OPINION: 3 things I think I know entering final week of spring

The Miami Hurricanes will play the Spring Game on Friday night at DRV PNK Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, and it will be the usual vanilla offense vs. vanilla defense. But it will be the first chance for fans to see this new-look attack under Shannon Dawson as well as Lance Guidry’s attacking defense.

There also will be some key new personnel on both sides of the ball.

It will certainly be interesting to watch, and for media that has been able to watch about 30 minutes of practices this spring we’ll be able to glean a lot more.

So what are three things that I think as we go into this final week of spring?

3. MIAMI’S OFFENSE WILL BE A LOT BETTER

Maybe this isn’t a huge statement given how woeful Miami the attack was last year – No. 85 in the nation total offense (367.1 yards), No. 95 in rush offense (128.1 yards), No. 84 in passing efficiency (128.65), No. 86 in red zone offense (81.2 percent) and No. 96 in scoring offense (23.6 points). That’s out of 130 teams in the nation, by the way.

Shannon Dawson’s hybrid Air-Raid attack at Houston, meanwhile, was No. 8 in passing offense (314.0 yards), No. 25 in total offense (455.8 yards) and 15th in scoring offense (36.1 points).

That’s the kind of attack he brings to Miami.

Dawson has brought a renewed excitement for the team this spring, and you can sense it on the practice field. While maybe outside of true freshmen (who are hard to predict how they’ll respond in big games) there aren’t a lot of major additions to the offense other than a couple of transfer OL and a run-blocking TE, all reports are this is a much better-looking attack than what we saw a year ago. This is a team that won’t be shy throwing it over the top and trying to be a power running team while spreading out defenses. It’ll be much more like what fans saw under Rhett Lashlee than what they got from Josh Gattis’ plodding style of attack.

So even with the D winning the scrimmage on Saturday we should see some big plays on offense in Ft. Lauderdale on Friday night … and into the season.

2. DON’T SWEAT THE LACK OF COMMITMENTS

Miami only has a couple of commitments so far, and perhaps fans are used to having commitments rolling in a bit more by this point. It might be a bit sparse in terms of more commitments until closer to June, when recruits are setting up their visits with an eye on making a decision before their seasons. And that’s just fine. What you don’t want if you’re Miami is guys being pushed into taking a spot now only to wind up decommitting later. Decommits cause issues not just because you have to have held onto other guys at those spots who would want to come but also because of the perception there is something wrong with a program when you have decommits there. This is just a case of Miami coaches putting in the work, and the dividends will come later.

Some guys that Miami is in decent shape with as of now?

5-star DL David Stone, 4-star OT Manasse Itete, 4-star DB Zaquan Patterson, 4-star DE KingJoseph Edwards, 4-star DE Dylan Stephenson, RB Chris Wheatley-Humphrey, 4-star DL D’Antre Robinson and even a Joseph Ionata if Miami wants him in the class.

Miami is also in the hunt with high profile guys like 5-star area WR Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State commit, Miami’s No. 2 on his list … let’s not forget how Mark Fletcher’s recruitment played out last year, right?), 5-star WR Joshisa Trader, 4-star DE Elijah Rushing and 4-star OT Brandon Baker.

And more names will emerge. Mario Cristobal is a tireless recruiter and this staff knows what it’s doing.

As the saying goes, trust the process.

1. THE TEAM’S BIGGEST AMOUNT OF PURE TALENT LIES WITH FIRST- AND SECOND-YEAR PLAYERS

While coaches are always hesitant to rely on young guys in major roles, this year the team might not have a choice off of last year’s 5-7 disappointment. There is a tremendous amount of talent in the incoming freshmen class, and combined with some guys that have flashed that are now in Year 2 don’t be surprised if a lot of the standouts this year are younger guys.

In particular?

On the offensive side true freshman Mark Fletcher could make his mark as the speed/power guy Mario Cristobal loves (Fletcher is a summer arrival). At WR we’re hearing second-year outside receiver Isaiah Horton is making strides, and true freshmen Ray Ray Joseph and Robby Washington are big-play threats (Joseph in particular is a guy we’re hearing will have a role in year 1 and can beat defenses deep).

At TE Jaleel Skinner will have a role in the passing game in Year 2 and presents mismatches with his height and speed, and on the line 5-star Francis Mauigoa is already a first-team RT with fellow 5-star Samson Okunlola the second-team LT.

Then on defense you could see last year that DE Nyjalik Kelly and OLB Wesley Bissainthe are future stars. Both could be starters this year. And up front true freshman Rueben Bain looks like the real deal while we are hearing that once Joshua Horton arrives coaches expect him to immediately get in the rotation. In the secondary this could be Chris Graves’ time to shine after the CB missed last year due to injury. And true freshman safety Kaleb Spencer looks the part as a big, fast safety this spring. Plus second-year safety Markeith Williams passed Brian Balom by as the primary backup to James Williams/Kam Kinchens.

So there’s a ton of young talent that might need to show out for this team to really shine in 2023.

The post OPINION: 3 things I think I know entering final week of spring appeared first on On3.