Hurricanes Resume Spring Practice
March 21, 2000
CORAL GABLES, FL — The University of Miami football team continued spring practice this afternoon with a two and a half hour workout in helmets and shoulder pads at the Greentree Practice Facility on the UM campus.
Following pre-practice warm-ups, the team broke off into their respective position groups to work on fundamental drills. After the position workouts, the team went to offensive and defensive drills followed by blocking drills. The practice ended with full-squad eleven-on-eleven drills.
Following practice, head coach Butch Davis spoke the wide receivers and the chance that the young players are getting.
“We’re starting to get a real good assessment of Kevin Beard, Andre Johnson and Anthony Johnson. They’re getting more work now than they had a chance to get in the fall. They’re doing some good things.”
Davis also talked about the offensive line and the battles for spots.
“Some real interesting battles have developed. Bryant McKinnie at left tackle with Greg Laffere. Bryant is real putting the heat on Greg, and Greg is really playing outstanding. Sherko Haji-Rasouli battling at left guard to try and become one of our starting five. One of the real pleasant things has been Brett Romberg at center.”
Later, Davis also spoke about the team’s defense.
“Right now, the group that is having the best spring is the secondary. Mike Rumph, Leonard Myers, Al Blades and Ed Reed, those guys are just suffocating our receivers.”
Coach Davis also mentioned trying Dan Morgan at middle linebacker.
“Defensively, we moved Dan Morgan to middle linebacker. We felt from an experience and expertise standpoint that this is something we should experiment with. Whether that’s a permanent, we don’t know.”
Finally, Davis noted the team’s depth.
“There’s probably more depth than we’ve had in any particular spring practice. The defensive backs and wide receivers have surprising depth, we have some good players out there at every position.”
The Hurricanes will resume practice on Wednesday, March 22. Practices are no longer open to the public until CanesFest.
Spring Practice will conclude with CanesFest and the annual Spring Game at the Orange Bowl on Saturday, April 8. This year’s CanesFest will feature the unveiling of the Hurricanes new uniforms for the 2000 season. Events for CanesFest will include season-ticket select-a-seat, “Ask the Coach” session, Fun Zone interactive area and an autograph session following the game with Hurricane players and coaches.
For ticket information for the upcoming 2000 college football season, please contact the Hurricane Ticket Box Office at 1-800-GO CANES or (305) 284-CANES in Dade County.
