Manny Diaz hints Hurricanes' late scratches Saturday are 'reality of 2020'

The Miami Hurricanes, unlike other college football programs, are not revealing the number of COVID-19 cases on their team this season, but UM coach Manny Diaz hinted about as much as he could on Monday morning as to the nature of the six late scratches ahead of Saturday night’s 19-14 win over Virginia.

“It’s just the reality of 2020,” Diaz called it in an interview with 560-AM.

Postgame Saturday night, Diaz declined to comment, saying, “They were unavailable. That’s really all we can say about that.”

For the 2020 season, Miami is announcing players as “unavailable” an hour before game kickoffs, but not specifying reasons. Eight players showed up on that pregame unavailability report Saturday night. Two of them were known to have non-coronavirus-related issues; junior tight end Brevin Jordan has a shoulder injury and freshman offensive lineman Issiah Walker is awaiting NCAA transfer clearance.

The six surprise scratches were all freshmen: quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, receivers Michael Redding III and Xavier Restrepo, defensive lineman Elijah Roberts, linebacker Corey Flagg and safety Brian Balom.

Players having a COVID-related unavailability doesn’t necessarily mean they tested positive. Some could be instructed to quarantine due to contact tracing with a confirmed positive case. Per ACC guidelines, players identified through contact tracing must fulfill a 14-day quarantine. Those who test positive, must be isolated for at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms or positive test and one additional day from recovery.

Leading up to Saturday, Miami had been able to contain the virus with very few, if any, players listed as unavailable for weeks prior. Like it was for the first bye week the Hurricanes had said this season, keeping players away from COVID-19 will be a point of emphasis with the team idle this weekend ahead of a Nov. 6 game at N.C. State.

“We can feel it: The coronavirus is not going away,” Diaz said. “It is here. You can see the numbers, where they’re at all over the country, and we have made sacrifices so long now to get to this point. It’s easy to get to, ‘Do we have to continue to do all this and do all this?’ And we have to. We made it this far. We’re a week away from November, and we have to continue to do the right thing to try to keep numbers down.

“I think our players can feel it, that it’s around again, that it’s more prominent. We’ve got to really, really be smart and safe to be able to play football this last month. This is still not — I know the games have looked like it’s normal; it’s fun to talk about who’s going to be in this game in December and that game in December — those games are not promised to us right now. Our players get that, and they’ve got to continue to do the right things.”

Missing the freshmen that were unavailable had its greatest impact on special teams. Redding III and Restrepo were in contention for increased reps on offense, linebacker Corey Flagg has played with the second unit defensively and safety Brian Balom could’ve come in when Miami was without Amari Carter (disqualification due to targeting penalty) and, momentarily, Gurvan Hall (ankle) at the position, but several special teams positions were affected.

Restrepo had been returning punts since the loss at Clemson, so the Hurricanes went to Hall and eventually back to Mark Pope, their original punt returner the first three games of the season. Redding, Flagg and Balom have also played on special teams units.

Diaz credited special teams coordinator Jonathan Patke with piecing it together in that phase. He named freshman tight end Dominic Mammarelli, who also received offensive snaps, and walk-on receiver Dante Johnson as standouts in spot duty on special teams.

“There were some gymnastics with that on Saturday, for sure,” Diaz said Monday afternoon.

With Balom unavailable and Carter ejected early, Hall’s injury put Miami in a bind without an experienced safety to play alongside Bubba Bolden on the back end of the defense. Freshman Jalen Harrell saw his first meaningful college snaps, and striker Gilbert Frierson filled in for a series before Hall could return.

“He’s just a student of the game,” said defensive coordinator Blake Baker said. “I’ve been here going on two years, and he’s played absolutely zero snaps at safety for us. It’s a credit to him.”

Diaz expressed an appreciation on Monday for getting this far with his team 5-1 and 4-1 in the ACC in a season that has been filled with uncertainty for months.

“Back in April, when we weren’t even sure we were going to have a season,” Diaz said. “If someone would’ve said, ‘Hey, we’re going to get to November. You’re going to be 5-1, ranked — whatever rankings mean this time of year — but you’re going to be ranked somewhere in the top 12 in the country and you’re going to have a shot, really, to control your own destiny to whatever goals you want to (accomplish) in December,’ we all would’ve jumped up and down for that. And here we are, but it’s not going to happen if we got guys that are out of the lineup. We need everybody, and that’s why we got to really double down to try to really keep the virus at bay.”

Diaz also expressed Monday that he’s hopeful Jordan can return after missing the past two games from the shoulder injury sustained in the Oct. 10 loss at Clemson.

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