OXFORD, Ohio— Nearly everyone inside the Dauch Indoor Sports Center assumed Kenny Tracy had the football.
 
Even Miami head coach Chuck Martin.
 
"I'm standing five yards behind the play; I'm watching the running back, and I thought Kenny had it," Martin recalled later. "Kenny ran out, I'm watching Kenny, and then all of a sudden Kenny turned and didn't have the ball!"
 
Instead, it was quarterback Dequan Finn who was racing untouched up the right sideline after a perfectly-executed read play Tuesday morning for an easy touchdown. Put simply, it was the kind of fake that might very well have caused the broadcast camera to follow the wrong player for a few moments if it happened in a televised game.
 
In a later team period, Finn got loose again on a similar play, pulling the ball back from his tailback at the last instant and keeping it himself for a huge gain (one which included a big downfield block from Keith Reynolds).
 
"Our timing is jelling together," Finn said. "With the feel that we both have for the game and understanding our leverage…the more practice we have together, we're just getting better at it."
 
"Our quarterbacks in general do a really good job of riding the back long enough to try to put the defense in a [difficult] situation," Martin explained. "It's not a quick read; it's a slower read. It was different for DQ [Finn] when he got here, because that's not how he'd run it in the past…there's all sorts of different ways to coach it.
 
"He's really bought in to, 'Hey, the longer we mesh, the harder it is on the defense to figure out who's going to end up with it.'…And obviously, when have you have a dual-threat guy like that, those plays are even more dangerous, because you've really got two running backs back there."
 
"It's a combination of two good players, and the defense obviously respects both of us," Tracy added. "We just play off the defense, and they can't be right. If the edge gets short, the quarterback's going to pull it and he's going to run outside. If they play the quarterback, they're going to give me the ball and I'm going to read the blocks from my linemen and hit the hole.
 
"It's really a win-win regardless of how we go."
 
Miami is scheduled to practice again on Wednesday morning, August 6 in Oxford.
 
 
DEFENSE DOMINATES DRILL: While Finn's first long keeper helped turned the tide for the offense after a slow start to practice, the Miami defense was stellar in the first few periods (starting with one-on-ones near the goal line and carrying over into 11-v-11 action).  The red team forced incompletion after incompletion after incompletion in the red zone, with the defensive players on the sideline eventually starting a soccer-style 'Oh, oh-oh-oh, oh, oh' chant while jumping up and down to encourage their teammates between the lines (arguably the most energy either unit has had through the entire camp to date). The defense mobbed Toney Coleman Jr. after the final snap of that particular period ended with yet another unsuccessful pass attempt.
 
After practice, Martin praised the leadership of veterans like Eli Blakey (who stood out with multiple physical plays on the day), Silas Walters, Nasir Washington, Josh Lukusa, Oscar McWood and Corban Hondru.
 
"We've always had great leadership, but those guys are as good as we've ever had, if not better," Martin said. "These guys have played in games, and they know that there are guys who have no idea what it's going to be like at Wisconsin. But they know what it's going to be like at Wisconsin.
 
"They're feeding off each other…and everybody's chipping in and making plays. It was a good team effort…
 
"They've gotten [our defensive] guys trying to play the game the right way all the time."
 
 
IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: Is there anything better than watching a wide receiver and defensive back locked up in an ultra-physical battle where both the offensive and defensive guys hit the ground…but then immediately either help each other up or exchange high-fives on the way back to get ready for the next rep? Noticed that multiple times in the red zone 1-on-1s.
 
 
HUDSON LANDING: Chris Hudson has had quite a journey from his time as a Miami wide receiver to becoming the RedHawks' running backs coach in 2025.
 
"I graduated from here [in 2020] and started coaching middle school because I wanted to get into it," Hudson said. "Then I coached high school the year after that, Division III the next year and Division II in West Virginia after that."
 
Hudson returned to Oxford in 2023 to work for Martin, even though there wasn't a paid role available on the staff at the time. He eventually became a graduate assistant working with the Miami offense, and was promoted to running backs coach this spring.   
 
"It's been great for me as far as the experience goes," Hudson said today. "I'm a wideouts guy and had only coached wideouts, so it's my first year coaching a new position. But for me, it's a great learning deal. I'm able to learn different things: How the offensive line blocks, how we protect, what our protections mean and where our running back has to go on certain protections. I'm expanding my knowledge as a coach, which is important if I want to be a coordinator or a head coach someday."
 
 
INSIDE SLANT: We asked Hudson to break down the running back's responsibilities on a read play like the one Finn turned into a score this morning. "It's the quarterback's decision, so we just have to do our job no matter what," said Hudson. "We have to take our steps and stay on our aiming point...
 
(Different running plays have different aiming points for the RedHawks' backs: For instance, "It might be the leg of the guard or leg of the center – it depends on where you want it to hit," Hudson elaborated. "We have our guys press those aiming points to set up the linebackers…we want the linebackers flowing over the top as much as they can. That creates the cutback lanes.")
 
"We're going to do those same things every single time. And if we have big plays, whether it's us or the quarterback [carrying the ball], we're going to be fired up."
 
 
HIT OF THE DAY: Malcolm McCain read a jet sweep perfectly and got into the backfield to make a textbook tackle for loss that could be heard from the sideline (even louder than the thunderstorm that was going on outside!).
 
 
EYEBALL EMOJI: True freshman cornerback Adrian Walker Jr. had an excellent practice with multiple pass breakups, including a one-on-one rep where the 5-foot-10 Belleville, Mich. native soared high in the air to knock the ball away from 6-6 tight end Brendan Loftus.
 
 
HIGH PRAISE: Within the space of five minutes —in separate interviews— both Martin and Hudson had the exact same thing to say about redshirt freshman tailback Josh Ringer.
 
"He's like a younger version of Kenny Tracy," Hudson said. "He's a smart kid and he shows up every day with the right mindset."
 
"The game makes sense to [Ringer]," said Martin. "He's very cerebral, very calm, and very confident – ahead of his years. He's like Kenny Jr., because the thing about Kenny Tracy is he's so good at everything: Run, block, catch. 
 
"Ringer is following in those footsteps. He can do all the jobs; we can put him anywhere and he understands it."
 

Season tickets and single-game tickets are on sale now! Call (513) 529-4295 for more information. Miami Football will host its annual Kickoff with the Community on Saturday, Aug. 16 at Yager Stadium. Gates open at 10 a.m.; more information is available here.

Miss a RedHawk Report? Catch up on fall camp with our daily MiamiRedHawks.com notebooks: Aug. 2  |  July 31  |  July 30  |  July 29