Nix: Hurricanes are maturing
CORAL GABLES (AP) – When assessing this Miami season, offensive coordinator Patrick Nix broke the schedule in half. First six games against the last six games, weighing just about every variable against the other.
His verdict?
The Hurricanes finished the year strong – and set the tone for bigger things in 2009.
“We all, as coaches, see these guys maturing,” Nix said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. “They’ve shown now they are grasping what we are trying to do, grasping meanings and concepts and that kind of stuff.”
There’s plenty of numbers that support his theory.
Miami was one of only 17 teams in major college football to see its scoring average from last season increase by more than seven points. A year ago, the Hurricanes ranked 101st in the nation at 20.6 points per game; this year, entering bowl season, they’re 47th at 27.9 points.
Through the first six games of the year, Miami was 110th in total offense nationally at 289 yards per game, but in the second half of the season, the Hurricanes averaged 365 yards a game, putting them 54th nationally over that six-game span.
Miami quarterbacks Jacory Harris and Robert Marve completed 56 percent of their passes for 924 yards, seven touchdowns and nine interceptions in the first six games, then completed 58 percent of their throws for 1,370 yards, 12 TDs and 10 interceptions over the rest of the regular season.
“They’ve come so far,” Miami coach Randy Shannon said, “but we’ve got a long ways to go.”
Nix believes those stats, especially since Miami played four bowl teams in the second half of the season, show the Hurricanes have promise.
“As much as anything else, we were able to expand and do more as the season went along and they all got more comfortable,” Nix said. “In the beginning, it was all brand new to them.”
With so many freshmen on the roster – and on the field – that was expected.
The Hurricanes entered the year with very few returning skill players on offense. Harris (who will start the Emerald Bowl against California on Dec. 27) was a true freshman, Marve was a redshirt freshman, and four receivers who would finish among the team’s top seven by year’s end, also were newcomers.
Question marks were everywhere. Who would start? Who were the playmakers? Who would step up and replace last year’s only real go-to receiver, Darnell Jenkins, who graduated?
In time, Nix and the Miami coaching staff found some answers.
“Early in the season, we had to get the quarterbacks ready,” Shannon said. “As time went on, the receivers started catching on, making plays. And in the middle of the season, we started relying on our offensive line. I think they did a good job blocking and running the football.”