Assistants Hickson, Field return home South Florida roots run deep for RB, TE coaches as they try to get the offense on track
CORAL GABLES — Hurricanes running backs coach Eric Hickson didn’t exactly have a whole lot of time to get used to his new surroundings after Miami’s Manny Diaz hired him to join his offensive staff.
Same thing goes for tight ends coach Stephen Field, who as of late last week, was still waiting for his car, most of his clothes and furniture and almost everything else he owns to make its way from Eugene, Ore., to Miami.
But while both Hickson and Field may have had to deal with moving logistics and trying to quickly learn a few of their new players’ names before hopping on the recruiting trail ahead of National Signing Day, navigating South Florida itself hasn’t ex-
actly been a problem.
Both have deep ties to the area, playing high school football at Dillard and Palm Beach Lakes, respectively. Both coached high school football in the tri-county area and both believe they can help Diaz reshape a Hurricanes offense that endured its share of struggles last season.
“It’s really a dream come true. My daughter’s here. My family is from here. I’m from Palm Beach County. I’ve been around Miami football for a long time. … My best friend, Michael Smith played linebacker here in the late 90s going into the early 2000s. So every summer, I would work out here and train here and I saw how it transpired to be into the national level that it was with coach [Butch] Davis,” said Field, who spent last season at Oregon as the Ducks’ director of recruiting. “Working hard in the summers and training with Ed Reed, Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne and all those guys. Out there, we had a sand pit. It was obviously a lot different than it is here now. Just knowing the passion and the energy and everything that comes through this ‘U,’ I’m excited just to be here.”
Added Hickson, “It means a lot to be able to come back not only just start as an adolescent playing little league football here in South Florida and then be able to come back and coach in front of my family and friends. It’s amazing. I can’t explain it. It’s just a feeling I wish everybody could experience. … When [Diaz] called me I was stoked. I was like, ‘Yes, let’s make this happen.’ I was fired up and I got a little emotional at first. But at the same time, coach Diaz is probably the one that does understand the feeling I was feeling because he’s from here and being able to come back and coach and also now be the head coach, I can just imagine his feelings.”
In the weeks before spring practice begins on March 19, Field and Hickson will continue getting to know some of the playmakers they’ll be tasked with developing. For Field, that group — which includes Brevin Jordan, Will Mallory, Brian Polendey and Michael Irvin II — was hampered by injuries and depth problems.
Still, Jordan went on to become one of the top tight ends in the Atlantic Coast Conference, earning second-team All-ACC honors after totaling 287 yards on 32 catches and Field made it clear last week he understands the importance of helping Jordan and the rest of Miami’s tight ends add to the legacy established by the likes of Greg Olsen, Jeremy Shockey, Bubba Franks, Jimmy Graham, David Njoku, Clive Walford and Chris Herndon.
“I want to deliver on the guys that we already have here, in my position. We want to make sure they’re holding up the standard of ‘Tight End U,’ because we have the best tight end standard in the whole world, ever,” Field said. “I want to make sure that the guys, the former tight ends who have played here and held that standard, that we do the same thing on the field.”
Like Field, Hickson has high expectations for his running backs, even in the wake of Travis Homer’s departure for the NFL.
The group returns emotional leader DeeJay Dallas; five-star prospect Lorenzo Lingard, who has been nursing a knee injury; Cam Davis, who was one of the bright spots for Miami’s offense late last season, Robert Burns and has added Auburn transfer Asa Martin, who is hoping the NCAA will grant him an eligibility waiver that will allow him to play this fall.
“I’ve got a blessed group,” said Hickson, who spent last season coaching running backs at Kansas State, where he once rushed for 2,537 yards and 26 touchdowns. “All those guys can play and it’s going to be a competitive atmosphere in there. I’m just excited to be able to coach those guys.”
Merely developing players, though, won’t be their only priority.
During the 2019 recruiting cycle, the Hurricanes signed just five players from South Florida, with only one — Miami Northwestern linebacker Samuel Brooks — hailing from Miami-Dade County.
Considering Field was once the head coach at Northwestern and an assistant at Glades Central, Deerfield Beach and Miami Central and that Hickson coached at both American Heritage-Plantation and Coral Springs Charter, Hurricanes fans are hopeful the two can help more top South Florida prospects find their way to Coral Gables.
Diaz has made it clear that will be a priority for all his staffers.
“We are the University of Miami. So, our recruiting will always start in the city of Miami and then push out into Broward and Palm Beach County and then the state of Miami, you know I-4 [and] south,” Diaz said last week. “Obviously in this class we did make some great strides in terms of going to some areas to help compliment our in-state areas. We know in the long term at this school we’ll be judged by how we recruit the Tri-County area and then pushing out towards the I-4 corridor.”