The Miami Hurricanes have hired Defensive Coordinator Kevin Steele.
Coach Steele has a decorated career as a CFB Defensive Coordinator; most recently with the Tennessee Volunteers (2021 season as a Defensive Assistant Coach) and his most notable run with the Auburn Tigers (from 2016-2020). Coach Steele put up some very impressive numbers during his AU tenure, putting up defensive numbers only five other teams in the entire CFB landscape saw. Those teams being the likes of Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson, Washington and Michigan.
Coach Steele’s collective defensive rankings from 2016-2019 go like this: 4.0 total yards per play (12th in the FBS) and 18.6 PPG allowed (8th in the FBS). Simply, these are astounding numbers coming out of the SEC where we all know points come in plenty.
Coach Steele has turned out plenty of talent with a few names such as Derrick Brown, Super Bowl champs Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean, and some highly touted 2022 draft prospects such as Smoke Monday and Roger McCreary.
We are all well aware of Miami’s defensive struggles as of late, led by former HC Manny Diaz. Diaz was thought to be a defensive guru until he hit an absolute wall last year defensively, ranking towards the bottom in some major categories. The most notable being missed tackles. Miami wasn’t just bad in this category, they were downright awful, ranking in the bottom portion in the entire FBS in that category.
In 2021 under Coach Diaz, Miami had a putrid 27.9 tackling grade on the entire year. It started rough and ended rough. The Hurricanes somehow managed to miss 30 tackles against Michigan State during their Week 3 matchup and had missed a total of 66 tackles through only three games. These are mind-boggling numbers to say the least.
Miami has the players and the talent, no doubt about that, but will Kevin Steele be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together that Manny Diaz just couldn’t seem to figure out? Hurricanes Nation sure does hope so.
Coach Steele preaches physicality and accountability, two things that riddled us last year and again, something Manny Diaz just couldn’t figure out.
Get excited Canes fans because this defensive unit under Coach Steele is about to wreak havoc against opposing ACC offenses for 12 weeks!