, which won’t have defensive end Gregory Rousseau (15.5 sacks last season; sitting out this season due to COVID-19 concerns), is an unknown.
“We’re going to have to have some depth as well,” Diaz said of the defensive line, “so even when the other guys went in I thought we were able to be disruptive with the front, which you would expect.
“It was a little bit of a mismatch the way it was set up for tonight (with the situational scrimmage), but they still did their job, made it very difficult not just on the running game but for the quarterback to hold on to the football so we were pleased with that.”
Diaz, entering his second season at UM, thinks the Canes are ready for Thursday’s opener at Hard Rock Stadium.
“Like I said, I thought everybody was very sharp,” Diaz said. “Good tune-up to get ready for Thursday.”
