Miami (OH) football: Will Redhawks repeat as MAC champions in 2020?

Defense looking to carry Redhawks yet again

While the offense was struggling for the majority of the season behind a freshman quarterback, the defense was very consistent from beginning to end. Aside from a 76-5 beatdown against Ohio State, the Miami defense was good all around and helped lead the team to a conference title.

One of the main reasons the Redhawks were good on defense was their ability to get after the quarterback. They finished second in the conference in sacks with 38 total and their top three pass rushers return. Defensive end Kameron Butler had 5.5 sacks last season and defensive tackle Andrew Sharp had 4.5 and they form one of the top duos in the conference.

The Redhawks will return one of the best linebackers in the conference in last year’s leading tackler Ryan McWood and he is hoping to improve upon last years 99 tackles. Him coming back gives the defense hope because one of the areas that they really struggled in in 2019 was their run defense, which ranked in the bottom half of the country.

The secondary should be one of the best in the conference and returns three starters. Cornerback Emmanuel Rugamba is leading the unit and he finished last season with 85 tackles, eight pass deflections and one interception. The safeties are led by Sterling Weatherford, who was second on the team in tackles with 98 and he led the team with 10 pass deflections. The secondary is losing a valuable member in Travion Banks, who led the team with five interceptions last season.

Overall, expect another solid unit from the Redhawks’ defense.