Hurricanes offense has many ways to attack

For Miami it all starts with their quarterback Brad Kaaya.

While the Hurricanes are going to run the football in Mark Richt’s pro-style attack, it is Kaaya that will trigger the offense and has the experience to be a weapon putting the ball down the field.

“He’s a very experienced guy and has great weapons around him. He throws the ball really well and he can make any throw,” defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. “He’s big he sits in the pocket and does a great job running the offense.”

But he does more than that.

Kaaya is the all-time leader in passing yardage at Miami, which is saying something considering some of the names that have played there over the years. For his career, the junior has thrown for 9,686 yards and with 65 touchdowns, good for third in program history.

The California native is on the verge of eclipsing 10,000 passing yards which has been done only three other times in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference. This season, Kaaya has tossed for 3,250 yards and 23 touchdowns with only seven interceptions on the season.

And it’s his decision making that makes him such a difficult quarterback to prepare for according to redshirt junior linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton.

“He tries to minimize those mistakes so you can’t capitalize on them. He has a decent ball down the field and he can make passes down the field,” he said.

But it’s not just Kaaya, it’s who surrounds him. In the backfield, the Hurricanes boast one of the premier running backs in the conference and a former West Virginia recruit in Mark Walton. The sophomore has rushed for over 1,000 yards on the season with 14 touchdowns while proving to be a weapon catching passes out of the backfield as well. There is depth behind him too with several options.

While Miami will look much more like BYU or Youngstown State offensively than what West Virginia has become accustomed to in Big 12 Conference play, the Hurricanes don’t lack weapons to get the football to when they elect to throw the ball either. Still, West Virginia must be prepared to see classic formations and the use of two-back as the Hurricanes will try to establish the run.

“Get in the I-formation a little bit more than what we’ve seen and run power, run some tug, run some different stuff at us that we haven’t seen a lot,” Gibson said.

Senior wide receiver Stacy Coley leads the Hurricanes with 708 yards and 9 touchdowns while Ahmmon Richards broke Michael Irvin’s freshman record with 46 grabs for 866 yards and 2 touchdowns this season. But perhaps the biggest challenge comes at tight end where the Hurricanes have quite the mismatch in redshirt sophomore David Njoku, who will be used at various spots.

Miami will line Njoku up at wide receiver as well as on the line and there are few tight ends in the country that have the skill set he does down the field.

“You’ll watch him and you’ll see him in there making catches and think that’s a wide out,” Gibson said. “No that’s a tight end. He’s a weapon and can hurt you in a lot of different ways.”

The key for West Virginia will be to win on early downs and force Miami out of its element to throw the football in uncomfortable situations into a unique style of defense. But much easier said than done.