Miami head coach Manny Diaz recaps latest Hurricanes scrimmage

The Miami Hurricanes are gearing up for a tough opening matchup against Alabama in less than two weeks. After finishing last season at 8-3, Miami is expected to be towards the top of the ACC yet again this year. Miami head coach Manny Diaz was happy with what he saw in the team’s latest scrimmage on Saturday.

Diaz: The night belonged to the defense

Compared to last week’s scrimmage, Miami looked much better on Saturday to Diaz. While quarterback D’Eriq King, who is coming back from a torn ACL, had a big play early on, the scrimmage was dominated by the defense.

“I saw improvement from scrimmage one, which is what you would have suspected,” Diaz said after the scrimmage. “D’Eriq got us going again offensively. Explosive play in a touchdown drive to get things going. But the night belonged to the defense. From start to finish, the one defense was pretty dominant tonight.”

As King aims to return from his torn ACL, the play of other quarterbacks on the roster is very important. Diaz said that Miami is comfortable with all three quarterbacks fighting for playing time: King, Tyler Van Dyke and Jake Garcia.

“D’Eriq hit the long one, and obviously we didn’t get him a ton tonight,” Diaz said when asked about the quarterback play in the scrimmage. “But he hit the long one to Key’Shawn Smith which is encouraging to see. Van Dyke led a drive at the very end and finished with two touchdowns. Jake was 8-for-12. And again, a lot of those guys were facing the teeth of the rush, pretty tough. I think they’re all continuing to show that we can win with all three of them. We’ll continue into ‘Bama prep now and go from there.”

Miami’s mentality now changes from camp mode to game week

With Alabama coming up first on the schedule, Miami knows that it needs to come strong out of the gate. As camp wraps up, the focus now turns to a game preparation mentality. Miami ended last season on a two-game losing streak after starting 8-1. If they want to fight against Alabama, their ability to come together as a team will be vital.

“You’ve got to come together now,” Diaz said of Miami’s mentality. “Spring ball, summer workouts, the first two weeks of training camp, it’s really about the improvement of the individual player. As if you took a car and took all the parts apart. You’re trying to get every part as good as you can. Now you’ve got to build the machine back together again.

“We know we have a formidable challenge in week one. So, we’ve got to look at our roster, look at the performances in the scrimmage and say, ‘Okay, who can we put in what role to accomplish the mission we have to accomplish week one, week two, week three, all the way to week 12 to get ourselves to Charlotte. That’s what the coaches will be spending the next 48 hours doing. We got some good work in so I’m excited about where we’re at.”