Al Golden said Monday he's "not interested" in speeding up Miami's offense this coming season.

What he wants is better execution on third down.

"From our standpoint, just being a defensive coordinator, it’s much harder to defend multiple tempos than it is to defend one tempo," Golden said after his team's fifth practice of the fall Monday. "So, I believe in multiple tempos, multiple groupings and then obviously formulating accordingly. From that standpoint, we’re where we need to be going into the first scrimmage [Thursday] and we plan to utilize a bunch of different tempos."

A year after finishing 96th in third down conversion at a 35 percent clip, Miami moved up just one spot to 95 and converted at a 36.8 percent clip in 2014. Where they did improve was in time of possession, moving up from 120th in 2013 (25:58.62) to 79th in 2014 (29:16.54) -- and that consequently helped the defense improve its own total yardage numbers.

"For us, I thought our time of possession was good," Golden said. "I think we needed to convert a couple more on third down, which would have tilted it in our favor. And obviously, if you’re plus in the turnover ratio, that’s going to give you more time. I thought our pace was right where we wanted it to be.

"We mixed it up the way we wanted to. But no, that wasn’t the issue. We needed to convert on third and hold on to the ball more. That would have yielded some more time-of-possession and certainly more ball control."

VETERAN LEADERSHIP KEY EARLY

Asked who has stood out through the first five days of camp, Golden responded: "We’re getting really good leadership from a lot of the veterans right now.

"Guys are drilling down on what they need to improve on. [Safety] Deon [Bush] is a great example of that. He’s much more vocal, much more demonstrative. He’s got really good command right now, so I’m really happy for him and the changes that he’s made.

"[Linebacker Raphael] Kirby was really locked in [Sunday] and [Monday]. [Cornerback Tracy Howard's] had a good mindset. On the offensive side, [quarterback Brad Kaaya's] been doing really well with his command on the line of scrimmage. There’s others. But again, they have a good approach right now. Everyone’s trying to fix a defect."

FOUR RUNNING BACKS SPLITTING CARRIES

Golden said sophomore running back Joseph Yearby, who was suspended for the spring game, has been doing great in camp and has "a great mentality."

Golden said all four running backs -- Yearby, Gus Edwards, freshman Mark Walton and sophomore Trayone Gray -- are in a rotation. Nobody is getting more work than any others right now.

"Let’s say we get eight outside zones a day, or inside zones, whatever it is, we’re trying to get each of them two, irrespective of what line is in there or what quarterback is in there," he said. "We’re trying to make sure they get to see all the different plays. Those guys are interchangeable right now. I think Choc is showing his maturity and his conditioning. He’s running harder and better. And then Mark is really learning it. From that standpoint, we’re just going to let it run and see what happens here in the next 12 days or so."

SPECIAL TEAMS FOCUS: IMPROVING KICKOFF COVERAGE

Golden said the primary competition in the kicking game is on kickoffs and kickoff coverage.

The Hurricanes ranked 117th in kickoff coverage return average (24.57) last year, a drastic drop from a year earlier when they ranked 31st (19.83). Golden said he prefers to have a kicker boot the ball through the end zone for touchbacks rather than kick the ball to a corner.

Sophomore kicker Michael Badgley and junior punter Justin Vogel shared kickoff duties last year and combined for only 23 touchbacks. Former punter Pat O'Donnell handled kickoff duties in 2013 and had 37 touchbacks.

"It was tough at this time last year," Golden said of his kicking and punting situation. "We didn’t know we weren’t going to have Matt Goudis. At this time last year we were hopeful he was going to return. Just thinking he was going to return and get stronger. It didn’t materialize. All of a sudden we were left with three spots – kickoff, field goal and punt – that we were trying to fix. It feels a lot different right now."

Golden said Frank Gabriel and Jordan Butler are sharing the long-snapping duties. "Those guys are mature, a lot more poised than it was a year ago for those two guys, so I’m pleased with that," he said.

Golden said sophomore Nick Linder, redshirt sophomore Hunter Knighton, and redshirt freshman Joe Brown are competing for the short-snap duties.

Vogel is leading for the holder job, but redshirt freshman quarterback Malik Rosier is also getting a look.

> Golden said the competition for the rush end starting job as well as on nickel packages is wide open.

"Trent [Harris] is one of those guys from a coaching stanpoint, Trent gives you what you want every play," Golden said. "He's in great condition. He ran better than ever has. Quan [Muhammad], obviously missed alot of time. He's coming on strong, working hard, continuing to study the game, focusing on the little things. Demetrius [Jackson] is over there as well, and Patch [Scott Patchan]. In the nickel, there's a whole bunch of them competing."

> The Hurricanes will start two-a-days Tuesday. "Two-a-days is easier than a one-a-day," Golden said. "I think we're an hour and 45 in the morning and an hour and 40 all in the afternoon with a big break in between. It's easier to be honest with you. It's easier than to lift and meet, walk through and all that. The guys are surprised always on the first two-a-day how quickly the practices are over. It's going to go quick. If we do a two-a-day, it's going to go quick. We do run game and play action in the morning and then we do our drop back and two-minute stuff in the afternoon."