Anonymous opposing coach says Miami needs better line play in 2023

The Miami Hurricanes entered 2022 with massive expectations under first-year head coach Mario Cristobal. It’s possible that those expectations weren’t fair, but no matter the case, the Hurricanes under-performed and missed a bowl game.

There are a lot of factors that led to these issues. However, one anonymous opposing coach told Athlon magazine that one of the biggest issues was the offensive line and that it needs to improve in 2023 for Miami.

“This is a good roster, a top-half roster in this league for sure,” the coach said. “I think it’s really interesting that both new coordinators are known for being aggressive with their calls. The kids could really feed off of that if they get it going. They need better line play on both sides for that to happen.”

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“No one can really explain why they looked so bad last season. Everyone in the league was terrified of them coming out of two-a-days, and then we all saw how terrible they were that first month.”

In 2022, Miami’s offensive line was statistically awful. The Hurricanes were 109th in sacks allowed, giving up three sacks a game. On top of that, Miami was just 96th in rushing offense, gaining just 128.1 yards per game on the ground, per game.

There are more factors than just offensive line play that lead to stats like those. For instance, a quarterback might hold the ball too long and take a coverage sack. A running back might not see a hole when there is one there. However, it’s clear that the offense was stymied by the offensive line play.

Mario Cristobal knows this was an issue too. He made his name as an offensive line coach and takes a lot of pride in that unit. So, it’s safe to say that he’ll be addressing the Miami offensive line.

To an extent, he’s already made strides on the offensive line, adding transfers like All-AAC center Matt Lee from UCF and Alabama offensive lineman Javion Cohen.

Alonzo Highsmith says Miami has an inherent advantage

Miami Hurricanes legend and current general manager of football operations says that Miami has an inherent advantage over other schools. Its location.

“One of the greatest things that Miami has is its location. People like coming to Miami. So, for our players to come back to Miami, most of them, a lot of them, live here in the community. A lot of them still live in the state of Florida,” Highsmith said.

“To have them, you know, we’re not at Syracuse, we’re not at BYU, we’re not in Alabama. We’re right, there’s a direct flight to Miami and when you say, hey, let’s go to Miami, there’s not a wife in America that doesn’t say, ‘I wanna go to Miami,’ or something like that. ‘You go play football, I’ll sit by the pool.’ So, that’s the attraction to Miami.”