Miami Fall Practice: The Latest At “The U”

The Miami Hurricanes are just over one week out from their Labor Day season-opener at Louisville. Fall practice and position battles wrapped this at Greentree, the quarterback competition is yet to come to a head and fan support is building as year four of the Al Golden era prepares to kickoff, NCAA investigation-free. The latest:

The week’s most-welcomed news comes in the form of another successful CanesFest, which took place Saturday on Miami’s campus. Thousands of fans swarmed the area—a big draw being the recently-opened Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence—as well as an on-the-field experience, with folks getting to participate in drills or interactive games.

Our bud Cutler Ridge Laz said it best, as reported by the Miami Herald’s Susan Miller Degnan; “Miami has finally figured it out. They put the fans back on the field, just like in the Orange Bowl,” referring to the classic way of running the event, opposed to what’s taken place at Sun Life Stadium in recent years.

Fans were also treated to tours of the new Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson locker room and new training room, while getting to pose with former Canes quarterback Gino Torretta and his 1992 Heisman Trophy. The Tom Kearns Sports Hall Of Fame next door also had a one-day, record-high 1,250 visitors.

The University of Miami has taken it’s shots by way of the media the past several years, knocked for “lesser” facilities. Seeing these upgrades and watching fans experience these next-level changes at “The U”—it’s big-time for the program.

I did a sub-par write-up on the Sports Hall Of Fame months before Miami made a run at the 2001 national championship and for the 1,250 who snaked their way through the facility yesterday, my experience was light years apart.

Upon arrival thirteen summers ago the building was locked. I went next door, asked to be let in, ultimately was and eventually asked to let the receptionist know when I was through. Armed with a camera and a notepad, I wandered around the building alone for almost an hour, blown away by so much tradition that most fans of “The U” had never seen.

The lack of an on-campus stadium has hurt Miami over the years, but the recent upgrades are having a trickle-down impact and all-around better experience for the diehard fans.

Simply put, it’s great to see the University of Miami taking some necessary steps forward that will help this fan base feel more connected to campus and the program, as a whole.

To that last point, the Hurricanes have also sold more than 31,000 season tickets this season—the most since moving to Sun Life Stadium in 2008. Of the 27,000 of the seats in the lower bowl, 95% have been sold (re: not counting the 5,000 allocated to students).

Florida State single game tickets are sold out via the Hurricane Club, with the lone remaining way to score a seat for the November 15th showdown is a mini-plan (which includes a ticket for the November 1st home game against North Carolina), or by way of StubHub.

Not to rub salt in the wounds of any Miami Heat faithful, but this is one way that the departure of LeBron James is actually a plus. The entertainment dollar only spread so far and it was all to easy to back a winning franchise and to get on board with the best player in the game.

With the Heat taking a step backwards fan-support-wise, the Canes are prime to take a little leap forwards—as proven by the CanesFest support and increase in season ticket sales.

With fall practice officially wrapped, the Hurricanes will now enter game week, beginning preparations for next Monday’s match-up at Louisville.

Jake Heaps and Brad Kaaya continued battling it out for the starting quarterback slot up through Thursday, with the two pretty much getting equal reps. Heaps missed some time earlier in the week due to elbow soreness, but was back in action days later.

While the coaching staff and players have remained diplomatic regarding whoever is under center on Labor Day, fan support remains a mixed bag, with most favoring Kaaya—which is understandable based on recruiting hype and what the true freshman has accomplished on the practice field since his arrival.

“If the competition is that close, you start the freshman and go from there,” seems to be the common mindset amongst a portion of the fan base. (A recent Miami Herald poll currently has fans favoring Kaaya to Heaps, 55% to 45%.)

While that sounds good in theory, logically and psychologically, it really isn’t the answer.

As good as Kaaya has looked in practice, the speed of the college game has the ability to bring a true freshman to his knees. Especially game one, on the road, at night in a rowdy, sold out stadium.

Experience is key for the opener and Miami can ill afford to get into an early hole due to rookie quarterback mistakes—both turnovers, as well as missed opportunities leading to undesirable third-and-long situations.

Heaps was hardly a world-beater at Kansas last season (albeit with much lesser talent surrounding him), but showed flashes of good early in his career at BYU.

Fact is Heaps has played in 33 games at the collegiate level, started the majority of them and is 23 years old—older than some current NFL quarterbacks. What he might lack in talent or body of work, his experience is the deciding factor for the opener.

Kaaya will get his chance—maybe sooner than later, too. Should the Heaps experiment fail, the true freshman is waiting in his wings to be the savior. What doesn’t work—going with the new kid game one, him suffering early setbacks and then settling on a senior transfer. That’s a morale-killer.

In short, Heaps should get the start, Kaaya will get his chances and if the senior doesn’t soon prove he’s ready to be “the guy”, the freshman will get his show.

(UPDATE: As of 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday August 24th, Golden has named Kaaya starting quarterback for the Louisville game. More to come.)

A recent Miami Herald article touched on the program having a “surplus of talented cornerbacks” which shows that the Canes are on the right path, but should also serve as a reminder—until articles like this are written about several positions on both sides of the ball, Miami won’t be “back”.

The article praised the play of Corn Elder, Artie Burns and Antonio Crawford, as well as veterans Tracy Howard and Ladarius Gunter, who were the anchors last season. Defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio pointed out that there wasn’t much separation between the five during camp, which is good news as everyone is playing at a high level.

When you look across the board at Miami—especially on defense—that simply isn’t the case.

Linebackers took a hit this off-season when Alex Figueroa and JaWand Blue were dismissed from the team—an issue Miami has dealt with in recent years, losing Eddie Johnson, Gabe Terry and Gionni Paul last year. Early in Golden’s tenure it was Kevin Nelson and Travis Williams who got the heave-ho.

As much as linebacker has struggled to gain traction, defensive line has been equally as troubled. Miami has lost out on some top recruits over the past several years, while relying on transfers—David Gilbert and Justin Renfrow in 2013 and picking up Michael Wyche and Calvin Heurtelou this year.

The Hurricanes picked up some talent in this year’s recruiting class—Chad Thomas, Trent Harris, Demetrius Jackson, Courtel Jenkins and Anthony Moten (as well as Wyche and Heurtelou).

When looking at the mid-August depth chart, Harris earned first team defensive end over Tyriq McCord and Al-Quadin Muhammad (which seems like a motivational tactic that should change by game time), Heurtelou and Thomas was co-second team behind senior Anthony Chickillo.

Jackson, Jenkins, Moten and late-arrival, not-yet-in-game-shape Wyche are yet to make much of an impact, with some redshirts probably in line for a few of the true freshmen.

Point being, there are positions of abundance at Miami—cornerback on defense and possible wide receiver on offense.

Until that type of talent and depth is spread all over the field, the Hurricanes will remain a work-in-progress—definitely moving forward, but certainly not elite.

More coverage coming this week, including a Miami Hurricanes / Louisville Cardinals preview, set for Friday. Stay tuned.

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