2013 Pre-Season Preview: Miami (OH) Redhawks

2012 Record: 4-8 (3-5 in MAC)

Head Coach: Don Treadwell (8-16 at Miami, 6-10 in MAC)

Last Bowl Game: 2010 Season GoDaddy.com Bowl: Beat MTSU 35-21

Stadium: Yager Stadium in Oxford, OH (capacity = 24,286)

Home Field Advantage: ranked 42nd out of 55 mid-major teams

Schedule Glimpse:

2013 Schedule Link

Out of Conference: 8/31 at Marshall, 9/7 at Kentucky, 9/21 vs Cincinnati, 9/28 at Illinois

Toughest Conference Home Games: 11/5 vs Bowling Green, 11/19 vs Buffalo

Toughest Conference Road Game: 10/26 at Ohio, 11/13 at Kent St, 11/29 at Ball St

Statistical Snapshot:

2012 Statistics Link

Stats to Fear: allowed 37 sacks (last in MAC), allowed opponents to convert on 46.95% of third downs

Stat to Cheer: gave up only 36.9 penalty yds/game (1st in MAC)

Advanced Stats (Football Outsiders 2012 FEI Ranking): 112th out of 124 teams

Personnel:

Phil Steele's Returning Starters: Offense: 8, Defense: 7, Special Teams: 2

Key Defensive Returnees: LB Chris Wade (128 tackles, 8 TFL), S Brison Burris (81 tackles), CB Dayonne Nunley (63 tackles), DT Austin Brown

Key Offensive Returnees: QB Austin Boucher, WR Dawan Scott (57 rec, 7 TD), TE Steve Marck (27 rec)

Top 2013 Recruits: ATH Heath Harding, OT Randy Heideman, S Jared Murphy, FB Grant Miemiec

Verdict:

So far Don Treadwell has led his alma mater to back to back 4-8 seasons finishing with identical conference records of 3-5 in each season. Over the last two years, Treadwell has had Miami in the upper echelon of the MAC in terms of recruiting. Is this the year that Treadwell takes some of that talent and translates it into wins?

Last year, the Redhawks had the MAC leader in passing yards and passing TDs (three way tie with Akron's Dalton Williams and Jordan Lynch). This year that QB, Zac Dysert, is in camp with the Denver Broncos. Senior Austin Boucher will take over at QB. Boucher only threw 13 passes last season but in 2010 he led the Redhawks to four straight victories (including the MAC Championship Game and the GoDaddy.com bowl game). Miami only ran the ball about 40% of the time last season but they do return both of their leading rushers from the RB position in Jamire Westbrook and Spencer Treadwell. Leading WR Nick Harwell (68 rec, 8 TD) has transferred to Kansas. That loss hurts but the Redhawks do still have WR Dawan Scott (57 rec, 5 TD) and TE Steve Marck (27 rec, 5 TD). The OL was very experienced last season, yet the team averaged just 3.06 ypc and allowed 37 sacks. The OL will once again be experienced as they return three players with double digit starts and five players who have started six games or more.

The strength of the Redhawks line will be in the middle and if they can keep Austin Brown healthy. Add in Wes Williams and Mwanza Wamulumba at DE and the line could be the strength of the defense if they play up to their capability. SLB Chris Wade leads the way at LB and sophomores MLB Kent Kern and WLB Josh Dooley look like they have secured starting spots coming out of spring practice. The secondary returns four of their top five tacklers and are led by Dayonne Nunley. The wildcard of the bunch is the unproven sophomore Jay Mastin, who won the job this spring..

I think this team will continue to improve as they have potential on both sides of the football. The problem for the Redhawks is that they have a fairly tough out of conference schedule (at Marshall, at Kentucky, vs Cincinnati and at Iliinois) and they will play some pretty tough competition in the MAC (vs CMU, at Ohio, vs Bowling Green, at Kent State, vs Buffalo and at Ball State). I would not be shocked to see this team come in at 4-8 for a third straight season. If they can catch Kentucky or Illinois early I think they could parlay that into bowl eligibility because of the favorable start to their conference schedule. But for now, let's stick with 4-8.

Previous 2013 Pre-Season Previews:

C-USA- FAU, FIU, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Southern Miss

Independent: Army, Georgia State, Idaho, Navy, New Mexico St, Old Dominion

MAC- Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Kent State, Ohio, Toledo,UMass, WMU

MWC- Air Force, SDSU

Sun Belt- Arkansas State, North Texas, South Alabama, Texas State, ULM, WKU

The American- Houston, Memphis, Temple, UCF, USF

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2013 Pre-Season Preview: Miami (OH) Redhawks

Alan Draper

Alan Draper

Alan Draper