Miami Football: 3 Upperclassmen who need to step up in 2022
By Dante Pryor
2. DJ Scaife, Jr.: Offensive Tackle
This could be Miami’s entire offensive line here. The offensive line took strides in the right direction in 2021. In order for the offense — specifically Tyler Van Dyke — to take another step forward, the offensive line has to play better this fall.
It is imperative for both tackles to keep Van Dyke upright. Scaife is a veteran who has continued to improve every season of his career. That said, Miami’s numbers indicate the offensive line needs to improve in both the run and pass game.
Miami was 97th in the country in rush offense averaging 127.7 yards per game. Jaylon Knighton, last season’s leading rusher, averaged under four yards per rush attempt. Some of their woes in the run game can be attributed to quarterback D’Eriq King’s injury.
That said, the Hurricanes got beat at the point of attack often.
In addition to the run game stats, the Hurricanes were 89th in sacks allowed (2.50 per game) and 59th in explosive plays.
Sack numbers can be attributed to Van Dyke holding the ball too long at times but the offensive line had issues holding up when the Hurricanes wanted to dial up long pass plays.