Kicking game has bitten ’Canes badly
Again, we’re not going to focus on the tough 49-yard field goal Baxa missed as time expired, but in the second quarter, a 26-yard attempt missed. In the third quarter, there was an extra point that was blocked. Between the three misses, a later two-point conversion fail that was necessary because of the point-after miss and a fourth-and-1 fail in the red zone, UM left at least 11 points on the field in a game it lost by 3 (28-25).
Fast-forward to the Virginia Tech loss, and this is one that you maybe say the Hurricanes lose anyway. There was only one point left off the scoreboard due to the kicking game. Nonetheless, the momentum of a 28-point comeback was sucked out of the team when Baxa’s extra-point attempt, which would’ve given Miami a one-point lead, doinked off the upright. The Hurricanes defense still gave up a touchdown and UM couldn’t respond on its final drive.
That miss was the one that had Diaz open things up to walk-on Turner Davidson. He got the Hurricanes through the win over Virginia without a miss, but then came Saturday against Georgia Tech.
Davidson missed a 34-yarder in the second quarter, Diaz went back to Baxa for his fourth-quarter miss and then reverted to Davidson for the one that was blocked with 26 seconds left.
Throw in another Baxa miss in Week 3 against Bethune-Cookman and these are the distances of Miami’s seven field goal misses on the year: 25, 26, 27, 27, 30, 34, 49. Six of the seven have been very makeable, and then you throw on the two extra-point fails that are 20-yard kicks.
Diaz didn’t have much to offer in solutions after Saturday’s loss.
“All we know how to do is to manage the situation,” he said. “We continue to coach the guys, we give them all the psychological help that we can afford them and, as I’ve said from when this first became an issue, they are who we have. We do not have free agency, and we just have to continue to press on.”
Teammates have tried to show their support for the UM kickers and uplift them.
“We can’t do anything but love them up, but there’s also a standard for them, as well,” said senior linebacker Shaq Quarterman said. “We hold them accountable. That’s why you see the multitude of kickers we have coming in. … You have to compete every day or your spot is at risk, and that’s how it’s always been at this university, so you can’t have that.”
Besides Baxa and Davidson, Miami has another walk-on, Camden Price, on the roster. Price was unavailable for unspecified reasons for UM’s games against Virginia Tech and Virginia. Expected back this week, he was not seen participating in warmups ahead of the Georgia Tech game. Backup punter Jack Spicer serves as the team’s holder on place kicks.
A redshirt freshman walk-on cornerback, Suleman Burrows, who wears No. 98, has left-footed kicking highlights on his website from his high school days at John Burroughs School in St. Louis.
The Hurricanes do not have a kicker committed in their 2020 recruiting class, but can always search the junior college ranks for one. They have ChaminadeMadonna junior Andres Borregales committed in the 2021 class.