Manny Diaz on ‘We Want To Play’, “It’ll Take Work”

Following Miami’s 5th fall camp practice on Tuesday night, Manny Diaz addressed local reporters.

Diaz discussed the uncertainty and chaos going on regarding the state of college football following the Big Ten and PAC-12 both announcing cancellations of a fall season.

After discussions of canceling the fall season Due to COVID-19 concerns became public on Sunday, many players spoke out with the hashtag ‘We Want To Play’.

Manny Diaz said, “What that really means is that we want to do everything we have to do in order to play. It’s easy to say we want to play. But it has to be a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week guideline, in terms of how we practice our behavior. It’s fun to want something to happen, but there’s a way about going about it and they understand the duty that comes with that.”

Another takeaway from his presser was more info on the academics. Diaz said that the players would be taking a hybrid schedule when classes resume in Coral Gables. This allows for smaller class sizes and the ability to socially distance in classrooms.

Diaz praised the leadership of the University’s President Dr. Julio Frenk. Frenk has a background in public health, previously serving as secretary of Health of Mexico and professor of public health and international development at the Harvard School of Public Health

Diaz said, “What our players and our staff can control is number one staying healthy with all the methods and protocols that we have in place here, and show an example that we can play football and keep this virus out of our building.”

Diaz dismissed the possibility of a ‘bubble’ on a college campus.

Diaz said that for his team, “No one has decided that we’re going to play a season, what we’ve decided on is we want to have a chance. That’s what we’ve done. We’re not saying we’re playing a season. We’re saying let’s see if we can navigate this thing here week by week and give ourselves a chance to play a season.”