Hurricanes Return to Practice Following Finals

Dec. 16, 2004

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami’s 14th-ranked football team returned to practice after a week-and-a-half break Thursday afternoon with a short workout in shells on the Greentree Practice Fields.

Miami began its preparations for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl against Florida on Dec. 31 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

“It is good to back out on the practice field,” head coach Larry Coker said. “After a tough loss to Virginia Tech, it is good to be back in preparation for the University of Florida. The opportunity to play the University of Florida is certainly a great matchup. Other than the national championship game, I can’t imagine a better matchup.”

The team had been running and lifting during the break for finals and returned to the practice field today after finals finished up yesterday.

“It was a good start today to get back into a rhythm,” Coker said. “The guys have been running and lifting, but this was actually the first football practice we have had.”

The Hurricanes have six practices, including today, before breaking for Christmas and heading to Atlanta. The Miami coaching staff is looking to get a lot accomplished during that time.

“We are going to try to improve fundamentally as a football team and get work for everybody,” Coker said. “We are going to work us-against-us and do some physical things that will, hopefully, make us better. We are going to get everybody some work, including redshirts, before we go to Atlanta.”

Miami will continue preparations for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Friday with a 3 p.m. practice at the Greentree Practice Fields.