Kent to The U; Miami says ‘no excuses’

Prince Kent is headed to The U. What that means at this point of the game, we’ll see. Late July and the Miami Hurricanes have already ‘reeled in’ another prospect for the action-packed 2009 class. I use quotations when I say reeled in as Signing Day is half a year away and verbal commitments really don’t amount to squat. Just at Patrick Johnson.

That said, Kent sounds like a stand up kid and the exact opposite of PJ. The Norcross (GA) High School senior plays WR/CB but Miami coaches have told him he’s being tabbed to play defense. He spent his pre-teen years living in Ft. Lauderdale and the last few years bouncing around with his mother in the ARMY.

The 6-foot-3, 190 pound Kent says his commitment to The us is “100% solid” but I’ll feel a lot better about that come February – or January, if Kent makes his way to campus as an early enrolle, as planned.

Next big name recruit set to make a decision is Antwan Lowery, a four-star DT out of Miami (FL) Columbus. Lowery is deciding between Miami and Rutgers and will announce on August 1st.

Early enrollment and pre-season commitments seem to be the way of the future and are doing away with some of the Signing Day theatrics and last minute flip-flops. I’ve oft vented about my disdain for the recruiting game, broken commitments and teenage kids playing coaches who could be their fathers or grandfathers.

Kids that are truly committing in fall, aren’t interested in playing the game and are ready to get on campus in January for early enrollment – those are the mature kids who you want on your roster.

Kent chose Miami over Alabama and Clemson.

“No excuses” is the new Miami mantra for 2008. Senior linebacker Glenn Cook then took the new catchphrase and brought it to the next level, creating LiveSTRONG-type bracelets for players and coaches.

I’m all for the motivational rah-rah stuff… if it works. I guess I’m still scarred by some preseason comments a few years back about Miami being not just hungry, but famished after giving away the Fiesta Bowl an wanting to win it all in 2003. Where was all that hunger after 31-7 at Virginia Tech and 10-6 against Tennessee a week later?

I believe we’re seeing a legitimate attitude change at Miami. Left tackle Jason Fox spoke up on the matter on Sunday at the ACC Football Kickoff:

“Some of the players we had to get rid of were kind of cancerous to the team and really brought us down and didn’t care about football,” Fox said. “They’re gone now, and we can get back to focusing on football. Sometimes the coaches were more worried about punishing the guys who weren’t doing well instead of focusing on football.”

“…This year the biggest change is everybody’s attitudes. When you cut off all the negativity on your team and everybody’s attitude is positive, it’s contagious.”

Again, sounds great, but how will it play out if Miami is 1-2 going into a September 27th match up with the same North Carolina team who upset them last year? Saying the right thing is a lot easier than doing it. Here’s hoping this team has had a real attitude transformation and that the influx of new, young talent from winning programs helps keep this team focused.

Another step to ensure the ‘no excuses’ chant won’t just be an empty promise? The implementation a seven-player council that will keep close tabs on players and punish those who need punishing.

To ensure there will be no backlash or favoritism, the players themselves voted Fox, Cook, Eric Moncur, Colin McCarthy, Chavez Grant, Khalil Jones and Dwayne Hendricks to the council. Council members meet at least once a week, usually after 7-on-7 drills on Wednesday or Saturday.

Fox says their job is to help ‘police’ the other players, while Moncur quipped that there are no guidelines for the punishment (“Our team will take care of it.”)

Some might call it another motivational ploy, but I see yet one more way Randy Shannon is attempting to preach his sermon on ‘accountability’.

After spending some of the off-season with mentor, former coach and former boss Jimmy Johnson, Shannon is definitely reaching into JJ’s bag of motivational tricks and is working to get the best out of his players and personnel.

This will help the program in the long run and also proves that Shannon isn’t as stubborn or set in his ways as some of his biggest critics might believe.

Shannon has also confirmed that his one-year experiment with no names on the jerseys has now come to an end. Point proven. Miami players will officially have names on the back of the jerseys this coming season, ending the mass confusion regarding who the hell was who last year (and who was screwing up.)

Rumors are still swirling on the Zach Kane front, but nothing has been confirmed. It appears Miami coaches will sit back and wait on the legal system to run its course. This being the case, you have to assume Kane will be on campus by fall as odds are this latest brush with the law will be swept under the rug, like some past transgressions (supposedly) have been.

I’m all for due process, but I still think something stinks here. I don’t have a good feeling about Kane’s tenure at Miami, should he wind up at The U. He just seems like the type of kid who attracts trouble. I hope I’m wrong.

A reader chimed in on a recent blog, asking where some Miami signees stand. Sounds like Gavin Hardin, C.J. Holton, Ben Jones and Andrew Smith are officially in. The news wasn’t so promising regarding Antonio Harper and C.J. Odom.

Harper is headed to Milford (NY) Prep and odds are Odom is looking at a similar fate. Not great news on that end, but Miami’s offensive line will welcome Jones, the d-line needs Smith’s assistance, Hardin will boost the linebacker corps and Holton looks like he’ll be a solid safety. Celebrate the ones that got in as opposed to lamenting those who are ‘on hold’ for a while.

Brandon Washington has retaken the ACT and scored a 21 (he scored a 15 last time around), so he’s now waiting on the NCAA Clearinghouse for things to be official. Washington says that his ACT score combined with his GPA will be enough to have him reporting to UM by month’s end.

(Update 7/23: Washington’s test scores were flagged by the NCAA Clearinghouse and there are no more test dates this year, so he’s headed to prep school along with Odom and Harper.)

One last rant before I go. I’m seeing a lot of chatter on message boards about The Gator and I don’t get it. Thread after thread on Tim Tebow. Hypothetical scenarios regarding the September 6th match up between the Canes and Gators at the Swamp. Pissing and moaning about ESPN’s coverage of Florida and their Friday Night Lights camp last week.

Stop already.

Who gives a hell about UiF? Why the obsession. They’re a four-loss team with a Heisman winning quarterback. No more, no less. They’ll be top five when they play Miami in a few months and the Canes have an uphill battle. Great. It’ll be dealt with then and there.

Until that day comes, can the bitch-fest stop? Yes, ESPN is stroking all things Florida right now. They’re sporing and Urban woody and they’re sending their cameras out to get all the footage they can of Mr. Everything-Right-With-College-Football-Tebow. Deal with it.

That’s what happens when your soph quarterback wins a Heisman. That’s what happens when you’re a state school with one of the largest athletic departments in the country. That’s what happens when you’re in a podunk, one horse, ‘rah rah’ college football town like Gainesville.

All that said, TV cameras and pretty boy head coaches don’t win football games. Does all the coverage help recruiting? Bet your ass it does. Still, any kid swayed to go to UiF over The U because of Urban Meyer’s sharp tongue or ESPN’s bonus coverage – he was never a Cane to begin with. Those aren’t the kids Shannon and staff are targeting.

Let the Gators get all the hype. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Four losses is still four losses, no matter how you dress it up. They’ll get theirs this year.

Miami needs to worry about Miami. The rebuilding process is on and it’s time to start getting excited about the future of Hurricanes football, instead of getting pissed off over Flori-duh’s media coverage.