Hurricanes Hold First of Four Two-a-Day Practices
Aug. 16, 2004
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Miami football team concluded its first day of two-a-day practices on Monday afternoon with a two-hour, full-pads session at the Greentree Practice Facility on the University of Miami campus.
“This was the first day of two-a-day practices,” Head Coach Larry Coker said. “And I thought the guys pushed through it pretty well.”
The Hurricanes practiced in shells for one-hour and 45 minutes in the morning under a hot South Florida sun to open their first of four two-a-day practices. UM got a break in the afternoon with overcast skies and considerably cooler temperatures
“We got a little bit of a break today with the overcast weather,” Coker said. “It was a good day with a lot of situational things and third-down work. Again, we are still working on us, trying to get better as a football team fundamentally.”
Running back Frank Gore practiced twice on Monday, and his progress continues to encourage the Hurricanes’ coaching staff.
Coker is also pleased with the squad’s progress, but stressed that his Miami team isn’t quite ready to step on the field and play a game.
“We are happy with our progress, but we are not ready to beat anybody,” Coker said. We are too inconsistent on offense. We have too many penalties. We are protecting the ball better, but we have open receivers at times and are not making the plays. We have times where receivers should get open and don’t get open. We had alignment problems this morning on defense, but we are getting the officials in here and those are some of the things that can and have to be corrected.”
At the same time, Coker has seen many positives from his team early in fall practice.
“But, I really like where we are,” Coker said. “I like our attitude, and I like our athleticism. To say this is where we should be at this point is probably accurate because we still have a number of days before we play a game.”
The Hurricanes have one practice scheduled for Tuesday, August 17, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday’s workouts are open to the public.
Miami opens the regular season on Monday night, Sept. 6 against Florida State in the Orange Bowl. For more ticket information visit www.hurricanesports.com or call 1-800-GO-CANES.
