Florida Football: 3 bold predictions vs. Miami in Week 0

3. Miami’s front-seven will be disruptive

The Turnover Chain will make an appearance in this game because Miami’s experience and speed will have a definite advantage over Florida’s inexperienced offensive line.

Miami starts the most experienced linebacking group in the country with senior Shaquille Quarterman, Zach McCloud and Michael Pinckney. They made up for the losses of defensive end Joe Jackson and defensive tackle Gerald Willis by cashing in on the transfer portal. Along with returning Hurricane defensive tackle Pat Bethel and defensive end Jonathan Garvin, Virginia Tech grad transfer Trevon Hill will help at tackle and UCLA transfer Chigozie Nnoruka to bolster the interior.

This is what the Florida offensive line has to face on Friday — a group that has to replace four starters along their offensive line including their bookend tackles Martez Ivey and Jawaan Taylor.

The Gators, however, return second leading rusher Lamical Perine and six of their leading pass-catchers from last season. That might be hard to take advantage of if Feleipe Franks doesn’t take his game to the next level. Franks won’t have many opportunities to make plays against this defense, and for Florida to have a chance he’s going to have to hit on most of them.

Manny Diaz is all about pressure and disrupting timing. Can the Gators’ offensive line communicate well enough to thwart an aggressive pass rush that will come their way?

The only hope they have will be to take advantage of the Hurricanes aggressive defense with draw plays and screens but expect the Miami linemen, linebackers and defensive backs to be in the backfield all game long.