Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Diaz suspects offseason ‘exposed’ some players
During his time as an assistant coach, and later in his career as a defensive coordinator, Manny Diaz had a schedule, a particular calendar of sorts with differing month-to-month responsibilities.
These days, he’s getting used to some changes on that front as a first-year head coach.
After wrapping up spring drills in years past, Diaz would hit the road recruiting, trying to bolster his team’s roster. Last month, he was either on campus in Coral Gables or traveling to booster events across the country, serving as an ambassador for the Miami program and introducing himself to fans outside of South Florida.
Now, while his players continue going through their offseason conditioning programs in preparation for the start of training camp next month, Diaz is busy hosting youth football clinics around South Florida and directing camps that will bring dozens of high school teams, coaches and top-notch
prospects on campus.
Last week, Diaz and his wife even hosted Miami’s inaugural Women’s Football Clinic, an outreach event that welcomed a select group of fans to the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility and gave them a behind-the-scenes look at the Hurricanes program.
It’s been a whirlwind for the coach but one he’s welcomed — particularly given the fact he knows his team is logging long hours too.
“Every month has a different feel, right?” Diaz said. “That’s true when you’re an assistant coach, and now [I] come to find out that happens when you’re a head coach too.
“What’s really important in January, that changes with what’s important in February. Then you get into March and April, more into a spring practice time, and then when that ends it’s May, which is always recruiting. When you’re an assistant, you’re always on the road; now you’re a head coach, it’s not that time. You’re doing a lot of traveling, a lot of booster events.
“Now you come back and it’s June. It’s camp season. This is the big push to get all these great players on your campus. We had a great group [Saturday], we had a big group [Friday] and we accomplished two things: We helped teach the football players that came here, and we also had the opportunity to evaluate them on our campus.”
The work will continue. On Wednesday, Diaz and several of his players who hail from Broward County will be at PAL Park in Plantation. Next week, they’ll head down to Homestead to work with young football players at Harris Park.
And before the month ends, Diaz will host his first Paradise Camp, the highprofile recruiting event started by former coach Mark Richt that famously features former UM greats as instructors.
All the while, his players will continue challenging themselves.
“We’re three weeks completed of our summer term,” Diaz said Saturday. “We knew this was going to be a crucial summer, and this [past] week was the hardest of the three weeks.
“The guys are attacking it. They want it to be hard. And that’s what you want. They want to be challenged. They want to not be sure if they can finish and then see themselves push through and find a way to finish.
“It maybe exposed some guys on our team that are more about the lifestyle and some guys on the team that are really about the game. So far, we’re really getting what we want.”
Catching up with the ‘Canes: Several members of Miami’s football team participated in a questionand-answer session with the participants at Miami’s inaugural Women’s Football Clinic this past weekend, and as one might expect several players said they were counting the minutes until the Hurricanes’ Aug. 24 opener against Florida at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
“What am I most excited about for [the new Miami]? I’m excited about Aug. 24,” linebacker Shaq Quarterman told attendees when asked what he was most looking forward to about his upcoming senior season.
“I’m looking forward to that. That’s what we’re working toward every day, Monday through Friday and twice on the weekends. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
When asked the same question, tight end Brevin Jordan quickly nodded in agreement. “Aug. 24,” he smiled.
Saturday’s event also marked one of the first Miami appearances for recently arrived Australian punter Louis Hedley, who set the internet ablaze when he signed with the Hurricanes in February.
With his tattooed arms and neck and his 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame, Hedley doesn’t look like the prototypical punter. He quickly emerged as a fan favorite for photos and questions, including one about why he chose to leave Australia and come play football at Miami.
“Well, I first came over to San Francisco and I was at a junior college there for two years,” said Hedley, who averaged 38.6 yards per punt in 2017 at the City College of San Francisco before redshirting in 2018.
“The prior coaching staff got in contact with me, and as soon as I got that offer I committed straightaway.
“There’s no place like Miami. It’s the best college on the planet, and there’s nothing like it.”
His response, not surprisingly, drew plenty of cheers.