What Duke’s Manny Diaz gets credit for as he returns to face Canes. And UM personnel notes

A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes heading into Manny Diaz’s return to Miami as Duke’s coach on Saturday (noon, ABC):

▪ In Year 3 of the Mario Cristobal era, the UM coach has lifted the Canes’ talent level (and the team) to heights that it never achieved during Manny Diaz’s three seasons.

But Diaz, who went 7-5 in his final year before being replaced by Cristobal, deserves credit for landing five key players on this 8-0 team: receivers Xavier Restrepo and Jacolby George, tight end Elijah Arroyo, left tackle Jalen Rivers and kicker Andy Borregales.

And Cristobal and his staff should be commended for keeping them here and out of the transfer portal; the decision to keep George after his string of 2023 personal foul penalties has paid off.

Restrepo ranks 14th in the nation in receiving yards (710) and 40th in receptions with 43. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. rates him the nation’s No. 10 receiver prospect.

He’s on track to break UM’s career receiving yardage record; his 2,427 yards ranks third in UM history, behind only Santana Moss (2,547 yards) and Reggie Wayne (2,510 yards)

Arroyo leads all FBS tight ends in yards per catch at 19.4 (16 for 310). Kiper has raised him to fourth among all draft-eligible tight ends.

George has contributed 27 catches for 354 yards (a 13.1 average) and four touchdowns.

Though he plays left tackle primarily for Miami, Kiper has Rivers as the No. 10 guard in this draft class. He has permitted just one sack and five pressures in 132 pass-blocking snaps, with about 20 of those snaps coming at left guard.

Borregales is 40 for 40 on extra points and 11 for 12 on field goals. Kiper ranks him the fourth best draft-eligible kicker.

Among others who remain from the Diaz era: guard Ryan Rodriguez, who was playing well before an early season injury (he’s expected to return late this season), safety Brian Balom (who has played no defensive snaps this season) and linebacker Chase Smith (52 defensive snaps).

This list doesn’t even include key members of the 2022 recruiting class — Wesley Bissainthe, Matthew McCoy, Anez Cooper and Isaiah Horton — because Cristobal had to close the deal on those players when he took the job in mid-December 2021.

It’s no secret that Cristobal believed Diaz didn’t leave him with much talent; he has made comments about the enormous project he inherited.

“I [sat] in [Cristobals’s] office before [his first] season,” Jimmy Johnson told WQAM’s Joe Rose in 2022. “He said, ‘Coach, you won’t believe we don’t have talent in these areas.’ For the University of Miami not to have talent in certain positions is crazy. I [plead] for people to be patient with him.”

Per numerous sources, multiple on-field football coaches/staffers privately blamed the results of Cristobal’s first two seasons (5-7, 7-6) mostly on a lack of talent inherited from the previous staff as well as issues with the team’s culture. Not surprisingly, Cristobal didn’t mention Diaz during his news conference or TV show this week.

With the perspective and benefit of time, it’s clear that Diaz’s final roster wasn’t nearly good enough to contend nationally, though some of his players are contributing elsewhere (such as Brashard Smith at SMU).

Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, a Diaz portal additional who stayed for one year with Cristobal, became a second-round pick. Safety Kamren Kichens, who played two years for Diaz, became a third-round pick. But those two were the only top three-round NFL Draft picks from Diaz’s final team at UM.

The fact that more players from Diaz’s final UM team in 2021 are playing at other schools instead of UM is a reflection not only of the transitory nature of college football today, but how this UM coaching staff viewed many of the players on that team.

This roster is far better equipped to play with college football’s powerhouses, though the defense still has much to prove.

All that said, credit Diaz for signing a handful of players who are instrumental to this UM team’s success.

▪ Here’s a fascinating stat from ESPN’s Max Olsen: The Canes have gone three and out just once in their last 82 possessions. For the season, they have punted after three offensive plays just three of 92 times; that 3.3 percent, which would be the lowest FBS percent since 2004.

▪ Though Cam Ward had a season-low 208 passing yards against FSU, ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid said: “The most promising sign from Ward is that he didn’t get impatient and avoided the miraculous heroic throws outside the structure of the offense. Scrambled to run or simply threw it away when nothing was there. The run game was great, and Miami leaned on that in this matchup.”

Reid and Kiper are among those who rate Ward behind only Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders among draft-eligible quarterback prospects.

But The Athletic’s Dane Brugler said LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier “is my early QB1. He’s far from flawless, but he actually does NFL QB things on tape.”

▪ Damien Martinez, who has been superb the past two games (including 15 rushes for 148 yards against FSU), is now tied for 15th among all FBS running backs (minimum 92 carries) in average yards after contact (4.03).

Martinez has done a far better job breaking tackles the past two weeks than early in the season.

“I think people don’t realize he was kind of a late addition, never had a lot of time with us until camp,” Cristobal said. “It’s a different scheme, a different language, different verbiage. The guys were messing with him saying `I thought you were wearing an Oregon State uniform’ [against FSU]. He’s running hard, running angry. He’s ready to explode.”

▪ Cornerback OJ Frederique remains the standout of this loaded freshman class.

He allowed just one completion in six targets, for seven yards, against FSU. For the season, Frederique has a sterling 53.4 passer rating in his coverage area – nine completions in 19 targets for just 74 yards.

Four other freshmen logged double digits in snaps against FSU: Defensive tackle Armondo Blount (14), edge player Booker Pickett (13 snaps), defensive tackle Justin Scott (12) and safety Zaquan Patterson (12).

“Zaquan gets better and better, Robby Washington is getting better in practice,” defensive coordinator Lance Guidry said Monday, with Washington having moved from receiver to cornerback earlier this season. “[Freshman safety] Dylan Day is playing really well… We are progressing the young guys.”

▪ Quick stuff: Among freshmen on offense, only tight end Elija Lofton played double-digit snaps against FSU (11). But Jo Jo Trader (six snaps) had a big catch for 11 yards…. The start time for UM’s Nov. 9 game at Georgia Tech will be determined next week.. ABC assigned Joe Tessitore and Jesse Palmer to Saturday’s UM-Duke game at Hard Rock Stadium.