Ahead of spring football, Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz spoke on a media teleconference on Thursday to share his perspective on where the program is at right now, along with addressing a few team issues.
First and foremost, the team is still waiting to hear if Ohio State transfer QB Tate Martell will be granted a waiver from the NCAA to play immediately.
“In terms of the waiting, I don’t think we went into it thinking there was a certain day, our expectation has been kind of low in that regard,” Diaz said. “Unless they move the Florida game to next week, we’re just concerned about getting each guy on our roster as good as they can be. We’re under no pressure to have a two-deep ready in two weeks.”
Martell enrolled in time for the spring semester and is already making an impression on his new coaches and teammates.
“He’s been great taking it step-by-step and not trying to do too much,” Diaz said of Martell. “The great thing with Tate is he’s just becoming a guy in our locker room, doesn’t have to come here and put on a cape. One thing we talked about is when you show up at a new place, you’re not going to earn the respect of your teammates through talent. You earn it through your work ethic and toughness. Tate has shown off both of those things.”
With spring practice slated to kick off on March 19th, Diaz says the team will spend the bulk of their time using the IPF with Greentree being redone.
“We will be utilizing the Indoor Practice Facility, there could be a chance we could go to one of the other outdoor venues, but we feel comfortable inside the Indoor Practice Facility,” Diaz said. “That’s where we’ll spend a lot of our time.”
The Hurricanes spring game has been reported to be April 20th in Orlando, and Diaz said the team will announce something official on the spring game shortly.
“We’re very close to being able to announce it. That should all be official pretty soon,” Diaz said.
Diaz’s staff is now officially set with the hire of DL coach Todd Stroud this week and the announcement of multiple support staff additions earlier today.
“From a football standpoint we feel pretty good, it’s been set in place with the switch we made at defensive line this week,” Diaz said. “I think what we’ve been trying to accomplish over the past month is a bit of a retool and a reboot of our support staff, certainly a restructure of our recruiting department which is what I had in mind. I thought we had a good recruiting staff, guys that were good workers, but we wanted to revise how our recruiting staff was organized.”
The big news of the week has been Jess Simpson’s departure from the staff to return to the NFL and coach the defensive line of the Atlanta Falcons.
“I don’t remember exactly when I first caught wind of the opportunity that he would have a chance to go back to the Falcons,” Diaz said. “For Jess that’s home. Jess certainly did a great job with our guys in the past year. So we were happy for him.”
To replace Simpson, Diaz added Stroud, who was Akron’s defensive coordinator last season and worked with Diaz at NC State back in the early 2000’s. Stroud was already set to join the UM staff in an analyst role, so the decision to promote him was simple for Diaz.
“I coached with Todd going all the way back to NC State, Todd had three first rounders come out,” Diaz said. “He’s been a head coach, strength coach, defensive coordinator. He’s worn a lot of hats, had great organizational value. The timing - to have such a great candidate who was already in the building, we felt it would be a seamless transition for the young men. We’re still going to play defense the way the Miami Hurricanes should play defense.”
The QB battle to see who will start the opener is officially on, and Diaz said each of the gun-slingers are working double time to learn the new system of offensive coordinator Dan Enos.
“All the quarterbacks, they’re getting a crash course in coach Enos’ offense. They’re learning,” Diaz said. “All those guys know they have a fresh start. I can’t wait to come back in a week-and-a-half and watch them throw a ball.”
When asked which of the new additions to the roster has really impressed in early workouts, Diaz singled out three names: grad transfer WR KJ Osborn and two true freshmen in WR Jeremiah Payton and OT Zion Nelson.
On Osborn: “He has really, really asserted himself as exactly what we thought he would be, which is an off the charts guy in terms of work ethic, toughness. Really pushes himself. I can’t wait to watch him on the field.”
On Nelson: “We have tug of war drills, some toughness and physicality required, and that’s harder for the linemen. To see a guy like him come in and compete the way he competes and the toughness he showed in front of the entire football team (is important).
On Payton: “He has established himself as a really hard-working guy who has some toughness about him as well.”
First and foremost, the team is still waiting to hear if Ohio State transfer QB Tate Martell will be granted a waiver from the NCAA to play immediately.
“In terms of the waiting, I don’t think we went into it thinking there was a certain day, our expectation has been kind of low in that regard,” Diaz said. “Unless they move the Florida game to next week, we’re just concerned about getting each guy on our roster as good as they can be. We’re under no pressure to have a two-deep ready in two weeks.”
Martell enrolled in time for the spring semester and is already making an impression on his new coaches and teammates.
“He’s been great taking it step-by-step and not trying to do too much,” Diaz said of Martell. “The great thing with Tate is he’s just becoming a guy in our locker room, doesn’t have to come here and put on a cape. One thing we talked about is when you show up at a new place, you’re not going to earn the respect of your teammates through talent. You earn it through your work ethic and toughness. Tate has shown off both of those things.”
With spring practice slated to kick off on March 19th, Diaz says the team will spend the bulk of their time using the IPF with Greentree being redone.
“We will be utilizing the Indoor Practice Facility, there could be a chance we could go to one of the other outdoor venues, but we feel comfortable inside the Indoor Practice Facility,” Diaz said. “That’s where we’ll spend a lot of our time.”
The Hurricanes spring game has been reported to be April 20th in Orlando, and Diaz said the team will announce something official on the spring game shortly.
“We’re very close to being able to announce it. That should all be official pretty soon,” Diaz said.
Diaz’s staff is now officially set with the hire of DL coach Todd Stroud this week and the announcement of multiple support staff additions earlier today.
“From a football standpoint we feel pretty good, it’s been set in place with the switch we made at defensive line this week,” Diaz said. “I think what we’ve been trying to accomplish over the past month is a bit of a retool and a reboot of our support staff, certainly a restructure of our recruiting department which is what I had in mind. I thought we had a good recruiting staff, guys that were good workers, but we wanted to revise how our recruiting staff was organized.”
The big news of the week has been Jess Simpson’s departure from the staff to return to the NFL and coach the defensive line of the Atlanta Falcons.
“I don’t remember exactly when I first caught wind of the opportunity that he would have a chance to go back to the Falcons,” Diaz said. “For Jess that’s home. Jess certainly did a great job with our guys in the past year. So we were happy for him.”
To replace Simpson, Diaz added Stroud, who was Akron’s defensive coordinator last season and worked with Diaz at NC State back in the early 2000’s. Stroud was already set to join the UM staff in an analyst role, so the decision to promote him was simple for Diaz.
“I coached with Todd going all the way back to NC State, Todd had three first rounders come out,” Diaz said. “He’s been a head coach, strength coach, defensive coordinator. He’s worn a lot of hats, had great organizational value. The timing - to have such a great candidate who was already in the building, we felt it would be a seamless transition for the young men. We’re still going to play defense the way the Miami Hurricanes should play defense.”
The QB battle to see who will start the opener is officially on, and Diaz said each of the gun-slingers are working double time to learn the new system of offensive coordinator Dan Enos.
“All the quarterbacks, they’re getting a crash course in coach Enos’ offense. They’re learning,” Diaz said. “All those guys know they have a fresh start. I can’t wait to come back in a week-and-a-half and watch them throw a ball.”
When asked which of the new additions to the roster has really impressed in early workouts, Diaz singled out three names: grad transfer WR KJ Osborn and two true freshmen in WR Jeremiah Payton and OT Zion Nelson.
On Osborn: “He has really, really asserted himself as exactly what we thought he would be, which is an off the charts guy in terms of work ethic, toughness. Really pushes himself. I can’t wait to watch him on the field.”
On Nelson: “We have tug of war drills, some toughness and physicality required, and that’s harder for the linemen. To see a guy like him come in and compete the way he competes and the toughness he showed in front of the entire football team (is important).
On Payton: “He has established himself as a really hard-working guy who has some toughness about him as well.”
