There is plenty of doom and gloom stuff on here and also plenty of sunshine pumper takes. I'm sure most would put me in the doom and gloom category but I really try to be someone who adapts and evolves and right now I find myself firmly planted in the middle. Here is a few thoughts:
Some say we are back because we beat FSU/Louisville/Pitt and hopefully FIU and Duke to finish out the year. Some say these teams mostly suck so it isn't very impressive. Can't both be correct? You can only play who is on the schedule. Right now the guys are finding ways to win games. Look at the Coastal. Outside of Miami who is the best team- UVA?VT?UNC?Duke?GT?Pitt? Pick whichever of those teams you want and I would say that regardless of who you pick you are selecting a mediocre team. So doesn't that mean that the first step back to where we want to be as a program is to start beating mediocre teams consistently? Wins are good and we need to enjoy them. That said we need to not think we are the Rams Greatest show on Turf offense just because we score 27 VS FSU (who gives up 40 plus to Louisiana Monroe) or scored 52 against Louisville (who gave up 59 to Wake).
The OL is another huge topic. Are they great now? Do they still suck? Is it somewhere in the middle? They have definitely improved thanks in large part to finding the right spots for each guy- Scaife at Tackle and Clarke in the starting G spot. What does improved mean though? Would they perform better against UF if we played them this week? I'm sure they would but I would bet that they would give up 5 or 6 sacks still. This is a group that has a lot of flaws. They are young- doesn't mean they can't be good because plenty of young lines are good- and they are learning how to play together more and more as the weeks go on. The shuffling that we saw in the offseason of different players and different positions was a bad moved and has slowed the cohesiveness of the unit. So if they had a 1 out of 10 grade after UF, perhaps they are a 6 out of 10 at this point? Drastically improved but far from good....isn't that reasonable?
How about recruiting. I've read enough about the head coach of Oregon to last me a lifetime around here. Manny is the guy for the next year or two at least so lets worry about what he is doing or can do at this point. I like the recent trend in recruiting I am seeing. Fleming wanted a track scholarship for his brother and has been an off the field issue having transferred something like 5 times in his HS career. We do not need kids like that. Give me Mike Harley types instead. Perhaps a little less talented but high character hard workers who become high quality contributors. Riggins and Smith told to look elsewhere, they are not up to the standard we need for kids at Miami. Great. These types of moves are boss recruiting moves. We have quietly put together what I think is a class of solid contributors and a couple potential stars like Chaney. What we need to return to dominance is depth and a full balanced roster that will allow us to start playing in Charlotte annually. When that happens we will start landing some of the South Florida elite talent. I do need to see Manny close strong with another 5-7 solid signees hopefully a couple of them on the OL.
I could go on and break down individual coaches and units like Gary did on his show, but the bottom line is that the story has not yet been written on the first year of Manny Diaz. It started slow and has improved but could still take a turn for the better or the worse. I think we should hold off on indicting his coaching career until we see the signing class, the bowl performance, and the handling of the coaching staff (fires/hires) in the offseason.
Some say we are back because we beat FSU/Louisville/Pitt and hopefully FIU and Duke to finish out the year. Some say these teams mostly suck so it isn't very impressive. Can't both be correct? You can only play who is on the schedule. Right now the guys are finding ways to win games. Look at the Coastal. Outside of Miami who is the best team- UVA?VT?UNC?Duke?GT?Pitt? Pick whichever of those teams you want and I would say that regardless of who you pick you are selecting a mediocre team. So doesn't that mean that the first step back to where we want to be as a program is to start beating mediocre teams consistently? Wins are good and we need to enjoy them. That said we need to not think we are the Rams Greatest show on Turf offense just because we score 27 VS FSU (who gives up 40 plus to Louisiana Monroe) or scored 52 against Louisville (who gave up 59 to Wake).
The OL is another huge topic. Are they great now? Do they still suck? Is it somewhere in the middle? They have definitely improved thanks in large part to finding the right spots for each guy- Scaife at Tackle and Clarke in the starting G spot. What does improved mean though? Would they perform better against UF if we played them this week? I'm sure they would but I would bet that they would give up 5 or 6 sacks still. This is a group that has a lot of flaws. They are young- doesn't mean they can't be good because plenty of young lines are good- and they are learning how to play together more and more as the weeks go on. The shuffling that we saw in the offseason of different players and different positions was a bad moved and has slowed the cohesiveness of the unit. So if they had a 1 out of 10 grade after UF, perhaps they are a 6 out of 10 at this point? Drastically improved but far from good....isn't that reasonable?
How about recruiting. I've read enough about the head coach of Oregon to last me a lifetime around here. Manny is the guy for the next year or two at least so lets worry about what he is doing or can do at this point. I like the recent trend in recruiting I am seeing. Fleming wanted a track scholarship for his brother and has been an off the field issue having transferred something like 5 times in his HS career. We do not need kids like that. Give me Mike Harley types instead. Perhaps a little less talented but high character hard workers who become high quality contributors. Riggins and Smith told to look elsewhere, they are not up to the standard we need for kids at Miami. Great. These types of moves are boss recruiting moves. We have quietly put together what I think is a class of solid contributors and a couple potential stars like Chaney. What we need to return to dominance is depth and a full balanced roster that will allow us to start playing in Charlotte annually. When that happens we will start landing some of the South Florida elite talent. I do need to see Manny close strong with another 5-7 solid signees hopefully a couple of them on the OL.
I could go on and break down individual coaches and units like Gary did on his show, but the bottom line is that the story has not yet been written on the first year of Manny Diaz. It started slow and has improved but could still take a turn for the better or the worse. I think we should hold off on indicting his coaching career until we see the signing class, the bowl performance, and the handling of the coaching staff (fires/hires) in the offseason.
