### Talking to departing Canes players at UM’s Hall of Fame fundraiser on Monday night, it was clear how excited the current ones are about coordinator Manny Diaz’s attacking defense and to be finally set free from their rigid approach under Mark D’Onofrio.
Tyriq McCord mentioned how “a lot of guys like to use instincts and not over-think” --– and that they can finally do that now because they’re no longer playing D’Onofrio’s “read and react” defense. In this system, defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad “will have double digit sacks this year,” McCord predicted.
“[Defensive lineman] Chad Thomas sometimes played inside before; my understanding is he will play strictly outside now, like he did in high school,” McCord added. “The safeties and linebackers like this scheme.”
Departing safety Dallas Crawford said safeties coach Ephraim Banda picked his brain and asked what was the team’s biggest problem last year. Crawford told him the importance of “getting fun and passion back" on this UM defense.
### Crawford said a bunch of Canes draft prospects, plus alums Phillip Dorsett, Denzel Perryman, Olivier Vernon and others, are working with dismissed strength coach Andreu Swasey at a high school instead of using UM’s facility. There’s disappointment over Swasey’s firing among ex-players, but we’re told the new staff believed the team wasn’t tough enough last year and Mark Richtwanted a new approach to conditioning.
### Several UM fans continue to ask us about four-star junior college cornerback JC Jackson, a talent who immediately would upgrade at a Miami need position. But to this point, defensive backs coach Mike Rumph's interest in Jackson hasn't resulted in an offer.
Isaac Shipp, Jackson's defensive backs coach at Riverside Community College, said Rumph called him and told him how interested Miami is in adding Jackson to the roster. And Jackson told Canesport this week:
"I talked to coach Rumph. He'd seen me play against them [in high school], he said I'm one of the best players he's seen, that I can come in and be a great player at Miami. He said I can talk to the head coach and defensive coordinator --- he wants to get me on the phone with them. I'll do that this week or next week."
Meanwhile, Shipp told me this week that UM is Jackson's top choice.
Against that backdrop, it was notable that Peter Ariz reported tonight that Miami is not even recruiting Jackson. That is true in that UM has not made an offer.
And I'm told tonight that UM hasn't even gone through the measures needed internally to offer a player who was charged (and later acquitted) with armed robbery. So for whatever reason --- perhaps his legal history --- UM hasn't moved quickly on this. Also, Jackson needs to get his AA degree in May to even be eligible in 2016.
Though UM signed University of Texas backup Adrian Colbert this week, he's a safety, not a corner. Colbert helps Miami's situation at corner only if the moves results in Jaquan Johnson playing more at corner, which is a possibility. And regardless, UM's situation at corner is very shaky.