allCanesBlog guest columnist Scott Alan Salomon breaks down the Miami Hurricanes’ weekend scrimmage as The U continues it’s preparations for the early September season-opener against Bethune-Cookman.
By the time the rains came the Miami Hurricanes held three-quarters of a scrimmage Saturday night as they had their final game-like scenario before they open their season on September 5 against Bethune-Cookman.
Hurricanes’ head coach Al Golden was pleased with the work that his team was able to get in and was further pleased with the output that he saw on the field. As a result of the scrimmage, the Canes leader will be able to assemble his first pre-season depth chart.
“It was good,” Golden said. “We got a full third quarter in, and we got the number of reps we wanted to get – not quite a full game. I’m really happy where we are. We didn’t get anybody banged up. We got a chance to regroup tomorrow, get healed up and set the depth [chart].”
The Miami coach said that despite the lively play in the scrimmage, there will still be some tough decisions to make and that this is really the beginning of the competition for season-opening playing time.
“There’s going to be some tough decisions, there’s no question. But we have a long way to go, as you know. I think back to last year, Nick Linder and Trevor [Darling] were on the scout team, and six weeks later, they’re both starting,” Golden said.
“We have a long, long way to go here. Everyone has to keep getting better. Wherever we start the week, wherever you are where we start, that’s just the starting point. Everybody needs to improve – coaches need to improve, players need the improve.
“We need to have a great week. We’re too far out to put the brakes on. We need to keep getting better, and we’ll see how it sorts itself out,” Golden said. “But, we need a team that continues to get stronger and deeper as the season goes on.”
Golden said that despite the shortened scrimmage, they accomplished everything that they wanted to do.
“We did. We didn’t miss anything,” Golden said. “We got it all in.”
Miami quarterback Brad Kaaya liked what he saw out of his offensive mates, but knows that it is still early and that there is work to be done. He knows that they can continue to get better and that they must to compete in the tough ACC Coastal Division.
“It went pretty well, pretty good,” Kaaya said. “I feel like we executed pretty well, and we’re just moving the ball fast. I feel like we’re cutting down on a lot of our penalties and turnovers. Just bad football, we’ve cut down a lot. There’s still stuff to work on, of course — we’ll watch the film tomorrow. But I feel like for the most part, the way we came out, we got a lot of things fixed and it ran really smooth.”
Kaaya is confident now that the team has broken camp and believes that the rest of the squad is as well.
“I’m as confident as I can be after camp. I’m sure every team right now is confident. I’m pretty confident in our guys. Everyone is working hard, just across the board. Everyone’s touching the ball,” Kaaya said.
“We’re a hard team to scheme [against] right now. A lot of guys making plays, a lot of guys stepping up. The ones [first string], twos and threes all operated pretty well. That’s what I’m confident about – our personnel, and the fact that everyone is on the same page.”
Stacy Coley caught a long touchdown pass and flashed the brilliance that he exhibited during his freshman season, but was lacking last season. He caught a ball and went the distance, about 60 yards, for a score in the scrimmage.
“I’m not sure how long, but probably longer than 50 or 60 yards. Probably longer than that,” fellow receiver Herb Waters said. “He executed his role — we caught the defense slipping, and we took advantage of the opportunity.”
Waters said that the receivers made more big plays Saturday night than they did in the first scrimmage.
“A lot more big plays. After the first scrimmage, we got into our playbooks and came out here, executed our role and the gameplan that Coach Coley laid out for us,” Waters said. “We executed our job, executed our assignments like we’re supposed to do. That’s what led to the big plays, and having success as an offensive unit.”
The second half of “The Brad and Chad Show”, defensive lineman Chad Thomas, said that the defensive unit performed well and that certain players really improved their showing.
“We’re trying to get a lot more heads to the ball, and we’re playing faster, and we got a positive attitude,” Thomas said. “We’re communicating more on the field, so we’re getting the plays down. So, everybody will know the play and everybody will know their assignment — their job. So, all we got to do is just line up and play football.”