{"id":14430,"date":"2023-08-23T00:15:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T05:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=14430"},"modified":"2023-08-23T00:15:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T05:15:19","slug":"miami-2023-preview-hurricanes-will-be-better-in-a-lot-of-areas-despite-tough-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/miami-2023-preview-hurricanes-will-be-better-in-a-lot-of-areas-despite-tough-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami 2023 Preview: Hurricanes \u2018will be better in a lot of areas\u2019 despite tough schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football season is nearly upon us and with it the expectations built throughout the entirety of a long offseason have come into full focus. For Miami<\/strong><\/a> in 2023, the question is just how far the Hurricanes can progress.<\/p>\n

It was a rough first season under new coach Mario Cristobal<\/a><\/strong> in 2022, with the Hurricanes finishing 5-7. There might be a silver lining going into Year 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think that Miami is in a good place from the fact that we\u2019re not talking about them, we don\u2019t have a ton of expectations,\u201d the ACC Network\u2019s Roddy Jones<\/strong> said on the Andy Staples<\/strong> show<\/a>. \u201cI do think they\u2019ll be better in a lot of areas, particularly in the offensive line. I think they\u2019ll play better at quarterback. How many more wins does that equal? I\u2019m not sure. Should be a bowl team, but I\u2019m not sure they get to like nine (wins).<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do think this is a team that\u2019s going to take a step forward, and probably a significant one by the end of this year because of the youth that they\u2019re going to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones provided a lengthy overview of what you can expect from Miami in 2023.<\/p>\n

Youth movement on the offensive line<\/h2>\n

One of Cristobal\u2019s biggest wins last year came on the recruiting trail. Well, two wins, really.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes snagged five-star offensive tackle prospects Francis Mauigoa<\/a><\/strong> and Samson Okunlola<\/a><\/strong> to serve as future bookends of the offensive line. But Miami in 2023 has a need, and both are expected to play.<\/p>\n

Is that an improvement in and of itself?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is, by just getting massive. Those two guys are massive,\u201d Jones said. \u201cAnd Mario Cristobal said as much, he\u2019s like, \u2018Look, these guys are so big that as freshman you just kind of throw them out there and if nothing else they\u2019re hard to get around because of the mass.\u2019 So I think they can be significantly better on the offensive line late in the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami finished ranked 95th nationally in rushing offense in 2022, as well as 100th in sacks allowed, so there\u2019s a whole lot of room for improvement.<\/p>\n

Schedule makes things dicey for Miami in 2023<\/h2>\n

One of the tricky things about Miami\u2019s 2023 schedule is that it doesn\u2019t give the Hurricanes much time to get rolling before Texas A&M<\/strong><\/a> comes to town in Week 2.<\/p>\n

So while Jones believes the \u2018Canes will be significantly improved by year\u2019s end, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean a clean start out of the gates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re going to go through some growing pains early on, particularly when you play a Texas A&M, who\u2019s going to be extremely talented on the defensive side, particularly on the defensive line,\u201d Jones said. \u201cSo as long as they don\u2019t let that break them, then I think they will be significantly better late in the year, which is when the schedule gets absolutely brutal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have an early bye week. Their bye week is the last week of September. Then after the bye they play North Carolina<\/strong><\/a>, NC State<\/strong><\/a>, Clemson<\/strong><\/a> and Florida State<\/strong><\/a>, all in the back, in the last eight games. Then you sprinkle in like a Louisville in there, which is a team that, I don\u2019t really know what Louisville\u2019s going to be, but the schedule sets up nicely for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, there are plenty of areas where Miami could slip up this fall. It\u2019s not an easy schedule.<\/p>\n

Momentum for the future?<\/h2>\n

Even though there may be some lumps along the way, Jones came off on the Andy Staples show as thinking Miami could still be in good shape for the long haul.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as long as you see steps, yes,\u201d Jones said. \u201cNow will they be patient, five years patient? No, but I don\u2019t think they need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Jones explains, there\u2019s already a model you can look to as a basis for what you might expect out of Miami under Cristobal. He took over an Oregon<\/strong><\/a> program in similar shape and it took a minute, but he really got things rolling.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the plan for Miami in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cMario Cristobal\u2019s Oregon team took a big step forward in Year 2,\u201d Jones said. \u201cSo while I don\u2019t think they\u2019ll take quite the step forward at Miami, I do think next year this team should be really good. Will it compete for a 12-team playoff? I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know the answer to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do think they did a really good job in the portal this year. Matt Lee<\/a><\/strong>, a guy that they get from UCF<\/strong><\/a> over at center is a really good addition. You mentioned Francis Mauigoa, Francisco Mauigoa<\/a><\/strong>, his brother was one of the best players on Washington State<\/strong><\/a>\u2018s defense last year. He transfers and helps them defensively. So they\u2019ve done a good job. They got a couple transfer corners in, as well. But does that get you to contending for the ACC? I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think, though, by next year we should have some expectations around this Miami program.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Miami 2023 Preview: Hurricanes \u2018will be better in a lot of areas\u2019 despite tough schedule<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Football season is nearly upon us and with it the expectations built throughout the entirety…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}