Mike Haywood knows how difficult it is to play in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Before he became the coach at Miami (Ohio), Haywood spent eight seasons as an assistant coach at Florida’s conference rival LSU.
After visiting Gainesville four times as a coach, Haywood is well aware of the difficulties his team will face when it goes up against No. 4 Florida on Saturday at noon.
“We talked to our guys about going in and embracing the atmosphere,” he said. “We are doing things in practice to give us an advantage, like silent cadence and different things so we really don’t need cadences on offense so we can get the ball snapped appropriately.”
The Redhawks are coming off of a one-win season, but quarterback Zac Dysert has instilled hope.
The sophomore signal-caller threw for 2,611 yards last year in 11 games, while also racking up a career-best 426 passing yards against Temple last season. His play has led others to compare Dysert to Miami (Ohio) great Ben Roethlisberger, but his coach isn’t going that far.
“Due to his knowledge of the offense, [Zac] has become a leader on the field and off the field,” Haywood said.
“He has the potential and as long as he stays on track – I wouldn’t compare him to [Roethlisberger] because he has a couple of Super Bowls – but he is progressing on that line where he can be a quality NFL football player.”
However, Haywood wants to take pressure off Dysert by developing a rushing attack early in the season. The good news is the team’s leading rusher, Thomas Merriweather, returns this year. The bad news is he only accumulated 291 yards in 2009.
“Offensively, we are coming together a lot better,” Haywood said. “Dysert is leading us at quarterback, Merriweather at running back and we are still trying to solidify our offensive line at this point.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Redhawks will try to improve after allowing 34.2 points per game last season.
They return middle linebacker Jerrell Wedge, who led the Mid-American Conference with 18.5 tackles for a loss last year.
Still, Florida running back Jeff Demps could be in line for a big day Saturday as Miami (Ohio) struggled to stop the run in 2009, allowing 186.9 rushing yards per game.
“Florida is a team with tremendous speed and we have to make sure we find a way to slow this football game down and limit their possessions,” Haywood said.
