Diaz: Miami QBs and Rambo rising. Pope, Wiggins? Future ‘in hands.’ Defense? Evolving

The quarterbacks were sharp.

The receiving corps is definitely better with the addition of Oklahoma transfer Charleston Rambo, though a couple of repeat offenders (Mark Pope and Dee Wiggins) still had drops.

The linebackers? Very much a work in progress.

The defensive line? Same. But according to Miami Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz, promising with enough bodies to fill a rotation.

Two days after the 2021 University of Miami spring game at Hard Rock Stadium, Diaz went on WQAM radio and shared his thoughts after having time to decompress and watch the film.

He started with second-year freshman quarterback Tyler Van Dyke and true freshman Jake Garcia, both of whom looked good Saturday — Van Dyke 12 of 17 (70.5 percent) for 102 yards and one touchdown and Garcia 19 of 25 (76 percent) for 255 yards and two touchdowns (and sacked four times, including once for a safety). The quarterbacks were off limits to contact.

Quarterback ‘commercial’

“We kind of wanted the spring game to be a little bit of a commercial for those two guys and they didn’t disappoint,’’ Diaz told WQAM’s Joe Rose. “They’ve really been that way throughout the spring. Both guys have shown really good accuracy, not just on the quick stuff but on the down the field throws. They just don’t look like freshmen.

“Even with Tyler. You have to remember with Tyler we missed out on a spring practice a year ago, Tyler got caught up in some COVID protocols a couple times where he missed practice in the fall. This is really the first true spring for both those guys and to look the way they looked in that stadium is really encouraging for our program.”

Diaz praised the speedy Rambo, who caught seven passes for 74 yards and has a nifty motor to separate and accelerate once he breaks free.

“What you saw the first week [in spring] you realized, ‘Man, this guy can really go,’ Diaz said. “When we were at our best a year ago is when we were our most explosive in the passing game making plays downfield.’’

The coach said Rambo started “to show out” the second half of spring when he got more comfortable with the offense. He’s “a guy,’’ Diaz said, “that can really add to the explosive nature of our offense.”

Pope and Wiggins

Rose asked about veteran wideouts Mark Pope and Dee Wiggins, plagued by drops throughout their career. “First balls thrown to both in scrimmage are drops,’’ Rose said. “Pope goes on and has a nice day and Wiggins has a nice catch. They’re getting wide open on deep passes but they drop every so often. As a coach, tell me where you are compared to the frustration of a radio fan?”

Diaz said he didn’t want to see players consistently dropping the ball, but that “you want that to be, pardon the pun, in their hands. ... Ideally for our program to get to the way we want to get it to you’ve got to have the level of consistency to be able to compete. If not, someone is going to take your job. That’s building the depth. That’s what we didn’t have a year ago, because, to use the wide receiver room as an example, all the backups were all basically true freshman because, guess what, they all missed spring and summer and weren’t able to function at that level.”

Diaz said he will not give up on players, but in the end, they determine their fate. “Whatever your role is as we determine what our best 11 is by August and September, then you go dominate your role.”

Pope went on Saturday to catch six passes for 115 yards. Wiggins finished with one catch for 54 yards on the final play of the game.

Now, the defense

No doubt the Hurricanes’ defense is behind the offense, especially among the linebackers and still-developing defensive line, a troubling thought as the Canes soon enough will be preparing for defending champion Alabama in the Sept. 4 season opener at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Diaz was asked about the linebackers. Former backup striker Keontra Smith started at his new position of weak-side linebacker. Second-year freshman Corey Flagg Jr. is in the middle.

“They played fine,’’ Diaz said. “The way they were ultimately going to get evaluated, that wasn’t what Saturday was about. Because intentionally we were going to throw the ball a lot more than we would normally. We only had three running backs healthy.

“So we didn’t want to sit there and, bang, you create a lot of pileups where we could have lost a guy. It’s obvious from a year ago we had to improve our run defense. I think we have done that. You saw Keontra Smith make a really nice play at weakside. He looks natural over there. The improvement that Avery Huff has made, the improvement that Corey Flagg has made. The battles will continue into summer and camp. We will be a different looking operation than we were a year ago.’’

There were bright spots in the secondary. Freshman safeties Kamren Kinchens (six tackles, interception), Avantae Williams ( 4 1/2 tackles, two pass breakups) and striker Chase Smith (six tackles) had strong debuts, and fellow second-year freshman safety Keshawn Washington forced a fumble. Georgia veteran transfer cornerback Tyrique Stevenson had two pass breakups.

But at defensive line, it’s evident the pass-rush generated by NFL-bound defensive ends Jaelan Phillips and Quincy Roche (not to mention Greg Rousseau, who opted out in 2020 and entered the draft) needs to improve. Diaz said Tennessee transfer Deandre Johnson will make a difference, and the depth is there.

“Saturday, the first time the offense went and dropped back, Deandre Johnson shot around the corner and drew a holding penalty. He’s your right end, he’s coming off that quarterback’s blind side. We’ve got some pretty good right tackles. If we were hitting quarterbacks I think Deandre’s presence would have really been felt.

“Other than that this spring, overall we’ve been encouraged with the development of the depth we have at defensive end — Jahfari Harvey, Cam Williams, Chantz Williams, Zach McCloud.”

The sacks Saturday were from Johnson (for a safety) and starting striker Gilbert Frierson and reserve tackles Elijah Roberts and Jalar Holley.

Injury situation

▪ Defensive end Williams stood on the sideline with crutches the second half of the scrimmage, and veteran cornerback DJ Ivey appeared to injure his right foot/leg on tailback Jaylan Knighton’s 27-yard touchdown . Also apparently injured in the scrimmage was second-year freshman receiver Michael Redding III.

“Initial feedback was that it didn’t seem like anything would be too serious,’’ Diaz told WQAM’s Zach Krantz. “I don’t want to mispeak. We should know more today.”

▪ Vacation is not on the horizon anytime soon for Diaz and his coaches.

“It’s a little different month of May,’’ Diaz said. “Normally we’d all go out recruiting. We have exit interviews with our players. We’re going to get into our spring film review, critique everything we did this spring. Then we’ll get into all our summer scouting reports on first four opponents, conference opponents — [there are] new coaches and we’ve got to get familiar with the people we’re going to play.

“We’ll be working toward June, which will be a recruiting mania as we’ve never seen before. It’s going to be fun.”