The Miami Hurricanes are hosting their spring football game on campus, on Saturday, April 13th at 4pm.
The Miami Hurricanes hold their spring game on campus in Coral Gables, FL on Saturday, April 13th at 4:00pm on ACCNX/ESPN+. The Hurricanes are looking for a “we back” season after limping to a 12-13 start to the Mario Cristobal Era.
Cristobal, OC Shannon Dawson and DC Lance Guidry all return for a second season together, Cristobal’s third as the head coach at Miami. Not a lot about the format of the spring game has been released yet, ie.: the scoring (O vs. D points or split), will it be 1’s vs. 1’s or 1’s vs. 2’s, timing of the game, etc.
Last year, Dawson led off with a reverse to Xavier Restrepo. This year, I would expect Cam Ward to be on full display for Miami fans and recruits in attendance. Look for not very many ‘whiz’ sacks to be called, much like in ‘23 where Tyler Van Dyke was allowed extra time to throw downfield.
DE Rueben Bain was the star of the ‘23 spring game, and I’m not even sure if he’ll be dressed for the ‘24 edition as he’s been dinged up with an injury this spring.
The things I want to see improved from 2023 are:
1- Drops from the wide receivers. That group has to step up with Ward at quarterback. Kevin Beard’s unit can’t hold back Miami’s new star QB. We’re hearing good things about the young WR’s on Greentree, but we all know about Greentree All-Americans.
2- Use of the TE in the passing game. It’s been well covered on SOTU that the TE’s were completely ignored in ‘23. Elija Lofton is a freshman TE that has been getting a ton of publicity. Riley Williams is back for his sophomore season, and Elijah Arroyo is healthy for the first time in over a year.
3- Tackling. Miami looked horrible at tackling in the 2023 spring game and it bled into a lot of the season once the quality opponents picked up on the schedule. Guys like James Williams never did improve at tracking and tackling.
4- OL Cohesion. The Offensive Line is usually the last piece to come together in the spring. Seeing some offensive line cohesion would be nice with a new center in Zach Carpenter (Indiana) and the loss of Javion Cohen, Miami needs new players to step up. OL Mauigoa is out but Anez Cooper, Matthew McCoy, and Jalen Rivers have experience with OL Coach Alex Mirabal.
The Wrap
When you watch a spring game you have to look for the little things, ie: are the coaches giving the offense more time than necessary to throw the ball downfield? When the tackling is live, are the players tracking and finishing tackles? How is the OL communicating? Look for drops, missed tackles, blown assignments- things that are small pieces but can really make a difference.