Hurricanes’ offensive line paving the way to early success
MIAMI GARDENS — Mario Cristobal and his staff wanted to improve the offensive line this offseason, and it appears they succeeded.
Through the early part of the season and particularly after a win over Texas A&M, Miami’s offensive line has shown it can hold up with some of the most talented defenses in the country.
“Those guys up front, in my however years of coaching versus an opponent like that, that’s as good as I’ve seen in pass protection,” Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said Monday. “It was unbelievable.”
Entering Thursday’s game against FCS opponent Bethune-Cookman, Miami had a 73.7 pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranked 38th in the nation.
“What looked good was those five guys up front, period,” Dawson said. “It was very simple. Tyler (Van Dyke) didn’t get touched, and they’ve got some pretty talented guys rushing the quarterback. That’s evident. He sat back there and had all day, unimpeded, and it was awesome to watch those guys protect.”
Sophomore right guard Anez Cooper earned recognition for his performance against the Aggies. The ACC named him the conference offensive lineman of the week.
“I feel like we did very well,” Cooper said Tuesday. “We grinded all summer. The whole offensive line group grinded very hard in the summer, grinding everything, learning all the defensive schemes. But I still feel like there’s a lot of room for us to grow. I don’t really think there’s just a certain limit we can stop at. I just feel like there’s always room to get better.”
Injured players still on sidelines
The Hurricanes suffered several injuries to key players during their win over Texas A&M. Safety Kamren Kinchens, running back Mark Fletcher Jr. and defensive linemen Akheem Mesidor, Nyjalik Kelly and Branson Deen all left the game on Saturday.
All five players were held out of Thursday’s game against Bethune-Cookman after not warming up with the team. Tight end Elijah Arroyo, who has not played at all this season, was also held out of Thursday’s game.
Cristobal said Monday that all the injured players are “progressing well.”
“They’re all progressing well,” Cristobal said. “They’ll all be evaluated daily and assessed by our medical staff, team doctors and whatnot. But they’re all progressing really well and we’ll know a little bit more later in the week.”
Kinchens’ injury appeared severe, and he needed to be carted off the field on a stretcher and taken to the hospital. Cristobal declined to specify what type of injury Kinchens suffered but said the safety cleared the tests he took at the hospital and did not suffer a serious injury. Kinchens was released from the hospital Sunday morning.
“Kam is good. Ran all the tests and all the evaluations, and he’s in good shape,” Cristobal said on WQAM’s The Joe Rose Show on Monday morning. “He’s fine. He’s going to be well. He’s going to be really good. He doesn’t have anything that’s too serious. He just has some football stuff, and we’re going to be in great shape.”
Miami honors Mark Richt
The Hurricanes and the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame honored for Miami quarterback and coach Mark Richt early in Saturday’s game.
Richt served as an honorary captain for Miami’s game against Bethune-Cookman.
Richt played at Miami from 1978-1982, backing up Jim Kelly and Bernie Kosar. After 15 years as an assistant coach at East Carolina and Florida State, he spent 15 seasons as the head coach at Georgia.
Richt returned to his alma mater before the 2016 season and coached three seasons with the Hurricanes. He had a 26-13 record with Miami and has a career record of 171-64.
