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Redshirt freshman Danny Green runs for a short gain. / Photo: Mike Smith

Miami fans in attendance at the annual Red and White Spring Game Saturday at Yager Stadium got preview of RedHawks football under coach Mike Haywood. They saw some things old, some things new, a few schemes borrowed, and a special (teams) shoe.

Offensively, quarterbacks Daniel Raudabaugh and Zac Dysert did the most damage while managing their units.

Raudabaugh, a senior who started for most of last season under then-coach Shane Montgomery, qualifies as part of some things old. He completed 11 of 14 passes (145 yards), including a 20-yard TD strike to Chris Givens. The junior led receivers with nine catches for 110 yards.

Senior QB Daniel Raudabaugh rolls out as he looks for a receiver. Photo: Mike Smtih

Dysert is part of some things new for Haywood’s ‘Hawks. The redshirt freshman connected on 11 of 15 tosses for 129 yards.

According to Haywood, the spring work and scrimmage finale will allow the coaching staff to create a tentative depth chart heading into fall practice. With their spring performances, Raudabaugh and Dysert, respectively, figure to hold down the top two spots among four quarterbacks on the roster. Both appeared more confident and efficient running their new offense than during intrasquad competition earlier this spring.

Recalling the opening day of spring drills, Dysert said, “Our minds were just going everywhere that first day. We didn’t know what was going on.”

Dysert indicated practice repetitions and scrimmage experience have helped all the players learn and, eventually, grow more confident in their new systems. As far as his own position is concerned, he thinks the new terminology and schemes are empowering. “It’s a lot easier to read the defenses this way, (and) it gives us more options,” Dysert said.

Simplifying things was also a goal for offensive line coach Bill Mottola, whose unit has an abundance of young players. “We try to spend time on trying to keep things as simple as possible, so that our guys aren’t thinking (so) much about who to block as how to block,” he said.

Mottola is also emphasizing another theme that Haywood has embraced from Day One on the job. That theme is toughness.

“There are a lot of different kinds of toughness – (like) being able to play though the highs and lows during a scrimmage or game,” Mottola said. “When (things) start to go bad, they start to snowball and get worse if you don’t have the mental toughness to be able to fight through it and say, “This is not going to happen again. We are going to fight through this.”