#CanesCamp Press Conference Transcript
Head Coach Al Golden
Opening Statement…
“Okay guys, welcome back everybody. Excited to be back here. Excited totalk about the 2012 Miami Hurricanes. Proud of the work that the guys have putin all summer. Excited to get going. As always, we thank everybody for coveringour football program and our student-athletes.”
On being around the players again…
“So much of our job as head coaches in D-1 football has become administrative,alumni-related, community-related and development-related. You know,administrative. Just to be able to get around the players, seeing them comeback, seeing their faces, their eyes, that eagerness. I think it’s the samething with the coaches. I’m excited. These kids paid a price this summer. I’mexcited. I think we’re in good condition. Obviously the infusion of youngstersinto the program has really created an energy and competition that we needed.”
On the team’s overall strength…
“Overall, as a team I think we’re much stronger than we were. I think ourconditioning is better. I think overall our approach to our bodies, our nutrition,the way we eat, the way we hydrate, our conditioning. Our strength has become, Ithink, they view it as essential now to try to accomplish the things we’retrying to accomplish on the field. I don’t think they view conditioning aspunitive anymore. I’m not saying it’s fun or it’s like (Shane) McDermottfishing and then he thinks about conditioning. I do think they look at it as essentialnow as opposed to being punitive.”
On the offense…
“Quarterbacks, I’m excited about that position. I think wide receiversbecause we brought in five, should be exciting. On the O-line I’m anxious tosee who steps up there. I think (Erick) Flowers and (Daniel) Isidora are certainlygoing to have something to say. I think Jeremy Lewis is in the best shape ofhis life and (Jared) Wheeler is versatile for us. Jermaine Johnson, he wants tosay something either at guard or tackle. So, there’s some good competitionthere. I think if you asked the quarterbacks when they come in what transpiredwith the tight ends over the last three months. I think that’s a position thathas made the most gains. So, that should be interesting. Running backs. Therearen’t a lot of guys who are untouchable right now. Hopefully the guys webrought in are the right guys. We’ll find out shortly.”
On the beginning of camp…
“It makes every meeting like this interesting in terms of sitting infront of the team and showing kids who’s making progress, who’s learning, who’sexecuting, who’s performing every day. That’s what we’re looking for. We’relooking for a team that does that. And also, if you guys recall, so many timesI was talking about our vertical depth wasn’t where it needed to be. We wereconstantly moving guys laterally on the depth chart. I don’t see too manypositions where we need to do that. If someone goes down, it’s going to createan opportunity. Now, it may not be a junior or senior at that position butthere’s going to be people trained at every position where if someone goes downit’s going to create an opportunity just like some of the departures havecreated an opportunity for someone to step up.”
On who’s improved the most since spring…
“Allen Hurns has been fantastic. So I think he jumps out. On theoffensive line, Shane (McDermott) and (Brandon) Linder. (Jonathan) Felicianoand (Malcolm) Bunche had a good summer too, right Stephen (Morris)? Asante (Cleveland)has been good. Mike James. I don’t know how you create anyone better than that.Stephen and Ryan (Williams), certainly. (Anthony Chickillo) and Shayon Greenhave been great. Word has it Luther Robinson had maybe the best summer ofanybody. Maybe the best three months of anybody on our team. Denzel (Perryman) hada good summer. Raphael Kirby. (Ramon Buchanan) has done a great job. I think (Brandon)McGee and Vaughn Telemaque have given us what we needed on the back end there.So again there are a lot of guys. I probably left a couple of guys out, Iapologize if I did, but there were just a lot of guys who stepped up and led attheir position and led ultimately at their unit.”
On playing high number of freshmen…
“It’s a high number. It’s not going to impact anything that we do.We’re going to have some young guys on the field. Our team knows it’s not aboutclass. We’re not going to stratify this year at all. You’re not going to hearme say he’s a freshman running back. We’re going to stratify by position, butnot by year in school. If they’re running backs, they’re running backs. Ifthey’re corners, they’re corners. You’re never going to hear me say ‘he’s afreshman corner’. We’re going to put him out there. He better play like a MiamiHurricane. I believe that. We have a no excuse mentality in our building rightnow among the coaches and I think the players, you know its gaining tractionwith the players. You’re out there playing. You need to perform and execute atthe level we need you to execute at.”
On players recovering from injury…
“That’s a great question I should probably have the guys that. CoryWhite will not be fully integrated initially. I don’t know if there are toomany other guys to be honest with you. Ithink we’re in pretty good shape. But (Ramon Buchanan) will be. If there wasanybody else who was injured in the spring and you have a question about their injurystatus, you can ask me now. Corey King is fully integrated from what Iunderstand. (Jonathan) Feliciano is another guy. I’ll just try and go over itfor you. Feliciano should be fully integrated. (Allen) Hurns. You know, a guythat played for us a year ago benching 225 three times. Had shoulder surgeryand is up to 13 times on the 225. Asante (Cleveland) and Clive (Walford) arefine. Dyron Dye is someone I probably should have mentioned before. He’s havinga great summer from what I understand. Quarterbacks. Shayon Green I alreadymentioned; he’s a full go. And again it’s not like we’re not going to be smartabout these guys coming off surgery.”
On getting acclimated to full pads…
“I think the NCAA does a great job in terms of the acclimation period. Sowe’re in helmets for two days, tops for two days, and then we can go full padsafter that. And really we only have five (two-a-days). You know when I was incollege, it used to be three weeks of doubles sessions and it’s just not thatanymore. So hopefully our kids are in good condition so we’re not dehydrated,we’re not cramping and all that. But, I expect them to be acclimated right now.I think we’re the southernmost university, so I don’t think the heat is goingto come as a shock to them. I expect us to be acclimated pretty quickly. So we’rejust going to go. We’re just going to go. Get those practices on film and comein here at night and clean them up and move forward.”
On team leadership and motivation…
“Again, I just hope we have a team that has become internally drivenand intrinsically motivated and doesn’t make excuses and doesn’t allow thattrap door creep into this building. We’re going to keep working until we getthat. Again, ultimately that’s my charge as the head coach. That’s what I’vebeen tasked with. And I do that through our staff. I do that through ourleadership and ultimately we choose. No matter what’s going on outside, wechoose how we’re going to practice, how we’re going to behave in a classroomsetting and film study, and then ultimately how much rest we get and nutritionwe get.”
More on team leadership…
“A team is reborn. You don’t just start. You don’t just end the game inBoston College come in here and continue it. Each team has its own personality.And to be honest with you, we don’t get a feel for it in the summer. You talkto players; you see players and get a chance to see their personality. But we’regoing to find out here pretty soon tonight what kind of team we have and theattitude and the makeup and determination and the focus that we have and theleadership that we have. We’re going to find out starting about 5 o’clocktonight. We’ll find out what were all about. And to answer your question, yousee where that’s going. You know and how much you have to interject and howmuch you have to intervene but the more a team can be empowered and they canpolice each other and get our leadership. I don’t think there’s a coach inAmerica that’s not trying to get that.”
On the support from the administration…
“It cannot be overstated enough. I thank the administration for theircommitment to our coaches. Our president, Mr. Eichorst, board of trustees, thecommitment they’ve made to our coaches and retaining our coaches. Clearly, athanks goes to those coaches for saying this is where they want to be andobviously knowing we have a shared vision for what we’re trying to do with theprogram.”
On the team conditioning test…
“They do 14 40-yard dashes. They all have a time. We call them flightsthey have to make it in. They run 40 yards down and then they jog back and theydo that 14 times. That would simulate one of the longest drives you would havein a game, 14 plays. So again, it’s a test that’s been around forever. I jokewith the players that it’s a test that I made two years ago at Temple so theybetter make it. Then they got to get up and hang out with the parrots in themorning.”
On timeline of naming a starting QB…
“We have a scrimmage on the 12th and the 18th. Sothe two days if we were going to name somebody early, it’d be the 13th. Ifwe’re going to wait until the late end, it’d be the 19th. That’s for everybody’sinterest. In terms of the team seeing who the leader is or who the quarterbackis, they got to do their job regardless. That could happen on the second playof the Boston College game and we can’t have a mindset that ‘oh wait a secondhe was the starter’ and then we build in an excuse that were not going to winthis game cause so and so is in there.”
On the QB race between Morris and Williams…
“I think its neck and neck I really do. Ryan (Williams) got marriedover the summer, so congratulations to Ryan. I think Ryan benefited from Stephen(Morris) sitting in the spring. I’ve said it to the media before; I thinkStephen benefited from being a coach in the spring. I think Ryan benefited fromjust all of a sudden being thrust into the role of having to answer questions,having direct formations, having to get lined up, having to run theoperation. I think he benefited greatlyfrom it. We really don’t talk much about what they’re doing every day, but allthe indications I’m getting is that they both showed great leadership in the summerworked independently of what Coach (Andreu) Swasey has asked them to do and got withreceivers and tight ends on their own.”
Senior RB Mike James
On his expectations for the team…
“You know the expectations have been the same each year I’ve been here –to dominate each opponent and go out and play the best way we can, for all fourquarters. The locker room vibe has been good. Guys are buying in. They are reallyunderstanding what we need to do and how to get it done.”
On the young guys who have impressed…
“Yeah, Duke Johnson, Earl Moore…I really like Earl. Earl is a very hard worker… Robert Lockhart, Herb Waters…those guys really stood out to me a lot. Definitely Tracey Howard, Deon Bush…those guys are great talents.”
On overall vibe of the team on eve of training camp…
“Overall vibe, guys are working hard, you know, stronger faster, andready to go”
Senior DB Vaughn Telemaque
On his work since last season…
“I took everything in stride. But I did make big strides in both mystrength and my conditioning. I wanted to get up there and know I could play70+ plays and know that I have the same feeling in my legs in the fourthquarter as I did in the first quarter.”
On blocking outside distractions…
“I’m not worried (about the outside distractions). I came here to theUniversity of Miami with the feeling of brotherhood and a lifelong dream ofplaying University of Miami football.”
Junior QB Stephen Morris
On regaining his strength…
“It was important for me to get my strength back. When I had surgery, Ilost a lot of strength. Shout out to (strengthand conditioning) Coach (Andreu) Swasey though; he really helped me out a lot.My bench press went up and I had a new max.”
On his post-surgery concerns…
“My biggest concern was getting back in the weight room and getting mystrength up. I knew the 7-on-7 and throwing the football comes naturally.”
On his mindset heading into camp…
“Going into camp my mindset is just getting the job done and helpingthe team win.”
On this season’s team…
“Everybody is understanding everything and just the mindset of everyplayer knowing that this is that year. We’re tired of the average seasons, the6-6, the 7-6…we’re done with that. We’re not about that anymore.
“This is our year. All themediocrity is done. We got to bring back to Miami what Miami is and justunderstand who we’re playing for and understand that this program is biggerthan any one of us and this program has a legacy that we really have to uphold.”
Redshirt Sophomore QB RyanWilliams
On building his strength…
“My weight has been about the same since the spring. Strength-wise, Iwent up about 50 pounds in the bench press. I’ve been getting stronger upperbody-wise and trying to gain some speed and quickness.”
On getting married in the spring…
“(My wife) understands. She knows the time commitment and stuff soshe’s very understanding with the time we put in. She’s alright with me beingat school for long periods of time to watch film and stuff.”
On the offense…
“Allen Hurns is always making plays. Rayshawn Scott and Phillip Dorsettwere always out there. Kendall Thompkins had a good summer. He’s come a longway since I got here just with his attitude and everything. Dyron Dye, Asante(Cleveland), Mike (James), all of them. Youcan tell the whole attitude of the offense has changed. We have a betterunderstanding of Coach Fisch wants us to do.”
Senior DB Brandon McGee
On playing DB as freshman compared tobeing senior…
“I had a great group of guys and mentors. Those guys really helped meand brought me along. I was still new to the position, still learning. It’s alot of growth and maturity over the years. I really learned the position.”
Junior RG Brandon Linder
On his improvement conditioning-wise…
“We’ve been killing all of our conditioning tests, so it’s definitelygoing to carry over into the season…I can run for days now so. I mean before itwas difficult for me, but now I think it’s fun.”
On what he expects from rest of offensive line…
“I’m expecting big things.Shane McDermott, he’s stepping up big time. John Feliciano, who played a lotlast year and got hurt. He’s going to be a big time player for us. We’ve got MalcolmBunche, Seantrel Henderson, Jeremy Lewis, Jermaine Johnson. They’re allstepping up big time. It’s going to be about who steps up in the game.”
