Practice Insights: Cooper, Seantrel & Recruiting
Sept. 28, 2010
CORAL GABLES – The No. 16/17 Miami Hurricanes continued preparation for the Clemson Tigers on Tuesday morning at Greentree Field.
Coach Shannon said the emphasis has not changed from last week. The team is focusing on three areas of improvement coming off the Pitt game: Turnovers, eliminating penalties when the offense crosses the 50-yard line and a further emphasis on swarm tackling.
The swarm tackling approach was more noticeable than ever on Tuesday morning. After a dominant performance like last Thursday, it’s great to see the defense bring an extra level of intensity to the practice field on an early morning.
So You Want To Be A Student Athlete?
The day after Pitt, we asked Coach Shannon if the class attendance policy was more relaxed than usual.
His response, “NO!”
The team’s flight from Pittsburgh landed at Miami International Airport at 3:30 a.m. on Friday. The buses rolled up to the Hecht Athletic Center around 4:15 a.m. Classes began for the majority of the football team at 9 a.m.
“Some just don’t go to sleep,” said Coach Shannon. “Since they are already awake, they will grab breakfast and head to campus early… Better than possibly sleeping through class.”
The UM football program has a strict policy regarding missed classes, and obviously that does not change because of less than ideal travel situations.
We often forget about the obstacles that student-athletes face and this is one of those instances where your Hurricanes stand tall.
Kickoffs
In terms of preparation and ease of travel, the Canes could not have asked for a better set of kickoff times for Clemson and Florida State.
The Noon kickoff at Death Valley, will allow the ‘Canes the opportunity to be back in Miami by approximately 9 p.m. on Saturday. That gives the coaches nearly a full week to prep for the Florida State game the following Saturday at 8 p.m.
Plus the rest of us get to back in time to watch a little primetime football.
Uniforms
The Canes will where white tops and green pants at Clemson. This is the same uniform combo they wore at No. 2 Ohio State.
Cooper and Henderson
Graig Cooper had two encouraging plays in practice Tuesday morning. He sprung loose for a near TD reception along the far sideline in 7-on-7 drills and then followed that up with a tough run up in the middle in the first team session of the practice.
Cooper has not dressed since the FAMU game, when he had two carries for 11 yards.
It felt like Seantrel Henderson was in for about 20 snaps at Pitt… didn’t it? Coach Shannon said Tuesday morning that Henderson was only in on two snaps during the game… although one of those was the Damien Berry touchdown run near the goal line.
Great Note from Clemson
We’re stealing this one straight from the Clemson game notes. Credit Clemson Assistant AD Tim Bourret and his staff for look up this insightful information:
Meeting of Top 2 Recruiting Classes of 2008
When Clemson and Miami (FL) play on October 2 it will be a meeting of the two programs who had the top two recruiting classes in the nation in February of 2008 according to ESPN.com. Miami signed 12 ESPN Top 150 players in that class and Clemson had 10,
mean¬ing the two schools signed 22 of the top 150, or almost 15 percent.
In 2010 those players are now either red-shirt sophomores or juniors and give both programs optimism for the near future. Nine of the 10 Clemson players on that ESPN Top 150 list from 2008 are still with the program, while 10 of the 12 Miami players on that list are expected to travel to this weekend’s game at Clemson.
When you look at the list of Clem¬son players on the chart below, it looks like ESPN.com knew what they were talking about. Da’Quan Bowers is one of Clemson’s top defen¬sive players and is coming off a career high four tackles for loss against Auburn. Jamie Harper became the first Clemson running back in eight years to catch two touchdown passes in the Au¬burn game, and Andre Ellington is second in the ACC in rushing after a 140-yard effort at Auburn. Dwayne Allen is Clemson’s top receiver from the tight end position. And what else do we need to say about Kyle Parker, who is already sixth in Clemson history in career touchdown passes with 26 in just 17 games at the position.
Below is a list of the Top 150 Players from the Signing class of 2008 for both teams that are still with their respective programs:
2008 ESPN.com Top 150 Players
Rk Player Pos School
1. DaQuan Bowers DE Clemson
12. Jamie Harper RB Clemson
21. Sean Spence OLB Miami (FL)
27. Marcus Fortson DT Miami (FL)
28. Brandon Harris CB Miami (FL)
34. Kyle Parker QB Clemson
39. Brandon Thompson DT Clemson
40. Spencer Adams S Clemson
44. Andre Ellington RB Clemson
53. Ramon Buchanan OLB Miami (FL)
63. Aldarius Johnson WR Miami (FL)
65. Xavier Brewer DB Clemson
68. Davon Johnson WR Miami (FL)
77. Jordan Futch OLB Miami (FL)
78. Antoine McClain OT Clemson
83. Dwayne Allen TE Clemson
90. Marcus Robinson OLB Miami (FL)
104. C.J. Holton S Miami (FL)
145. Travis Benjamin WR Miami (FL)
