CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Hurricanes were back on the Greentree Practice Fields on Thursday as spring practice continued at Miami.

After the workout, offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson and defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman shared their thoughts on the day’s session and more.

Here’s some of what they had to say, in their own words…

Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson

On quarterback Darian Mensah:

“He’s got an understanding of the game. He really does. He’s played a fair amount of football. Obviously, his demeanor [is] very even keel, which is important, especially at that position because there’s going to be bad things happen. It’s not even your fault. It happened today. I mean, we had some bad stuff happen and I have to watch the tape to see where the fault lies, but sometimes it’s not your fault. … The number one character trait of really good quarterbacks, being able to move on, and he has that demeanor where nothing really affects him too much. And I think that’s important. You look for that in a quarterback. You try to find that character trait. I mean, the ability to throw the ball, that matters. The ability to do all the other stuff matters, [being able to] make the 10 people around you better matters. But the ability to overcome negative things matters probably the most.

“There’s a lot of people out there that can throw the ball in shorts. Does that make sense? You go watch these guys and a lot of people can throw the ball in shorts, but when you put 11-on-11 out there, and you start factoring in [being] backed up on the 1-yard line in College Station, [Texas], and having a pick-six, what’s the next rep going to look like when 100,000 people are booing you? Your own fans are booing you? Everybody hates you. Can you go out there with a clear mind and execute football? That’s the hardest thing.”

On the running back room:

“I mean, the running back room is obviously a huge strength, and we are stacked in that room. I mean, we’re comfortable. We’re going to be comfortable with the fourth or fifth guy probably playing in that room, which is a great thing. I’ve said this a lot – that position takes the most abuse on offense. If you look at what their job description is, it’s detailed. They run the ball in a way where they get hit from a lot of different angles. They have to pick up people that blitz, that are blitzing full speed. So, the contact those guys have on a day-to-day basis is the most on offense. … Running backs are off the ball. There’s a lot of space and they get hit in a different way and sometimes they don’t see it. So, we like to share the abuse, as I call it, at that position. It’s going to have that position to be deep and it’s great to have a guy like Mark [Fletcher Jr.], who’s probably the best leader, or at least one of the best leaders I’ve ever been around, to lead that room.”

On the offensive line:

“We are replacing some talented guys in that room. But I will say, the people we’re lining up with are very talented, too. [Offensive line coach Alex] Mirabal and the offensive line staff have done a great job of making sure that room [is] really talented. I’m excited about the young guys that are playing for us up front and … non-padded practices are very hard to evaluate up front at times because you need pads on. But from what I’ve seen so far, we’re going to have some guys that probably you guys haven’t talked about a lot that are going to shine up there. And so, we’re excited about the new blood up front and that’s why spring [is] so important. You’ve got guys that replace guys that have played a lot of snaps, and so this is their time to compete and we’re going to move people around and see where they fit the best. So, let’s see. I’m excited about that group.”

On the versatility in the wide receiver room:

“There’s a lot of different body types. You look at it; we have the 6-5 guys that can stretch the field … and we have the ones that are 6-0 or 6-1, that are twitchy. … We have the guys that are range-y in their body frames, and we have the guys that can get released and [are] twitchy. So, yeah, we do have a lot of good, different-looking guys that [can] go out there.”

On the development of Miami’s younger quarterbacks:

“Luke [Nickel] and Judd [Anderson] have been here, and so you can see that their understanding of the offense is pretty high. The ball goes to the right place. They don’t have any issues in communication. [Dereon Coleman] just got here and he’s probably more advanced than I would’ve thought he would be in the sense of grasping everything. … With a true freshman, a kid coming from high school, you never know where they’re going to land and where they’re going to be. So, I’ve been very pleased with him so far in two practices.

“But those guys, I mean, the second and third groups, I just kind of roll those guys out there and kind of mix it up and ultimately, the competition will be what it is. I mean, it’s easy at quarterback to evaluate because either the ball’s moving or it isn’t. You’re either punting or you’re scoring. … But I’ve been very pleased with all those guys, and their attitudes are off the chart. It’s a good room. As far as comradery, I try to keep that number one in the room. You’ve got to compete. You’ve got to do all the other stuff, but you’ve also got to support the guy that’s out there. If you’re sitting on the sideline, you’ve got to be the number one cheerleader for the guy out there, which I think is very important for that room.”

Defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman

On whether this spring feels easier than last because the Hurricanes already have knowledge of his system and have played in it:

“I think the details and the foundation and how we compete and how we go about just the technique and fundamentals [are similar] … but really, it’s a clean start. It’s a start-from-the-beginning beginner’s mentality to start practice. … The older guys, they’ll take the notes and they’ll go through the things that maybe they missed last time, or they can understand a little bit better this time and then we’re tweaking things. We’re not going to be the same team as we were last year. We had to learn things that maybe we weren’t as good at, weren’t as successful at last year. We had to clean that up, and [we’ve] got to find some better answers; and then things we were good at, it’s going to be different players, so now [we’ve] got to find out exactly what our identity is as we attack offenses and how we play. So, it’s beginner’s mentality for everyone, including the coaches and we’ve got to make sure we’re treating it that way right from day one.”

On transfer defensive lineman Damon Wilson II:

“We showed a clip yesterday in one of the meetings of how hard he practices. It doesn’t matter, ones, twos, threes, [or] his first rep in this uniform, he goes extremely hard and when you look at the guys last year, when you look at [Rueben Bain Jr.], [Akheem Mesidor], [Keionte Scott], and [David] Blay and Wes [Bissainthe], Jakobe [Thomas], that’s what those guys were every day. They got better on the field because of how hard they practiced, how hard they competed, and that’s one thing he brings to the program right now. And I think the competition in that room, it’s going to make everyone in that room better because of how hard he practices, how hard he runs to the ball, and it doesn’t matter what group he’s running with … it’s just every day, trying to compete and get better at his techniques, at his fundamentals. Some of the things we teach are a little bit different, so some of the things right now, he’s going through that process of trying to learn it, trying to learn the technique, trying to learn the hand placement, the footwork, trying to get an understanding of scheme going on around him and the other thing is he’s a smart football player. You can tell he’s been well coached up, and he understands what’s going on. So, it’s allowed him to adapt a little bit faster.”

On cornerback OJ Frederique Jr.:

“He’s another year older and had a really good freshman year; had a couple injuries, continued to learn, continued to grow, competed. Some of the reps he played last year, especially in the postseason, that’s as high of a level of football, shutting down some of those wide receivers he got to shut down … We’re putting him on an island, playing one-on-one. … He’ll continue to get better at all those situations. Now, another year in the weight room, another year with our strength coaches, another year with our nutritionists, sports science and then just now, developing more into a leadership role. Some of those older guys aren’t there in the secondary. [Zechariah Poyser’s] back. [Bryce Fitzgerald] is still growing into that role. We’ve got other guys competing to step up in those situations. We need those guys to step up, and I think that’s a role that he’s starting to grow. He’s starting to learn and he’s starting to embrace and we’re excited to see where that goes.”

On the importance of energy:

“For us, the biggest thing is the energy, the excitement. And we want our guys to love coming into the building. We want our guys to love being here. It doesn’t matter. We always say, ‘you’re never too high, you’re never too low.’ We’re always the same. We’re always getting better. And whether we’re coming off a loss, we’re coming off a bad practice, we’re coming off a win, it doesn’t matter. We’re always the same. And the energy that we create in the building, the energy that we create as players, as a coaching staff, as a program, that pulls everyone up and that’s what we’re going to do on defense. We’re going to fly around. We’re going to run around.

“Some days are harder than others. I’ve got an almost 2-year-old. There’s nights she doesn’t sleep and it’s like, ‘All right, let’s go. We’ve got to go get this thing.’ The staff pulls me up and that’s the environment we’ve created from [head coach Mario] Cristobal throughout the entire program and I love it. My favorite thing is coming in the building. I love being here. I love it when our guys compete. I love watching our guys go out and get better every single day. And that’s the environment we want to create for our defense and for the whole team, the excitement of guys flying around and then guys celebrating together and enjoying playing together as a team.”