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After Wednesday’s drills, Miami head coach Manny Diaz took to the podium to discuss various team issues, including preparing for the UNC Tar Heels. Diaz previously worked under North Carolina head coach Mack Brown while the pair were at Texas and Diaz spoke about what he took from his time with Brown.
“He had won a lot of games and they had had a lot of success winning a lot of games,” Diaz said of Brown. “At times, when you win, when you get on one of those runs like Texas had for a while, it can look easy. And it’s never easy.
“You learn, like you do for every head coach, the ins and outs of the program and some of the things that make them successful, and you get a chance to choose some of those and incorporate them into your program. The way you engage people around your program, that I thought he had a great knack for, and some of the things on the inside that are just more trade secrets you don’t really talk about.”
Like Diaz, Brown will be playing a freshman QB that is making his second career start in Sam Howell, someone who the Canes are somewhat familiar with having recruited him out of Sun Valley High last year. Howell won his first career start last week vs. South Carolina in comeback fashion, throwing 2 TD’s and leading the Tar Heels to 15 unanswered points in the 4th quarter in the 24-20 win against the Gamecocks.
“His toughness, first and foremost (stands out), which we kind of knew, we knew about him in high school,” Diaz said of Howell. “I thought he showed great toughness. Then his poise in the fourth quarter, just playing pitch and catch on some of those fades as if it was like routes on air or pat and go. Just not fazed by the moment of playing in a pro stadium against South Carolina… just out there just playing.”
In the Tar Heels’ win over South Carolina, Diaz saw parallels to his own program.
“What you’d expect – it’s a new program, you can see a new culture,” Diaz said. “Very similar to us where you see players that aren’t burdened by the ghosts of the past. They can play like that. Their demeanor and temperament throughout the course of the game, I thought, was very upbeat and positive, which is all to be expected.”
Speaking on his own team, Diaz expects the same starting lineup to take the field against UNC, but mentioned that it is not set in stone.
“We released the exact same depth chart as we had versus Florida,” Diaz said. “We just told the team, in terms of snap counts and things like that, all of that evaluation is still ongoing in terms of who knows what to do and gives us a chance to play clean and play hard.”
One area where some may have expected lineup changes would be on the offensive line, but Diaz pushed back on the idea that they were a huge problem in week 1 against the Gators.
“To me, they’re just improving and getting better. But again, the dynamic of, ‘How have they responded?’…to what, exactly?” Diaz said. “To the narrative that they gave up 10 sacks? To the narrative that we actually out-rushed Florida? The greater question would be, ‘How has everyone on offense, from the schematics of it to all 11 people that are out there, how have they responded?’
“We have to push back from the idea of, ‘Let’s just say this was a problem.’ Because, again, there’s not a position group, there’s not anybody who had a ‘U’ on your chest, coaches and players alike, that doesn’t have a chance to improve from our performance in Orlando.”
The Canes held a simulated game last Friday to work on some of the pre-snap issues the offense was having and Diaz saw some improvement from starting QB Jarren Williams.
“All that happens here every day is daily improvement,” Diaz said of Williams. “He is doing well, but it gets back to the point of if we had thrown a touchdown pass on the last drive, and won 27-24, we would not have come in here and done anything differently. Jarren, like all of the guys, is coming in and finding a way to better master what we ask of him.”
In terms of other individual personnel, Diaz mentioned that the team is still waiting to hear from the NCAA on S Bubba Bolden and that he is not eligible to play against UNC as of today. At running back, Diaz said that Lorenzo Lingard could see some snaps and that "he's just now getting in the mix.”
With Hurricane Dorian barring down on South Florida, school was cancelled at the University on Tuesday, but with the storm eventually turning north, the schedule of the football program went unaffected.
“We didn’t miss a day or a practice,” Diaz said. “We had to make some adjustments and people on campus did a great job of communicating with us and making sure the safety of our players was first and foremost. Then you have to think about this, it was a hurricane that was heading for West Palm Beach and all the players and families that it could have affected, with Palm Beach County to Duval to the Southeast part of the country is dramatic.”
With the hurricane now heading towards North Carolina, does Diaz foresee Dorian making an impact on either travels for the game or the game time itself?
“It shouldn’t be an issue and if you look at all the projections right now, I don’t see it affecting the game,” Diaz said. “All of our routines should be the same.”
“He had won a lot of games and they had had a lot of success winning a lot of games,” Diaz said of Brown. “At times, when you win, when you get on one of those runs like Texas had for a while, it can look easy. And it’s never easy.
“You learn, like you do for every head coach, the ins and outs of the program and some of the things that make them successful, and you get a chance to choose some of those and incorporate them into your program. The way you engage people around your program, that I thought he had a great knack for, and some of the things on the inside that are just more trade secrets you don’t really talk about.”
Like Diaz, Brown will be playing a freshman QB that is making his second career start in Sam Howell, someone who the Canes are somewhat familiar with having recruited him out of Sun Valley High last year. Howell won his first career start last week vs. South Carolina in comeback fashion, throwing 2 TD’s and leading the Tar Heels to 15 unanswered points in the 4th quarter in the 24-20 win against the Gamecocks.
“His toughness, first and foremost (stands out), which we kind of knew, we knew about him in high school,” Diaz said of Howell. “I thought he showed great toughness. Then his poise in the fourth quarter, just playing pitch and catch on some of those fades as if it was like routes on air or pat and go. Just not fazed by the moment of playing in a pro stadium against South Carolina… just out there just playing.”
In the Tar Heels’ win over South Carolina, Diaz saw parallels to his own program.
“What you’d expect – it’s a new program, you can see a new culture,” Diaz said. “Very similar to us where you see players that aren’t burdened by the ghosts of the past. They can play like that. Their demeanor and temperament throughout the course of the game, I thought, was very upbeat and positive, which is all to be expected.”
Speaking on his own team, Diaz expects the same starting lineup to take the field against UNC, but mentioned that it is not set in stone.
“We released the exact same depth chart as we had versus Florida,” Diaz said. “We just told the team, in terms of snap counts and things like that, all of that evaluation is still ongoing in terms of who knows what to do and gives us a chance to play clean and play hard.”
One area where some may have expected lineup changes would be on the offensive line, but Diaz pushed back on the idea that they were a huge problem in week 1 against the Gators.
“To me, they’re just improving and getting better. But again, the dynamic of, ‘How have they responded?’…to what, exactly?” Diaz said. “To the narrative that they gave up 10 sacks? To the narrative that we actually out-rushed Florida? The greater question would be, ‘How has everyone on offense, from the schematics of it to all 11 people that are out there, how have they responded?’
“We have to push back from the idea of, ‘Let’s just say this was a problem.’ Because, again, there’s not a position group, there’s not anybody who had a ‘U’ on your chest, coaches and players alike, that doesn’t have a chance to improve from our performance in Orlando.”
The Canes held a simulated game last Friday to work on some of the pre-snap issues the offense was having and Diaz saw some improvement from starting QB Jarren Williams.
“All that happens here every day is daily improvement,” Diaz said of Williams. “He is doing well, but it gets back to the point of if we had thrown a touchdown pass on the last drive, and won 27-24, we would not have come in here and done anything differently. Jarren, like all of the guys, is coming in and finding a way to better master what we ask of him.”
In terms of other individual personnel, Diaz mentioned that the team is still waiting to hear from the NCAA on S Bubba Bolden and that he is not eligible to play against UNC as of today. At running back, Diaz said that Lorenzo Lingard could see some snaps and that "he's just now getting in the mix.”
With Hurricane Dorian barring down on South Florida, school was cancelled at the University on Tuesday, but with the storm eventually turning north, the schedule of the football program went unaffected.
“We didn’t miss a day or a practice,” Diaz said. “We had to make some adjustments and people on campus did a great job of communicating with us and making sure the safety of our players was first and foremost. Then you have to think about this, it was a hurricane that was heading for West Palm Beach and all the players and families that it could have affected, with Palm Beach County to Duval to the Southeast part of the country is dramatic.”
With the hurricane now heading towards North Carolina, does Diaz foresee Dorian making an impact on either travels for the game or the game time itself?
“It shouldn’t be an issue and if you look at all the projections right now, I don’t see it affecting the game,” Diaz said. “All of our routines should be the same.”
