Miami coach, Manny Díaz, gives priority to the situation of quarterback

Manny Díaz did not wait long after taking over as coach of the Miami Hurricanes to share his strong thoughts on the situation of Miami quarterbacks.

On Wednesday, no one had to ask the former defensive coordinator a question about the quarterbacks before he left and tackled him himself. A day before, he spoke it in an ESPN appearance. The previous day, he spoke of the position in his first radio interview after rejoining the Hurricanes after an 18-day coaching period with the Temple Owls

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"Certainly, we have to fix the position of Field Marshal ," Diaz said Wednesday as part of his opening statement at his introductory press conference. "We have some young people on our campus who have shown flashes, who have shown that they have capacity, but do not win at the University of Miami with flashes and no desire at the University of Miami with potential. You have to act. "

Diaz's first priority with the Hurricanes will be to fix the offense, and to correct the offense, he must first fix the situation of the Miami field marshal.

On Monday, Díaz at least took the first step to try something new. Less than 24 hours after succeeding Mark Richt, Diaz did what the former coach would not do. Díaz fired quarterbacks coach Jon Richt, along with the other four members of the offensive staff. At his press conference at the Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence, Diaz confirmed that he cut ties with Richt, running coach Thomas Brown, wide receiver Ron Dugans, tight end coach Todd Hartley and the offensive line coach. Stacy Searels. For next Thursday, Diaz plans to have a new offensive staff and already has three finalists for his vacant offensive coordinator position.

Whoever fills the offensive openings will have an untested group of quarterbacks of field for molding

N'Kosi Perry, in theory, should be the favorite for the job. The quarterback started six games this season, but Richt sat in first place in the red jersey for the Hurricanes' 35-3 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers at the Pinstripe Bowl, after the student newspaper The Hurricane Miami will report the existence of a sexually explicit Snapchat video that Perry had previously published. in the year. The first-year player was caught in an Instagram Live video telling his teammates that he was suspended for the bowl game in New York. All this came just two months after Perry was reprimanded by an Instagram video that showed him with a lot of cash.

Diaz would not address Perry's status on Wednesday, instead, he took the opportunity to talk about his expectations that a competing player start as a quarterback of field in Coral Gables. The three scholarship field marshals who returned were suspended in 2018.

"Every time there is a change, players know that there is a clean slate in terms of how they behave and act, and especially in that position," said Diaz. "To be the field marshal at the University of Miami, that's no small thing … In this city, you have to have a thick skin and you have to have a way about you now." Once again, all you have to do is to look at the names that have done it in the past.There was a time when we called it 'QBU' and that can happen again.

"So N'Kosi understands and all the guys understand that everything they do, how you do anything is how you do it all. And his behavior sometimes reflects his ability and his desire to be the field marshal at the University of Miami, so somehow, yes, everyone understands that what he does now is what matters most and, no doubt, if there was other problems of the past. persist would still have to be addressed. "

The other quarterback candidate on campus is Jarren Williams, who redirected this season, but arrived in South Florida as one of the most outstanding quarterback recruits in the history of the game. As general prospect No. 77 in the composite rankings of 247Sports.com, Williams was the Hurricanes' top ranked player since former quarterback Kyle Wright signed with Miami in 2003.

Quarterback Cade Weldon is also ready to return with the program for a red jersey season in 2019.

However, these are not the only three options. Like Richt before him, Diaz did not rule out the possibility of tracing the transfer market to find a starter in 2019. Once his offensive staff is in place, Diaz can go to work.

"Everyone will be given a clean slate," said Diaz. "We will start from scratch with what we have on our campus, but at the same time we will search in all corners of the country to make sure we are in the best position in the room to attack the field marshal football season 2019.

"We will have a fantastic offensive coordinator, a great coach quarterback and a Great scheme, but first of all, none of that will win without a great culture. You have to unite the culture of the football team between the three phases of the team. "