Football Practice Report - Wednesday, March 19

March 19, 2003

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – The Miami Hurricanes football team completed the second day of spring practice Wednesday afternoon at Greentree Practice Field on the University of Miami campus. The Hurricanes will take Thursday off before they continue spring practice Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. at Greentree.

Some of this year’s spring practice concerns center on finding replacements of key players in the defensive line, offensive backfield and at receiver. At the conclusion of the practice, head coach Larry Coker noted that he was encouraged by the play of several players in those three areas.

“I’ve really been impressed by some of our interior people (on defense), especially Vince Wilfork, Santonio Thomas and Orien Harris,” Coker said. “They’ve been excellent. I’ve also been pleased by what I’ve seen of Talib Humphrey (at fullback) and Jason Geathers (at receiver). Both of them have shown some improvement.”

The Hurricanes worked out in shorts and shells again on Wednesday. The weather was muggy with temperatures in the high 80s and an occasional breeze. Wednesday’s practice was the second of 15 sessions that will conclude on Thursday, April 10.

The ballyhooed battle for the starting job at quarterback continued, with the four candidates (Brock Berlin, Derrick Crudup, Marc Guillon and Kyle Wright) equally splitting snaps with the first team offense as is the plan for this spring.

“It was a pretty average day,” Coker said when asked if any quarterback stood out. “Nothing really special happened today. It’s just a great opportunity for them to show us what they can do and for us to evaluate them.”

All spring practices are closed to the public with the exception of the Friday, March 28, workout at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale and the Spring Game slated for Saturday, April 5, at the Orange Bowl.