Football Practice Report - Thursday, Aug. 14
Aug. 14, 2003
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) – The University of Miami football team continued fall practice with an afternoon workout in shorts and shoulder pads on Thursday at the Greentree Practice Facility.
The Hurricanes returned to the practice field after Wednesday’s scrimmage.
“I think overall we got better today,” head coach Larry Coker said. “The defense was a little embarrassed after yesterday’s scrimmage, and they came back today and had a great workout.”
Coach Coker also commented on sophomore kicker Mark Gent’s performance in Wednesday’s scrimmage.
“If we miss two in a game we lose,” Coker said. ” I’m concerned about it, but I am not in a panic about it. I think Mark (Gent) is going to be fine. He has done a great job this far and is very consistent. I don’t think it is like him to miss, but we do have some new holders that we are working with so that may have been a factor. We spend a lot of time on kicking, and work hard at it so that if we are in field goal range we expect to make it.”
UM continues to battle through some minor injuries associated with fall workouts. Several players, including starting defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma, safety Sean Taylor and others, were held out of drills on Thursday.
“We had some guys with bumps and bruises and some with pulls and strains that we held out of practice today,” Coach Coker said. “We have to try to get our team healthy again, but we are going to coach the players we have and not concentrate on the guys we don’t have.”
The Hurricanes’ coaching staff addressed the expectations of the team’s reserve players, and the necessity of the preparation of those players to ready to play.
“They aren’t back-ups now, they are first-string guys,” Coach Coker said. “We talked about that today in the coaches meeting. We have to coach them like they are starters, and get them ready to play. If guys come back from injury then that is a bonus, if they don’t then we are still ready to play because we have guys who know what to do.”
UM will return to the practice fields on Friday with workouts scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. practice.
For UM football ticket information, please call 1-800-GO-CANES. The Hurricanes are set to open the season on Aug. 28 against Louisiana Tech in Shreveport. La. UM then returns home to face the Florida Gators on Sept. 6.
