The Rivals.com publishers that cover the seven football programs in the ACC Coastal Division have put together quick pieces looking ahead at the schools they cover to help fill the void of the cancelled spring practices across the conference.

We will run the series in alphabetical order and today we look at Miami.

Note: The North Carolina piece will be posted on our premium message board, not the front page.

The new offense / QB: New offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee brings his fast-paced spread attack to Miami, and it will be run by Houston transfer multi-threat QB D'Eriq King. The possibilities have Cane fans fired up, especially considering the lackluster performance on this side of the ball in recent seasons. If UM's offense can get things going, there's no reason the team can't win the ACC Coastal. King (50 career TD passes at Houston) in particular could make this offense a major force in the ACC since he can turn nothing into something with his spectacular athleticism.

Manny Diaz: Turning the program around or on the hot seat?: Nationally many might project Diaz as being on the coaching hot seat given Miami's horrible three-loss finish last season that included getting upended by FIU and Louisiana Tech. A 6-7 season had many fans calling for Diaz' head. But the silver lining to giving Diaz at least one more year is he really made a lot of strides this off-season by bringing in Rhett Lashlee to install a spread fast-paced offensive attack along with new coaches at wideout and offensive line, two positions that underachieved last year.

So instead of a nuclear reboot, there’s key retooling that could at least pay immediate dividends in 2020. And Diaz didn't stop there. He brought in legendary Cane Ed Reed as his chief of staff to provide another perspective on how to get this thing turned around and added key transfers in QB D'Eriq King from Houston, DE Quincy Roche from Temple and PK Jose Borregales from FIU. All are expected to play key roles in getting the Canes far more than the six wins the team had a year ago.

The offensive line: This is a line that gave up 51 sacks last season, and if it's again a sieve it'll be that much harder for Rhett Lashlee's new offense to get going. Yes, QB D'Eriq King can get himself out of trouble a lot, but not unnoticed was he was sacked 10 times in the four games he played at Houston last season. A good sign is that new line coach Garin Justice is shaking things up from last year, moving guys around and trying to find the best combination. John Campbell at LT got decent reviews in the first week of spring, and if he can be a fit there that allows Zion Nelson (who struggled as a freshman starter at LT last season) to move to RT with DJ Scaife at guard and Cory Gaynor at center (Scaife and Gaynor are returning starters). If Navaughn Donaldson gets back to form off injury, he'd be a good answer at right guard. Otherwise that will be a spot that really needs an upgrade. Manny Diaz has said the team might try to bring in an OL transfer, so stay tuned on that front. But the line has to get better or this will be an up-and-down season on offense.

LB Shaq Quarterman: Quarterman was a leader of the defense at middle linebacker and also was a guy everyone looked up to in the locker room. Along with the loss of fellow LB Mike Pinckney the Canes have big holes to fill at this spot and hope guys like Sam Brooks and Avery Huff can step up to help out Zach McCloud and solidify play here. Miami can’t afford to have a leadership void on defense, and as of now it’s unclear just what the leadership might look like on game day on the defensive side.

RB Deejay Dallas: With talent returning in Cam Harris, fans might not see Dallas' early departure for the NFL as a big deal. But the issue here is that, behind Harris, there's really no one proven. It was an OK 1-2 punch here last year with Dallas-Harris, but you can't expect Harris to carry the entire load and he's had some injury issues. Miami has to find an answer with one of the freshmen, Jaylan Knighton or Don Chaney, since the only other scholarship guy here is Robert Burns. Not that Burns can't get the job done, but he's not the most agile or fastest back out there. Miami needs a real game-breaker type back in games for Rhett Lashlee's fast-paced spread attack to be at its best. Watch out for Knighton in that regard.

CB Trajan Bandy: Bandy's decision to turn pro early was a bit of a head scratcher given his lack of height and the possibility he will go in the late rounds or perhaps wind up a free agent. Regardless, the fact that he's not returning means UM loses its best lockdown corner from a year ago and leaves the most experienced guys here as Al Blades and DJ Ivey. Ivey was beaten several times and lost his starting job early in the season, and while Blades' stats from last year look good he was working in as a second-teamer a lot in the first week of spring. If a younger guy like Te'Cory Couch or Christian Williams can step up that would make us feel a lot better about cornerback. Right now we list this area as just as much a concern as linebacker (where the team lost starters Shaq Quarterman and Mike Pinckney).

Manny Diaz: Okay, this one sounds a bit weird since usually you wouldn't point to a head coach as a key returner. But with tons of heat coming his way (and the way of AD Blake James) after last season's 6-7 result, there was a real chance Diaz would be forced out. Instead not only was Diaz retained, but he seems to have thrived in the off-season and turned around perception of fans with the hiring of a coordinator that will run an up-tempo spread attack, new coaches at OL and WR, the hiring of Ed Reed as Chief of Staff along with enticing three key graduate transfers to come on board: QB D'Eriq King, DE Quincy Roche and PK Jose Borregales. With a relatively easy schedule, Diaz has a good chance at a strong season if his team lives up to its potential.

DE Gregory Rousseau: There's no returning end in the nation you can clearly say is a better pass rusher than Rousseau, who had 19.5 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks in part-time duty this past season. With tremendous size, long arms and explosive ability, Rousseau has the hallmark of a high end NFL first-rounder, something the Canes haven't seen in a while. Other teams will have fits trying to slow him down.

LB Zach McCloud: Could we have pointed to a top player like TE Brevin Jordan, RB Cam Harris or even up-and-coming safety Gurvan Hall here? Sure. But McCloud's return is key for this team not because he's a solid talent but moreso because he had the presence of mind to take a redshirt last season in order to come back this year as a senior when Shaq Quarterman and Mike Pinckney are gone. He's the only experienced guy among the linebacker corps, and he can play WLB or MLB and is a solid performer who has 138 career tackles. Without McCloud the linebacker situation would be a real unknown. Now we can at least say there's going to be one guy you know can be relied upon to know what to do and more than likely make a play.

Offensive coordinator/QB coach Rhett Lashlee: Lashlee brings a hurry-up spread attack that Hurricane fans have never seen before at UM. Given the wide range of talent on offense from transfer QB D'Eriq King to TE Brevin Jordan and a stable of talented backs/receivers, there could be a quick turnaround for Miami's woeful offense of recent memory.

Transfer QB D'Eriq King: King threw for 50 TDs in his Houston career, redshirting last year after throwing 36 TDs in 2018. In the mold of a Lamar Jackson, King is a former receiver/kick returner which shows his explosive ability with the ball in his hands. He looked good in the first week of spring practice and the sky is the limit for what he can do in Rhett Lashlee's new hurry-up spread offense. A limitation is his height (the shortest of UM's QBs at well under six feet) and a question mark remains his downfield accuracy.

Transfer DE Quincy Roche: Roche had 13 sacks last season at Temple and will be a formidable tandem with DE Gregory Rousseau (15.5 sacks) on the other side. Roche had 26 sacks in his three seasons of play to this point and has the speed and power to present a real problem for any offensive tackle. Having a fierce pass rush is exactly what the Canes need to help hide some issues at linebacker/cornerback, and Roche provides that. He is slated to start opposite Rousseau with former 5-star Jaelan Phillips providing quality depth. That's a scary end trio.

Since 2003 Miami's only had one season with 10 wins (2017), which is kind of hard to fathom for a program that was used to competing year in and year out for national titles. It's also hard to fathom the Canes lost to FIU and then were shut out by Louisiana Tech at the end of last season. So why might 2020 be different? Well the offense has been a major problem the last few years, and that was hopefully addressed by bringing in Rhett Lashlee at coordinator and a proven multi-threat QB in transfer D'Eriq King.

The defense may have lost talent at linebacker, but has to hope the nation's best group of defensive ends can help mitigate that. And the schedule is as easy as it has been in a while, with the only non-Coastal games coming against Wake Forest, Florida State, Michigan State, UAB, Wagner and Temple. With Michigan State going through its own issues, really FSU is the only non-Coastal game where talent-wise the Canes wouldn't have a measurable advantage. And FSU is of course very beatable.

Ten wins? Or more? As crazy as it may sound off last season's problems, it's not out of the question.