Miami's strengths and concerns against Texas A&M
What are the Miami Hurricanes biggest strengths and concerns heading into their Saturday matchup against Texas A&M?
Transcript
00:00 We got a good one from Steve who says, hey, on a position by position basis, how does
00:05 Miami match up with A&M?
00:07 What are Miami's weaknesses and strengths?
00:10 Okay, Steve, I believe the toughest matchup will be Texas A&M's receivers in passing game
00:17 against Miami's defensive backs.
00:19 They have super talented receivers.
00:21 They've got a trio of them.
00:23 Evan Stewart, who was suspended against Miami last year.
00:26 Noah Thomas, we didn't see him last year either.
00:29 And Aniah Smith, who was their top receiver against Miami.
00:32 Noah Thomas especially is going to be a really tough cover.
00:36 He's six foot six.
00:37 So for a matchup like that, I think Miami could use a lot of the longer cover corners
00:43 like Devante Brown, Jadaeus Richard, or even Damari Brown to try and match up with Evan
00:48 Stewart's length.
00:49 And he had a superb, Noah Thomas's length, I should say.
00:53 Noah Thomas and Evan Stewart both had excellent games against New Mexico last week.
00:57 So that's the first thing that I look at is, you know, assuming Connor Wegman is going
01:03 to have some time sometimes to throw the football, you'd like to pressure their quarterback nonstop,
01:08 but you know, he's going to have some time, I'm sure, to throw the football.
01:12 Matching up with Texas A&M's wide receivers is what concerns me most.
01:16 And a key matchup, guys, going up against that very, very deep, explosive defensive
01:21 line that the Aggies bring to the table, Miami's offensive line in pass protection, Miami's
01:27 O-line in pass pro, where for whatever reason, they didn't grade as well in pass protection
01:32 as they did in run blocking last week against the other Miami.
01:35 That's going to be a key matchup because A&M is very deep.
01:38 Watch out for Shamar Turner, especially as someone who could really hurt the Hurricanes.
01:43 Now, sticking with Miami's offensive line, which is obviously not a team weakness, they
01:47 just have a really tough matchup in pass protection.
01:50 I do think the Hurricanes offensive line can have some success getting some push and running
01:56 the football.
01:57 New Mexico did some work running into the teeth of the Texas A&M defense.
02:02 They're not as good at run stopping as they are when it comes to rushing the passer.
02:06 And we all know Miami has a really strong interior offensive line.
02:10 You saw how much success, especially up that left side, you had running behind Matt Lee,
02:16 the center, who had a fantastic Hurricanes debut.
02:18 J'Vion Cohen and Jalen Rivers did a really nice job.
02:22 And Inez Cooper on the right side, he's gotten so quick now pulling, oh my goodness.
02:27 And CeCe Maui-Noah had a really nice debut.
02:30 So run blocking especially, I think Miami can have some success getting push, being
02:35 physical.
02:36 And a big advantage that Miami has, being able to rotate fresh legs at running back
02:41 because you essentially have four starting caliber backs that you can rotate evenly like
02:47 you did last week in Henry Parrish, A.J. Allen, Mark Fletcher, Don Chaney.
02:53 Having running backs of that caliber is a big advantage against any defense you face
02:57 this year.
02:58 And I do think this is the type of game where Parrish will probably play a little bit more
03:02 because just based on his experience, he's probably the guy that they trust most picking
03:06 up blitzes and pass protection.
03:08 So I do want to see how that plays out.
03:10 But when it comes to running the football, you pick your poison.
03:13 Chaney's on the field.
03:14 He can score.
03:15 Parrish, Fletcher, Allen, these guys can all get big gains and score touchdowns.
03:20 So Miami is really blessed when it comes to run blocking and when it comes to running
03:24 backs.
03:25 It's been a really good area of strength so far.
03:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]