By David Villavicencio
HurricaneSports.com
 
MIAMI – Saturday was the most important day of fall camp, as the Miami Hurricanes held the second scrimmage in preparation for the fast-approaching 2019 season.
 
The Canes’ second scrimmage took place exactly two weeks prior to the season opener against Florida. Head coach Manny Diaz wants to see his team raise its level of competition ahead of the big rivalry game on Aug .24.
 
“It’s simple – it’s competitive fight,” Diaz said. “That’s the whole deal. It’s going to be a highly emotional night. Both teams will be supremely motivated to play against each other. Who can keep their competitive will through adversity? Because it’s going to be a night with all kinds of adversity, for both sides. And that’s why it’s about finding the right mix of guys that don’t blink in that setting. That’s what we have to go back and study this film and find out who are the guys that will fight their way off the ropes. I think both teams are going to land some blows. When you get put on the ropes, you have to fight your way out of it.”
 
The Canes showed fight on Saturday night, but Diaz wanted to see a complete game from both sides of the ball for all four quarters.
 
“It was uneven, to be honest,” Diaz said. “The first half, it was a massive butt-whooping. The defense just got after the offense. Very disappointing in the way that you started to see the ‘far away’ look in some guys on the offense, things we’re trying to eradicate from our program. We had a feeling the disease wasn’t fully cured. That being said, second half, the offense rallied. Where in the past, when things have not gone well, there would sort of be a tanking for the game. I saw a couple productive touchdown drives in the second half and guys showing some competitive fight and spirit, which is really what this camp and this offseason has all been about. That’ll be encouraging.”
 
Miami’s defense showed why it is one of the top units in all of college football. Sophomore Gurvan Hall was excellent again, recording an interception and tallying four tackles. Robert Knowles was the leading tackler for the second consecutive week, making eight stops, and Greg Rousseau had his best performance of camp with four tackles for loss and a pair of sacks.
 
“Gurvan now has three [interceptions] in two weeks in scrimmage situations, which is great for him,” Diaz said. “Greg Rousseau, I thought, showed up tonight, which we’ve been waiting for in camp. I think he’s feeling a little better about his body. That was encouraging. Of course, [Michael] Pinckney and [Shaquille] Quarterman and those guys, I think Trevon Hill had a multiple-sack night. You’re starting to see some of the progress from those guys. The consistency on the back end. Two scrimmage situations, from a tackling standpoint, pretty good. Not giving up the explosive plays on just shoddy tackling down the field, which has been a hallmark of our defense. The disruption up front and the lack of giving up big plays has always been a big part of our formula.”
 
The Hurricanes struggled offensively in the opening half, as the quarterbacks were held in check by Miami’s suffocating defense. But the second half had a lot more highlights by the offense.
 
“I look forward to watching the film,” Diaz said. “Obviously, in the first half, nobody played well on offense. It was hard for those guys to function, and part of that was their doing as well. But again, I saw some guys lead some good touchdown drives in the second half. I think Jarren [Williams] hit one to Will Mallory, I know we had one to K.J. Osborn at the end. I still like the running of DeeJay Dallas. I think he has been consistent throughout camp. That has been encouraging.”
 
Diaz was hoping to see more from his team in terms of complete play, but he was happy to see how players responded to adversity on Saturday night.
 
“The self-inflicted wounds in the first half, not to mention, sometimes you just take a beating – will be disappointing,” Diaz said. “It’s a good reality check. Conversely, defensively, to play as well as they played in the first half, and to sort of lose their edge in the second half, was disappointing. It’s like what we figured. We have not solved all of our issues. We are solving them. But to think we just snap our fingers and have it all fixed would be fooling ourselves.”