#CanesCamp Notebook (August 15)
Amidst several weather delays throughout the day, the Miami Hurricanes held their third two-a-days session of #CanesCamp on Thursday. Miami will hold its second #CanesCamp scrimmage under the lights Friday at Cobb Stadium.
#CANESCAMP NOTES
- #100Days Countdown to Kickoff: 15 days (Miami opens 2013 season Aug. 30 vs. FAU at 8 p.m. on ESPNU)
- Thursday was the Canes’ third two-a-days session of #CanesCamp.
- Both Thursday practices were held on the UM intramural fields, while the grounds crew worked on the Greentree Practice Fields.
- After wearing a red (non-contact) jersey Wednesday, junior WR Rashawn Scott was back in a white offense jersey for Thursday’s practice.
- Sophomore RB Brandon Yosha remains in a red (non-contact) jersey, while sophomore DB Deon Bush and junior DL David Perry wore yellow (limited contact) jerseys.
- Thursday’s morning session started late after the campus’s lightning detection system alarm went off at 7 a.m. Practice eventually started after 8:30 a.m. The Canes wore full pads for the morning practice.
- More weather delays hampered the start of the afternoon practice session. The Canes went without shoulder pads for the afternoon, practicing for 90 minutes amidst intermittent rain showers.
QUOTABLES
Al Golden on what the biggest things for Friday’s scrimmage…
“It’s time to cut the cord with some of these guys. It can’t be about yelling from the sideline. They’re going to have crowd noise and music. They’ve got to learn to signal. They’ve got to be independent thinkers out there. They’ve got to work collectively in terms of safeties to corners, safeties to linebackers, linebackers to the front. On offense, just getting the signal and playing fast. We’ll see who can play. It’ll probably be 40 to 50 plays with each group. Maybe a little bit more. I think we’ll get a break with the weather. Two nights ago it was nice at night. So I think the guys will be excited about that, and this will obviously set the way it is because it’s two weeks out from FAU.”
Golden on how correctable tackling and completion percentage is…
“Well we’ve got to get the tackling squared away fast because that will rear its head in the opening, there’s no question. And you don’t want to be a day late on that. A bad tackling performance in an opener can destroy you so we’re trying to take care of that. Again, there’s excuse for the completion percentage to be the way it is with the experience that we have, with the protection that we’re getting, and the type of Quarterback that we have leading us there’s no excuse for that. So that was disappointing and we’ve got to get it fixed. But as I said, I’m worried about everything right now. We have a long way to go as a team and there’s a lot of practices between now and game week.”
Golden on whether or not the scrimmage will be like a game-like situation…
“Yeah, what we’ll try to do is have orange on one side and white on the other. Again, there’s a sense of comfort if you just go offense and defense because if I’m the second team guard I’m looking at Linder, I’m just waiting for when coach calls me. When they’re on that side, and you’ve got a first until on each side the three’s got to be ready to go. Guys come out and they’ve got to go in. They’ve got to pay attention. But I think the biggest thing is that they learn how to go on and off the field with the sub patterns and it makes them think fast so it’s important for us.”
Beau Sandland on whether spring was different than what he expected…
“I don’t know if it was different than I expected, but it was definitely a transition period with everybody being bigger, faster, stronger, smarter and everything at this level. You have to do everything by the book and do your techniques and your right steps and foot placement or else you’ll get exposed and stuff. I always said you could get away with it high school and junior college maybe you wouldn’t get away with it this level with the athletes and smarter defenders.”
Sandland on his biggest adjustment so far…
“Probably, like I said, maybe the speed. So much faster than junior college and all of the defenders do a way better job at jamming you up at the line and everything like that. Just a combination of all those things… the speed of the game and physicality and just having to know all of your footwork and hand placement and everything.”
Duke Johnson on the importance of Friday’s scrimmage…
“It’s a big deal. The first scrimmage was just to get them warmed up to what we’re going to be doing and how things are working and the other scrimmage is going out there and fighting for your position.”
Stephen Morris on how to improve on pass coverage and percentage…
“I definitely think that’s true. We definitely need to improve on our completion percentage. I think that the best way to do that is just take what the defense is giving you and not force anything. All camp we’ve just been stressing just accuracy and decision making from the quarterback’s room. And I think Coach Coley’s done an unbelievable job of really stressing that every single day with us, not letting us forget where we need to be. We’re trying to have 75 percent at the end of the day for practice. We’ve just got to do the little things right. That comes with pocket presence, receiving the right guys, finding the right targets, and never forcing stuff.”
Morris on the process of working on his footwork…
“That started after the (2012) season. Throughout the whole off-season, throughout spring, that’s just been my main concern is just continue to make myself better in the pocket, continue to improve my footwork. And other than that, everything will come after that.”
Morris on what he wants to see at Friday’s scrimmage…
“For the scrimmage tomorrow, I just want to see us compete. I just want to see the defense come out strong. I want to see offense respond well. I want to take care of players. You know, no stupid hits and no cheap shots and stuff like that. I just want to see the offense move the chains.”
