Special teams making a big impact
The Miami Hurricanes tied a Football Bowl Subdivision record when they blocked three field goals at Clemson in Saturday night’s loss.
How were they able to pull it off ?
“We thought there was the opportunity to block some field goals,” special teams coordinator Jonathan Patke said on Tuesday. “Really, what we talk about on special teams and on defense is effort, attitude, toughness every play, and our heartbeat of a special teams unit is really our field goal block team.”
Safety Bubba Bolden, who was named ACC Defensive Back of the Week for the second time this season, swooped in for two of the deflections. The one right before halftime on a 61-yard attempt for Clemson was rejected by defensive tackle Jared Harrison-Hunte at the line of scrimmage before it bounced up to cornerback DJ Ivey, who had green grass in front of him for the 48-yard touchdown return.
“To see them absolutely lay out, give it all they got right there in that situation going into halftime, really get that momentum back in our favor at that time,” Patke said. “We overloaded them on one side, and we got there. … Really just proud of our guys playing with that effort on that field goal block unit, getting our feet across the line of scrimmage and everybody going hard.”
Punt return struggles
Miami made the move to freshman Xavier Restrepo on punt returns for the Clemson game after junior Mark Pope had lost one fumble and muffed another in the first three games.
Restrepo’s opportunities were still shaky. He had one, off a bounce, hit his shoulder pad inside the 10-yard line before rolling into the end zone and getting kicked out. It was a called a touchback and not a safety because he never had possession.
“It was a hot punt. He was on the 10-yard line. We tell him, ‘Stand on the 10, don’t back up, and if it’s hot, let it go,’” Patke said. “Just a situation where, young guy in a game that thought he could field it and advance it. I don’t fault him for the effort. It was a learning experience. We got fortunate that it was a touchback, but something we learned from.”
An earlier punt return chance rolled and was kicked forward by a Clemson coverage player. On another confusing play, Restrepo tried to pick it up and advance it.
Patke said it was a heads-up decision, however, because Restrepo can make that attempt and is guaranteed the ball still goes back to the spot where it was touched if he doesn’t get there.
“The ball hit one of their guys on their punt unit, so he was smart enough to pick it up and try to advance it without penalty,” Patke said. “I thought that was a big-time play for a freshman to try to understand that that was the situation.”
Patke commended Restrepo for handling punts on the road against a No. 1 team in the rain as a true freshman and said the team still has confidence in him going forward.
UM continues to roll Pope out as the team’s primary kick returner.
Patke said freshman running backs Jaylan Knighton
and Donald Chaney Jr. are “both elite returners,” adding Knighton is “really, really elite.”
“There’s no question that we’d like to work him into a game, and I think he’s close to doing that,” Patke said, also naming receiver Michael Harley, running back Cam’Ron Harris. “The next guy in line would be Jaylan — and Don. We got a lot of guys that can catch kickoff returns. The harder one is punt return.
On special teams coverage units, Patke pointed out Te’Cory Couch, Tirek Autsin-Cave, Corey Flagg, Avery Huff, Brian Balom, Keyshawn Smith and Michael Redding III as impressive.
Good for Sundays?
Patke feels his kicker-punter combination of Jose Borregales and Lou Hedley should be good for a chance at the NFL.
“The guy has ice in his veins,” he said of Borregales, the grad transfer from FIU that’s 7 for 7 on field goals with a long of 57. “He prepares like a pro. He treats himself like a pro, takes care of his body. If anything’s ever hurting, he’s here extra, getting extra work. He tells me, ‘I need this; I need an extra kick; I don’t need a kick today.’
“He goes into pregame. He has his routine. I don’t even mess with his routine.
The guy has been solid as a rock.”
Hedley is averaging 46.1 yards on his punts with a long of 55 and four inside the 20-yard line.
“He’s had one returnable punt all year,” Patke said. “His hangtime, his placement. The biggest difference between Lou this year and last year is his placement of the football.
Last year, sometimes he sprayed them into the middle of the field. This year, they’ve really been outside the hashes and a majority of them outside the numbers.
“He’s a pro, carries himself like a pro, takes his job very seriously and glad that we got those two guys.”