UM’s Diaz, a former Seminole, learned from old-time FSU greats. More UM-FSU connections

Some may have forgotten that Miami coach Manny Diaz, 46, earned his undergraduate degree from Florida State in 1995.

Others may not know that Diaz was a football graduate assistant for the Seminoles in the late 1990s and earned an FSU national title ring for the 1999 season.

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, assigned to the ABC broadcast of Saturday’s Florida State at Miami game, agreed wholeheartedly with UM broadcaster Don Bailey Jr. this week regarding Diaz’s job “of getting the ship turned in the right direction’’ for UM.

Herbstreit, by the way, was calling the TV broadcast (as well as College GameDay) from his home in Tennessee because he revealed late Friday afternoon that he had come in contact with someone with coronavirus — though at that point he said he had tested negative twice this week.

“Absolutely,’’ Herbstreit said of the job Diaz has done, agreeing that Diaz “clearly addressed” and “needed to address’’ several aspects of the program, which finished a disheartening 6-7 last season. Those improvements include dipping into the transfer portal for players such as quarterback D’Eriq King, defensive ends Jaelan Phillips and Quincy Roche, kicker Joe Borregales and offensive tackle Jarrid Williams, as well as hiring offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee to bring in the spread, and offensive line coach Garin Justice and receivers coach Rob Likens.

“Manny is a great guy and another guy you watched his career grow,’’ Herbstreit said. “He learned from so many great people that he was able to work with throughout his career as an assistant and a coordinator — another guy that had that temperament and you could see him becoming a head coach.

“I remember years and years ago whenever I’d go around Florida State when he was really young you had [long-time defensive coordinator] Mickey [Andrews] there and [long-time defensive assistant] Chuck Amato, and he was like a shadow to those guys,’’ Herbstreit said.”Of course he followed Chuck up to Raleigh [at North Carolina State].

“He’s had a great run. He’s been able to watch a lot of things and learn. And the adjustments he made from one season to the next has helped him. But to me it’s about culture, too. You know those glory years in the 80s and 90s, it wasn’t just about the swag and the dancing.

“Like when I watched Ed Reed up close, it was about a competitive spirit that was unparalleled anywhere in the country and as a senior and junior you handed that down to the freshmen. And the freshmen became sophomores and the sophomores became juniors and they kept handing it down. It was an accountability. You talk to a Jonathan Vilma or any of those guys that were an alpha in the glory years. They took pride in the program, not the trash talking, but the program and handing down that legacy to the next guy at their position. They’ve got to get back to that. They’ve got to recognize the importance of that.

“I’m hoping they’re taking the steps because this is bigger than winning games. It’s bigger than beating Louisville. It’s about getting back to that brotherhood of winning and accountability and holding each other accountable and bringing back those teams that other teams feared because of that tight bond they had.

“It wasn’t about going to the League — we can deal with that later. Right now it’s about destroying the team that’s on the other sideline. They’ve had their moments, but it’s been very erratic and very inconsistent.

“To me, if I’m Manny I’m working on that as much as tweaking the offense or doing this or that. It’s about that culture and getting that back. I know he’s trying to get it back.”

UM-FSU connections

It’s no secret one of the reasons this rivalry is so intense is that many of the players grew up together playing with each other from youth ball to high school. The Seminoles have 18 players on their roster who grew up in Palm Beach, Broward or Miami-Dade counties. Of those 18, eight of them are on the two-deep depth chart.

The Hurricanes don’t have any players with Tallahassee listed as their home town.

UM starting linebacker Bradley Jennings Jr., however, has a strong connection to the Seminoles, as his father Bradley Sr. was a linebacker for the 1999 Seminoles national title team. The younger Jennings will soon have another connection to FSU. Branden, his brother, is committed to the Seminoles and now plays for Sandalwood High in Jacksonville.

Bradley Jr. wears No. 44 for the Canes, the same jersey number his dad wore at FSU. Bradley Sr. played for Miami Carol City High in the mid-1990s.

Aussies can punt

Another fascinating UM-FSU connection: Each starting punter is from Australia. UM’s Lou Hedley, one of the top punters in college, is a 6-4, 230-pound redshirt sophomore who came to the Canes last season out of City College of San Francisco, but whose home is in Mandurah, Australia.

Hedley entered the FSU game ranked fourth nationally in punting, with a 45.8-yard average.

FSU’s Alex Mastromanno is a 6-1, 206-pound freshman from Melbourne, Australia. He punted three times in the Seminoles’ opener for a 48.3-yard average.

West Coast tight ends

Miami tight end Brevin Jordan, a 2019 finalist for the Mackey Award, was getting most of the attention for the FSU at UM game, a reporter told Seminoles tight end Camren McDonald this week.

McDonald, a junior from Long Beach, California, and Jordan, a junior, from Las Vegas, are friendly acquaintances.

“My mindset has to stay the same,’’ McDonald said. “I can’t focus on the outside variables. I’m a feature player on my own offense, so I can’t worry about what’s going on in Miami’s offense because we’re not even on the field at the same time.

“But Brevin Jordan is an outstanding tight end. We have a pretty good relationship as well, being that we’re both from the West Coast. We’ve known each other since high school. I wish him all the best, but I don’t really focus on what he’s doing, even though I do notice he’s a great tight end and all credit to him for what he’s doing up to this point of the season.’’