Defense Gains the Edge in Miami's Second Spring Scrimmage
MIAMI- Defense dominated, Streeter shined and the Hurricanes moved one step closer to next weekend’s spring game at Miami’s second spring scrimmage Saturday morning at Traz Powell Stadium.
Defense Won the Day
The defense had the upper hand for most of the afternoon, keeping the offense out the endzone until the second half of the scrimmage. Jordan Futch, Olivier Vernon and Adewale Ojomo were among those who stood out. James Gaines and Thomas Finnie also recorded the first two interceptions of the spring.
Right at Home
Twenty-five Hurricanes who hail from Miami-Dade were playing right at home today at Traz Powell. Here is a list of ‘Canes from Miami…
Aldarius Johnson (Miami)
Lamar Miller (Miami)
Tommy Streeter (Miami)
Jacory Harris (Miami)
Spencer Whipple (Miami)
Stephen Morris (Miami)
Thomas Finnie (Miami)
Eduardo Clements (Miami)
Ben Bruneau (Opa-Locka)
Andrew Swasey (Miami)
JoJo Nicolas (Homestead)
Sean Spence (Miami)
Olivier Vernon (Miami)
Alex Irastorza (Miami)
David Thompson (Miami)
Ben Jones (Miami)
Marcus Robinson (Homestead)
Erik Lichter (Coconut Grove)
Eduardo Lopez (Miami)
Brandon Washington (Miami)
Allen Hurns (Miami)
Davon Johnson (Miami)
Kendal Thompkins (Miami)
Adewale Ojomo (Hialeah)
Marcus Forston (Miami)
Scrimmage Blog Recap
If you weren’t able to attend the scrimmage, here is a recap of what went on at Traz Powell Saturday morning.
12:24 p.m.– Fans have gathered around the team buses here as players begin exiting the locker room to load up. Just a few reporters and stadium personnel left inside Traz Powell at this point.
Thanks to everyone who stoppe by here throughout the morning. Check back throughout the day to get continued coverage of today’s scrimmage, including official statistics, postgame interviews and more reaction from Scrimmage No. 2.
12:20 p.m.– Tommy Streeter and Adewale Ojomo have joined the pack of players meeting with reporters. After such a big day, its no surprise Streeter was requested by the media.
12:14 p.m.– Coach Golden and a handful of players are now meeting with media members in the east endzone. Jacory Harris, Mike James, Sean Spence, Stephen Morris, James Gaines and Jordan Futch are currently meeting with reporters.
12:07 p.m.– The action has ended. Coach Golden is addressing the team on the field and fans are slowly headed to the parking lots. Pretty successful day all around, outside of a few injuries we’ll know more about later. Without seeing the final stats, guys who stood out today included Jacory Harris, Tommy Streeter, Jordan Futch and Ray-Ray Armstrong.
12:03 p.m.– Hurricanes are wrapping up action in the two-minute drill. Jacory Harris just connected for a 45-yard pass down the right sideline to Tommy Streeter. Two plays later a 19-yard run by Storm Johnson set up the final play of the day. With the final seconds ticking off the clock, UM called a fake spike as Jacory found Streeter in the corner of the endzone for the Hurricanes’ sixth and final touchdown of the day.
11:53 a.m.– An injury update….the coaches and trainers have decided to keep Mike James and LaRon Byrd on the sideline the rest of the way today. Hopefully it is precautionary…we’ll know more when the guys get back to the training room later today.
11:47 a.m.– Unofficially Akil Craig (7), Ray-Ray Armstrong (6) and Jordan Futch (6) are the leading tacklers today. Olivier Vernon also unofficially has five tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks. We’ll have all the official numbers up shortly after the scrimmage on HurricaneSports.com. Sean Spence, Thomas Finnie, Adewale Ojomo and Marcus Robinson have also stood out defensively.
11:39 a.m.– Storm Johnson’s one-yard touchdown run a few minutes ago was UM’s fifth of the day. Darion Hall as two while Tommy Streeter, Travis Benjamin and Johnson all have one apiece. The `Canes also just attempted their first field goal of the day, as Jake Wieclaw connected on a 48-yarder.
11:31 a.m.– OK, we’re having trouble keeping up now….Jacory Harris just connected with Travis Benjamin for a 50-yard TD pass down the right side of the field. Four quick touchdowns here as we move into the scrimmage’s last half hour. Harris has 179 yards passing already.
11:28 a.m.– Now we’re rolling….The offense just scored their third touchdown (all coming on the east endzone) on a 31-yard pass from Stephen Morris to – according to PA man Mr. Wilcox – Tommy “Stretch Them Out” Streeter. It marked the first passing touchdown of the afternoon…..We also just got word that today’s unofficial attendance is right around 3,000…Another nice turnout by the fans on another hot Saturday morning.
11:22 a.m.– While we’re really not keeping score here as all the action is situational, its Darion Hall 2, Everybody Else 0. Hall just scored his second touchdown on a three-yard run on the same end of the field. While James, Johnson and Miller get most of the attention (deservedly so), it’s been Hall getting the glory as of late with a couple trips into paydirt.
11:14 a.m.– Running back Darion Hall just scored the first touchdown of regular action on 20-yard run into the east end zone. Hall broke a tackle and got through the secondary to finally get the offense on the board…. A couple other things going on – LaRon Byrd went down with what looks like a knee injury a few minutes ago. He is being attended to on the training table….We don’t have an official attendance yet, but it looks pretty similar in size to last week’s which was approximately 3,000. Good turnout again.
11:08 a.m.– Chase Ford is the offensive star of the first half of today scrimmages… check out this brief stat line – 2 catches, 105 yards. After his 56-yard catch from Stephen Morris earlier in the scrimmage, Ford just hauled in a 49-reception on a 4th-and-1 play to go over 100 for the day. Jacory Harris found a wide open Ford down the left side of the field as the defense was clearly playing run on the right side.
11:02 a.m.– Jordan Futch just elicited the biggest cheers of the morning with a huge hit on Storm Johnson on a 4th-and-1 run up the middle. On the next play, he followed that up with a sack of Stephen Morris. Futch has looked awfully good the last two weekends, as he led the D with nine tackles last week at Spanish River High.
10:57 a.m.– Biggest play of day just came on a play that wasn’t really supposed to be. A long pass up the middle thrown by Stephen Morris and intended for Travis Benjamin ended up in the hands of Chase Ford, who was credited with a 56-yard reception. Benjamin was hit before the ball arrived and pass interference was called, but the ball popped up in the air and was pulled in by Ford, who ran for a few extra yards as a confused defense tried make sense of the play.
10:45 a.m.– A couple developments in the past 10 minutes…..Sean Spence put a good hit on Mike James that kept the running back down for a few minutes but he was able to walk off under his own power. He’s still on the bench, we’ll update you if and when he returns….A few plays after that, James Gaines picked off a Jacory Harris pass to halt a drive that had moved inside the red zone. After no turnovers last weekend, the defense has already forced two in the first hour here.
10:37 a.m.– At this point, we’ll call it a trend. For the second straight scrimmage, Miami’s three lead backs – Mike James, Storm Johnson and Lamar Miller – are stealing the show. We’ll have updated numbers later, but the trio is already racking up a bunch of yards on the ground and in the passing game. Still no touchdowns (outside of goal line drills), but the backs have been moving the chains.
10:25 a.m.– Defense is off to a good start. We just had our first INT of the spring as Thomas Finnie picked off a pass from Stephen Morris intended for Tommy Streeter. On the next play, Ray-Ray Armstrong got the crowd going with a big hit on Mike James. Back-to-back plays had the defensive backs celebrating in the secondary.
10:16 a.m.– Mike James with a 13-yard rush down the right side to open up the first drive. Lee Chambers starting at corner with the first team D along with JoJo Nicolas. Both have been impressive this spring considering the position is fairly new to both. Mike James has been the go-to guy thus far. Jacory just hit him on a nine-yard pass up the middle. James has been the star of these scrimmages so far but it is early.
10:08 a.m.– Just like last Saturday in Boca, the `Canes opened the scrimmage with goal line drills. Starting from the 3-yard line, a pair of Mike James runs accounted for the first TD before a Jacory Harris pass to Clive Walford on first down accounted for the second score. Since, Adewale Ojomo has gotten into the backfield twice forcing Harris to throw it away. After goal line drills are completed, the `Canes will open up the field and start from their own three.
9:59 a.m.– Mr. Wilcox – the voice of Traz Powell – is going through the `Canes roster. He’s announcing each and every one of the `Canes along with their hometown, even adding some of his own comments about some of the Miami guys he is familiar with. Tommy “Stretch Them Out” Streeter and Aldarius “Glue Hands” Johnson are a few of the names he’s called so far.
9:50 a.m.– We are just about ready to go here at Traz Powell. The entire team is out on the field stretching now. Fans are starting to fill up the bleachers on both sides of the field, while a steady stream of fans continue to make their way in from the parking lots. Offense is wearing orange today, defense is wearing green and UM’s three QBs – Jacory Harris, Stephen Morris and Spencer Whipple – are donning all white.
9:34 a.m.– Less than a half hour until we get underway. Most of the offense and the special teamers are out on the field, while only a few defenders have trickled out of the locker room at the east end zone. Temperature is 82 degrees right now and is expected to get up around 86 by the end of the session. Traz Powell has field turf, so conditions are as good as they’ll get.
9:02 a.m.– The `Canes arrived about 15 minutes ago via state trooper escort and a few minutes later, tight end Blake Ayles was the first guy to make it out on the field at 8:52 a.m. The tailgate lot was filling up pretty quick on last check, while some fans have already worked their way into the stadium to get a look at the warm-ups. Traz Powell seats quite a bit more than Spanish River…..will be interesting to see how many people come out today.
