Jason Taylor on his defensive linemen, including potential breakout players. And UM notes

UPDATED AUGUST 01, 2023 11:48 AM
One prominent local high school coach was mentioning the other day the impressive presence that Jason Taylor carries when he walks into schools as a recruiter.
“He’s really serious and professional; there’s no messing around with him,” the coach said. “He reminds me of an NFL scout.”
Taylor has proven his value as a recruiter in his year plus with UM, and the Hall of Famer is also well equipped to develop an impressive group of young defensive linemen, headlined by second-year defensive end Nyjalik Kelly and freshman Rueben Bain.
One of the big story lines of August camp is whether Kelly can beat out veteran Jahfari Harvey to start opposite Akheem Mesidor. Kelly lined up opposite Mesidor with the starters on Tuesday.
“He had a great spring,” Taylor said of Kelly. “He practiced every practice, has come a long way. Really grew up. He was 17 years old until midway through [last] season. Sometimes when you’re riding him and you have to take a step back and say, ‘the kid is 17, just turned 18’ and some of that youthful energy and not knowing some things kind of caught up with him a little.
“But he learned from it. He has really grown up. He had an amazing spring. Looking for big things out of him. He’s going to be outstanding.”
Defensive coordinator Lance Guidry said Bain will play as a freshman; he had 28 sacks at Miami Central last season and three in UM’s spring game.
“He’s used to playing on a big stage, playing in big games and having competition every day,” Taylor said. “I love the way he goes about his business. He can play a bunch of different spots. His future is very bright at Miami.”
At defensive tackle, UM has one potentially elite player in Leonard Taylor. Purdue transfer Branson Deen is competing with Jared Harrison Hunte to start at the other tackle spot. Deen played the starters, alongside Taylor, on Tuesday.
Leonard Taylor “can be whatever he wants to be,” Jason Taylor said. “He’s that kind of talent. LT will go as far as he wants to go. It’s my job to help him get there any way I can. Very, very talented. Big man, strong, powerful, quick. He has everything you see guys on Sunday have. I was just with him in the lunch room. He’s looking forward to having a big year. We’ll see what happens.”
Taylor said of Deen that he’s “everything as advertised. A pro’s pro. He treats this like he’s a pro. Seeing him here the last two months in the summer time when guys were off, 8, 9 at night, first thing in the morning, doing stuff on his own. He approaches it the right way. He understands his body is his business. I’m really, really glad he’s here.”
It will be fascinating to see what Taylor can do with the other highly-recruited defensive ends, including freshmen Jayden Wayne and Collins Acheampong (who’s injured) and second-year player Cyrus Moss, who has worked this offseason to get bigger.
“I know he had a good summer,” Taylor said of Moss. “Reports we got during time off is he was doing a great job. Cyrus is a talented guy. We’ve all been there [as freshmen], all have to learn and grow up a little bit.”
Taylor -- who was an analyst on last year’s UM staff before being promoted to defensive line coach in the spring -- said the 5-7 season was a painful learning lesson.
“If you lose and you don’t learn, shame on you; it’s a waste of time,” Taylor said. “Every loss is a lesson. We learned a lot of things about who we are, what we need to do. We all learned a lot from last year, and that losing sticks.”
THIS AND THAT
As expected, UM is expected to use multiple running backs as opposed to a bellcow back.
“If you look at that room, we have a good combination of a lot of guys, also a lot of able bodies,” offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “We want to be running back by committee so one guy isn’t taking all that. We can rotate guys in, distribute the runs where one guy doesn’t get worn out.”
Henry Parrish opened camp with the starters. Don Chaney Jr., Nebraska transfer Ajay Allen and freshmen Mark Fletcher and Christopher Johnson are competing.
▪ Guidry said he won’t “mix and mingle” too many players at linebacker.
“I feel good if you go four, but a lot of times just three backers [at middle linebacker and weakside linebacker],” Guidry said. “Five would probably be pushing it.”
Barring injuries, there won’t be as much rotation in the defensive backfield. At least that’s Guidry’s preference going into the season.
▪ We noted last week that backup quarterback Jacurri Brown’s improvement this summer has pleased UM people; he has worked to overcome accuracy issues.
“He probably made as many strides as anybody in the spring, from the beginning,” Dawson said. “Every quarterback has things to work on in their lower body – I want calm feet. … With JB, when he has some quietness to his feet, the guy is super accurate.
“I’m excited to see him in camp. The guy has an extremely dominant trait: he’s big, he’s athletic, has a strong arm. I need to harness all that stuff into what we do on offense. I’m very pleased with him.”
▪ Linebackers coach Derek Nicholson said Wesley Bissainthe would be with the starters for Tuesday’s first practice. But Louisville transfer KJ Cloyd will compete with him. Corey Flagg might, too.
Flagg is expected to lose his starting middle linebacker job to Washington State transfer Francisco Mauigoa.