Hurricanes Complete Practice No. 9
March 9, 2010
Coral Gables, Fla. – The University of Miami football team returned to the practice field Tuesday with another two-hour afternoon session at the Greentree Practice Fields as the Hurricanes will gear up for Thursday’s open practice at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
The Hurricanes will hold an intrasquad scrimmage, open to the public, at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale (5201 NW 12th Avenue) at 7 p.m. Gates will open at 6 p.m. and players will take part in an autograph session from 6-6:45 p.m.
Miami stuck to one its usual practice scripts Tuesday afternoon. UM practiced in shorts and shoulder pads spending most of the practice working in 11-on-11 team drills. The Hurricanes actually wrapped up Tuesday’s practice with 24 plays of 7-on-7 before doing some special teams’ work.
Miami will hold its final on-campus practice of the week Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Shannon Post-Practice
After practice, head coach Randy Shannon met with members of the media, here’s some of what he had to say …
On what he saw after watching film of the scrimmage: The receivers had too many drops, but I was pleased at the way the defensive line played, especially defensive end. I was pleased with the way Sean Spence and Colin McCarthy responded. Vaughn Telemaque did a great job, DeMarcus Van Dyke did. The veteran guys really stepped up on defense. Offensively, the young offensive linemen took their bumps and bruises but stayed focused. They responded because the running backs started to pick it up later on, coming around, which is exciting to see. The quarterbacks were pretty consistent. Nothing stood out that they did.
On A.J. Highsmith’s three touchdown passes and the offense moving the ball: We moved the ball down there. It was like a red zone scrimmage, the 18-yard line working different parts of the field. But he executed. Thearon Collier, LaRon Byrd and Leonard Hankerson caught touchdown passes in the red zone. (It was) getting 1-on-1 situations with those receivers. They have a chance to play the slant route and fade route, and those guys did a great job executing. It was a start, still have a ways to go. There weren’t any loafs; you saw intensity no matter what happened. I’m excited about that.
On how things affect the offensive line with Joel Figueroa, Orlando Franklin and Brandon Washington out: It really doesn’t, because it’s not the season. It gets a lot of guys a lot of reps, and they build on that. Guys can see different formations, learn from it. The more reps you get, the better player you become. You can see the improvement from day 1 to now, see the offensive line really improving.
On who’s playing guard: Jared Wheeler and Harland Gunn, Cory White, just a rotation in there. Those guys are doing a good job. They’re competing, and that’s all you want.
On how true freshman and early enrollee, Shane McDermott, has been looking: Not bad. He did a nice job, but he’s still a young guy, is learning. The physical part is tough because they’re not used to going against 300 pounders all the time. Then the speed of it, you have to get caught up to the speed of the game. He’s responding well, is working to get better all the time.
Post-practice notes
South Plantation High School visited Tuesday’s practice.
The Hurricanes will practice two more times this week before taking off next week for Spring Break.
Details for Open Practice and Spring Game Announced
The University of Miami football team has announced two dates for fans to get a glimpse of the 2010 Hurricanes. Miami will hold an open scrimmage on Thurs. Mar. 11 and its annual spring game on Sat. Mar. 27. Both events are free and open to the public. The Hurricanes will hold an intrasquad scrimmage, open to the public, at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale (5201 NW 12th Avenue) on Thurs., Mar. 11, at 7 p.m. Gates will open at 6 p.m. and players will take part in an autograph session from 6-6:45 p.m. Spring Practice will conclude at Traz Powell Stadium located on the north campus of Miami Dade College (11380 NW 27th Avenue) on Saturday, March 27. UM’s annual spring game which is slated to start at 4:30 p.m. Gates will open at 3 p.m. Players will take part in an autograph session from 3:30-4 p.m.
Spring Game to be Aired Tape Delay on CSS
Miami’s spring game on Mar. 27 will be aired on a tape delay basis on Sunday Mar. 28 at noon CSS has announced.
For `Canes Tickets
To purchase tickets for Miami’s upcoming 2010 season at Sun Life Stadium, contact the Hurricanes ticket office by calling 1-800-GO-CANES. Lower level season tickets start at just $199.
