Miami Spring Game Takeaways: Lack Of Big Plays A Cause For Concern?

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Fort Lauderdale, FL — Welcome to the new era of Miami Hurricanes football.  With all the buzz surrounding the Canes football program this spring, fans had every right to be optimistic about the 2022 football season and just needed something to ‘wow’ them in the spring game to confirm that level of optimism.  The last four seasons saw the Hurricanes win 7, 6, 8, and 7 games after plenty of hype in the previous off-season. 

Unfortunately, today at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, there were no Sportscenter-worthy highlights that would confirm that this season would be different from years past. 

The offense won on the scoreboard with a 31-27 win, but many left with much to be desired. 

“We can’t forget about this, we got to keep working, keep improving, can’t go downhill from here,” said starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke (TVD). 

Tyler Van Dyke, Quarterback, Miami Photo Courtesy of Miami Athletics

Van Dyke completed 20 of 32 for 172 yards, threw one touchdown pass, and had one fumble lost.  Van Dyke led the first-team offense to five touchdowns and a field goal. 

The third-year sophomore is in the Heisman conversation for the upcoming season, but today TVD looked less than Heisman-worthy based on numbers. The fumble lost came on a snap that Van Dyke was not ready to receive.  The defense pounced on the football producing Miami’s first turnover on the day.  

Backup quarterback Jake Garcia did not have his best day.  The true sophomore missed many throws on the day with plenty of time provided by the offensive line for the most part. Garcia missed on a red-zone throw to tight end Kahlil Brantley (Miami Northwestern) in the first half.  Brantley led all tight ends with three catches for 42 yards including the longest pass play of the day, a 26-yard catch from Van Dyke. 

“This is not where we want to be at so we have to keep going hard. Like coach said close the gap, close the gap to our end goals to where we’re at right now,” said Garcia.  “I feel like there was a few things that I could have been cleaner on, quicker reads on. It’s just little things in there and different situations that I can go back on film…and get it corrected so that this way it doesn’t happen again.”

Garcia went 14 of 24 for 117 yards, with zero scores.  

True freshman Jacurri Brown had a rough outing completing three of his six passes for 15 yards. Brown did have a nice run on the outside putting his athleticism on display. Sophomore safety James Williams intercepted Brown in the second half.  The ball was deflected at the line by Jake Lichtenstein and Williams was able to run under it for the turnover.  Brown also fumbled the football which was recovered by D-Tackle Alan Haye, Jr. 

Passing Game Takeaway 

As Tyler eluded to, the Canes missed on a few deep shots.  The first was a deep ball to Key’Shawn Smith down the right sideline that was underthrown and broken up.  The other long shot to Smith was nearly caught again up the right side, but was dropped as Smith hit the turf.  

There were a couple of other attempts to push the ball downfield, but this was a game that saw plenty of check- downs from all three quarterbacks as a whole.  This does not seem like a time to hit the panic button, but this definitely does seem like a different offense that relies more on the running game to open up the passing game.

There were many connections on underneath routes that ate up big chunk yards.  Many different receivers were involved in the passing game including Smith, Brantley, Xavier Restrepo, Jacolby George (1 touchdown), Brashard Smith, Frank Ladsen, Dominic Mammarelli, Henry Parrish Jr., Thaddius Franklin, and others. Restrepo led the team in yards with six catches for 61 yards.  

Xavier Restrepo, Wide Receiver, Miami Photo Courtesy of Miami Athletics

“There were some shots that we didn’t call today. We threw a couple deep, but didn’t really connect, but you’ll see that during the season, we’ll connect on those,” Tyler said.

Grade – B –

Running Game Takeaway

The Canes have a stable of capable running backs and today was the Thad Franklin show.  The true sophomore out of Chaminade-Madonna High School showed just why he was the highly recruited back out of South Florida.  Franklin (6-0, 240) rushed for 60 yards on 14 carries and a rushing touchdown.  Also had a first down catch and run.

Thad Franklin, Running Back, Miami Photo Courtesy of Miami Athletics

Henry Parrish Jr. (Miami Columbus), the transfer from Ole Miss, had nine carries for 41 yards scoring two touchdowns.  Devon Perry, a converted wide receiver, looked explosive on some inside runs and adds to the depth of the running back room.  The future looks very bright with the running game as Jaylan Knighton and Don Chaney Jr., did not play due to injury and four-star signee Tre’Vonte Citizen (who was in attendance) is set to land in Coral Gables in the summer. 

Van Dyke scrambled for a big gainer on the first drive of the game leading to the game’s first score. 

Grade – B

Defensive takeaway

Defensively, there seems to be an improvement in the tackling department, a point of emphasis this spring by the Miami coaches.  True freshman Cyrus Moss came away with two sacks and Leonard Taylor added another.  

The two biggest hits in this game were delivered by Gibert Frierson. 

Gilbert Frierson, Linebacker, Miami Photo Courtesy of Miami Athletics

First, Frierson shot through the line like a cannon and delivered a big hit on the ball carrier.  The second, the Coral Gables product inflicted some pain onto Mammareli on the sideline after a catch and run.  

Overall, the defense limited the big plays and made solid tackles.  The inability to flip the field was some cause for concern, however.  Impressive true freshman linebacker Wesley Bissainthe did not play in this game. 

“They were flying around,” said Garcia of the defense.  “The defense is going to be legit. They are legit.  They’re going to be different this year.”

Grade – B