OXFORD \u2014 Spring practice has delivered its usual blend of optimism and unknowns for the Miami football program.<\/p>\n
RedHawks coach Chuck Martin is guiding a program working to pair recent momentum with a roster in flux.<\/p>\n
The RedHawks close spring workouts Saturday, April 26 with their annual spring showcase, offering the first extended look at a team reshaping much of its offense.<\/p>\n
Miami heads into the 2026 campaign following one of the steadiest runs of Martin\u2019s tenure, producing just one losing season in the last eight years.<\/p>\n
The RedHawks won the Mid-American Conference Championship Game in 2023 and reached the title game in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n
Defense and experienced leadership have anchored that success, helping stabilize a program that once struggled for consistency before Martin took over following the 2013 season.<\/p>\n
This spring, the spotlight shifts to the other side of the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cState of the offense? State of confusion might be one of the states we\u2019re in,\u201d Martin said with a laugh. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a bunch of new guys. Freshman quarterback, a sophomore quarterback, a transfer quarterback. Running backs are young. Receivers are mostly new.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quarterback remains the most unsettled position, with no clear frontrunner emerging through 11 practices. Martin pointed to the competition among returner Thomas Gotkowski and transfers David McComb (Kansas) and Caleb Heavner (Fort Hays) as a positive development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas is a young kid who got thrown in there and got some experience,\u201d Martin said. \u201cDavid\u2019s really talented. Caleb\u2019s played the most football of the group and is probably the calmest right now. We\u2019re excited about all three.\u201d<\/p>\n
Questions stretch beyond the quarterback room, though.<\/p>\n
Miami returns four main contributors \u2014 Eric Smith, Jacob Schorsch, Greg Smith Jr. and Kris Manu \u2014 along the offensive line, but Martin said that unit must elevate its performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were good for first-year starters,\u201d Martin said. \u201cBut they weren\u2019t at the level we expect. They\u2019ve got to make that jump.\u201d<\/p>\n
At receiver, only a few familiar targets \u2014 including Lynel Billups-Williams, Braylon Isom and Keith Reynolds \u2014 are back, leaving opportunities for a deep but largely inexperienced group. Right now, D’Shawntae Jones is the only returning running back who saw consistent playing time last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day it feels like a different guy makes a play,\u201d Martin said. \u201cThen the next day, that same guy struggles. But that\u2019s part of having a young group.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result has been a spring marked by flashes and growing pains, typical of a team integrating new pieces.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you watch certain plays, I feel pretty good,\u201d Martin said. \u201cIf you watch others, we can\u2019t beat anybody. That\u2019s probably how a lot of teams feel right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with the offensive questions, Miami\u2019s recent consistency offers a steady base. The RedHawks have leaned on defensive structure and a strong culture to remain a factor in the MAC, and Martin believes that identity remains intact.<\/p>\n
The task heading into the fall will be building enough cohesion on offense to match that foundation \u2014 especially with an early test at Pittsburgh to open up the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even know who\u2019s going to play at Pitt right now,\u201d Martin said. \u201cIf you told me to name it, I\u2019d be rolling the dice.\u201d<\/p>\n
That candor reflects Miami\u2019s position this spring \u2014 a team still coming together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OXFORD \u2014 Spring practice has delivered its usual blend of optimism and unknowns for the Miami football program.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,21496,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-871670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-miami-university-redhawks","10":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116446815633888417","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}