In Part 1 of the 2023 Miami Hurricanes Opponent Preview Series, I will preview the Miami (OH) Redhawks, our opponent at Hard Rock Stadium on September 1st (Friday Night).

Chuck Martin, head coach of the Miami (OH) Redhawks, continues to produce at a high level. The goal is to make it to the MAC championship game, which he has done twice in nine seasons, most recently in 2019, but to take the program to three bowls in four seasons, with the 2020 campaign being the exception, is historic. The Redhawks went to three consecutive bowl games from 1973-1975, winning all three. This year's team is expected to make it the school's second consecutive three-in-a-row and the first time in five seasons that it has gone to four in a row.

While the RedHawks have not been very good offensively, the same cannot be said on the defensive side of the ball and they should be even better on both sides of the ball this year partly due to their offense returning its star QB, Brett Gabbert (Brother of Blaine Gabbert), who coming off a 2021 season with 26 touchdowns and just six INTs. Gabbert started the 2022 season with four TD passes with no INTs before being sidelined by a shoulder injury. Gabbert is the veteran star, but Aveon Smith brings more of a running element to the offense. Smith rushed for 553 yards last season.

Their leading receiver, Mac Hippenhammer, is gone after a couple of great seasons. The RedHawks have a relatively small receiving corps coming back, with Miles Marshall, Kevin Davis, and Nate Muersch. Muersch is a 6-5 215-pound hybrid tight end/wide receiver.

However, their Offensive line continues to not be able to get out of its own way. After losing several key players to graduation and through the transfer portal, Their O-line will be relatively intact this year. The addition of OT Sam Vaughan, who missed most of last year with an injury, is a great sign. The running backs will have to step up to fill the void left by Miami’s stagnant ground game. Although Kenny Tracy is a step up in size, Keyon Mozee has been effective enough to be Miami’s top running back with 471 yards per game. The offense may have some concerns, but there’s little to worry about with a loaded defense coming off a MAC conference leading finish in scoring defense vs the run. Although, their pass rush hasn’t been great in recent years, but that’s about to change with almost all the starters back on their front six. The best pass rushers in the MAC are Brian Ugwu (3.5 sacks) and Corey Suttle (2.5 sacks), and they’ll be rotating together to form one of the MAC’s best fronts.

LB Matt Salopek can do it all. He's not that big, but he's held up incredibly well against the run (second on the team in tackles for loss) and he can play behind the line of scrimmage. It's likely going to be up to redshirt freshman Camden Rogers to take over for Ryan McWood, who lead the team with a team-high 135 tackles. The secondary plays a big role in this D, with five of the eight leading tacklers coming from the back end of their Defense, specifically in their secondary. Their top corner John Saunders has moved on to Ole Miss, but the rest of their starters are back, including tackling phenom Michael Dowell. Safety Jacquez Warren is also back, and there are some potential all-MAC players in this group.

The thing Miami (OH) has to do this year is put the ball in the hands of their backs. If this feels like a broken record about rushing the ball, that's because it probably does. The Redhawks rushed for a season-low 3.8 yards a carry and did not reach 2,000 yards. But when they ran the ball, they won. To emphasize this point, they went 5-1 when they ran for 120 or more yards and 0-6 when they did not. Since 2018, they have gone 16-0 when they ran for 185+ yards.

My season prediction for the RedHawks is 7-5. From a Canes perspective, We cannot look ahead to A&M, it will need to and I believe will be able to handle business.

In Part 2, I will talk about the Texas A&M Aggies.