As many Miami Hurricane Fans know, when Miami is winning, there’s not too many teams in the country that can stop them. They literally become the bullies of college football and the NFL.
Both the NFL and College Football benefit from Miami being on top. Players from Miami are fun to watch in the NFL. They play hard and rarely complain. I would say Miami is football.
So what are the Keys to Miami having a good 2019 season, and getting back to the top.
1. Miami must beat who they should beat.
Miami has become a team that play down to their competition. Losing to Duke, Boston College, and even Virginia is crazy. Even Virginia Tech shouldn’t be a loss. Miami when they play for real can’t be stopped by the Hokies best teams. It’s just facts. Miami likes to lose by a touchdown or a field goal in smaller match ups.
If Miami wants to get back to the top, Miami must crush the smaller competition like they do FCS opponents. If Miami play like they play the bigger rivals like FSU, Notre Dame, and even Florida, Miami will be on their way back to the top.
2. Pay their Coaches
Miami has always been a spring board for head coaches and assistants to jump to their next job, usually the NFL. But lately, Miami has had an issue keeping their assistance to stay. Besides this year when Manny Diaz fires the horrible offensive staff, Miami usually lose an assistant at a key position every year. Manny must figure out how to keep Miami interesting for not only his players, but for his coaches as well. There is no way to keep top recruits when the guys recruiting said players leave for another job.
3. Keep the players you have.
Miami wants to be good this year, but if you don’t utilize your players the way they were recruited to be then you are lying to your players. Anthony Chickelo expresses how former Miami head coach, Al Golden, missed used him. Made Anthony, a 3rd generation Miami Hurricane, put on 40+ pounds of extra weight to play DT. He was a outside/ Defensive End in high school. That’s a huge jump. Recently Miami almost lost, Jeff Thomas, their star receiver because he felt like he wasn’t used properly.
Miami must keep a creative and dynamic offense to not only recruit for the future, but also win on today’s college football. You can still have a Pro-style offense with a spread concept. Keeping your players from Miami and winning in a dynamic offense will cut the recruiting departures in half. These are the main reason players pick Clemson or Alabama over Miami. Kids wanna be Devin Hester, not the 3rd guy on the bench waiting his turn because he isn’t a Junior or senior. Which goes into my next key.
4. Play your best players
Miami has talent every where, and if you have talent, use that talent. Stop waiting to show who is on your roster. Miami needs to continue to rotate players in and out of the line up to keep bodies fresh. If Miami use the depths of their depth chart, I am sure teams would be nervous. I’m not nervous to stop Jerry Judy by himself, the Alabama receiver, but since Alabama has like 5 other guys who hit the field with as much explosion as Judy. Miami needs to show who they are and who they have.
The only way recruits sign on to Miami is if they know they have a chance to see the field. My high school used the seniority method too, and we loss big games because the best weren’t on the field.
5. Start Fast
For a team with so much speed on it, Miami starts most football games so slow. It’s one of the many flaws Miami had in 2018 and late in 2017. Miami is I’ll need to speed up its ability to get the ball rolling. I like Miami when they play as fast as they can. The offensive line and defense can’t have lapse in execution in 2019.
I believe if Miami hit on some of the keys in 2019, the Canes will see Clemson in the ACC Championship game.