Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
’Canes mix, match lineups at second day of practice
CORAL GABLES — The Miami Hurricanes offered more of a glimpse of how the team is lining up early in spring drills in Tuesday’s second practice.
UM coach Manny Diaz appeared to match team leaders with second-team units. He had junior running back Cam’Ron Harris and junior cornerback Al Blades Jr., likely starters this fall, working with second teams.
“It’s just showing the younger guys that your name doesn’t matter,” Blades said. “You’re going to come out here and work.”
Sophomore cornerback Christian Williams initially got in with the first-team defense opposite of DJ Ivey with Blades leading the second unit. They were in with Zach McCloud and Ryan Ragone at linebacker, Gilbert Frierson at striker and Amari Carter and Gurvan Hall at the two safety spots.
UM had already shown on Monday that it is lining up its first-team offense with D’Eriq King at quarterback, Harris at running back, Will Mallory at tight end and Michael Harley, Mark Pope and Dee Wiggins as the three receivers. Wiggins beat Williams deep on one play as King connected with him on an impressive throw. Williams would later have an interception.
When Miami initially put an offensive line onto the field with the group, the first unit to come out saw John Campbell at left tackle, Ousman Traore at left guard, Corey Gaynor at center, DJ Scaife at right guard and Zion Nelson at right tackle.
Sophomore Jakai Clark worked on the second team at right guard and at center. Zalon’tae Hillery worked at left tackle, while freshman Jalen Rivers worked in at left guard. Redshirt junior Kai-Leon Herbert was seen at right tackle, as was freshman Chris Washington. Traore also got reps at center.
“As soon as you know where you like guys, it’s best to keep them there,” said offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, noting he and offensive line coach Garin Justice
are on the same page with the approach. “The first few days is kind of feeling out, we’ve got to learn these guys. The hope is that, two days now in helmets, we’re going to have two days in pads before the break, hopefully — we don’t have all the information in — but we have enough to have a good, educated guess of here’s where we need to put these guys and try to leave them there the last 11 days.
“Ultimately, you’d like your left tackle, left guard, center, right guard, right tackle to stay there if there are no injuries and not play musical chairs. It’s like anything else. It allows them to react, to play faster, play with confidence and hopefully be more physical.”
When Blades led the second team in 7-on-7 drills, he had sophomore Te’Cory Couch opposite him at cornerback while
Patrick Joyner and Avery Huff were the linebackers, with Keontra Smith at striker and Keshawn Washington and redshirt freshman walk-on Andrew Barnes at safety.
Freshman quarterback Tyler Van Dyke got to work with the second-team offense and was impressive, zipping some short passes into tight windows. Redshirt freshman Peyton Matocha made an impressive completion deep to freshman receiver Dazalin Worsham.
Smith, who has moved from safety to striker, had an interception against Tate Martell. Smith also got in with the first 7-on-7 defense.
While many early spring lineups may closely resemble what could hold up into the fall, some alignments are based on players that excelled in pre-spring strength and conditioning workouts.