Canes have narrow paths back to greatness

iami Hurricanes chatter:

Two weeks into this season, the reality is that this

Canes program seems a lot closer to being a middle of the pack Power 5 team than a top five national contender, and that has left Canes fans and alums in a lather, with their vitriol not quite at the level as the final stages of the Al Golden regime, but surely in the ballpark.

Several former Hurricanes players are so fed up that one prominent one has spoken about going to the administration, though it’s doubtful anything will come of that.

Another prominent former player expressed anger that the program seems to promote the turnover chain more than it promotes the fact that UM won five national championships. Play-calling — including running a sneak from the shotgun on a fourth-down, goal-line play against Alabama — also has drawn the ire of explayers.

The view here is that there are three paths — at least in the next few years — that would allow UM to return to national championship contention, and they’re all narrow:

1) The Canes are smart enough and lucky enough to find a bunch of underrecruited gems (such as three-star Greg Rousseau) that become elite and help them become an 11- or 12-win team.

Remember, on-field success breeds recruiting success. Most of the best players want to play for the elite teams.

Though UM will continue getting the occasional elite recruit (such as James Williams and Leonard Taylor), it won’t be able to compete with Alabama and Clemson and Ohio State to snag a large volume of the best of the best until it wins big.

And that’s why the

Canes need to find a bunch of three- and four-stars who play like five-star talents and lead this team to legitimate national playoff contention.

Only then would more recruits take notice and start saying no to Alabama and Clemson and picking UM instead.

For example, it wasn’t a surprise that four-star Class of 2023 Plantation American Heritage running back Mark Fletcher told Canesport that the poor performance Saturday affected his thinking about attending UM.

“This did affect me with Miami most definitely,” Fletcher said. “Because I want to go somewhere they’re great in the trenches.”

2) Find a special coach who can lead this program from Top 15-to-25 caliber to something far greater. I view that as unlikely.

UM’s Board of Trustees isn’t motivated to spend $10 million a year for an elite coach with a championship pedigree. And even if the Hurricanes could land, say, a Jimbo Fisher, there’s no assurance he could make the Canes elite again.

The sense here is that the administration will stick with Manny Diaz — who’s in year three of a five-year deal — if he wins in the range of nine games a year and keeps UM generally in the top 25, regardless of whether the gap is closed with Alabama or not.

As one Board of Trustee member said, though some members have higher standards than simply being a borderline Top 20 program, president Julio Frenk isn’t a big sports fan and there’s little motivation internally to keep changing coaches until they find one to build UM back to top-five-in-thecountry status.

Perhaps that view changes once a coach reaches the end of his contract; if Diaz doesn’t get an extension after year 3 or 4, that’d be telling.

If you wondered, Oregon coach and former UM player Mario Cristobal earns $4.45 million annually, but his buyout is $9 million until Jan. 14, 2022, after which it decreases to $6.5 million.

The Hurricanes simply aren’t going to spend the money on an Urban Meyer-type unless there’s a dramatic change in philosophy.

3) UM is both lucky and very good during a particular season when it has a fairly easy non-conference schedule. Unfortunately, there’s a Southeastern Conference opponent on every schedule the next six years (Texas A&M the next two, then UF for two years, then South Carolina for two).

During one of those years (perhaps the 2027 season when South Carolina visits Hard Rock Stadium), perhaps the Canes could be good enough to win all or nearly all of their games, win the Coastal and then somehow capitalize on turnovers or some other factor to win the conference title game. Having an elite quarterback could mask other deficiencies in a conference title game in which the other team (say, Clemson) plays particularly poorly or is missing several of their best players due to injury or other circumstances.

But if the overall talent in the program doesn’t improve, this third scenario would be a fleeting oneyear scenario, not a permanent path back to greatness.

The Canes already

● have diminished the roles of a handful of veteran players: receivers Dee Wiggins (10 snaps against Appalachian State) and

Mark Pope (five snaps), cornerback Al Blades Jr. (no defensive snaps) and linebacker Bradley Jennings Jr. (18). Other players have beaten them out.

But why is the disparity in playing time between UM’s starting safeties (Gurvan Hall and Bubba Bolden) and talented young backup safeties

(Kamren Kinchens, James Williams) as wide as it was Saturday against Appalachian State?

Hall played 73 defensive snaps and Bolden 71. Kinchens — who forced a fumble in the opener against Alabama — played two defensive snaps, and five-star freshman Williams played only one.

Per College Football Focus, Bolden was UM’s second-worst defender Saturday, ahead of only cornerback Te’Cory Couch. Hall has had repeated breakdowns in two games.

At this point, the coaching staff feels more comfortable with the more experienced safeties. Diaz also said the close nature of the game led to that playing time decision.

Diaz said Hall and Bolden “played well” Saturday but then said “both had mistakes. Both had communication errors that cost us. I still believe both those guys have made major strides from where they were a year ago.”

Hall has had a decent career at UM but never quite met expectations. Bolden had a few solid plays in coverage but consistency remains an issue.

Diaz said Williams and Kinchens will play more as the season goes along.

A similar question —

● playing veterans over talented freshmen — can be asked at defensive tackle; five-star Leonard Taylor didn’t play a single defensive snap Saturday and remains behind older players Nesta Silvera (44 snaps Saturday), Jon Ford (34 snaps), Jared Harrison-Hunte (33 snaps) and

Jordan Miller (25).

“LT is learning what to do; he’s got four veteran guys ahead of him,” Diaz said. “We expect him to get more reps” eventually.

Offensive line coach

●

Garin Justice criticized right guard Navaughn Donaldson and right tackle Justice Oluwaseun

for poor play against Appalachian State and said they’re competing now for one job (right guard), with Jarrid Williams and D.J. Scaife battling at right tackle.

FINS CHATTER

Per Pro Football Talk,

●

the Dolphins tried recently to get clarity from the NFL about when or if Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson would be suspended, but the league declined to offer any clarity. Talks died because the Texans wouldn’t lower their asking price (three first-rounders and three other picks or players).

Though Dolphins

● rookie Jaelan Phillips had a nondescript debut (one pressure in 20 pass rush chances), Patriots coach

Bill Belichick offered high praise before the game: “Explosive, probably one of the top test athletes honestly that I’ve ever evaluated. His numbers, size, athletic skills go up against anybody in any era.”

The Dolphins have had

●

a takeaway in 23 straight games; the last time an NFL team had a streak this long was New England, who had a 36-game streak from Oct. 16, 2011 to Nov. 3, 2013.

Jaylen Waddle’s 63

●

receiving yards were the most ever by a Dolphins receiver in his first game. Among players at all positions in Dolphins history, only fullback Stanley Pritchett (77) and tight end Randy McMichael

(73) had more receiving yards in their first game.