Offense a work in progress
Lashlee: ’Canes need another week to watch the battles for position
Coming off the Miami Hurricanes’ second scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday night, there are still a number of position battles to play out ahead of UM’s opener against UAB on Sept. 10.
Miami offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee told 560-AM on Monday morning, “there’s still probably another week before we set everything in stone.”
One of those areas is on the offensive line, where he and offensive line coach Garin Justice are working to find the best combination of a starting five, as well as the additional few linemen who will rotate in.
“I’d say coach Justice and I probably have a pretty good idea of probably what our starting group will look like for the most part,” Lashlee said. “There’s still a little bit of time, but not much, to be honest with you when you play [Sept. 10].
“There’s also seven or eight guys that can help us win. It’s not like, ‘Man, I hope we can find five.’ We feel like seven or eight, maybe even nine guys can help us, which we feel like, in a year like this, can be big because you never know who you’re going to have to count on.”
Lashlee touted Miami’s sixthyear senior grad transfer tackle from Houston, Jarrid Williams, for his size and experience.
“Sometimes, that’s what you need. You need some experience,” Lashlee said of Williams, who could start on the right side with DJ Scaife at guard. “He doesn’t say a lot, just kind of goes out there and goes about his business. He’s meshing well with the O-line room, and they’ve received him well and he’s going to help us win.”
Behind starting D’Eriq King, the are also trying to backup.
“N’Kosi Perry has been solid,” Lashlee said of the redshirt junior who has played in 19 games and made nine starts over the past two seasons. “He’s a guy who has played a lot of ball in actual game situations. I think [freshman] Tyler Van Dyke took a really nice step in the second scrimmage. You look at a young guy who, in Scrimmage 1, got his feet wet, did some things but I thought I saw a good jump for him in the second scrimmage. You can tell he looked much more comfortable. Peyton Matocha, quarterback Hurricanes lock in his
Tate Martell and Ryan Rizk have all gotten reps, as well.”
Lashlee doesn’t see the Hurricanes having a big No. 1 receiver, but he likes how many options starting quarterback D’Eriq King will have in the passing game.
“We don’t probably have that go-to guy that you say, ‘This guy, we’re going to throw him the ball every time,’ ” Lashlee said. “I think that’s actually a good thing. We’ve got a lot of guys with ability that are learning what we want them to do. Honestly, as an offense, that’s kind of what you want. You don’t want the defense feeling, ‘If we take this guy away from them, they’re out of luck.’ ”
The two junior tight ends of Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory could see playing time together in two-tight end sets, Lashlee said.
Junior running back Cam’Ron Harris was the star of the second scrimmage with three total touchdowns, but the two freshman backs working behind him have impressed in both scrimmages.
“Those young backs have really shown that they’re fearless and they’re going to help us out sooner than later,” Lashlee said. “Make no mistake. We believe in balance. We believe in running the football. If you’re here trying to throw it 70 times a game, I don’t think you can win championships doing that.”
Lashlee said the sloppiness coach Manny Diaz referenced in his post-scrimmage comments released by UM following the closed scrimmage was a lot of holding penalties on offense and pass interference on defense.