@CanesFootball Begins Week Two of #CanesCamp
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami football team returned to the Greentree Practice Fields Tuesday morning for the fourth day of spring practice under head coach Mark Richt.
The Hurricanes began practice at 9 a.m. during another sunny day in South Florida. The fourth practice once again placed the team in full pads as the Hurricanes ran through another day of drills and play installation.
Following practice, Richt, quarterbacks coach Jon Richt, linebacker Jamie Gordinier and quarterback Malik Rosier spoke to members of the media.
Miami returns to the gridiron on Thursday, March 24, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Greentree Practice Fields.
The spring schedule will conclude on April 16 with its spring game (2 p.m.) at Lockhart Stadium and will be aired live on ESPN3. The Hurricanes’ spring game also will be open to the public and will be free for all fans.
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Season tickets for the 2016 Miami Hurricanes football season are on sale now – visit CanesTix.com or call (305) 284-2263 for more information.
Spring Camp – Day Four
Head coach Mark Richt
On how the team looked during Tuesday’s practice…
“Not bad. Not bad. I think we’re learning a lot. I thought offensively; we had a better day. I thought we’re starting to come closer to the execution that we need – or, at least, close enough to say, ‘hey, see how close we are to getting it right?’ Execution is not easy offensively, especially when we’re defending a very talented bunch of guys, some guys that are bringing some good blitzes and twists and things of that nature. It takes a little while to get it going. But I saw improvement there.
“The defense is still playing extremely hard, making some plays. But they’re learning as they go. We have to learn how to practice a little bit better…it was supposed to be not time to tackle yet, and we had a little tackling going on. It’s understandable that everybody is hyped up and ready to go, but we need to learn to practice against each other and go with the tempo we choose. We’ll have days that we tackle and days that we don’t – today was one where we were not supposed to. Now we did, earlier in the practice, had a little three-on-three competition that was a nice, heated battle and I thought everybody got excited about that.”
On how many quarterbacks he likes on a roster at once…
“I don’t know if there’s really a limit, but the least amount of guys I would want to have is five on scholarship. That would be my goal. Sometimes it’s four, sometimes it’s six. But I’ve had a bunch of guys over the years, have two in the same class, and both go into the NFL. The other thing too is sometimes one guy redshirts and one guy doesn’t, and you can get some separation that way as well.”
On the importance of footwork…
“We do. What happens is, we’ll throw routes versus air – basically wide receivers versus nobody. The footwork, if you just film the footwork there, it’s really good. Then when you start putting defenders over there – like our seven-on-seven or pass skeleton, as we call it – when you’re starting to make decisions downfield, all of a sudden your feet kind of go bad here and there. Then you had defensive linemen to it and a little pressure, and all of a sudden your footwork goes to crud. They have to learn to keep their footwork consistent, regardless of the drill. It’s versus air, it’s skeleton, it’s 11-on-11, it’s a scrimmage then it’s a game. It’s a progression of getting used to doing it. They’ll get there.”
Jon Richt, Quarterbacks Coach
On how things are going so far down in Miami…
“I love it. It’s like we talk about all the time – we’re down here, and we’re in paradise. We can’t thank Miami enough for the opportunity, especially for me. Being able to work with my dad is an honor and a blessing.”
On how he and his dad split quarterback coaching responsibilities…
“Essentially Coach (Mark) Richt is the quarterbacks coach, and he’s the coordinator. He’s going to install this offense the way he wants them to do it and the way he wants them to run it. Really, I’m kind of an enforcer right now. Whatever he says, is what I’m saying, and that’s the way it’s going to go, so they (the players) are hearing one voice. Whatever we say, that’s essentially what he said and as we get going, I’m making sure that they are doing it the correct way, and I’m saying the exact same words that he (Coach Mark Richt) is saying, so that we are able to function and not give these guys too many voices. If you give a quarterback too many voices and too many choices, then these young guys, don’t necessarily know how to compute all that and take it. Right now, we’re just trying to be one voice and get it all together.”
On whether he and Coach Mark Richt are in the same room coaching…
“Yes. We’re both speaking at the same time. He does most of the installations. He does some things and then there’re some things that I handle. For the most part, he’s going to get things in the way he wants it, and I’m going to enforce it.”
On what it is like working with his dad…
“It’s awesome. As a quarterback coming up in high school, I was getting recruited, and I ended up going to Clemson, but really we decided that once I was getting recruited I wasn’t going to get a chance to play for because of the things that come along with playing for your father, especially at the quarterback position. Once I got into coaching at Georgia, I got the chance to go and do quality control, but once I turned 25 they had the nepotism law, so that was kind of thrown out the window too. In my mind, I thought I was never going to get the chance to do it. I thought I was going to have to find my own way through it. When he got this job here, and he got this opportunity, he was able to bring me along, and it’s been a blessing.”
On the coaching staff’s philosophy…
“One thing we’re going to do as a staff is – we’re going to love these guys. So it’s not necessarily being an enforcer and making sure we’re yelling at them if they’re doing something wrong. It’s making sure these guys understand what we’re asking of them and when that happens, and you’re able to build that relationship and build that trust with these guys, they’re going to respond it.”
Malik Rosier, Redshirt Sophomore, QB
On how he has developed as a player so far…
“Coach (Mark) Richt is more structure and Coach (Jon) Richt is more compatible with us because he’s got that younger age. They way they’re coaching balances out perfectly.”
On how Coach Mark Richt’s biggest teaching tactics…
“He’s in our quarterback room, and we’ll go through every rep, we’ll go through 7-on-7, and we’ll go through all the team periods and what he’s really good at is focusing in on our feet. He’s big on precision, and he wants everything to be perfect. He doesn’t care if you get the ball out right, he wants your feet to be perfect because it’s your feet make you perfect. That’s his biggest goal – to get our feet right, and everything else will take care of itself.”
Jamie Gordinier, Redshirt Freshman, LB
On the acclimation process to the new staff…
“It’s going great. The acclimation process is good. I’m finally able to hit people out there, so it’s getting a little more out there.”
On the difference of playing middle linebacker…
“Just being the leader of the defense – that’s the biggest thing. I’m making all the calls.”
On learning the new defense…
“It’s been good. Just about everything has been installed, so we’re just getting a feel for it, but I like it a lot.”
On whether or not the new defense is different from last year…
“A lot of the concepts are still the same, but there is some different terminology.”
