Defense Dominates Thursday Practice
Sept. 9, 1999
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The eighth ranked University of Miami footballteam conducted a 90-minute workout in full pads on a Thursday afternoon atthe Greentree Practice Facility. With the workout, the Hurricanes continuedpreparation for their matchup with No. 2 Penn State at the Orange Bowl onSeptember 18.
Following the practice, Head Coach Butch Davis cited the defense asthe practice’s highlight.
“We did some things today that I think will help us,” said Davis.”We had a major blitzing period today and it was dominated by the defense.They (the defense) really did an outstanding job. They flew around and theymade some plays. We did very little work toward Penn State, and instead didthings to get our guys used to game speed. We continued to work on specialteams. We’ve worked an awful lot on punt return, punt coverage, kickoffreturns, kickoff coverage, and extra point pressure.”
In specific, Davis praised the ability and progress of startingstrong side linebacker Michael Smith. Smith, who has taken on a more activerole this season, draws comparisons to former Hurricane strong sidelinebacker Winston Moss (1983-86) from Davis.
“Now that we’re doing some things with Michael, it’s giving him achance to be an impact player very similar to Winston Moss”, said Davis.”There are a lot of similarities to Michael Smith and Winston Moss. They’reboth 6-4, exceptionally fast and have great feet.”
Running back Najeh Davenport (torn ACL, right knee) is out for theyear. There were no new injuries to report.Miami returns to practice with a workout at 3:30 p.m. on Friday at theGreentree Practice Facility, before taking the weekend off. Practices areclosed to the public.
PUBLIX SPREADS CANES FEVER: For the 16th year, Publix Supermarkets and theUniversity of Miami have joined together for the Canes Fever Program. CanesFever is an eight-week merchandising program that generates funds for theUniversity of Miami Scholarship Fund which benefits all 18 of UM’s varsitysports. As of September 1, 144 vendors have joined the program. Publix willadvertise and display specially marked Canes Fever items from these vendors.A portion of the proceeds from the participating vendors of the Canes Feverprogram will be contributed to the University of Miami Scholarship Fund.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Below is the schedule of media opportunities leading up to the Miami-PennState game on September 18. Interviews following practices will be verylimited, thus media is encouraged to take advantage of the set interviewopportunities described below. Those desiring an interview with a playernot listed below should contact UM Sports Info to make arrangements for anappearance at one of the set times. Outside of the times mentioned below,there will be no interviews from September 13-18.
Monday, September 13 –
All Day: Player Interviews Upon Request
(Interviews must be set up 24 hours in advance)
12:20 p.m.
Head Coach Butch Davis on BIG EAST Conference Call
Call 913-981-5520 to participate
Tuesday, September 14
1:00 p.m.: Press Conference
Football Meeting Room in Hecht Athletic Center
– Coach Butch Davis, Quarterback Kenny Kelly
– Additional players will be available upon request
(call 24 hours to make request)
3:30 p.m. – Practice
Open first 30 and last 15 minutes*
Wednesday, September 15
noon – 1:30 p.m.:
Players Available for One-On-One Interviews
@ Football Meeting Room
– Quarterback Kenny Kelly
– Fullback Mondriel Fulcher
– Wide Receiver Andre King
– Offensive Tackle Joaquin Gonzalez
– Defensive Tackle Matt Sweeney
– Defensive End Michael Boireau
– Linebacker Michael Smith
– Safety Ed Reed
– Safety Al Blades
– Kicker Andy Crosland
3:30 p.m. – Practice
Open first 30 and last 15 minutes*
Thursday, September 16
11:30 a.m.- noon:
Coach Butch Davis Available for One-On-Ones
@ Football Meeting Room
noon – 1:30 p.m.:
Players Available for One-On-One Interviews
@ Football Meeting Room
– Running Back James Jackson
– Tight End Daniel Franks
– Wide Receiver Reggie Wayne
– Wide Receiver Santana Moss
– Center Ty Wise
– Offensive Guard Richard Mercier
– Defensive Tackle Damione Lewis
– Linebacker Nate Webster
– Linebacker Dan Morgan
– Cornerback Leonard Myers
3:30 p.m. – Practice
Open first 30 and last 15 minutes*
* Coach Davis will address the media following each practice.
