Miami-Pittsburgh Nears
Nov. 4, 1999
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The 22nd ranked University of Miami football team (4-3,2-0 BIG EAST) held a 90-minute workout in full pads on Thursday afternoon atthe Greentree Practice Facility. With the practice, the Hurricanescontinued preparation for their matchup with Pittsburgh (4-4, 2-3 BIG EAST)on Saturday at noon at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA.
Following the practice, Head Coach Butch Davis concluded that thisweek was productive for the Hurricanes in their preparation for Pittsburgh.
“Practices have gone very well this week,” said Davis. “We’ve donesome things over the course of the week that we think will help ourefficiency. We tried to get into a little bit more contact and into ahigher speed of practice this week.”
Sophomore running back Najeh Davenport and senior linebacker MichaelSmith are both expected to be out for the year with right knee injuries.Sophomore linebacker Sheven Marshall (neck burners) is out for thePittsburgh game. Senior Rod Mack will move into Marshall’s slot as NateWebster’s backup at middle linebacker.
The Hurricanes will hold a walk-thru on Friday morning at the GreentreePractice Facility on the UM campus, before departing for Pittsburgh Airport.
RING OF HONOR: University of Miami athletic director Paul Deeannounces the selection of Hurricane football greats Ottis Anderson, DonBosseler, Bernie Kosar and Burgess Owens for induction into UM’s Ring ofHonor. The four will have their names and jerseys permanently affixed fordisplay on the face of the Orange Bowl’s upper deck at the Miami-Rutgersgame on November 20. Anderson (1975-78) became the first player in Miamihistory to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season (1,266, 1978) and isUM’s all-time career rushing leader. Bosseler (1953-56), a fullback,finished his career with 1,642 rushing yards which at the time ranked secondon the Miami career chart. Kosar (1982-84) guided the Hurricanes to theirfirst of four National Championships in 1983 and set school records for passattempts (416), pass completions (262) and passing yards (3,642) in 1984.Owens (1970-72), who earned All-American honors in 1972 as a defensive back,finished his UM career with 160 tackles and eight interceptions.
The Ring of Honor was established in 1997 as a way to recognize theoutstanding players that have passed through the Hurricane Football Program.This year’s class becomes the second group to be inducted joining the ’97class of Jim Dooley, George Mira, Sr., Ted Hendricks, and Vinny Testaverde.
WEBSTER NAMED DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR SEMIFINALIST: FootballNews has named junior linebacker Nate Webster one of 15 semifinalists forits defensive player of the year award, as selected by the publication’seditorial staff. The award, which will be trimmed to five finalists on Nov.22, will be announced on Dec. 1.
Webster, who is also a semifinalist for the Bronko Nagurski Award (nation’stop defensive player), was selected BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Weekfollowing UM’s 27-23 loss to Penn State on Sept. 18 after recording 20tackles (14 solo), including four tackles for loss and a sack.
Joining Webster as finalists for Football News’ Defensive Player of the Yearare Keith Adams (LB, Clemson), LaVar Arrington (LB, Penn State), Alex Brown(DE, Florida), Courtney Brown (DE, Penn State), Tyrone Carter (S,Minnesota), Na’il Diggs (LB, Ohio State), Deon Grant (DB, Tennessee), JuliusJackson (LB, Nebraska), Corey Moore (DE, Virginia Tech), Julian Peterson(LB, Michigan State), Corey Simon (DT, Florida State), Mark Simoneau (LB,Kansas State), Adalius Thomas (DE, Southern Mississippi), and Brian Urlacher(S, New Mexico).
