Miami Gardens, FL — Spring games give coaches an idea of what to expect or what not to expect once fall camp starts. Early Saturday, the Miami Hurricanes held its Spring Game at Hard Rock Stadium.   It marked the first Spring game in about two years as last year’s game was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Takeaways

Quarterbacks

The main storyline going into the Spring Game was surrounded by quarterback play.  Second-year freshman Tyler Van Dyke and true freshman Jake Garcia have battled for the backup quarterback position this spring assuming projected starter D’Eriq King returns from his ACL knee injury he suffered in the final game of the 2020 season.  King, was on the sideline for the game and called plays in the second half for the offense.  

Van Dyke went 12 of 17 for 102 yards, threw for one touchdown with zero interceptions and zero sacks.  Van Dyke mentioned that this was his best scrimmage of the spring and enjoys the competition with the other quarterbacks.  Van Dyke did not play in the second half.

Garcia completed 19 of his 25 pass attempts for 255 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions.  Garcia was sacked four times and had a 17-yard scramble.  

Wide Receivers

Miami has a variety of pass catchers that made plays Saturday.  Oklahoma transfer Charleston Rambo and senior Mike Harley Jr. are the most polished receivers and both were productive in the first half.  Rambo drew a pass interference call on Tyrique Stevenson early in the game and was a tough cover throughout.  Both did not play much of the second half if at all.

Rambo had seven catches for 74 yards.

Harley had four catches for 23 yards and a five-yard touchdown from Garcia on an inside slant.

Wide receiver 3, 4, and 5 perceive to be wide open position battles between Mark Pope, Dee Wiggins, Xavier Restrepo, Keshawn Smith, Dazalin Worsham, and Dante Johnson, all of whom made receptions in today’s game.  One of the most impressive plays came from Restrepo who caught a nice over-the-shoulder corner route where he dragged one foot in for a 14-yard touchdown.  Smith caught two impressive touchdown catches on the day. The first, Smith made a man miss en route to an 11-yard touchdown, and the second, a 34-yard touchdown where he leaped over a defender for a touchdown from Ryan Rizk.  Both touchdowns to Smith were called by D’Eriq King.

Nifty catch and run by Keshawn Smith at the @CanesFootball #springgame. Garcia two touchdown passes thus far. @FootballHotbed pic.twitter.com/E9dG1kNPzx

— Marcus Benjamin (@_BenjaminReport) April 17, 2021

Mark Pope and Dee Wiggins had two critical drops that would have led to huge gains or touchdowns. Wiggins seemed to secure the football on a deep pass but did not complete the catch while Pope was wide open on the sideline and dropped a pass that would have likely been a 70-plus yard touchdown. 

Mark Pope had six catches for 115 yards

Restrepo had four catches for 42 yards and a touchdown.

Dante Johnson had five catches for 58 yards.  

Keshawn Smith had three catches 63 yards and two touchdowns.

Dee Wiggins had one catch for 54 yards.  

Dazalin Worsham three catches for 26 yards.

Defense 

Miami played with two base defenses according to Head Coach Manny Diaz.  Miami did not run the football much for the day as Jaylan Knighton had only seven carries for 43 yards and a touchdown while Cam’Ron Harris had four carries for nine yards.  Knighton’s touchdown run went for 27 yards.  

The Canes defense also was able to generate four sacks, an interception, and a fumble recovery on the day but still left much to be desired.  There were some bright spots with Tennessee transfer DeAndre Johnson getting a safety and two tackles for loss, but the front seven failed to cause disruption as both quarterbacks were able to sit comfortably in the pocket. 

The strength of the defense seems to be in the secondary although there were some big plays allowed.  True freshman Kamren Kinchens was impressive on the day and registered the only interception from Peyton Matocha.  Keshawn Washington forced a fumble on a vicious hit on Dazalin Worsham that was recovered by Isaiah Dunson.  

Kamren Kinchens had six tackles and an interception

Avantae Williams had four and a half tackles and two pass break-ups

Chase Smith had six tackles and pass break-up

Tyrique Stevenson had one tackle and two pass break-ups

Keshawn Washington had one tackle and a forced fumble 

Isaiah Dunson had four and a half tackles and a pass break-up

Gurvan Hall four tackles

Corey Flagg one tackle

Special Teams 

Andres Borregales was perfect on field goals and extra points connecting from 43, 32, and 21 yards. Punter Lou Hedley had a punt inside the five-yard line.  

Injuries

Cornerback DJ Ivey left the game with a leg injury.  

Defensive end Cam Williams left the game and was seen on the sideline on crutches.

Wide Receiver Michael Redding IIIM left the game with an injury.

Dante Johnson Left the game with an injury but was able to return.

Statistics are unofficial and provided by local media

Photos Courtesy of Tim Brogdon of Miami Athletics