Manny Diaz weighs in on UM running backs, defense
Incumbent starter Harris receiving reps with first team
CORAL GABLES — The Miami Hurricanes wrapped up training camp with their second scrimmage of the month on Saturday and have turned their attention to game preparations for their matchup against Alabama on Sept. 4, meaning roles and depth chart for the season opener are coming into focus.
One position group that entered preseason practices with questions about what roles which players would have was running back — after carries among the team’s tailback unit were mainly distributed between Cam’Ron Harris (11.4 carries per game) Donald Chaney Jr. (6.2) and Jaylan Knighton (5.8) last season.
All three returned for the 2021 season, with coach Manny Diaz and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee saying the team’s looking for a primary rusher with carries mainly being distributed between two tailbacks.
“I don’t think we’ve changed in terms of what we want in terms of how we dole out the carries,” Diaz told 560-WQAM on Monday morning, “but I think the competition will go here through the end of this week in terms of what we’re at.”
Harris, the incumbent starter who’ll be the most experienced of the trio as a fourth-year junior, has consistently been getting firstteam reps at the start of practices that have been open to the media.
“Cam’s looked really good,” Diaz told reporters after Monday’s practice. “He’s in great condition, he looks strong. He had a great offseason before last year too and started the season in great shape. [He] had two great games to start the year and I think he knows now it’s about a consistent level of performance.”
Because of guys sustaining minor injuries throughout camp — Harris and Chaney both wore red, non-contact jerseys at one point during camp — Diaz doesn’t feel like best assessments of the running backs have been made, making this week critical in the evaluation process.
“We haven’t had all those guys around for all of camp like we’d like,” Diaz said. “We’ve seen enough of all of them based on what they did last year, in years prior and what we’ve seen through spring ball and fall camp to know we like all three of them, but I think the competition for who gets the first carry rages on this week.
“Not because of it’s a bad thing where we’re worried [if ] we have someone that can, I think we’re still trying to figure out the snaps and the carries there.”
Diaz also discussed UM’s defensive front seven, which had a strong showing in Saturday’s scrimmage with defensive tackle Nesta Jade Silvera, defensive end Zach McCloud, defensive lineman Elijah Roberts and defensive end Deandre Johnson, the Tennessee transfer, all recording sacks.
With the Hurricanes looking to improve their rush defense after it digressed in 2020, Diaz said the performances of defensive tackles such as Silvera, Jared Harrison-Hunte, Jonathan Ford, Jordan Miller and even true freshman Leonard Taylor will be integral for an improved defense.
“The Miami 4-3 is always going to start at the defensive tackle position, which is funny because that’s the one position nobody ever wants to seem to talk about,” Diaz said. “And our defensive tackle position has made a major jump forward from where we were a year ago. It’s not about a guy who can make a play, it’s about guys that do their job.
“Run defense starts with your two tackles. That’s what we established here from ‘16 through ‘19 and we didn’t have it a year ago.”
Diaz added that the depth of the entire defensive line, including the defensive ends, will be key.
“The best defenses I’ve been a part of always had eight guys up front that can roll,” he said. “In the era now with the tempo offenses — not just the offenses you’re defending by the way, but the offense you have. We don’t play a nine-inning baseball game anymore. With tempo-offense, you play 12 innings because you’re defending more snaps.
“The guys who log the snaps the most are the interior defensive linemen and the defensive ends, because that’s really the physically-taxing thing to do. The ability to come at waves and be unselfish there, that’s the way we’ve played great defense and, I think, we got that recipe now.”