WR Dallas will join potential subs for Walton

Season-ending injury opens up opportunities.

After beating Florida State and losing Mark Walton for the season, where is Miami going from here?

Coach Mark Richt, who talked about Walton’s season-ending injury and the state of the team on Sunday, discussed it more in his WQAM appearance Monday.

On Walton, Richt said, “He’ll be back 100 percent . ... I told the team, we’re going to miss him on the field,” and he leaves a “spirit and enthusiasm” void that has to be filled as well.

He said wideout DeeJay Dallas will get reps behind Travis Homer, Trayone Gray and Robert Burns at running back. Homer’s special teams work will be reduced from four units to two.

Radio host Joe Rose called Walton’s injury a “broken ankle” in raising the topic. Richt answered the question about the impact of the injury without directly confirming it was a break rather than a ligament tear. He also didn’t correct Rose.

Richt also commented on the following:

■ At halftime of the FSU game, with his offense struggling, Richt told the players to “calm down” and believe in what they were doing. “Don’t think about the big picture,” Richt said. “We’re down three points . ... Let’s trust each other ... and let’s go.”

Richt said he added more spread and four-wideout sets in the second half, and he ran them with success on Braxton Berrios’ second touchdown and Travis Homer’s 24 rushing yards on the final drive. It made it harder for FSU to defend, he felt.

■ On Darrell Langham’s winning catch: “The guy’s like 235 pounds. He’s got to play big.” Malik Rosier’s throw over Tarvarus McFadden, who was “eating us up,” was “thankfully” placed “perfect to the outside.” He said they probably should have tried to pick on the other side of the field a little more, though clearly he wasn’t dissatisfied with the result.

■ Georgia Tech is coming off a bye. “You have to be relentless as a defensive player . ... They’ll get three and four and two (yards) and go for it on fourth and 1 ... offensively, you’d better take advantage of your opportunities” and create turnovers. He called it a “pain in the rear.”

■ The FSU win, Richt said, “is way up there” on his list. “That’s as much fun as I’ve had in 33 years.”

The tribute of the fire department water cannon — upon return to Miami International Airport, UM’s buses drove through two trucks spraying water — was “pretty cool.”

Schedule update: Miami will have another afternoon game at home. The Hurricanes’ meeting with Syracuse will be a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 21.

The network will be either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. That will be announced no later than Sunday.