Miami Hurricanes College Football Pregame Quote, 09/16/2019

It’s great to see everybody. Obviously, reviewing the game on Saturday, it was great to get a lot of guys in the game. What was even better was that a lot of guys played very well, which is important for us with this being a long season. With the three bye weeks, we know this is going to be a long marathon, and the more we can develop our depth, on both sides of the ball and especially how that impacts us in special teams, that’s a great benefit to us. On offense, I think Jarren Williams continues to improve. We just found out that he was announced ACC Rookie of the Week this week, which is pretty cool. I think early on, it took him a little bit to get into the game, but he really settled down. Again, he’s taking care of the football, he’s showing great accuracy with his throws, and more than anything, he’s just the same guy, no matter what’s going on on the field. It was also great to get N’Kosi Perry some action in the game. I thought he went in and played well and threw the ball well, which is what we expected because that’s what we had seen all throughout training camp. DeeJay Dallas continues to be the identity of our offense with his ability to hammer it in there when he needs to hammer it in there, and also to break the long one. It was a great example of a game where we were a little slow in starting. You never really know which play is going to get it, and, bang, it’s a simple inside zone play that DeeJay takes to the house and that really got us going. I’m not sure that we were stopped much after that. A lot of the credit has to go to the blocking of the offensive line. All the quarterbacks had ample time to throw, all day. There was certainly space for the running backs to run the ball. And the blocking really extended to the tight ends ‚Äì I thought they had their best day blocking ‚Äì and on the perimeter, as well. Guys playing very hard without the ball. That was a big thing we stressed this game, is how hard can we play? Don’t rely on talent, don’t rely on the things that are God-given. It was more of a game where we wanted our culture to show up, and I thought it did in every phase of the game.

Defensively, to force 10 three-and-outs is a pretty special day. Field position was really the issue, the hidden factor in the game. I think our average starting field position was our 46 or 48. Theirs was inside their 20. The hidden yardage was over 300 yards, in terms of where we started and where they started on the 13 drives. That’s everything ‚Äì that’s the offense not going three-and-out. The offense had one three-and-out, which I think was on the opening drive of the game. The defense forcing 10 three-and-outs. We were dominant on the net punt averages between the two teams, and the same thing on our average starting field position after kickoff. That credit goes to really everybody that plays ‚Äì everybody that plays is responsible for special teams.

Defensively, I think the run defense this season is off to a great start. Third down defense is off to a great start. There’s obviously things we’re still looking to clean up. We feel like there’s some plays, in terms of tackles for loss and sacks that we’re leaving on the field. This is not uncommon for our defense, if you look back at the last four years now. Early in the season, you have to develop that trust and guys just going and doing their job and letting the other guy eat when it’s his turn to eat, and you know that it’ll be your turn, too, in this defense. I expect that to continue to improve as the year goes on. I mentioned special teams. I thought we were dominant in the punt game. I thought we were dominant in the kickoff game. Obviously we’re still disappointed in the one short missed field goal. At the same time, Bubba Baxa is probably one of the top kickoff guys in the country. I forget how many touchbacks we had, but we had three tackles inside the 15-yard line, which is outstanding.

Again, just a great performance by our guys, which is all we could do last week, one thing. The only thing we could accomplish was to beat Bethune-Cookman. This week, the only thing we can get done is beat Central Michigan. Central Michigan, is, like us, a new staff. Game 3, it felt like they played their best game. It’s kind of the same thing, they’re finding their sea legs in all three phases. Obviously, we know with Jim McElwain, they’re going to have a well-designed offense. They’re very multiple, like us. They present a lot ‚Äì a lot of personnel groups, formations, motions, shifts ‚Äì a lot to have to adjust to on defense. And then their defense does a great job. They play very hard and they can go back from playing an even front and a ‚Äòbear’ front. Outside, they’ll play man coverage, they’ll play split safety coverage. It’s a game where we have to make sure we know what we’re doing on both sides of the ball, because they’ll present some issues. The big thing for us is to be back at home. Back in our stadium. I thought our fans were outstanding last Saturday, where you had very high temperatures and I don’t know if anyone looked at the future radar, but the radar wasn’t looking very good on Saturday afternoon. The fact that we stayed dry and without a delay was sort of a blessing. It’s good to get back into a routine, good to get back at Hard Rock Stadium and we’re really looking forward to getting back there this Saturday, again at 4 o’clock.

On the play of DE Jonathan Garvin:

Normally, and this has never changed in the last four years, the snap allocation on the defensive front, is you have to earn the right to sack the quarterback. The way you earn the right to sack the quarterback is how you play the run. In this day and age, as we say on first and second down, defensive ends are linebackers. That’s usually who the offense is reading on its ‚Äòzone read’ game and that type of stuff. The ability to have your eyes in the right spot, to play the blocks the right way, will put the other team in third down situations. Now, who gets to earn the right to play in third down situations? I don’t think there’s any doubt that Jonathan Garvin is off to a great start this season. The thing you have to look at, when people play our defense, if you take all the pass attempts from this past game, people are going to throw the ball very quickly against our defense. They’re not going to have the ball in the quarterback’s hand very long because they know they’re going to try to stay out of negative plays. Some of that is going to always affect your pass rush numbers. You’re always looking at the effect of your pressure, at times, will not always be measured in sacks. With that being said, I still felt like we left some sacks on the field. Usually, just because of everybody just being where they need to be and just doing their job.

The final point on snap allocation ‚Äì that’s something that’s always fluid throughout the year. That’s something we’re always trying to look at, because guys are getting more comfortable in our system. You mentioned Trevon [Hill], his first year in doing things our way. A guy like Greg Rousseau, who is just every game, going out there and getting better. It wouldn’t be surprising to see those guys play more as they get more comfortable in what we’re trying to do.

On which of the second- and third-stringers impressed him against Bethune-Cookman:

There were a lot of guys that really got in there and, I thought, played well for us and are getting good experience. Certainly, offensively, Robert Burns got in the game in the fourth quarter and ran the ball very hard, which was very encouraging. I thought there were a lot of guys on that second-string offensive line that went in there and did a good job and were on their guys and playing hard. We really challenged everybody. We said no matter who went in the game, we didn’t want our standard to drop. To see a guy like Dee Wiggins make an explosive play on the wide receiver sweep was really cool. To see him put a foot in the ground and show the speed he showed, I think he clocked 22 miles per hour on our ‚ÄòCatapult’ [GPS] system ‚Äì that’s getting it, now. That’s moving. There are a bunch. You saw Larry Hodges with two touchdown catches. He’s a guy that can play a role for us.

It has been exciting. I thought Sam Brooks getting in on defense was pretty exciting. To get him some experience and to see him run and chase the ball and hit and tackle, it made us think that he has a really, really bright future as well. Keontra Smith played safety. We had Te’Cory Couch and Christian Williams in at corner. All those guys looked like they knew what they were doing and looked like they belonged on that field. And I’m leaving other guys out, but those are the guys, off the top of my head.