Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Reed a big hit on ’Canes sideline
There was a point in Saturday night’s Miami Hurricanes win at Louisville when ABC’s broadcast caught UM chief of staff Ed Reed leaning to an official to alert him to watch a Cardinals defender before a play.
Upon the snap, UM tight end Will Mallory was about to break free from Louisville linebacker Monty Montgomery off a play-action fake from D’Eriq King, and Montgomery held Mallory. The officials threw a flag, and Montgomery was called for the penalty Reed appeared to predict.
As the Miami alum and Hall of Fame safety in both the college and professional game grows in his new role with the Hurricanes, he’s also making an impact on the sideline. After taking the job in the offseason, Reed now works with the No. 12 team in the AP poll after UM’s 47-34 victory.
Having access to his football savvy has helped Miami coach Manny Diaz.
“He’s been so valuable,” Diaz said. “During the game, between series, I’ll come find him. Just from his vantage point, his perspective, the things that he can see amongst our team that when you’re coaching you’re so into what’s happening on the field that you miss.
“It could be a conversation that he had with a certain player, it could be talking about a player dealing with something when something doesn’t go well and his ability to help a guy bounce back. All those type of things, I think Ed has done a nice job of during the game. I guess helping with the officiating too, is what it sounds like.”
Although Reed can’t officially coach players in his role, defensive coordinator Blake Baker has noticed how his perspective can still leave an impression on them.
“He sees things a little differently in the fact that he sees things from 30,000 feet — he’s not necessarily always in the forest; he’s kind of seeing the woods through it,” Baker said. “Even coming up to me during the game, ‘Hey, did you see this? Hey, did you see that?’
“As far as instructing players, there’s an NCAA rule that he can’t really do that, but I don’t think there’s a rule about getting on the officials.”
During training camp in August, safeties Gurvan Hall and Amari Carter said they try to pick his brain as much as possible when they see him around UM facilities.
No Norvell for FSU
While Florida State coach Mike Norvell is watching practices remotely and communicating with his team during the week after testing positive for COVID-19, he can’t attend Saturday night’s game against Miami or communicate with his staff during it.
“I feel terribly for Mike, missing this game,” Diaz said. “Every time that test comes back negative — not just for the team, but for everyone on the staff — you don’t take that for granted because you just don’t know.
“I would think the bigger key is actually the play calling. They don’t just lose their head coach. They lose their offensive play caller. … That’s something that’ll be an unknown.”
Tight ends coach and deputy head coach Chris Thomsen will lead the Seminoles at Hard Rock Stadium.
“It’s not going to impact me as much as the actual play caller,” defensive coordinator Blake Baker said. “It’s something we’ll have to get a beat on early. Maybe what he likes from a downand-distance stand point, from a situational standpoint. It’ll probably evolve throughout the game.”
Diaz said the team has contingency plans in the event of different coaches and staff members being isolated due to a positive test.
Status updates, depth chart
After redshirt junior quarterback Tate Martell decided to opt out of the season ahead of the game against Louisville, Diaz said he’s unsure if Martell will return to the Hurricanes after the 2020 season.
“We told Tate we’ll just revisit it after the season,” Diaz said of Martell, who transferred to UM ahead of the 2019 season from Ohio State and has seen little playing time. “We’ll kind of see where he’s at.”
Miami will go into FSU week without any major changes to the depth chart from what it put out ahead of the Louisville matchup.
Wide receiver Jeremiah Payton and tight end Larry Hodges remain listed in backup roles despite being unavailable against the Cardinals.
“We’ll just have to see how the week goes, but we definitely have a chance of getting some guys back that were on that list,” Diaz said.
Diaz also said there is no status update on freshman offensive tackle Issiah Walker Jr., waiting to be cleared after his offseason transfer from Florida.