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- [00:00]
David Lake
As a man, finding a great pair
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Bud Elliott
of pants feels harder than it should.
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David Lake
Some look sharp but feel stiff. Others are comfortable but wrinkle, stain or lose their shape by noon.
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Bud Elliott
And if you're working, traveling or constantly
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David Lake
on the move, most pants just cannot keep up.
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Bud Elliott
That's where Jack Archer comes in.
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David Lake
JackArcher.com delivers one pair of pants designed for real life. Whether it's golf with the guys or date night with someone special, these pants will keep you comfortable and and looking polished wherever the day takes you. That's right, Mark.
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Bud Elliott
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David Lake
hold its shape all day. With customizable fit options and multiple colors, these are the one pair of pants you'll want to wear every day.
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Bud Elliott
Jack Archer Ready when you are.
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David Lake
For a limited time, get 15% off your first order with code getjack@jackarcher.com Again, that's promo code getjackarcher.com for 15% off. You can this episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [01:22]
Bud Elliott
Indiana can sort of cement itself as we are no longer this team that's going to be fighting for six wins anymore.
- [01:28]
David Lake
Malachi, Tony, is he going to be ready?
- [01:30]
Bud Elliott
Dante Moore, he showed improvement, better command. What's going on, y'? All? Bud Elliott here of the COVID 3 college football podcast. And this is Summer school. School is in session today. Miami. David Lake, Inside the U always joins us. A great, great job covering Miami and always awesome insights coming off a fantastic season. National championship game just, I mean, 1313 wins that like kind of Mario Cristobal's vision kind of coming to life. You know, the like team got so much better over the course of the year. I assume the vibes are just immaculate down there right now.
- [02:08]
David Lake
But it's crazy. Like I've never seen Miami operate at this type of level and it's crazy to think about like, okay, you know, college football in a lot of ways, trajectory and success, like it can be on a razor's edge, right? It can go one way or the other way very quickly based on stuff that can kind of Be out of your own control and like, it's crazy to think about, like, okay, let's say the committee in the final day didn't flip Miami and Notre Dame would. Miami. Miami would still be in an okay spot, but would it be in this type of spot where, look, they don't have the sustained success of like an Ohio State or a Georgia or an Alabama, et cetera, but like just snapshot wise, the way that they're operating here in 2026, like, they're in that ballpark of program right now in terms of like talent and depth on the field. The, the level of recruit that's rolling through all spring long and the buy in from the administration top to bottom. Like Miami as a university is all in on football. It's crazy to think about, like, would it still be like this, like, to this elite level if. If on decision day Miami and Notre Dame weren't flipped? But anyways, they're taking advantage. They got all this momentum going and Miami definitely has things rolling downhill and now the challenge is just like sustaining it and you know, of course trying to build and take that next step. They came up just short last year. We'll see if they can take that next step this year.
- [03:39]
Bud Elliott
You know, I was very like pro Miami being the pick because like, we want better games early in the year and also you want to those teams for scheduling them now. I think it's fair to say, like, we want to like, encourage the scheduling in both ways. Like, maybe you don't overly penalize a team for losing a close one, but like, head to head has to matter. Like, this is kind of, this is kind of why we play the sport, you know, so awesome, man. I, I usually open with, you know, questions about coaching staff and whatnot, but Miami locked up both their coordinators for long term deals, so that's like nothing but positive. I thought Heatherman was, was a great addition. And you know, Dawson, you know, Dawson's a guy I think a lot of teams on Miami schedule would like to see get out of there sooner rather than later, you know, for a head coach job.
- [04:22]
David Lake
So, yeah, it's great. I mean, look, when you think about it, like, I think if I have this right, Dawson's on going into year four with Mario, which look, is a rarity for Mario. Like, you know, he pushes his coordinators hard to get results. And Dawson, Dawson has gotten results like every year. He's, I think gotten the most out of whatever the offensive personnel is in a given year. And honestly too, like, it's kind of a good match. The two, the two personalities where you got Mario, who's just intense, always pushing pedal to the metal, got his thumb on everything. And then, you know, Dawson's your air raid guy, right? Who, you know, he's definitely serious about football, but he's definitely more of a laid back personality. And, and you know, it just kind of fits for some reason. And Mario does kind of leave Shannon alone because Shannon is getting results. But. But yeah, they got the coordinators locked up. We'll see. We'll see if it, if it, you know, goes beyond this year. Truthfully, I think if they both have another successful year this year, head coach opportunities are definitely going to come down the pipeline. But. But yeah, Miami definitely, on paper, they got the head coach, the coordinators, it all looks great in that regard.
- [05:37]
Bud Elliott
So we'll start here with the offense. I mean, continuity extreme on the coaching staff and you know, player to player continuity, not exactly. Obviously go to national title. You had a lot of, a lot of really good players last year. A lot of them are off to the draft, including of course, quarterback Carson back. So in comes Darian Mensah from Duke who was like probably the best statistical passer last year in the acc. We can all see the stat sheet, but we don't, we don't all get access like you do. That's why, of course, we have our great experts on here from the 247 sports network. What did you see of Mensa spring and kind of what are your takeaways there?
- [06:11]
David Lake
Yeah, it was impressive. So first thing that stands out is he gets the ball out quick, which you got to do in this air raid offense. And that's what Carson Beck was really good at last year. Right? That was, that was Beck's strength. He gets the ball out quick. He knows where to go with it relative to what the defense is showing and mentor. That's the first thing you notice about him, I would say. Probably the second thing I would notice about him was, you know, and this is kind of similar to like the Cam Ward type of quarterback play where man Mensah throws a beautiful like deep fade ball where, you know, 35 yards out and in. He knows like how to perfectly place that deep ball into, you know, the receiver, go route. And you know, he's got great chemistry with Cooper. Barkate came in with him from Duke. Josh Moore is a, is a talented receiver who took a big step. Miami's loaded at receivers, so he definitely took advantage of that. Of course, Malachi working in the slot. And then the other Thing you definitely notice about Mensa is his ability to, you know, improvise out of the pocket when he needed to. And really when he does that, he, he's, he's got good chemistry on the scramble drill with Cooper barkeep. So, you know, look, is he. And in Miami, inside the building, they'll tell you, like, yeah, he's kind of your mix of Beck and Ward, and I think that's fair. Now, he doesn't have like the straight up juice in his arm like a Cam Ward does. He's, he's not as twitchy of an arm as Cam Ward, but he can improvise and make some plays like you would see Cam Ward make. And then he does get the ball out quickly like Carson Beck. I think one thing that's different with him and Beck, though, of course, is like, Beck came in from Georgia where, like, you know, there was pressure there, there was standards there. He played at a high, high level against a high level of competition at Georgia. And so, you know, there is a little bit of a different transition going from Tulane, Duke to Miami now for Mensa in that regard, but in terms of like, style of play, I think it's a fair thing to say. Like, yeah, he kind of melds them both. You know, he's the, the strengths aren't as good as those two quarterback strengths, but, you know, in a college type of way, he does mix what they do pretty well for Miami, for sure.
- [08:31]
Bud Elliott
You mentioned pressure, obviously, I, I know from talking to somebody at Duke, this may have been written publicly too, but, like, we can obviously share this, that they loved him coming from Tulane because of what they call dpp, which was dirty pocket passing, like the ability to navigate traffic around his feet and like to operate with people around him. Which brings us to kind of tomorrow, Cristobal's baby, the offensive line, which does see, you know, some real turnover. You know, like, they were excellent last year especially, you know, down the stretch. They mauled people. They, they kept Beck pretty clean. How does this offensive line look this year?
- [09:07]
David Lake
Yeah, so it's definitely you replacing four starters and, you know, you're throwing Jackson, Cantwell, the five star true freshman. They're throwing them in the fire at left tackle and letting them figure it out. And I will say, like, you know, from the first practice, I got to watch this spring, all the way through the spring game and everything in between. Like, I think it was impressive the improvement trajectory that Jackson showed during the course of the spring. Now there's definitely some stuff he needs to clean up with pass pro technique. You know, he's coming from Nixon, Missouri, so this is a big leap in competition from that to Miami where a lot of reps. He's going against Damon Wilson, the transfer from Missouri. So. But I would say like, like, honestly, in the spring game, I thought he played really well. I thought he looked, it was the best I'd seen him play this spring. And you know, in general, I think if you like. But if I dropped you onto their practice field and you didn't know any of the names, I don't think you'd be like, oh man, that left tackle's like way out of place. I think you would, you'd say he's a pretty good player, that guy. So, you know, and look, there's going to be freshman stuff that happens during the course of the year. I know for me, like, I like the buildup of the schedule for, for Jackson in particular, like settling in. Like if it was last year's schedule where you open against Notre Dame, that's a big concern, dropping him into that type of competition. But they start with Stanford and then you kind of get to settle into the season and let him improve. He's, he's a highly intelligent guy. He's very intentional and like focused and you could, you can see how that type of personality, it leads to him just like embracing the, the development process and always improving. So I honestly feel really good about how he's going to do in general. Like, I, you know, I think he's going to be good. Center Ryan Rodriguez, six year guy, first year as a full time starter at center. Miami loves his toughness. Like he's a guy that brings toughness. I think durability is really his biggest question mark. And you know, going into that like the backup center spots, kind of like a question mark if, if they sustain some injuries there. Left guard, they had Sj Alafatuli working there. I think it's gonna be Samson Okunlola who was, you know, dealing with some, some offseason cleanup stuff just from all the mileage of the College Football playoff run. But it'll be Sampson at left guard. Former five star guy. He was a rotational guy last year. They feel good about that. Right guard Max Buchanan, redshirt freshman. They're excited about his talent. I agree. I think he did, he looked great this, this spring as well. Right tackle Matthew McCoy. So he's a guy that's been a rotational left guard the last two years. So he does have experience. He's never played at tackle yet at the college level. And I think, you know, in terms of like length and height, he looks, he has tackle length and height. I think he needs to, you know, work on his body a little bit more this off season to kind of gain a little more athleticism. Like if you remember Jalen Rivers. Yeah, what two or three years ago, Jacksonville kid.
- [12:17]
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
- [12:18]
David Lake
They had him at left tackle. He had been mainly playing guard. He changed his body some in an off season, was serve. He was solid at left tackle, got drafted in the NFL. He's more of an interior guy in the NFL. That might be kind of what Matthew McCoy is at right tackle. He kind of frankly like had an up and down performance in the spring game. But in general I think they feel like he's going to be a solid right tackle. And then you know, backup wise. Jaden Wilkerson, big body type, second year guy. Ben Congdon, massive body type, interior offensive lineman as a true freshman. So they feel solid about. And then SJ will probably be a second team or two and. But the question is kind of more center, who's gonna be that guy if they have to go to their depth at center in general? Like my take on it, and maybe this is arrogance, I don't know. Like, I think, you know, the offensive line of course is going to take a step back. I think year over year. Personally, I still think it's going to be the best offensive line in the acc. Now how high is that standard? I don't know, but I. Right. So I think it's still going to be the best in the conference and I think they're going to be fine, especially when they play their ACC schedule.
- [13:34]
Bud Elliott
That makes sense. So obviously assuming that they can get the pass protection stuff down, you, you kind of teased it with the receiving core. I mean this is, this is a scary good group of receivers. I think like Josh Moore last year going from like where he was in high school to like, I mean he was on the field on some critical moments for, for them down the stretch and, and kept improving. I thought like, you know, for him being such a high upside guy, like that was impressive. We know all about, you know, Malachi, Tony. It, it like Tony caught what, 90 plus balls last year? It felt like a ton.
- [14:06]
David Lake
Yep. He set Miami single season record. Yeah, exactly.
- [14:10]
Bud Elliott
Like is it, is it those three basically like with, with Barcade as well, is there.
- [14:16]
David Lake
Those are the three that are cemented in. I, you know, Josh Moore unfortunately early in the spring game had a like soft tissue lower extremity injury. So they shut him down so fans didn't really get to see him, but that did up open up opportunities for like again. Dalen Upshaw is a second year guy that they're really excited about. Andrevius Jacobs South Carolina TRANSFER he's got a lot of juice, a lot of speed. He's a guy that, you know when they would get him the ball in space this spring, he definitely made stuff happen. So he kind of brings a different element to the receiving core compared to the other guys. Cam Vaughn is an interesting one because like he's a West Virginia transfer, had 500 or so yards at West Virginia. He's pretty talented too. Like he flashes a lot in practice and flashed in the spring game as like a body control, contested catch guy. I just don't know how much he's really going to play and like he's a guy that would have started for Miami two or three years ago, so. And then like Samorian Wingo, who you know, towards the end of spring, like a little wrist deal shut him down. But like before that he was making a ton of plays. He's a true freshman. Early enrollee, true freshman. And he's very exciting for the future. He might even work his way into the playing rotation because he's got the right mental makeup. And then Milan Paris is a 6 foot 6. He flashed a lot at the spring game too. So they're deep. You know, all these guys aren't of course going to play. You're going to tighten up the rotation. But like their top five, honestly their top six is, is pretty loaded. If you're four, five and six, you're probably good enough to start for the majority of these ACC teams. But that top three, it's, it's ridiculous with Malachi, like he's just, just watching him and he's, he's always open. He's just always open. And Mensa was finding him all the time. Barcade, you know, just steady Eddie. And then Josh Moore is your 6, 4, 2, 19 receiver that moves like he's 6 foot. So he's, he's a guy that's still emerging, but it's there. Like you see like he's gonna be a stud. So they're loaded at receiver this year. They're also loaded at running back. They're kind of loaded all over at skill.
- [16:37]
Bud Elliott
Yeah, I mean like you, you mentioned running back. Obviously Fletcher, I think like everybody watching this, you know, saw him all throughout the playoffs and he's, he's, he's awesome. Is there anybody else? Like, is there? Obviously he's your one. Is there a two who would emerge that you're like, all right, like we can keep Fletcher's legs a little bit fresher somewhere, you know, in that game at Clemson.
- [16:56]
David Lake
Right.
- [16:56]
Bud Elliott
Like if we have to give Fletcher 30 carries, you know, or something like that. Right. Maybe pass pros, you know, faltering on the road, like rapidly on the run game more. Is there somebody else who can kind of keep him fresh in other games? Right. Like, who they can really depend on?
- [17:08]
David Lake
They have options. I just, I can't pinpoint who it's going to be. So Marty Brown was kind of their RB2 lash. He's more like your dependable. Like he's not an NFL draft pick probably, but they love him because he's a dependable four or five yards. He's good in pass pro. He's good as a pass catcher too. And so he was your RB2 last year. They limited him this, this spring because of mileage from the CFP run. Right. But he's an option. Jordan Lyle is a guy who was RB1 last year. Game 1 against Notre Dame sustained some injuries in that game and that kind of derailed his season. But he was basically RB1 this spring because they were limiting Fletcher, Marty Brown and Gerard Pringle. And so Lyle looked great. He looked great all spring long. Playmaker. He's fast, he's twitchy, he's 210 pounds. Like, he's definitely like, like, if we're just talking like, who's the most intriguing physical talent at running back that Miami has, it's Jordan Lyle. Now, Mark Fletcher is RB1, but Jordan Lyle is very impressive physically, and he showed some signs of taking that step forward this year. We'll see how it translates. And then Gerard Pringle is kind of like your, your 190 pound back who just has a lot of acceleration, a lot of suddenness. He ran for 100 yards a bunch of times a couple games last year and flashed that ability too. So they have him. And then Javion Mallory was a freshman who honestly really impressed during the course of the spring as well. So they're loaded at running back. Who is RB2 gonna be the guy
- [18:47]
Bud Elliott
they stole from Rutgers down the stretch?
- [18:49]
David Lake
No, no, he. He was a guy that committed to them a long time.
- [18:53]
Bud Elliott
And who was the Rutgers kid? They took that down the stretch. He was committed to Rutgers and they flipped him, but never mind. That's probably two in the weeds for, for a national show, but I, I like that guy too. I, I thought that was a Good get for them. Late now. I just can't remember his name. And I've derailed you.
- [19:09]
David Lake
Sorry. All good? Yeah. No, they're loaded. They're loaded at running back. I can't like, I can't pinpoint who RB2 is going to be, honestly. Like, in my opinion, it'll probably still be Marty, but certainly the talent of Gerard Pringle and Jordan Lyle are intriguing.
- [19:29]
Bud Elliott
Nice. All right, we'll take our first break here and then we come back. Hit defense, hit schedule. And just keep getting awesome information here on Miami Hurricanes from David.
- [19:39]
David Lake
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Bud Elliott
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David Lake
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Bud Elliott
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David Lake
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- [21:05]
Bud Elliott
All right, guys, welcome back into summer school here on the Coventry Podcast that is inside the use David Lake, who joins us annually to preview an absolute loaded Miami Hurricanes team. Maybe a little more uncertainty on defense than on offense just given what they have coming back there at, you know, QB receiver and running back. We'll start up front. So major improvements for this defense last year. Heatherman coming in. What was a, you know, just an awesome hire by Mario and, and I think like defense played with just great energy and and also attention and detail up front though, you do lose Ribbon Bain and Akeem Mezador, who you know is going to get drafted highly and was like literally a man amongst boys last year. Yeah, you know, how do they go about, like, I guess ensuring the drop off is not extreme when it comes to the pass rush for those guys?
- [21:51]
David Lake
I think that's fair. And look where I'm at. Like, I don't know if I'll ever cover another Miami team that has that level of defensive end play from two defensive ends. So, you know, in terms of like my personal expectations, like it's going to be a drop off. Now, how much of a drop off is it going to be? To me, like, the thing I'm more interested in is, is what type of drop off is it from a run defense standpoint? Because those guys, yes, they were excellent pass rushers, no doubt, but man, both those guys were also elite at setting the edge, forcing everything inside for the tackles or linebackers to clean up in the run game. And Miami's run defense was elite because of that. So when you look at like the personnel of what they're bringing in or working with this year, it's Damon Wilson, Missouri transfer Marquis Lightfoot guy who's gonna, you know, he was a rotational guy last year that flashed a lot, but now he's a, in a bigger role. Armando Blunt, same as Marquis Lightfoot, bigger role, five star recruit type of guy. Like, to me the question is like, okay, I think we know like Damon Wilson and Marquis Lightfoot and even Armando Blunt, like Armando, you move them up and down the the line, but those guys can rush the passer. But like, what's it look like when it's when you got a stop the run and execute that phase? To me that's, that's a question that I think this defensive end group in particular needs to answer. One thing too, I think they're excited about and frankly, I think there's a chance year over year that it improves is the interior. So Justin Scott, D tackle, he came on like as the season went on. He's a former five star guy. He's now in his third year at the college level. He really flashes during spring, like cat quick type of stuff. Elite knockback at times. And he's just showing signs of like doing it more consistently rather than flashing. So I think they're excited. I think they feel like he could be, I don't know, top 10 defensive tackle in the country, if not better. So if he takes that step, that's going to Be huge. And then they bring back Ahmad Moten, who another guy that was. That keeps improving trajectory wise. I think, you know, he explored the NFL draft. I think he was getting like third round grades, decided to come back and you know, we'll see if he can improve on those grades. But I feel like they think those D tackles can be a little better, more impactful. The defensive ends, I think they feel like will be okay as pass rushers. They're going to, they're going to grind those guys to, to make sure they embrace the edge setting stuff. And look, I think too, there's a factor too, but I don't know if you agree with this, but like a complementary football factor of like, look, last year's team, not the highest scoring, most explosive offense, right? And so that defense really just had to play like they did this year's team. Just like if you're looking at it on paper, this year's team's going to score points. They're going to put a lot of pressure on opposing teams to have to keep up and score points. I think this and, and as the off the Miami offense piles on more points and you know, those margins widened during the course of the game, that's going to allow this defense to just be in pass rushing situations, which is going to play to the strength of their personnel. But to answer your question, like, look, it's not going to be as good as it was last year. Last year, frankly, like, we don't see that in college football in general. Just like, like, honestly. But there was like some of those college football playoff games, like Bane and Mezador were just taking over games, like taking them over. That's why they went on that run. And so I'm not expecting anywhere close to that, but it's still going to be a pretty good, a pretty good pass rushing group.
- [25:51]
Bud Elliott
I mean like it, if you put Justin Scott or Notre Dame, like that kind of changes your opinion like that that's one of the teams they beat out for the Chicago kid. You know, like they have real guys that they've won for, you know, in recruiting who. I think that's what makes this Miami team so fascinating. It's like, all right, like there's guys we know were studs in high school. They're still in the program. They've obviously been retained. You know, that's, that's like, I think a positive sign. You can read into. Just got to see it, you know, see it more on the field. Another guy we saw in the field quite a bit was Keonte Scott, who was like all over the place in the stud for them, he also ran four through three at pro, so good on him, man. That's a, that's a money making time for sure. They bring in Thornton, right. And Hussey through the transfer portal. How's the secondary looking this year?
- [26:36]
David Lake
Yeah, so I think for me, the biggest question going into spring was like, who's going to be the nickel? Who's going to replace Keonte Scott in that role? And, you know, I think early on in spring you kind of saw them going with a little more Bryce Fitzgerald. And Bryce Fitzgerald played the nickel role when Keonte was dealing with an injury for two or three games late in the season, they slotted Bryce Fitzgerald in there and he was okay as the nickel. As the spring progressed though, they definitely were putting Omar Thornton, the Boston College transfer, more there in the nickel. He's kind of more your like 511 in the box type of safety who's good at run support, tackling. Yeah, striker type. The coverage stuff I think is a little up and down. And so my read on it is I, I think like it's going to be a situational deal maybe where it's like, okay, in some situations you'll get Thornton, in some situations you'll get Fitzgerald. And so that's how I think they'll approach that. But yeah, in general, like the secondary, they returned their top four corners from last year and OJ Frederick Xavier, Lucas, Ethan o' Connor and Damari Brown, so they feel good about that. Jabori Antoine's a guy honestly too, who got a lot of reps this spring because they were, you know, they sidelined a lot of the starters because of the mileage on the CFP run. And Antoine, really, honestly, like, he's emerging. He's basically in that bunch, I would say now. So they have five. They feel good about safety. They feel good about their depth too. They return poison again. Fitzgerald, they got Thornton, whose experience from his time at Boston College. They're really excited about J.J. dunnigan, who's a true freshman, who's, you know, looks body type wise, like a sophomore already. He's like 6, 2, 2, 15, very athletic. Like at the spring game, you know, you just noticed, you felt his physicality whenever he touched someone. That ball carrier was, was getting hit hard. So it was impressive. And for him, it's just like continuing to adjust to the speed of the game. But like, the staff will tell you, like his approach, his mental approach, similar to what Malachi Toney, the way he approached things when he first arrived at Miami. Now, not going to be a Malachi Tony type of production from at the safety spot, but I think he might work his way into the rotation. They got Dylan Day, who's like a developmental guy. Conrad Hussey is a guy who started his career at Florida State. And, you know, he's got talent now. He's probably like your 6 safety, but, like, he's got talent to maybe push his way into the playing rotation. And for me, like, as it relates to Corey Heatherman kind of putting this all together, like, I just think he's got a lot of pieces to, like, figure out roles and situations. And I would say this about up front, too. Like, on the defensive line, they got some versatility. Like last year's D line. This was what made them great, too. Like, they had prototypical DNS. You got Band and Mezador. You know what you're getting up front now, they. They can, like, mix and match guys and try and find matchups. And I would say that about the back end, too, in terms of safety and nickel. So I think you're gonna see, like, Corey Heatherman, mad scientist, this thing a little bit more maybe than we saw last year.
- [29:53]
Bud Elliott
So Mario, last year, it felt like, on the whole, was much better with the game management stuff. You know, nobody's perfect. But, you know, I. I kind of always thought, like, all right, Mario is so good at so many things. Like, if this can. If this part of it can just not be a huge negative for him, like that. That makes him so much of a better coach, you know, like. Like not. Not kneecapping, like, all the good players you bring in and all the ways you manage your program. Has he talked about that at all? Like, anybody, like, in the building said, like, hey, they did this differently because it.
- [30:24]
David Lake
Yeah, he's. He's really made a commitment to just kind of, like, trusting analytics. Like, after that, Georgia Tech, no, Neil finish right in, like, 23, I think that season was, you know, in 24. That 2024 season, he definitely made a point of, like, really studying analytics. He now has a assistant next to him all game long with a big old book of analytics based on situations. And of course, like, Mario also, you know, considers what's happening in the game. Right? Like, sure, that has to be considered, too. But, like, he kind of just, like, what's. What's it say in the analytics book? They tell him and, you know, boom, He's. He's doing a better job of making a quicker decision that ends up Being right more times than not. And look, sometimes even the analytics are going to be 50, 50 and you just got to go with your gut. But I agree, like, I think he has taken a step forward, forward because of this and, and look, honestly, like Mario just, he is an interesting coach because he comes across I think as like, like all these guys have egos, right? Like, I'm not actually like Mario doesn't have ego, but like at the end of the day he just wants to win. And so he's very self aware and he knows like, okay, these, these areas held us back this year. I need to fix this. And he did a lot of reflection after that 2023 season and he's definitely worked to try and shore that up in his, you know, weakness category. And now it's not to me, like last season, like, sure, you can nitpick things in some games, but I think overall as a whole, like he didn't, he didn't mismanage any games where they lost because of a Mario crystal ball mismanagement. So he has taken a step forward in my opinion in that regard.
- [32:12]
Bud Elliott
It's a little like blackjack, right? Like, like playing to the card is not going to like make you win, but like avoiding the ridiculous errors, you know, that make you get up and leave the table, you know, after sit for 30 minutes, you know, like that that's kind of like the, like the most obvious, you know, hold a fix and I feel like he's done that. And then like when, when they do make, you know, I guess by the, like mistakes that are mistakes that are defined as, by the book mistakes. I think it gives you more grace as far as saying like I, I didn't know his timeout usage against A and M, but like if you, if you look at it in the context of a 16 game season, like he was actually pretty fine.
- [32:44]
David Lake
Yeah.
- [32:45]
Bud Elliott
You know, like so like that, that allows you to say there's probably stuff going on in the specific game on the headset that we don't know about. Right, Right. If it happens all the time, it's like, all right, hold on. Like this is, this is clearly a flaw. So I think he's gotten a lot better there. Last thing before we get to the schedule. Backup quarterback. Like, yeah, is that, I mean for every team, if the QB goes down, it's a concern. Like what's the drop off like here for Miami?
- [33:11]
David Lake
I think it's taking a step back year over year. Like last year was Emery Williams and you know, rightfully so, like he moved on to ECU because he deserves an opportunity to start at this, at this stage of his career. And now you know, look, Luke Nichol definitely won the job. Not one. But they're not, they haven't announced anything but he's the backup quarterback. He's kind of cemented himself in that role second year guy, but he's still a guy that you know, still improving, figuring things out as a college quarterback. And frankly at the spring game he didn't have the greatest performance. Now some of that was due to the backup center giving him some wild snaps. So certainly you have to admit like if you were there, you understand like okay, Luke Nichols struggled but the center wasn't exactly helping him perform. But yeah, it's definitely a concern. I would say like to me I think the depth at on the team is really strong. Except for quarterback, I would probably say center, I would say tight end, you know, from a starter level honestly isn't quite good enough and linebacker, you know, I would say those are the areas of depth where you're really looking at this team and wondering is it going to bite them at some point in the season. You know you're talking about backup quarterback, backup center and then tight end and linebacker. Kind of like how important are those positions in the grand scheme of things anyways? So I'm saying like the roster's in good shape but certainly there's no such thing as a perfect roster. And those are the areas that I would monitor for sure.
- [34:46]
Bud Elliott
The schedule is, is friendly man. I mean at, at Stanford, Florida A M, at Wake, Central Michigan and then at Clemson you get a bi week after that the Knowles come to Hard Rock, Pit comes to Hard Rock. Then you got to go to North Carolina. Then you got got to go to Notre Dame. Like, like you know that that's not an easy four game stretch there. Like I don't think FSU is good but like they'll still be emotional for that game. Pitt always plays hard, you know at Carolina, who knows. And then like the back to back road element there of going to Notre Dame in November and then you know you come home, you finish Duke, the Hokies and then Boston College at you know they, they'll be favored in 11 games.
- [35:28]
David Lake
11?
- [35:29]
Bud Elliott
Yeah, yeah, I, I guess possibly 12 with Notre Dame and double digit favorites in pretty much all of them. Like playoff like returning the playoffs got to be the expectation here.
- [35:41]
David Lake
I think so yeah. I think like what I last I saw, I think over under was like ten and a half and I think like eleven and one is Like a fair expectation for this team relative to the schedule too. So you know, I think internally their focus, they, they are not shy about saying it's time to win the ACC now. You know, I think randomly. Right. Miami wasn't in the game and they still got to the playoff and they don't want to be in that position. They know there was a luck element to all that working out. It's time to go win the conference. And you know, Miami's been in the acc, what for 20 plus years now and hasn't done it in football. So it's time to get that done. They, they're focused on doing that and yeah, you're right. Like the schedule, you know, look, and some of this is a product of like Florida State being.
- [36:34]
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
- [36:35]
David Lake
As far down as in my lifetime. Clemson is. Continues to trend down. They might be frisky. Right. They might be a team that maybe, you know, I'm sleeping on a little too much.
- [36:46]
Bud Elliott
But you could lose the game.
- [36:48]
David Lake
Yeah.
- [36:48]
Bud Elliott
Like it's.
- [36:49]
David Lake
Yeah.
- [36:49]
Bud Elliott
If you, if you roll out your like C minus game, they're gonna home run effort from Clemson probably like that. That's losable, you know, without like a disaster.
- [36:57]
David Lake
Yeah, I agree.
- [36:58]
Bud Elliott
And then Stanford, you have to have like, like that. That's your own making basically. You know what Boston College is like that. That's entirely on you.
- [37:05]
David Lake
You look at it and I think I forget exactly what it was. But if you look and look year over year stuff nowadays with the portal is kind of like whatever, but like it's something like Miami, their ACC schedule, they play like five of the six worst teams from last year. Yeah. In the acc. So they have a very. And they avoid like, like honestly the, the teams who would give Miami problems would be like a Louisville and an SMU who beat Miami last year. Right. So. And Miami avoids them. So you know, it's, it's as favorable honestly as like an ACC schedule could be when you consider like Clemson and Florida State are down. So there's certainly some frisky elements to it. You know, navigating a season is always tricky and injuries happen and teams are better than expected, etc. But like on paper here, going into the season like that, it's. It's pretty favorable for sure.
- [37:57]
Bud Elliott
David, man, really enjoyed this and we'll be following all your coverage, all your course inside the U and get ready for a long season, man, because I think Miami's probably gonna play. Play a lot of games.
- [38:06]
David Lake
Thank you, bud. Always fun. Criminal Minds Evolution is back on Paramount. Plus, do you think it's possible to
- [38:11]
Bud Elliott
discern some hidden pattern shared by all serial killers.
- [38:14]
David Lake
With a new killer each week, I see those wheels turning. When a copycat killer emerges, the BAU
- [38:22]
Bud Elliott
will form a dark alliance with a familiar foe.
- [38:25]
David Lake
Elias, would you help us this season? Evil is contagious. Once it starts, it can't be stopped. Criminal Minds Evolution, new season, now streaming on Paramount plus.