CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Hurricanes wrapped up their first week of training camp on Saturday with a practice on Greentree.
After that practice, offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson and defensive coordinator Lance Guidry met with reporters and shared some of their thoughts on how the Hurricanes have looked early in camp.
Here’s some of what they had to say.
On how he thinks the offense has performed through the first week:
“Pretty typical camp, good and bad. With no pads on the first two days, honestly, it’s tough. It’s really tough up front to sustain blocks when you don’t have pads on. Really eager to put pads on the last two days. We’re competing. We’ve got guys that are competing, straining. We’ve got a long way to go, but very pleased right now after four practices.”
On his philosophy when it comes to depth charts in camp:
“Day-to-day. You have a good day, you’ll move up. Everything is judged. Effort’s judged, knowing what you need to know is judged. We’ve got competition across the board. We’re going to keep it that way. I would anticipate a lot of guys playing skill [positions] here. I would anticipate a lot of rotation and a lot of guys playing. We’re not sitting here with a guy that’s returning with 100 receptions, you know what I mean? Let’s see who can play when they turn the lights on.”
On how he plans to incorporate tight ends in the offense:
“We’ve been doing it for the last eight to ten years. You’re going to see them all over the place. The one thing we’ve done over the past four years with them is line them up everywhere. They can be outside receiver, they could be inside, they could be off alignment, on; they’re going to move around. The best thing is if you’ve got a guy that really threatens a defense with his ball skills and movement, body control and all the rest, you can be elite at that position.”
On the play of quarterbacks Jacurri Brown and Emory Williams early in camp:
“Those two guys have been extremely consistent for the four practices. Been pleased with both of those guys. As far as picking up the pass game, knowing where to go with the ball, on time, those two guys have made huge strides since I’ve been here. Very proud of them. And their attitudes are off the chart…
“I’ve seen huge strides in pocket accuracy [from Brown]. Sitting in the pocket, intermediate, in-the-middle-of-the-field throws, his comfort level with those right now has improved drastically. With Emory, Emory’s got a decent command of the offense…He was asked to do a lot of these things in his previous life, so a lot of the communication stuff comes extremely natural to him. Both of those kids are extremely talented kids and the best part about both of them is they root for each other, which is what I like to see.”