Diaz proud of turnover chain 2.0
Hurricanes defensive coordinator says copycats can’t match his creation.
Maybe he figures it makes him
CORAL GABLES — sound old.
Maybe he just wants to spread around the credit. Whatever the reason, University of Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz rejected an assertion Wednesday he’s “the father” of the Hurricanes’ legendary turnover chain.
“I don’t know if it’d be fair to say ‘the father,’” Diaz said. “It’s a
‘joint custody,’ maybe, is better.”
Fine, but having said that, Diaz, who created the chain last season, went on to sound very much like a proud papa when describing the impact it had, as well as this season’s new and improved model.
“The new chain isobviously outstanding,” Diaz said. “We couldn’t have asked for it to be more — slap me for using the word bling, but it’s fantastic. I mean, it’s just fan
tastic. The way the Ibis shines and pops is really remarkable.
“So when our players saw it, it’s hard to outdo
1.0, but I think 2.0 did it.”
The concept of having a sideline prop to celebrate takeaways is catching on nationwide, but who’s counting?
“We don’t really pay a whole bunch of attention to the copycats,” Diaz said.
As much as UM fans don’t want to hear it, Diaz and the Hurricanes are copycats. Diaz knows there’s a team out there somewhere that had a prop before UM thought of it, perhaps many years ago.
“Somebody somewhere is like, ‘It was us first!’” Diaz said. “And I don’t even know who it is. But I just know that, again, we have the best one.”
As for the “joint custody” aspect, Diaz explained it belongs to the entire defensive staff during the week.
“The players have it on Saturday,” he said. “I don’t ever touch it on Saturday. I just make sure it gets to the game.”
Willis impressing coaches, teammates: Gerald Willis, a senior defensive tackle who sat out last season for personal reasons, is creating a buzz for the Hurricanes after recording five tackles, a sack and three tackles for loss in the 49-24 victory over Toledo.
Willis began his career at Florida but transferred after altercations with teammates in Gainesville. He appears to have settled into Coral Gables.
“Gerald is playing as good as anybody we’ve had here, for sure,” Diaz said Wednesday.
Jonathan Garvin, a lineman from Lake Worth High, said he has seen a change in Willis’ attitude.
“You could see it clearly each day,” Garvin said. “It was dramatic improvements, and the dude just became from wherever he was to a model citizen, I could say.
“I could see the sincerity in what he was doing and the change he was trying to make. He was trying to be great. It’s pretty cool to see somebody achieving what they’re trying to achieve.”
Carter’s turn? Preseason All-American Jaquan Johnson left the victory over Toledo with a hamstring injury, and it’s uncertain if he’ll play Saturday against FIU at Hard Rock Stadium. If he can’t play, his replacement at safety could be Amari Carter of Palm Beach Gardens, who missed last week’s game because of a death in his family.
“Amari has a confidence about him,” Diaz said. “He’s a very intelligent young man, certainly a very tough guy. Whenever you have a situation where it’s a next-man-up deal, you don’t need to wear a cape. You don’t need to be Jaquan. Be Amari.”
Defensive back Trajan Bandy said, “Quan is still with us. Quan is always in practice. He’s always standing there, coaching the guys up.”
Don’t call it a blitz: The Hurricanes lead the nation with 35 tackles for loss, including 13 against Toledo, but if you’re tempted to think that’s a product of Diaz’s blitz calls, think again. Diaz said the Hurricanes “very infrequently” blitz.
“We always are accused of blitzing more than we actually do because we play so downhill,” Diaz said. “... Our guys want to play downhill. We want to play on the other side of the line of scrimmage and we’ve got guys like Gerald (Willis) that are causing disruption amongst the offensive linemen. It’s easy for the linebackers to find cracks in there to get TFLs.”