Hurricanes plan busy bye week after ‘wacky’ September

The Hurricanes have a busy schedule of practice, recruiting, school work and team activities planned for their bye week.

The Hurricanes wrapped up their non-conference schedule with a blowout win over Temple on Saturday, giving Miami its first 4-0 start to a season since 2017.

Now the Hurricanes have a bye week, and the team has a chance to recuperate and prepare for ACC play. Although UM does not have a game this week, that does not mean the team will be spending their time relaxing.

“The bye week is — man, there’s so many ways that it’s important,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said after UM’s win on Saturday. “… Great month of September. Came out of it 4-0. Took care of business. Certainly, you want to use the bye week to get healthy but you want to use the bye week to get better. There’s a balance there.”

Some of the tasks ahead for Miami’s players are routine, like making sure they take care of their coursework after a busy September schedule.

“No. 1, you’ve got to make sure to take care of schoolwork,” Cristobal said. “We had a Thursday night game, we had a Friday night game, right? We were on the road, we were at home. We’ve had a wacky month, right?”

On the practice field, the Hurricanes will spend time going through “‘Canes-on-‘Canes” work before they start preparing for their next game, which is at home against Georgia Tech on Oct. 7.

Van Dyke said many young players will get chances for reps in practice this week. So far this season, the Hurricanes have been running a youth movement. They lead the ACC with 887 snaps for true freshmen, according to Pro Football Focus.

“We go more like ‘Canes-on-‘Canes, just get better each practice we have,” quarterback Tyler Van Dyke said. “We’ll probably start a little bit of Georgia Tech stuff, but it’s more going to be just working on ourselves and just getting better.”

The open week also gives the Hurricanes’ injured players a chance to recover in time for ACC play. Miami has been missing three key players — safety Kamren Kinchens and defensive linemen Akheem Mesidor and Branson Deen — since UM played Texas A&M on Sept. 9. Leading running back Henry Parrish Jr. and starting center Matt Lee suffered injuries against Temple, as well.

“I think this break is good because there’s some guys out,” Van Dyke said. “(UM can) get some guys healthier.”

The Hurricanes staff will also use this week of practice to evaluate where the team is at and how they need to adjust their strategies for the ACC schedule.

“You want to self-scout to see what you’re doing, where your tendencies are,” Cristobal said. “Make sure that you could evolve as an offense and a defense, and find the things you need to work on and get better and some things to throw out, some things to add.”

Off the field, the team will work on staying “connected” and spending time in the South Florida community, Cristobal said.

“It’s important that we continue to get more connected as a team, as coaches and players, because that’s probably been the most valuable thing we’ve done since January,” Cristobal said. “This team has become tighter. It’s become more self-motivated, driven, and we’ve got to continue to enhance that. So we’re going to spend some time together, and we’re going to spend some time in the community. That’s really important, too. We get one bye week. We get a chance to show our faces and our community’s important to us, and we want to make sure that they know that, that they feel that from us.”

Miami will also dedicate plenty of time this week to recruiting. Cristobal and assistant coaches were traveling around the country on Monday to visit prospects, according to 247Sports.

“That never stops,” Cristobal said after the Temple game. “That never will stop. Nice itinerary set up for the staff. I’m sure they’re dying to see it on the plane.”

Miami hosts Ga. Tech at night

The Hurricanes return to action on Oct. 7, and they will get to play under the Hard Rock Stadium lights.

Miami’s home game against Georgia Tech will kick off at 8 p.m., the ACC announced Monday. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.

The Hurricanes beat the Yellow Jackets 35-14 in Atlanta last year.