Miami Hurricanes football update on Wake Forest road game and scholarship numbers

Will they or won’t they?

The University of Miami football team, significantly hit recently by a COVID-19 outbreak, still won’t know until next week’s coronavirus test results whether they will be able to travel Friday, Dec. 4, for the Dec. 5 game at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Hurricanes athletic director Blake James was interviewed Friday on WQAM by longtime UM broadcasters Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey Jr. and expressed tempered hope that the Canes will be able to play the game.

“It’s a situation where as we sit here today from a Miami perspective I think we’ll be ready to go next Saturday against Wake Forest,’’ James said. “Obviously you can’t control a pandemic so you never know what will happen.”

Keep in mind that Wake Forest (4-3, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) is also in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak and had to cancel what would have been its Nov. 21 rivalry game with Duke this past Saturday. The Demon Deacons’ next scheduled game is Miami.

“I’m not sure where Wake Forest is,’’ James said, “but in talking with their athletic director earlier this week we’ll have another football game.”

If there’s anything college football fans have learned this season it’s that “earlier this week” feels like years in terms of what the future will bring. If they follow the usual ACC protocols, the Canes would get tested three times next week, including before they leave for their flight next Friday. The Demon Deacons also would get tested three times.

Wake Forest last played Nov. 14 at North Carolina, a 59-53 Tar Heels victory. UM (7-1, 6-1), ranked 10th in both the College Football Playoff rankings and AP Top 25 Poll, last played Nov. 14 at Virginia Tech, a 25-24 Canes victory.

Parameters of whether to play

James was asked by Bailey Jr. what goes into the decision to play or not to play— “the broad spectrum parameters.’’

James first cited “the institutions feeling comfortable with where their program is at in dealing with the pandemic.’’

He then said there were some “specifics’’ in those parameters, such as position groups and how many healthy scholarship players a team must have in order to play the game.

“As a league we settled on seven scholarship offensive linemen as a number,’’ James said. “There are a few quantifiable categories you look at and a few [with which] you just have to be comfortable. We saw that play out in another game in our league last week up in Tallahassee between FSU and Clemson, where the FSU chief medical officer was of the opinion it wasn’t in the best interest of their kids to be in a game with a team that had somebody who tested positive and been symptomatic and those types of things.

“Again, it’s one you have to have the confidence of your medical people and the confidence of the people on your team — the coaches and probably most importantly the kids. They’re the ones out there playing during a pandemic. So, generally it’s an institutional decision looking at all the information you have and deciding it’s right to go forward.”

Manny Diaz back Monday

UM coach Manny Diaz, who announced publicly on Nov. 20 that he tested positive for COVID-19, spoke with reporters Wednesday and said practice will resume Monday but that he didn’t know how many players and coaches would be available. UM had to reschedule its final three games because of the COVID-19 situation.

After Wake Forest, the Canes are supposed to face CFP No. 19 North Carolina (6-2, 6-2 before Friday afternoon’s game) on Dec. 12 at Hard Rock Stadium and conclude the regular season at home Dec. 19 against Georgia Tech (2-5, 2-4) — unless UM qualifies for the ACC title game the evening of Dec. 19.

Scholarships and recruiting

The early signing day period for football this year is from Dec. 16 to Dec. 18, with traditional National Signing Day on Feb. 3. Since the NCAA announced that all current players can maintain their same eligibility status if they decide to return in 2021, James was asked how that would affect the Canes’ scholarship numbers. The NCAA normally allows only 85 scholarship players per team, which includes the 25 maximum new scholarships that can be handed out yearly.

“Basically, this year is a do-over,’’ Bailey Jr. said. “Number wise what if you’re at 85 and you sign a maximum of 25 and everybody comes back,’’ then “you’re sitting at 110 players.’’

“How is this going to get straightened out’’ in the “long run?”

James’ response, which included a scenario, as an example, if fifth-year senior quarterback D’Eriq King returns: “A lot of teams usually aren’t at 85 part of that goes to 25 initial offers you can make. Usually most teams aren’t at 85. I don’t remember exactly where we’re at right now. I want to say just under 80. So, we’re going to have 25 offers.

“The seniors that decide to come back won’t count against that 85 number. So, look at the most obvious one. If D’Eriq King were to decide that it’s the right decision for him to come to the University of Miami for the 2021 football season, his one scholarship doesn’t count against our number. Some of it will be taken care of from that perspective — that you have the seniors that don’t count against your number.”

James also spoke about some players usually deciding to leave early and enter the NFL Draft, and others who might want to transfer.

“I don’t think it will be as big of an issue as you illustrated, although I do think there could be some roster management issues,’’ he said. “The first year probably won’t be as difficult...Years 2, 3 and 4 will be more difficult because at that point you do count all those numbers and as you said you’re getting a do-over this year so this freshman class basically will double in size when we sign those 25 guys either here in December or at the signing date in February.

“I do know we’ll get to 25 we’re bringing in now, whether all of them will be through signing and some of them through transfers, I think that’s still to be seen. There will be some management challenges but probably not to the level that there potentially could be... because of natural decisions that are made and the NCAA giving us the ability for kids in their fourth or fifth year to not count against their numbers.”