The University of Miami had a miserable offensive structure last season. Quarterback Brad Kaaya has deficiencies of his own, but the offense would have set up any quarterback to perform poorly. It was not a talent issue, either. Philip Dorsett, Clive Walford and Duke Johnson all left for the NFL after the 2014 season, but returning players like Stacey Coley, Braxton Berrios, David Njoku and Joseph Yearby still made for a great group of young skill position talent. The design of the passing offense and the play calling that attempted to bring it to life were the real culprits.
Miami’s Offense Under James Coley
The offense had a number of issues, one of them being its predictability. Miami passed the ball almost exclusively out of the shotgun. More specifically, then offensive coordinator James Coley turned to the trips formation at an alarming rate. Miami did not have a good mix of route combinations, either. On the trips side, many of the different route combinations were slight variations of each other. None of the tweaks were that difficult for defenses to adjust to.
Defenses caught on quickly to what Miami was doing. They were running the same handful of route combos out of the same general formation. Safeties stopped allowing the shorter routes to distract them from the deep route. Defenses got better at playing the bland short routes Miami was running. Even in the red zone, where it’s much easier to work from a compact formation than it is a spread out formation, Miami lined up in a four receiver set with trips to one side. They ran the same overplayed route combos and, of course, failed to convert well in the red zone. According to CFB Stats, Miami ranked 111th in the nation in converting red zone opportunities into touchdowns.
Moving Forward With Mark Richt
Some teams can get away with simplicity. Mark Richt, for example, has always been simple in his approach, but he preaches precision. He builds his offenses on timing and doing things exactly as they need to be done. There is a certain way to do things and Richt won’t accept anything less. Under Coley, the offense lacked that fire and coordination. There was a sense of “going through the motions” and defenses were able to feast on that weak attitude.
Richt was hired by the Hurricanes to provide stability and rekindle the offense. Richt is already recruiting well and bringing in other quality staffers. He still has to get through the 2016 season with what Miami already has on the roster, though. Lucky for him, Kaaya is a perfect fit for Richt’s offense. Kaaya has a good, not great, arm and the ability to process the field well. In regards to his knowledge of the game and the new offensive system, Kaaya has already gotten praise from Richt. Kaaya is taking on a lot more responsibility than he had under his previous offensive coordinator. To his credit, Kaaya is a confident passer, albeit one that would rather work the short-to-intermediate areas of the field. That is not to say he can’t throw down the field, though. Kaaya is more than serviceable when throwing deep. He has enough touch and accuracy to make any throw on the field, but Miami’s previous offenses made it tough for him to have faith in the structure of the system.
Richt has a history of getting quarterbacks to be confident in the structure of the offense and make throws without questioning their own process. Richt creates space for receivers and does a lot to open up windows for the quarterback. While at Georgia, Richt’s two most notable passers, Matthew Stafford and Aaron Murray, had vastly different skill sets, but he got both of them to believe in the play calls and fire away with confidence. Assuming Richt can do the same with Kaaya, the offense will show major improvement.
Richt is an old school type of football mind. He understands that there is value in cooking up the perfect play, but the best play is always the best executed play. He believes in taking simple concepts and perfecting them. When Murray was Georgia’s quarterback, those offenses ran a lot of quick slants, curl-flat combos and intermediate-deep play action calls. The calls were nothing fancy. Defenses were seeing that kind of stuff week in and week out. The keys were that the receivers were running crisp routes, the offensive line was keeping Murray upright, and Murray was throwing confidently and accurately. The passing game was all about mastery of execution, not the art of illusion.
The biggest factor for Richt and Kaaya’s passing offense in Miami will be how the run game fares. Richt, who was at Georgia for over a decade, is used to having elite, SEC-level running back talent. He is also accustomed to a brutalizing offensive line. Miami does not quite have either of those things. The offensive line struggled last season against top competition and failed to open up quality rushing lanes. The pair of running backs, Walton and Yearby, were young, inexperienced runners and that lead to a lack of dynamism in the running game. Miami’s backfield duo is talented, but they were trying to craft their playing style in an offense that needed them to be major producers. To no surprise, they had one of the most inefficient rushing campaigns in the FBS. It was an ugly journey on the ground for the Hurricanes.
Richt has had a history of using the run game to set up his passing attack. At Miami, he may need to flip his approach. Kaaya is more than capable of executing the offense with great efficiency. The running backs and offensive line, on the other hand, will need defensive fronts softened up for them a bit. Kaaya will need to be a bit more aggressive down the field on a regular basis, but he proved that he could do that versus Florida State last season. Richt will get the receivers to turn it up a notch and clean up their route running, giving Kaaya all the means to be efficient in his passing and help out his running backs.
Kaaya does have some work to do in his own right, though. His pocket movement is abysmal. More often than not, he gets to the top of his drop and stands pat while he scans the field. He deserves some credit for sticking in the pocket, but he tends to take far too long to sense pressure and properly navigate around it. Murray had similar issues early on in his career, too. With Richt’s experience coaching Murray for so long, he may be the coach Kaaya needs to improve his ability to maneuver in the pocket.
The young signal caller could also help himself by not clinging on to his pre-snap reads. He is a brilliant quarterback and pre-snap reads are a key component to Richt’s — or anyone’s — offense, but he’s missed a number of throws and opportunities in the past with his tunnel vision. At Georgia, Richt got Murray to progressively become more free and creative in his approach. He may be able to instill some of those traits in Kaaya.
Miami landed the best head coach possible for them. The fit is great not only for the current state of the team, but for the team’s future and Brad Kaaya’s development as a future NFL quarterback prospect. The offensive system fits Kaaya’s style to a tee and Richt will get the rest of the offense performing better than they did last season. Kaaya has an opportunity to have a great year and look like the savior for the Hurricanes. Only time will tell how Richt and Kaaya will perform together, but all signs point to a quality offense down in Miami.
Miami’s Offense Under James Coley
The offense had a number of issues, one of them being its predictability. Miami passed the ball almost exclusively out of the shotgun. More specifically, then offensive coordinator James Coley turned to the trips formation at an alarming rate. Miami did not have a good mix of route combinations, either. On the trips side, many of the different route combinations were slight variations of each other. None of the tweaks were that difficult for defenses to adjust to.
Defenses caught on quickly to what Miami was doing. They were running the same handful of route combos out of the same general formation. Safeties stopped allowing the shorter routes to distract them from the deep route. Defenses got better at playing the bland short routes Miami was running. Even in the red zone, where it’s much easier to work from a compact formation than it is a spread out formation, Miami lined up in a four receiver set with trips to one side. They ran the same overplayed route combos and, of course, failed to convert well in the red zone. According to CFB Stats, Miami ranked 111th in the nation in converting red zone opportunities into touchdowns.
Moving Forward With Mark Richt
Some teams can get away with simplicity. Mark Richt, for example, has always been simple in his approach, but he preaches precision. He builds his offenses on timing and doing things exactly as they need to be done. There is a certain way to do things and Richt won’t accept anything less. Under Coley, the offense lacked that fire and coordination. There was a sense of “going through the motions” and defenses were able to feast on that weak attitude.
Richt was hired by the Hurricanes to provide stability and rekindle the offense. Richt is already recruiting well and bringing in other quality staffers. He still has to get through the 2016 season with what Miami already has on the roster, though. Lucky for him, Kaaya is a perfect fit for Richt’s offense. Kaaya has a good, not great, arm and the ability to process the field well. In regards to his knowledge of the game and the new offensive system, Kaaya has already gotten praise from Richt. Kaaya is taking on a lot more responsibility than he had under his previous offensive coordinator. To his credit, Kaaya is a confident passer, albeit one that would rather work the short-to-intermediate areas of the field. That is not to say he can’t throw down the field, though. Kaaya is more than serviceable when throwing deep. He has enough touch and accuracy to make any throw on the field, but Miami’s previous offenses made it tough for him to have faith in the structure of the system.
Richt has a history of getting quarterbacks to be confident in the structure of the offense and make throws without questioning their own process. Richt creates space for receivers and does a lot to open up windows for the quarterback. While at Georgia, Richt’s two most notable passers, Matthew Stafford and Aaron Murray, had vastly different skill sets, but he got both of them to believe in the play calls and fire away with confidence. Assuming Richt can do the same with Kaaya, the offense will show major improvement.
Richt is an old school type of football mind. He understands that there is value in cooking up the perfect play, but the best play is always the best executed play. He believes in taking simple concepts and perfecting them. When Murray was Georgia’s quarterback, those offenses ran a lot of quick slants, curl-flat combos and intermediate-deep play action calls. The calls were nothing fancy. Defenses were seeing that kind of stuff week in and week out. The keys were that the receivers were running crisp routes, the offensive line was keeping Murray upright, and Murray was throwing confidently and accurately. The passing game was all about mastery of execution, not the art of illusion.
The biggest factor for Richt and Kaaya’s passing offense in Miami will be how the run game fares. Richt, who was at Georgia for over a decade, is used to having elite, SEC-level running back talent. He is also accustomed to a brutalizing offensive line. Miami does not quite have either of those things. The offensive line struggled last season against top competition and failed to open up quality rushing lanes. The pair of running backs, Walton and Yearby, were young, inexperienced runners and that lead to a lack of dynamism in the running game. Miami’s backfield duo is talented, but they were trying to craft their playing style in an offense that needed them to be major producers. To no surprise, they had one of the most inefficient rushing campaigns in the FBS. It was an ugly journey on the ground for the Hurricanes.
Richt has had a history of using the run game to set up his passing attack. At Miami, he may need to flip his approach. Kaaya is more than capable of executing the offense with great efficiency. The running backs and offensive line, on the other hand, will need defensive fronts softened up for them a bit. Kaaya will need to be a bit more aggressive down the field on a regular basis, but he proved that he could do that versus Florida State last season. Richt will get the receivers to turn it up a notch and clean up their route running, giving Kaaya all the means to be efficient in his passing and help out his running backs.
Kaaya does have some work to do in his own right, though. His pocket movement is abysmal. More often than not, he gets to the top of his drop and stands pat while he scans the field. He deserves some credit for sticking in the pocket, but he tends to take far too long to sense pressure and properly navigate around it. Murray had similar issues early on in his career, too. With Richt’s experience coaching Murray for so long, he may be the coach Kaaya needs to improve his ability to maneuver in the pocket.
The young signal caller could also help himself by not clinging on to his pre-snap reads. He is a brilliant quarterback and pre-snap reads are a key component to Richt’s — or anyone’s — offense, but he’s missed a number of throws and opportunities in the past with his tunnel vision. At Georgia, Richt got Murray to progressively become more free and creative in his approach. He may be able to instill some of those traits in Kaaya.
Miami landed the best head coach possible for them. The fit is great not only for the current state of the team, but for the team’s future and Brad Kaaya’s development as a future NFL quarterback prospect. The offensive system fits Kaaya’s style to a tee and Richt will get the rest of the offense performing better than they did last season. Kaaya has an opportunity to have a great year and look like the savior for the Hurricanes. Only time will tell how Richt and Kaaya will perform together, but all signs point to a quality offense down in Miami.
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