2009 Miami Hurricanes- Will youth be the excuse again this year?

Talking heads on ESPN said we'd be lucky to go 2-2, some predicted 0-4. Now sitting at 5-2 with a slim chance at an ACCCG or a BCS game will this team fade out and wait for next year, when the TV experts and some fans say its Cane time, or will the []_[] finnish up to their dominate potential.
Their has been a fan and media debate about on swagger and if the Canes have it back. To have true Swagger winning is rule one. Strutting, Mohawks, and attitude is not swagger its cockiness. The Staff and Players; just as the fans want to forget the Clemson game. A game lost to a less talented team. That seems to be what the []_[] has been known for the past 2 years. Miami In the Driver seat for the ACC title game and than lose to an inferior opponent. Will youth be this years excuse.. I've extensively broken down the film of every home Cane game this year; this is MigH HigH View on the 2009 Miami Hurricanes on 10/30/09.

Since defense is my forte, i'm  gonna start with the Offense.

The talent at the skill positions at Miami is mind-blowing. 3 Deep in the backfield all have the ability to carry the load for an entire game. At one point in their career's all 3 have gone over the 100 yard mark, Coop is the only on of the three not to reach 100yrds this year(99 yrds vs Clemson). The rotation of RB's has been a weapon for Whipple when used at the right time. I'd like to see Coop used more in the passing game now that he should be fully healthy. The three backs have similar running styles; yet each have individual qualities that separate  their skill set.

All three are quick and have good hands, for RB's.  Cooper is the fastest and would be best used on counters, sweeps, and off-tackle. I also like him as the designated RB in shotgun. JJ is the most complete back on the roster. The best blocker of the 3 which is huge cause we all have seen Pipho pass block. JJ gets the tough 3-5 yards and with just a little daylight he'll break it for 10- 50. JJ's best quality is his feet; watch him run he pumps and pumps his feet, always keeping your feet moving is so crucial in the running game. JJ is good at just about everything but i haven't seen the greatness that his cousin showed, remember the UCLA game.. I see more James Jackson than Edge.


Watch JJ run all over Oklahoma


To give a full opinion on Berry would be a little premature on my end. I think we've all seen his speed and ability to hit the whole quick; similar to Chambers last year against Cal. I don't want to take anything away from Berry cause he plays Hype which i Love, but i need to see what he does against teams other than FAMU.

Outside of USC can anyone tell me their is a more talented RB rotation in the Nation??




great video to watch Berry Run(@2:50) and Brandon Harris Incredible interception(@1:03)

The strongest unit on Offense are the wideouts. 'Hundred Dollar' Benjamin abused UCF in the first qtr of that game and was only shut down once this year; ya VaTech. Is there a better deep threat than #3 in the Country?  I Don't think so..

If I was Aubrey Hill I'd give Collier films of Wes Welker to watch every day. Collier is most  productive out of the slot with the potential to be a better receiver than Sinorice Moss and Roscoe Parrish.

Hankerson, Bryd, and AJ all excel when the ball is thrown their way. Hankerson has made some incredible catches this year and a few too many drops. To me Hank has made the most improvement  of any Cane. Hank surpassed my expectations so far this year.

Bryd hasn't been getting open enough on interior routes and his run after catch is poor. However after  Jimmy Graham, Bryd would be my first choice in jump ball situations, until i see more of Streeter.

AJ's relationship with Jacory is unfair at times. In 2 different games this year Jacory threw back to back passes to AJ who ran the same route..  Thats AJ & Jacory in the huddle saying "this guy can't cover me same play." Which they did at Northwestern..

Streeter can't be forgotten either, he again does well when the ball is thrown his way.  Jacory and Streeter also ran the same two plays back to back for completions.

Beat the man across from you; Knowing that you can and then doing it, Thats Swagger...

Epps has gotten wide open, usually on play action, he looks football fast and he can catch, Graham is tall but neither can block well.

So deep So Talented; a receiving core I wouldn't trade for any other unit.
At the beginning of the year I wrote the Canes Should have the best WR core in the ACC. I stand by that and would take Miami's entire unit over any WR core on any team.

I can talk OL all day, its the most important unit on any winning football team. I will for now keep this short. Jason Fox has the best footwork I've seen at Miami. His Kick step is flawless, keeps his hands inside, and his head is on a swivel. His technique puts me in awe sometimes. The rest of the unit is solid, migh way of saying average.

Now on to Matt Pipho; the worst starter on the team, their is no doubt about that. However he deserves to start. He knows who he is supposed to block plays hard and for OL coaches those attributes usually take priority number one and 1a. Why is he bad..  well a short letter addressed to him.

Dear Mr. Pipho,
Please bend at your knees and not at your back. When you stop lunging you will stop getting beat so much. You don't need to pancake anyone just mirror the rusher, bend at the knees, punch the numbers, and move those feet so you stay in-front of him..

Thanks,
Cane Nation

Without Jacory, the good and the bad, this team wouldn't be 5-2. I have a special Vided coming soon that breaks down Jacory's different release points and his reads...

Blogs to come--- Breaking down the Defense, Whipple's Play calling Tendencies, and Jacory's skill set.

TarHeeled- Miami vs UNC

On Gameday the only objective needs to be beat the man across from you and  out work the team on the opposing sideline.  It doesn't matter what GA Tech or anyone else did; its 'All Bout the U' right?

A team Loss. Drops by Hank, Graham, Bryd, and to many almosts; almost throws, almost catches, almost tackles, and almost runs. Oh.. Please go up with 2 hands...

MigH View on the OffensE

The majority of snaps in the first half were out of 2 TE  2 wideout sets. Miami shifted Tevaris J often; playing the H- Back role with no catches Saturday. Epps was stat free too. I'm a firm believer that the strength of this team are the wideouts. Collier in the slot; AJ, Benj, and Byrd on underneath routes and attacking the sideline. Hank runs the deep middle well but,Please go up with 2 handS. Using these weapons in multiple receiver sets has proved to work in 2009.  Why did Whipple take snaps away from AJ and Collier for one Handed Jimmy Graham; Tevaris Johnson and Mike James who played well but wont make the plays that the 5 wideouts can.

The right side of the line and depth along the front 5 is a concern.  Va Tech drew the blueprint on beating this years Canes. Overload the left side, Fox's side to shut down the run.  We don't run to the right side well. They move Fox to the right side and go unbalanced to create good blocking angles while trying to establish a balanced run game.

On 2 of Harris's picks he was hit when he was thrown. Pluss He was sacked twice. I won't put  all the blame on the OL though.  The QB stepping up in the pocket is pass pro's best friend. On those 5-7 yrd drops Harris has to SteP up in the pocket. When he does that extra second he needs to throw the accurate ball will magically appear..
Jacory has great feet; evasive in the pocket. It looks like Harris is still learning how to see the entire field. He locks onto one receiver or will only read half the field. WHen Jacory improves his consistency looking left, middle, right we'll start seeing 0 INT games to go along with the 250 yard + passing games..  On a side note; I'd like to see #12 run a few times; after he maneuvers out of trouble or on playaction. There is no shame in sliding.


-Came 2 MigH Attention-

With all the 2 TE sets to start the game Miami attempted to out power UNC in the trench. I don't believe this is the Canes strength. Spread'em out and use the State of Miami's Speed.

Whipple changes game plans on the regular. if its the over aggressive first Qtr against UCF, or the conservative start to the UNC game. Sometimes a coach out thinks him self. Do what works; pass on first down and run on second. When they start to snuff it out your ready to switch up the play calling. 2-3 runs in a row, 3 step drops, draws, waggles, PA pass, screens, and so forth.

Berry runs Hard. The quickest threw the whole and BTK ability. Cooper was hit or miss saturday, 1-2 yrds than he gets 9-20. Cooper is most productive in the gun with draws and screens. Cooper is not being utilized enough in the passing game. The only balls Coop seems to catch are screens, Jacory needs to find the RB check down.

-ran 3 screens in a row in the 2nd half. - smh


Whipple runs a lot of play action. Harris has a soft play action (fakes on the 3rd step of a 5 step drop, with his eyes still down field) and a hard play action(turns his back to sell the run).  Jacory sells the play action well, his Play Action Fake looks like he's channeling Joe Montana. However, over using the PA pass when coming from behind doesn't really fake anyone and becomes counter productive.

The offense must of forgot what has been working, get the ball underneath to the playmakers; get at least 3 yards on those 2nd down runs.  To hit'em deep with 'Hundred $ BenJ' []_[] Gotta set up the D first; get those safeties to cheat up.

Bits More

Throwing to the sideline- statistically- was more efficient.


Butch did a good job of kicking away; UNC won the 3rd phase of the game; Special Teams. Clemson too and by no surprise both losses.

-SO many playactions not enough draws. -

_ More no Huddle_

Execute the Hurricane gameplan efficiently and effectively and Dominance will return.  We Still Coming []_[]

as MigH fellow Cane said here http://www.miami-hurricanes.com/

"KEEP SHANNON , KEEP JACORY , KEEP THE FAITH."

The U is in progress, patience Cane Nation, it takes time to build Champions.

_HM_

And the GamE ball goes too...

The entire coaching staff and the make shift O-Line.


Negative Cane fans and a few sports writers are quick to jump all over the HC, DC, crud even the Strength and Conditioning Coach Swasey has been criticized fans.. Through what I've read on Manny Navarro's blog and lesser Cane message boards there is a small but loud group of Cane Fans that have wanted Shannon to fail from the start. After the USF game, how can anyone (even the biased; didn't want to say racist cause it is 2010) deny that the right coaches are in place in Coral Gables? Is there room for improvement, of course. However, last Saturday was the closest the U has come to a perfect coaching job since Shannon has been the Head Man on the practice and game field.

Last week against Duke, Miami ran a play-action pass a whopping 57% of the time on first down. Against USF, Miami also ran play-action on first down 13% of the time; 4 times on first downs throughout game and two of those coming on a 12 play 81 yard 5 minute 40 second drive to start the game. You'd be a fool not to think that Jim Leavitt wasn't aware of Miami's PA tendencies on first down. The Miami O gameplan had USF confused and guessing all day. Salute to Whipple for his ever changing play calling. You might be asking yourself why the focus of MigH last 2 blogs is first down heavy; well its quite simple, first down is the most important down for any successful offense. Here's why...

These numbers might surprise you. Against USF, Miami averaged 10.17 yards/ pass on first down including 2 touchdowns. Miami also ran for an average 5.8 yards/ carry on first. Overall Miami averaged 6.8 yrds on first down. Its hard to lose against anyone if your getting just under 7 yards on first down throughout the game.

As an 80's baby I am used to Cane dominance at all three phases. If it was Steve Walsh's amazing accuracy to Thrill Hill's kick returning, Tremain Mack's blocked kicks or, Derrick Ham's 12 sacks in 1998. The U is about Domination; offensive domination will only come with at least an avg of 5 yards on first down.

The recipe to control a Defense is to put your O in 3rd and 5 or less situations. It opens the playbook up completely. To have a complete offense there are 4 main keys: 1st, as mentioned first down success;, 2nd a high third down conversion rate; 3rd no turnovers; and, 4th Time of Possession. Miami did beat out USF in all 4 of the before mentioned categories. That credit goes to the coaches gameplan and the players execution.

The What If Game

If only, Coop didn't overthrow the wide open Bryd on the double pass on the 3rd drive of the game.

If only, The Safety blitzes weren't telegraphed.

if only, we could stop the dropped catches and dropped picks..

Just a lil nit picking.. Remember we are about dominance. This was as close to perfect as the Canes have been since 2001..
We should all be proud of the season Coach Shannon has put together. We finished real strong this year unlike the past two years.

Coming next breaking down the 3rd down plays, formations, and the pre snap movement of the D.

Miami vs Duke 11/21/09-offensive inn..sight

Their is not a more talented team at the skill positions than our Miami Hurricanes.
The Talent is Young but Deep.
- 3 WO's over 400 yards with Hank leading the way with over 700 yards receiving.
-10 receivers in double digit receptions; 7 receivers with at least 100 yards total(only 1 Junior Hank +2 SR's BigRed & Epps )

Only 2 teams have 3 RB's with over 400 yards rushing and all 3 Canes- Berry, James, And Coop each had 100 yard games this year. IMO the most important stat for a RB is YPC. Berry leads the team with and average of 6.1/ypc. Coop and JJ are tied with 5.2 yards per carry. Anything over 5 YPC i consider good. Yards after contact and BTK are also 2 other relevant stats...

I've been trying to figure out Whipple offense philosophy all year. His tendencies are various and complex. He uses many formations to try and develop a miss match on the outside or in the run game. Thats why you see the 2 TE sets then 4 WO sets, Unbalanced, The Bunch formation, (Whipple added a new shift in the 11th game of the year using Graham, Epps, and Hank in the bunch and 2 TE sets). As a fan of the motion and the newly discovered shift I have to complement Whipple for his use of pre-snap movement.

The major benefit of motion is to help Jacory with his pre-snap read.. When Miami motions a player to the opposite side it helps the QB and Wide Outs decipher if its man or zone. Never running the shift i do not have first hand experience on the benefits. The film however shows the D front seven shift along with the safeties. The pre snap read should than be a zone D of some sort. The QB's first read after the snap should be the 2 safeties; they paying 2 deep, man/ blitz, cover 3. As far as What Jacory's progressions are depends on the play, you would have to ask Coach Whipple or get me some endzone game film.

The Play action pass has provided big plays all year so I took a deeper look into Whipple's use of play action in the Duke game.

Of the 13 playactions passes 12 came on 1st down. Including the first play of the game. On 1st down of the first 2 drives 3 out of the first 4 were PA passes.

Of the 13 playactions 6 went for positive yardage, 1 sack, 3 bad throws, 1 was good defense, and 2 were drops. Miami had A 46% success rate on play action passes against Duke .

The sack was on Miami's 6th possession and 2nd first down of that drive; Harris was sacked for a 4 yard loss. The only non 1st down PA pass was on a 2nd and 3 in the 3rd QTR; Jacory faked to the strong side and rolled to the weak-side of the defense, a rushed throw with no1 open led to an incomplete pass. Whipple followed that play giving the defense the same look but called a delay. (a run Action) The good call and strong running by Berry got only 17 yrds cause JB got shoe stringed from behind.

Another new Play Whip and the O ran was neat. 3 WO Bunch Formation, play action, no motion until after the snap, AJ runs behind the O- Line towards the wide sideline. Jacory hit AJ on a swing pass(his only reception) that he turned into 20 yards.

The biggest positive play on a 1st down PA pass was the 44 yarder to Hank to put Miami up 27-16...
-the 2nd first down PA pass of the game led to an 8 yard pass to TJ from his H- Back position.
-In the 2nd Half jacory had a very nice throw to Hank at the sideline off a 1st down PA for 15 yards. Hank did dropped one in the first half that hit him in the belly. AJ had the other drop.
-The completion to Hank was similar to the first play, a PA pass to Bryd at the sideline for 14 yrds.

BITS MORE

Miami used play action on first down 57% of the time.. 12 out of 21 first downs

Complements to Jacory and the offense for having 9 recievers with at least 1 TD catch; Graham & Hank lead with 5 each.

Jacory-- 8.4 yards per attempt(GooD) 60.03% completion percentage( 63-68%) would be preferred.

I don't recall one play against Duke that didn't have a shift or motion.



_HM_

Breaking Down the D vs Duke.

The 4-3 2 Deep is the D i grew up on and believe in. If its the Cane D thats been running it since i can remember or the zone version that the former Tampa D ran and MigH Chicago Bears currently run.

This D is the Occam's Razor of Defensive football Schemes. A Defense that when ran with the right personnel is arguably the best D a team can run.
The Philosophy is simple; pressure only with the front 4 and drop seven back. In the League they run the cover 2 Zone. Miami runs the 2 deep but with man on the majority of the D's snaps.

Against Duke, The Cane's D first and only Blitz was on the Blue Devils 5th Drive on a 3rd and 8. Miami brought 2 at round the 2:17 mark of the the second qtr inside the Canes 30. The Safety and the MLB came and left the middle wide open for a Thad Lewis TD pass. Not wanting to second guess the call but bringing a telegraphing safety on 3rd and long doesn't make much sense to me.

My favorite blitz out of the 4-3 2 deep D is when the OLB and the DE play stunting games.

-ex 1) lets say 0. Vernon and Mcarthy are on the weak side. Vernon's rule is outside - in and keep contain with C gap responsibilities. Blitz Mcarthy through the B gap and more times than not there will be more rushers than blockers.

-ex 2) now to play off that(again on the weak side) slant Vernon to the B gap in hopes to draw the OT inside while blitzing the LB on the Outside. The 2 on the stunt switch responsibilities and the coach expects his LB's to beat the blocks of TE's and RB's..
================================================================
Miami's D against the Duke O.

-The first drive of the 2nd half for Duke was an impressive 4 minute drive that led only to a field goal with good green zone D by our Canes.

-Miami dropped an INT on the second drive of half number 2 on a 3rd and 10. But it was the 2nd 3 and out of the game up to that point.

-Duke's 3rd Drive of the 2nd half they moved the ball down the field with ease. When Miami dropped the LB's in Zone Duke ran the ball and then Thad caught Miami in man for some nice pass plays. The drive wasn't all bad for the Cane D.

-Freshman Vernon read a screen perfectly that caused Thad to throw it to the ground. Sharpton also made some real nice tackles and by far had the best game of his Career.. Congrats to Him for the seniors first INT ever and his TD.. Even though the D was abused for most of this drive due to a lack of pass rush; they held Strong in the redzone and Duke missed the field goal.

-the 4th Drive of the 2nd 1/2 Sharpton returned an INT 73 yards for a TD on a second and 10 pass play.

-Dukes 5th and final drive of the second half ended on an incomplete pass on 4th and 14.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


On a side note Miami wore Duke out. Duke probably the only team with more injuries than the U.. T.O.P. won this game along with solid D and a Great 2nd half. Repeatedly this year Miami comes out powerful in the last 2 Qtrs, a big thank you to the entire coaching staff and to the players for finnishing this game off strong..

much more to come.. leave comments and subscribe..

_HM_

Darryl Sharpton 6'0"235 vs Aurtur Brown 6'2" 220

Sharpton; the Coral Gables High graduate, is a knowledgeable MLB with limited athletic ability; that is when compared to all MLB's since the probation era; and not including; with all do respect,  Glenn Cook.  I am not trying to be harsh; just computing the game video i've been studying.

A. Brown-
is an athletic freak. He has a long wingspan and can get off blocks well. His only game action is on kickoff and I don't understand why. He beats Buchannon (who gets meaningful snaps at LB), Ray Ray and just about everyone but Ryan Hill & the walk on Helms, downfield. After filming all home games i can't recall 1 defensive snap for Brown.  At the FAMU game he was half way on the field and than called back to the sideline... A. Brown has showed hustle and aggression; two key ingredients to becoming a successful LB.

The vet clearly has the advantage when it comes to  play recognition; but since Shapton is a weak-link why not give The Number 1 LB recruit some Meaningful snaps.  How much worse could brown be in coverage? McCarcthy is capable of making the calls.

I am not proclaiming I know everything about football and definitely respect the entire Hurricane program; players, coaches, administrators, and fans.

From what i've seen on film it is my belief that A. Brown needs a shot in-game. How much worse could he be in coverage than Sharpton? Its not like the Canes run an overly complicated defensive scheme.


What does Cane Nation think after seeing the two on tape?