There are still so many unknowns about Miami headed into the season.

Who will emerge at running back to replace Duke Johnson? At receiver to replace Phillip Dorsett? At tight end to replace Clive Walford?

Will the offensive line stay healthy and play consistently?

Will the defense be a more dominant group, especially up front?

Yet when you ask coach Al Golden for the biggest question he has about his team, he never even considers a position group. Golden wants to see how his team responds to the intangibles.

"The biggest thing is can we carry our values onto the field, can we play the game smarter and more disciplined?" Golden said. "We were last in penalties a year ago, didn’t protect the ball well enough. Can we carry everything we’ve done in the offseason into the game and essentially unlock our talent? You can have all the talent in the world, but there’s going to be an impediment to that talent when you’re beating yourself or going backward. Can we continue to be consistent? Can we continue to stay focused and eliminate distractions? This team has been good with that. Can we hold each other accountable?

"Really, there’s not a position group I’m concerned about. I’m very confident. Last year, we didn’t know who our quarterback was going to be, we didn’t know who our kicker and punter were going to be. And for all the talent we had, we needed to stay healthy in a couple places and we didn’t, offensive line being one of them. Now, we have a little more depth. We are operating at 80 scholarships, as opposed to 75 or 76, so we’re closer to the max now. We have more depth, our kicking game returns, the quarterback returns, this is most veteran defense we have coming back, so I’m excited."

So put another way, Golden wants to see how the mental makeup of his players holds up throughout the course of fall practice and then into games.

"Everything starting from Jan. 12 was, 'OK, we have to be more unified on and off the field, we have to put the team first, we have to be unselfish. Whatever your role is, execute your role. Eliminate complaining, eliminate the distractions, hold each other accountable,'" Golden said. "You can’t do that unless you have leaders and great teammates. Guys are doing that. Here we go into training camp. There’s going to be adversity in training camp. It’s hot, there’s competition, it starts to boil, guys start to fight. That’s Test No. 1. Test No. 2 is can we play the game smarter? Do we know how to operate in different segments of the field, red zone, third down? We weren’t as good as we need to be in those two areas. The last thing is will you put selfish penalties in front of the team?"

All valid questions. In the ACC last year, Miami ranked No. 11 in third-down conversions, No. 9 in third-down defense, No. 12 in red zone offense, No. 10 in red zone defense and last in penalties. All of that must improve for Miami to have a better year.