Miami Canes’ second scrimmage is ‘too sloppy.’ Manny Diaz: Defense ‘took it to offense’

The Miami Hurricanes’ second 2020 fall camp scrimmage ended late Saturday with mixed results, some that will be “sternly’’ addressed this week by coach Manny Diaz.

Unlike last weekend’s first scrimmage, which also was closed, Diaz said the defense was more dominant this time around, especially in the first half. But Diaz was not happy with the sloppiness that he said he did not see last weekend.

“The first half I thought the defense really took it to the offense,’’ Diaz said in a UM-released video. “You could see the addition of some of the guys coming back to the defensive line added to the overall edge to their play.

“I thought the offense in the second half responded and played better and moved the ball and had some touchdown drives. Overall, though, it was much, much too sloppy — much sloppier than the first scrimmage. It was kind of a strange deal.

“Way too many penalties — some things we’re going to have to sternly address this week in practice.’’

Quarterback play

How was the quarterback play overall?

“OK,’’ Diaz said with no enthusiasm. “I thought it was just OK, not as good as it was a week ago. But we wanted some adversity because last week it was so simple. We wanted to see how guys responded... It seemed like they did.’’

UM reported that four quarterbacks threw touchdowns, with starter D’Eriq King tossing two and passing for 95 yards. No other quarterbacks were mentioned in UM’s report.

Running back Cam Harris led the offense with a “fantastic’’ night, Diaz said. He had 13 carries for 77 yards and a touchdown and caught two touchdown passes — “five catches, two for touchdowns. He really set the tone.’’

“The first touchdown of the first half, he caught a ball in the flat about 8 yards from the end zone and had three guys that really had him to get him on the ground,’’ Diaz said. “He ran through all three tackles for a touchdown, so very impressive to see that Cam’s making an older guy-type play.”

Offensive standouts

Harris’s five catches tied for the team lead with freshman Xavier Restrepo, who racked up 79 yards and a touchdown on his five receptions. It was the second big scrimmage for the youngster out of Deerfield Beach High.

Also excelling once again: freshman tailbacks Jaylan Knighton and Donald Chaney Jr. UM reported that each player rushed for “over 40 yards and a touchdown’’ on Saturday.

UM reported that tight end Brevin Jordan caught four passes after missing last week’s scrimmage, while receiver Keyshawn Smith (3 catches, 53 yards) and tight end Larry Hodges (45 yards) each caught a touchdown pass.

Young defensive standouts

Defensively, freshman safety Brian Balom dominated. He led all Canes with seven tackles. He also had an interception and forced fumble, while defensive end Jahfari Harvey had six tackles and linebacker Avery Huff added five tackles and two sacks.

Linebacker Corey Flagg recovered a fumble and cornerback Te’Cory Couch had an interception to give Miami’s defense three forced turnovers.

More from Diaz:

▪ On the defensive line: “That first group and the fact that they can roll a lot of guys — [ends] Quincy [Roche] and Jaelan [Phillips] were both very disruptive, [and] getting [tackle] Jon Ford back. Just a lot of guys creating havoc there in the backfield and creating some negative plays, which we had very few negative plays in the first scrimmage and it seemed like there were a lot more tonight.”

▪ On the freshman running backs: “They got better as the scrimmage went on. I think after their big plays a week ago, sometimes you have the tendency you want to hit a grand slam with no one on base and I felt that early on. They were trying to bounce things that weren’t there and I think once they started trusting their cuts, and just sticking and becoming north-south runners, once they clear that front line now they can use their explosion. But early on they were running into some trouble by trying to make every play a touchdown.”

▪ Looking ahead: “We’ve got a big week this week. We’ve got to be able to extend these drives, especially in the heat. During training camp, we were going in the evening a lot. We’ve got to get on Greentree. We need a hot week of practice and we’ve just got to continue to push our guys through this week and make it really, really hard on them, make it really difficult on them and pretty much the last week we’ll have to find out who we can really count on to go compete against UAB.”

The start of the season is less than three weeks away, when the Hurricanes will host Alabama-Birmingham on Thursday, Sept. 10, at Hard Rock Stadium in a revised schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Good news

The Hurricanes football players were tested for the coronavirus on Thursday and for the third consecutive time had no positive results, according to tweets sent out by players and retweeted by coaches.

“3rd Testing In A Row 100% Negative- 106 Individuals, 1 Team #wearyourmask,’’ tweeted senior safety Amari Carter.