The man tasked with turning around the Hurricanes offense shared his thoughts on 560 AM this morning.

The basic message of coordinator/QB coach Rhett Lashlee?

That his offense believes in “spreading the field, making plays in space and playing fast.”

He adds “We want to play fast, we want to play physical. You have to be able to run and throw the ball to win in college football. I’m from Arkansas, but I grew up when Nolan Richardson was winning national championships at Arkansas (with “40 minutes of hell”). We can have something a little unique to us that gives us an advantage - at the end of the day the more plays you have the more chances your players have to have that ball and score.

“We’re in the shotgun probably 90 percent of the time, but the longer you hold the ball the more sacks you have, more bad things happen. In our passing game - let’s get it out of his hand, get it to playmakers. That doesn’t mean you won’t throw down the field (either).”

Of the issue with QB consistency and if those jobs are wide open again, Lashlee said, “Look, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, you have to have consistency at the quarterback position. Playing fast, spreading the field, putting our playmakers in space, you have to have a quarterback who is almost like a point guard on the basketball team. The great thing about it, it’s not just the quarterback, it’s at every position. I get to meet with the guys for the first time on Sunday (when the team officially reports for the next semester). What I’ve told the ones I have talked to so far - it’s a clean slate. I don’t care what happened last year, I’m focused on what we can do moving forward.

“For us to be good on offense and make the improvements we want to make we have to have a lot more consistency at the quarterback position.”

Regarding the third down issues on offense at UM for several years now, Lashlee said, “Get the ball past the first down marker - you have to have a good quarterback that’s productive, but at the same time everything is built off execution. You can’t even go fast if you don’t execute. … it sounds good to say we want to play fast, but there’s a lot that goes into that. There’s a lot of hard work ahead of us. We have to execute at a high level. Success breeds confidence, and confidence allows you to be successful on third down, in clutch moments, in the red zone. Guys have to have an identity, have done stuff over and over again to have good habits, execute when the pressure is on.”

Lashlee said his offense won’t be difficult for players to pick up.

“The thing we take pride in with our system is it’s a player friendly system,” he said. “It’s not complicated. We want our players to play fast, and by that I mean reacting, not thinking. When kids are reacting their abilities are taking over. When they’re thinking they’re playing slow, guessing. Our system is designed to be very simple for guys on our team but to present as complicated for the defense. … We want to dictate to them, put pressure on the defense.”

With rumors that Butch Barry might be let go, will new coaches come on board on his side of the ball?

“That’s something coach (Manny) Diaz and I are in the process of finalizing,” Lashlee said when posed that question.

The bottom line with a couple of months till spring practice?

“I can’t wait,” Lashlee said. “There’s a lot of work ahead. This is brand new to our guys. We were successful the last couple of years … we have some really good players (at Miami). They’re hungry, want to win, they know what we’re capable of here.

“There’s incredible opportunity here.”

* Lashlee’s message when it comes to recruiting?

“There’s a lot of young men down here that have a lot of ability, and if they just see an offense they can come in and thrive in they’ll stay home and go to the U,” Lashlee said. “When I was at Auburn we recruited here, there’s a lot of good players down here. … We’re trying to get guys to stay here and put on that U. there’s so much history and tradition here - it’s really exciting to know you can drive up the road and that can help you win a championship.”

* Lashlee said the tight ends will be incorporated heavily into his offense flexing out at receiver and also working as a standard tight end.

“Those guys are the glue guys, the better your tight ends are the more versatile you can be and play fast,” he said. “One minute you’re in a heavy set, next you’re in empty and you’re playing fast. … I’m really excited about the guys we have here at tight end.”

* What does Lashlee see on the current Cane offensive roster?

“I’ve watched all the guys we have coming back, the guys we signed,” he said. “We have a lot of really good recruits coming in. And the guys on the team - look, when things don’t go well at places there’s always a bunch of different reasons why. At the end of the day it wasn’t getting done so it’s our job as a staff to develop relationships with players so they’ll trust us, do what we’re asking them to do, get everyone pulling in the same direction. … and we have to have production at the quarterback position. I do see some guys at least first impression that have a chance to thrive in what we want to do.”

* Lashlee said his mentor when it comes to his style of offense is Gus Malzahn.

“It’s what I know,” Lashlee said. “As a player back in the late 90s I played for Gus Malzahn. … We led the country in total offense, right there in the top. We didn’t have a guy that ran higher than 4.6 - we were tough, fast, executed and it really gave us an advantage. I spent time with Gus at Arkansas, Arkansas State, Auburn, broke off and gone and done my own thing. But there’s still a lot of that philosophy in me. You see what Clemson does, all comes from sort of the same field.”