Miami Football Film Review: Analyzing the Hurricane Offense

As "talking season" wraps up and we are less than a week out from seeing Notre Dame take the field for the first time in 2025, the buzz around this year's squad is palpable. It's as talented a roster as the Fighting Irish have had in recent memory, and that starts with a stellar defense.

Photo via University of Miami Athletics

Chris Ash steps into the Defensive Coordinator role with Al Golden departing for the NFL, and he is inheriting some elite players at all three levels on his side of the ball. Notre Dame fans will find out pretty quickly if the potential matches the on-field results when they travel to Miami Gardens to take on the Hurricanes on Labor Day. There is a healthy amount of optimism around UM as well, which will also field some uber-talented pieces on both sides of the ball, none of which will have a bigger magnifying glass on them than transfer QB Carson Beck. They are projected to have one of the best offensive lines in college football and have a fairly deep stable of running backs. Their WR corps, although unproven, houses some high upside players, so this will be a big time test for Notre Dame right out of the gate. Several key moments on film could potentially decide the game one way or the other, so I want to take a deep dive into the offense for the Hurricanes and outline some major things to look for. Let's get into this Miami football offensive film review.

QB - Carson Beck

Carson Beck had an up-and-down season for Georgia a year ago, but I don't want anyone to mistake that for him not being one of the higher-caliber QBs in the sport. All reports out of fall camp seem to suggest that the elbow injury, which prematurely ended his season in the SEC Championship game, is fully healed and not presenting any lingering issues. If that is the case, then in my opinion, Beck will be the best QB the Irish will face all season. He has enough arm talent to make every throw and has plenty of experience under his belt. If there is one area that could maybe be exposed by a defense as vicious as Notre Dame's, it's Beck's propensity for putting the ball in harm's way.

Although Beck displays a good overall level of processing, one thing that stood out while going through last year's film was how often he would lose a defender who dropped into coverage late or rotated after the snap. In the above clip, the strong side linebacker falls into Zone Coverage, and Beck never really senses him. He is able to undercut the deep in-breaking route by the slot WR and force the interception.

In a similar fashion above, the safety for Texas begins the play creeping into the box, but once he keys that it is play action, he bails deep and runs right underneath the in-cut route from the motion WR. Beck never gets eyes on him, and it again ends up as an INT for the defense.

In the above clip, Beck stares down his WR too long, and the middle linebacker from Alabama reads his eyes and can make a break on what is another in-breaking pattern. In this case, it only ended up as a pass break-up and not a turnover, but if the MLB was a half step quicker, it could have easily been a pick-six.

This situation popped up multiple times throughout last season, and I think Notre Dame would benefit from mixing up coverages and dropping defenders into different areas late post-snap, and testing the eyes of Beck.

Another area Notre Dame could look to take advantage of is Beck's ball security when he is trying to maneuver in the pocket or extend plays. When Beck breaks the pocket, he does a good job of keeping his eyes downfield to try to find an open WR, but in the clip above, you can see he sometimes becomes careless with a loose grip on the ball. The rusher continues to pursue Beck and is able to punch the ball out and force a big turnover.

Against Ole Miss, Beck really struggled with ball security. The offensive line did not do him any favors, as you can see the Left Tackle gets thoroughly beaten in the above clip, but because Beck does not have a solid two-hand grip on the ball, the blindside hit jars it free, and it turns a bad play into an even more costly one.

Again, here, as Beck slides up in the pocket, he does not sense the pressure, and has a loose handle of the ball, which results in another fumble.

If the pass rush for Notre Dame can get home on Beck, that is a win in itself, but they might want to emphasize attacking the ball and testing Beck's ball security.

I would say the last big thing that stood out to me on Beck was his efficiency, and sometimes over-reliance on back shoulder throws.

The ball could not really be thrown any better in the above clip. The outside WR is going against one of the best cornerbacks in the SEC last year in Maxwell Hariston. The WR takes an outside release, and Hariston is in phase the whole way, so the WR was not going to win vertical, but Beck throws with elite timing and allows his WR to come back to the ball - and even with the excellent position by Hariston, he really has no chance to make a play on the pass.

Where I think things get interesting is the way Beck sometimes leans on this throw even when it is not the most effective option. In a "had to have it" moment vs Alabama towards the end of the game, the outside WR for Georgia clearly has a step on the defensive back who was in Off Coverage and turned late. If Beck throws the WR upfield, it is a touchdown (assuming the WR caught it), but instead, Beck opts for the back shoulder throw, which forces the WR to come back through the DB, who he had already beaten to try to make the catch.

There were numerous other instances where Beck throws the back shoulder pass when his WR is thinking something else. The defensive backs for Notre Dame need to be on high alert for this throw and make sure they are getting their heads turned around to be in position to make plays.

LT - Markell Bell

Most college football analysts peg Miami to have one of the best offensive lines in the country this upcoming season. A lot of those predictions lie in part to the projected potential of Markell Bell, who will be the blind side protector for Carson Beck. Bell only logged two starts at Left Tackle vs P4 opponents last year, but saw action in twelve games overall, and the staff at UM is excited about his upside.

Bell is a massive 6'9" and 350 pounds with a lengthy wingspan. The majority of reps I saw of players trying to beat him with power just didn't work out. Bell has very good anchor ability and can really stall out pass rushers trying to just run through him. If there is any area that could leave him exposed, it is against true speed rushers. In the above clip, you can see a Wide 9 look from the Virginia Tech rusher. Bell is not able to get good enough depth on his kick step, and the Tech defender is able to bend around him and flatten to the QB for the sack.

In the same game vs the same rusher, you can see Bell is just not able to get the proper hand placement for his block because of the defender's agility and pad level. He comes dangerously close to a hold, and basically had to let him go to avoid a penalty. The play itself still resulted in a touchdown for Miami, but it was not a good rep for Bell individually.

At 6'9", it is not easy to play with bend and leverage, but Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal said it was something that they worked on a lot with Bell in camp. The staff feels comfortable, but it remains to be seen how much of an improvement was made. Notre Dame has some freaky athletic edge players like Bryce Young and Boubacar Traore, who should try to utilize some speed maneuvers when they find themselves lined up across from Bell.

Slot WR - Malachi Toney/Tony Johnson.

It is not certain who will get the first snaps at Slot WR for Miami in the opener, but Toney and Johnson both figure to see the field, and in Miami's Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson's system, whoever that is will see plenty of targets. Dawson is one of the better OC's in the country and led Miami to the No. 1 total offense in 2024. The QB and top six pass catchers from that team have moved on, but I don't expect the offense to take too much of a dip in 2025. Dawson likes to feature the slot WR, and that position has led his teams in both receptions and receiving yards the last four years (2 at Miami, 2 as OC for Houston). Malachi Toney is a true freshman who has received plenty of praise throughout the offseason. Tony Johnson is the more veteran player who transferred in from Cincinnati, where he recorded 449 yards and 6 touchdowns after spending his first three seasons at FAU.

The safety for Syracuse does a poor job in the above play, but the design of the play is what I want to focus on. A lot of what Miami does revolves around opening the middle of the field for the Slot WR to be able to pick up YAC after the catch. It is Man Coverage across the board with a single high Safety. The Slant-and-Go from the second inside WR makes the safety start to cheat to that side and allows Xavier Restrepo to run a simple Post Route and have nothing but open field in front of him.

Another thing Miami likes to do is these natural rubs with their route combos to try to free their playmakers up. The outside WR takes an inside release to try to pick the Nickel Back while the slot WR runs a double move up the sideline. On this particular play, the refs caught the pick and threw the flag, but it is something that popped up multiple times when I studied their offense, and they got away with it plenty. Notre Dame will need to do a good job switching off and not allowing themselves to be knocked off their assignment.

Double moves are also a big part of their offensive playbook. Here, the outside WR runs his initial route inside, which draws both the linebacker and the cornerback to him. The slot to the bottom of the screen runs a Corner Route, which draws the safety away, and because the outside WR times his double move so well, the middle of the field is wide open for him. Notre Dame benefits from having one of the best secondaries in the country, but their eye discipline will need to be on point all night to avoid giving up big plays.

There is a lot of eye candy in Shannon Dawson's scheme as well. Something Miami did very well all year was set up these fake screens to try to get defenders to crash so they can work in routes behind them. At the snap, Xavier Restrepo takes a step back and looks to the QB as if he is waiting for the ball, the WR on the hash hesitates off the line and sells it like he is going to block. You can see that makes the Louisville defender bite just enough on the screen that he gets out of position, and the outside WR is able to run a simple slant right into the open window.

Here it is again vs Georgia Tech. Restrepo takes a step back to signal WR screen, the Slot WR does a perfect job of coming off the LOS slow and selling that he is going to block for the screen, which makes the outside corner for Georgia Tech bite hard, and leaves a big window for Cam Ward to hit the in-breaking WR. It's very well-designed stuff, and it's going to be a big-time chess match between Shannon Dawson and Chris Ash all night.

Notre Dame, by all accounts, should have one of the best defenses in the country in 2025, but they will not be afforded any time to start slow and get acclimated to a new season with a team like Miami being their first opponent. The talent is undeniable, but this game is going to be about discipline and assignment football. If the Irish defense can play up to the standard that has been set, then every game will be winnable.

Click to Join! - https://www.facebook.com/groups/legionoftheleprechaun