Smarter, more experienced offense awaits test against LSU
CORAL GABLES — There are moments sometimes when Hurricanes quarterback Malik Rosier looks around and can’t help but feel a twinge of excitement about the kind of talent he’s got to work with this season.
There’s a receivers corps deeper than any the redshirt senior has seen during his tenure at Miami. The offensive line, a unit that struggled in the spring, has seemingly come together and has, Rosier said, the kind of depth it needs to be successful in the ACC. And there’s a stable of running backs led by veteran Travis Homer that has, Rosier hinted, the potential to be special.
It’s enough to make any quarterback giddy.
“I think it’s just excitement,” Rosier said Tuesday. “Me and [receivers coach Ron Dugans] talked and the talent at the receivers corps that we have this year compared to a couple of years ago, it’s tremendous. We can go three deep, and that’s the thing that coach [Mark] Richt is really trying to do. He was like, ‘I want to see if they can go down after down and just run with our guys. They’re the difference.”
But as the eighth-ranked Hurricanes continue moving closer to their Sunday night season opener against No. 25 LSU in the AdvoCare Classic, it’s not just Miami’s crop of playmakers that has Rosier feeling confident.
After the offense struggled during a three-game slide against Pittsburgh, Clemson and Wisconsin to close out last year, several of the Hurricanes — Rosier included — did some offseason soul-searching.
Rosier realized he needed to not only improve his accuracy and footwork, but establish himself as the leader on offense. Receiver Ahmmon Richards said he focused on ways to better take care of his body in order to avoid the spate of injuries that plagued him throughout the year. And center Tyler Gauthier said he and several of his teammates learned to never take anything — including a 15-game win streak — for granted.
“We thought we were riding high. We were 10-0. We can’t do that,” he said. “We’ve got to go out there and play every game like it’s our last game, and I think that’s what we’re going to do this year.”
Added left tackle Tyree St. Louis: “The Pitt game was the main thing that stopped us. It was the kind of a team where we expected to just go in and blow them out and win. We had faced bigger, better opponents and we had fought to the last second. In no one’s mind did we [think] we were going to lose the Pitt game. But we didn’t prepare like that. When we did lose, it kind of shocked us.”
The Hurricanes, who are coming off their first 10-win season since 2003, have often said they’ve stopped talking about their late-season swoon that started with an ugly showing at Pittsburgh and included an ACC Championship Game loss to Clemson before a demoralizing finale against Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl.
But they have tried to learn from the experience, particularly as an offense. During its 10-game win streak to start the year, Miami’s offense averaged 441.9 yards. That number dropped to an average of just 274.3 yards against Pittsburgh, Clemson and Wisconsin.
Now, they prepare to line up against an LSU defense that allowed opponents an average of 316 yards last season and is led by preseason All-Americans linebacker Devin White and cornerback Greedy Williams. Rosier and the rest of the Hurricanes offense’ say they know they have the opportunity to prove to the nation they are a different group than they were late last year.
And they’re determined to make that statement Sunday.
“I think the big thing we learned that that 12-game haul is a long haul,” Rosier said.
Added Richt: “They understand they have to know their assignments, they have to know their techniques, they have to play with a physical nature. They have to make the plays when they present themselves. … You have to rise to the occasion and do your job. I think that’s what they focus on the most.”