Hurricanes defense, freshmen shine in spring game

CORAL GABLES — The Hurricanes closed out spring camp on Saturday with their annual spring game at the on-campus Cobb Stadium on Saturday. The defense got the better of the offense, edging their teammates 25-20.

“We feel really good about our spring,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “We really do. We play football and we practice football, and we’re in pads, and the guys did a very good job attacking a very demanding regimen.”

The defense got a key stop early in the spring game, stopping four consecutive goal-line runs.

“As an offensive lineman, what do you think I’m going to say (about that drive)? I want to projectile vomit this way on the offensive side. But on the defensive side, two things: No. 1, great job from a schematic standpoint just finding a way to expose certain gaps and timing it up really well. Even more so, a couple guys just hunkering, putting their feet in the ground and knocking people back. You can’t take away from that. We kind of needed that; we hadn’t done a bunch of … goal line in the spring. … But that was, overall, a great job by the defense.”

The defense also had interceptions from Dylan Day, Amari Wallace and Isaiah Taylor and a sack by Elias Rudolph, which all earned points for the defensive side.

The offense did have highlights, though, with freshman Malachi Toney scoring a touchdown on a pass from Luke Nickel. Prior to that, he had a touchdown catch called back on a penalty.

“It was very exciting,” Toney said. “Coach (Donovan) Varner, coach (Kevin Beard), they gave me the opportunity to come in as a freshman and show my talent.”

Here are some more takeaways from Miami’s spring game:

— Quarterback Emory Williams, who took most of the first-team reps at quarterback, looked good when throwing short passes. He completed the first 10 he threw. But he did not throw down field as much on Saturday.

— Freshman quarterback Luke Nickel had some of the best throws of the day, completing medium-range passes — particularly to Toney. He also showed solid pocket mobility.

— Running backs Mark Fletcher Jr., Jordan Lyle and Girard Pringle Jr. all had solid first-down runs. Pringle showed good burst on several carries.

— Toney was the potential MVP of the spring game, catching one of two touchdown passes. But his competition for the slot receiver spot, Ray Ray Joseph, looked good as well. Joseph looked explosive and had a touchdown reception, too.

— The offensive line had an up-and-down performance. They allowed the defense to get a stop at the goal line, but they did not allow much pressure on passing plays.

— Raul “Popo” Aguirre Jr. made the key fourth-down stop on the goal-line stand. Aguirre had a solid season in limited playing time last year and will likely be in the linebacker rotation this season.

— Miami rotated its numerous cornerbacks in throughout the spring game. Newcomer Xavier Lucas, who transferred from Wisconsin, showed good closing speed on short passes. Damari Brown, who missed nearly all of last season with an injury, played a lot of reps Saturday.

— Zechariah Poyser and Markeith Williams were the primary safety duo.

— Several likely starters were kept out due to minor injuries, Cristobal said. Wide receiver JoJo Trader, tight end Elija Lofton and defensive linemen Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor were among those who did not play in the first half, when the team was tackling to the ground.