On3 Roundtable: How Miami’s offense will change under Shannon Dawson, players to watch

Miami is hopeful that Shannon Dawson can be the coach that turns its offense around in 2023. The Hurricanes hired Dawson from Houston this offseason to replace offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who was fired after one season.

Dawson worked under Dana Holgorsen for many years at both Houston and West Virginia, coaching talented quarterbacks such as Clayton Tune and Geno Smith. That has led to Dawson’s offense often being described as “air raid,” but CaneSport‘s Gary Ferman explained in a recent On3 Roundtable discussion why that isn’t entirely accurate.

“Shannon Dawson has an offense that it’s got the cliché air raid type of passing game label on it,” he said. “But if you talk to defensive coordinators, they’ll tell you that’s a bunch of nonsense. That air raid stuff, it’s all marketing propaganda. But what it does do is it spreads the field and allows the playmakers to get into space. Miami has a lot of guys that might be a little bit smaller than you would like in some cases, but they do have guys that, if you get them in space, they can make plays.”

Miami ranked 10th in the ACC in points per game (23.6) and ninth in yards per game (367.1) this past season, so it’s clear Dawson has work to do. However, he inherits another talented quarterback to work with in Tyler Van Dyke, the 2021 ACC Freshman of the Year.

Van Dyke saw his 2022 season limited to just nine games due to injuries and ended 1,835 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. He’ll enter his junior season looking to bounce back with plenty of weapons at his disposal in the new-look offense, as Ferman explained.

“Brashard Smith is one,” he said. “They’ve got a freshman, Ray Ray Joseph, that I think is going to be really good in this offense. Xavier Restrepo is a possession receiver, but is very crafty as a route runner. So those are guys that are gonna be able to be in the slot and make plays.”

Like Van Dyke, Restrepo also dealt with injury troubles last season but still finished fifth on the team with 240 yards receiving and two touchdowns despite missing five games. The Hurricanes also bring back Colbie Young, the team’s leading returning receiver with 32 catches for 367 yards and five touchdowns, who should start at X-receiver.

Miami also went to the transfer portal to bring in Tyler Harrell from Alabama, the No. 93 receiver according to On3’s Transfer Portal Player Rankings. Harrell has struggled to stay on the field throughout his college career due to injury, but flashed his potential in 2021 at Louisville with 18 catches for 523 yards (29.1 yards per catch).

“What they needed is one more guy on the outside that can spread the field,” Ferman said. “That’s why they went and drafted Alabama transfer Tyler Harrell. Because he’s a guy that hasn’t accomplished a ton in the college game largely due to injuries, but one thing he can do is run. He would probably end up being the final piece going into this season that they hope will allow TVD to maximize his abilities.”

Coming off of a 5-7 finish in Mario Cristobal‘s inaugural season, the Hurricanes will hope for better results in Year 2. A lot of that rests on Dawson and the Miami offense, but the talent on the roster hints at plenty of potenital.