Reports: Miami set to lose wide receivers coach

Multiple reports have identified Miami Hurricanes wide receivers coach, Rob Likens, is planning to join the SMU staff. He’ll join former Miami offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, who is now the head coach for the Mustangs.

Likens just finished his second season with the Miami Hurricanes as their wide receiver coach. Under his watchful eye in 2020, Hurricanes’ wide receiver Mike Harley enjoyed a breakout season, hauling in 57 passes for 799 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches. He was one of the best receivers in the ACC and earned third-team All-ACC honors.

During more than 25 years of college football coaching experience, Likens has been an offensive coordinator at four schools, including for two seasons at Arizona State, where he was also the quarterbacks coach.

While he was at Arizona State in 2019, Sun Devil quarterback Jayden Daniels threw for 2,943 passing yards, while tossing 17 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

Likens spent time at Arizona State with current Florida head coach Billy Napier. Losing Likens to SMU is a big loss for the Hurricanes, but it was expected with new head coach Mario Cristobal coming into South Beach.

In 2013 and 2014, Likens spent time with the California Golden Bears, where the passing game set records. In 2013, led by quarterback Jared Goff the Golden Bears set single-season records for passing yardage (3,977), pass completions (368), and pass attempts (622). A few of the receivers Likens worked with at Cal were: Chris Harper, Bryce Treggs and Kenny Lawler.

A look at one of the receivers and a dynamic quarterback Likens could work with at SMU in the future

A couple of weapons Likens will have to work with while at SMU will be signal-caller Preston Stone and wide receiver Dylan Goffney. Stone was rated as a four-star quarterback in the class of 2021 and one of the top-ranked signal-caller prospects the Mustangs have ever landed.

During his storied career at Parish Episcopal (Dallas, Texas), Stone tossed for over 13,100 career passing yards, while throwing in 145 touchdown passes.

Stone and Goffney could be an exciting connection to watch for years to come for Mustang fans.

That will likely be a bit down the road, however, as the Mustangs still currently have Tanner Mordecai, one of the nation’s top signal-callers. As a junior, Mordecai threw for 3,628 passing yards, while tossing in 39 touchdown passes and just 12 interceptions.