Never too early to talk Miami vs. Florida State…

I received an email this week from Rich Halten of http://www.chantrant.com/. Rich is a Florida State grad, booster and 30-year season ticket holder. He oft checks our blog for Canes-related content and wanted to trade mini interviews with a long-time fan.

He sent me five questions related to The State of The U and I did the same regarding FSU as they just completed their spring game today.

Miami and Florida State have a healthy rivalry and for the most part, a mutual respect exists between both programs. That and we both hate Florida. Both the Canes and Noles finished 7-6 last year and made some coaching changes in an effort to reinvigorate some now stagnant and once powerful offenses.

Below are my questions to Rich and his to me. Look for more ACC rival-related features like this later this season at allCanesBlog.com. Enjoy!

How is UM different after Shannon’s first spring game than it was a year ago after Coker’s last spring game?

I think you see a difference in the attitude and mindset. Larry Coker and Randy Shannon are two totally different styles of coaches. I don’t want to trash the old regime anymore than I already have, but I don’t think there’s any mystery why the Canes progressively got worse since the 2002 season. The talent wasn’t being recruited and developed. Shannon preaches accountability, competition and he’s a disciplinarian. The kids respect him and mildly fear him, which is a good thing.

Entering spring, the depth chart was scrapped and it was no longer and offense vs. defense battle. Shannon is promoting team unity. He has offense and defensive players interacting by creating orange vs. white teams and switching up the layout of the locker room.

Miami’s spring game took place last week and par for the course, defense won the battle. I’m warning our fans not to put too much weight into the product on the field last week. I expect this team to have a completely different look and feel come fall.

Coach Shannon needs a few more months to instill what he calls a “winner’s mentality” into our kids. Get 7-6 out of their heads, let them continue healing from the murder of a teammate (Bryan Pata) and get them believing they can win again.

The Canes weren’t as bad as their record last year and need to learn how to finish. Several of those games down the stretch were winnable (Virginia Tech, Maryland and Virginia).

Both QBs have had their problems. Is that the biggest Achilles heel of the team, and will it seriously affect the W – L record?

A team is only as good as their quarterback. Any Miami or Florida State fan can acknowledge that as both programs have struggled a bit since the departures of Ken Dorsey and Chris Weinke, respectively. Brock Berlin. Chris Rix. Kyle Wright. Drew Weatherford. Kirby Freeman. Xavier Lee. Who’d have thought the most successful one of the post-Dorsey/post-Weinke era would be Berlin?

I think Shannon is smart for creating competition between Wright and Freeman. The depth chart won’t be released until soon before the season opener and both QBs were given the gag order regarding he media. Wright basically ran the first team last week and Freeman the second. Wright is the most experienced of the two but Freeman showed the most promise at the end of last season. Wright is the hunted and Freeman is the hunter.

My sneaking suspicion is that the staff wants Wright as he’s more your prototypical and much heralded QB. He has the most upside, but he’s also had his share of brain farts on the field. In his defense, he hasn’t has 1/3 the supporting cast Dorsey had and he’s on his third offensive coordinator in three seasons. I blame Miami’s old staff for their underdevelopment of Wright more than I personally blame him. He came in all world and turned down both USC and Texas to come to The U. I think he’d be a different QB had he gone to either program.

I think the key for 2007 is designing an offense based around either QB. Wright is the gunslinger and Freeman is more your scrambling playmaker-type. It’s on new offensive coordinator Patrick Nix to find a way to have his quarterbacks get the ball in playmakers’ hands.

With a new Offensive Coordinator, what kind of attack will we see in 2007?

I believe Nix will have that “do what it takes” mentality. Get the best players on the field and get the ball into their hands. Create mismatches. Keep opposing defenses on their toes.

Shannon went after Nix for a few reasons – one being Georgia Tech’s 38-35 bowl loss to West Virginia. GT’s defense let them down late, but offensively they put up five touchdowns early in the third quarter with Reggie Ball on the bench. Back up QB Taylor Bennett threw for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns against a pretty solid Mountaineers team. That impressed Shannon. As did the fact that Nix’s offense gave Miami fits and handed them losses the past two seasons. If you can twice confuse one of the nation’s better defenses like ours, you’re doing something right.

Miami will be stronger at WR this year as Sam Shields, Lance Leggett and Darnell Jenkins all have another year under their belt. I think JUCO transfer Kayne Farquharson is going to surprise as well. Javarris James returns after a solid freshman campaign and newcomer Graig Cooper is already turning heads. Cooper should really bolster the return game and give the Canes much better field position than we had in 2006.

Barring injury, will this be one of the more dominating Cane defenses in recent years?

It could be. I like the defensive line, led by Calais Campbell. He’s the anchor. The safeties are as solid as ever with Kenny Phillips and Anthony Reddick back there. The cornerback has some experience and depth as well. Carlos Armour. Willie Cooper. Bruce Johnson. Glenn Sharpe was granted another year, Randy Phillips returns, Chavez Grant won some freshman of the year type honors and had a great first season.

Still, the key is linebacker. It’s a position where Miami hasn’t thrived since 2003 when Jon Vilma and D.J. Williams played their last game as Canes (16-14 Orange Bowl win over FSU). We need stability in the middle of the field and it’s on guys like Colin McCarthy and Daryl Sharpton to step up and be the next great Cane linebackers. If we get production out of linebacker, this will be a consistently solid Miami defense. Absolutely.

I think Campbell’s presence is also key. He looks primed to not only be the next Miami great on defense, but he also has that Canes attitude and looks like he can be an Ed Reed-type leader. Someone needs to step up and I think #81 will be the guy.

Is Shannon restoring the swagger and supreme confidence of Miami teams of old?

He is, but it’ll take time. It’s not like flipping on a light switch. He has to rebuild this from the inside out. There was no unity last year and I believe complacency set it the past few years. This program was hungry in the late 90s, climbed back a top the hill (2000-2003) and seemed to ‘expect’ the wins to roll in these past few years. Shannon is going to whip them into shape. I believe the promoting of competition will really help these kids get hungry again. 9-3 was tolerated under Coker and that led to 7-6. Even worse than the losses was the fact Miami quit on a few occasions. The 40-3 loss to LSU in the 2005 Peach Bowl. The 31-7 loss at Louisville. That’s unacceptable.

I’ve traded emails with a handful of fans lately and we all seem to be looking for the same thing; more effort. I’m not thinking Ws and Ls right now as much as I want to see our kids busting their asses. A nine-win season is tolerable if we see improvement and effort like we did back in 1998 and 1999. We saw budding talent back then and resiliency. The ’98 Canes were throttled 66-13 at Syracuse and a week later knocked off #2 UCLA, 49-45. The past few seasons Miami has struggled to bounce back from losses against the likes of second-tier ACC teams.

If Shannon gets these kids to win the battle between their ears, the ‘swagger’ will return. You don’t win because you have swagger; the swagger comes from winning.

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Both Florida State and Miami have fallen off a bit over the past few seasons, for different reasons. It seems the Noles have never really recovered after losing Mark Richt. FSU lost some serious luster the past six seasons and legendary coach Bobby Bowden isn’t getting any younger. Can this once great program experience a rebirth underneath him? Are the younger kids relating to him? Even as ACC champs in 2005, the Noles still lost a slew of games that season which they wouldn’t have lost in years past.

Bobby has recommitted himself to winning at least one national championship before he hangs up the whistle. He frankly took his eye off the ball in the first half of the decade, especially with the hiring and supervision of his son. FSU was on cruise control. And Bobby appeared distant from game planning and coaching during games. Though he fought to keep Jeff as Offensive Coordinator, when a deal was finally struck to move Jeffrey to an administrative job, the spell seemed to be broken with the older Bowden.

He got the fire back in the belly. And putting his priorities in order, he fiercely dedicated himself to overhauling the coaching staff and doing whatever it took to recapture the dominant, winning ways of his teams of the 80’s and 90’s.

Speaking of offense – can Jimbo Fisher turn this thing around? Jeff Bowden came under some serious fire last year, much like recent Miami o-coordinators Dan Werner and Rich Olson. It sounds like Fisher is throwing everything and the kitchen sink at FSU’s offense this spring. Can they grasp all this and turn it around before September?

If anybody can turn the offense around, Fisher can. He provides two very important things that have been missing: installing a high-powered attack that’s not predictable, and expert teaching and development of young QBs. While Fisher’s throwing a lot at them, he’s patient and doesn’t expect it all to stick right now. He believes players will digest the playbook and schemes over the summer and in fall drills. Probably most important, Fisher — and the other new assistants — are re-instilling a commitment that every player must do their job flawlessly.

Somebody who was part of the program the last few years told me that far too many plays that could have gained big yardage in ’05 and ’06 broke down because one guy missed a block, or somebody went the wrong way. Basic stuff. Fisher and company won’t tolerate that.

Like Miami, Florida State has had their quarterback woes in the post-Chris Weinke era. Chris Rix wasn’t the guy you expected him to be and Drew Weatherford has been hot and cold the past two seasons, much like Kyle Wright. Both programs have experimented with their back ups (Xavier Lee and Kirby Freeman) and it’s seems competition is wide open at both programs. Who do you think will be “the guy” come fall and how long is his leash? It doesn’t seem like QB failure will be tolerated at either program any longer.

Nobody can predict who’ll win the QB derby. But at least the coaches won’t be playing any favorites. The starting job will be won on the practice field. However, the leash will not be long if a starter can’t get the job done. That’s why I believe we’ll see both QBs this year. The guy that has the hot hand in a winning performance will keep the starting job until he falters.

Fortunately, both Drew and Xavier Lee appear to be improving in areas of weakness. I will predict that we’ll see third string QB Dvontrey Richardson at some point in the season — especially if Drew or X. are injured. This two-sport star (currently batting nearly .400 for the baseball team) is just too athletic a playmaker to keep off the field. Even if he suddenly appears as a running back to turn a lateral into a TD bomb.

What are your thoughts on the five and six loss seasons even though Florida State has pulled in some top notch recruiting classes? Like Miami, there’s too much talent there to underachieve and put together a 7-6 season.

The five and six loss seasons, I believe, were a result of losing some of that killer instinct. That total commitment and confidence to play all-out until the final gun. Frankly, some guys who were blue chip recruits appeared to be performing less for the Garnet and Gold and more to show off for pro scouts.

The most important thing this coaching staff, which Bobby has given full rein, can do is change those attitudes.

Where is Florida State’s rushing attack. Greg Jones. Leon Washington. Lorenzo Booker. Antone Smith. You’ve had some talented backs over the past few years, but the Noles ground game hasn’t ‘wowed’ anyone in forever. Lone gone are the Warrick Dunn and Travis Minor days. Why can’t Florida State scare opponents with their ground game anymore?

The ’07 team will run the ball better than any FSU team this century. OL Coach Rick Trickett — who built a dangerous running game at West Virginia — has brought his Marine Corps/Vietnam Vet toughness to the unit. He’s building a Denver Broncos-type line: quick guys with low body fat who can lead a fast back through a hole and flatten linebackers — not just big guys who can pass block. He’s shown no mercy, from driving guys harder than they’ve ever worked, to supervising their strict diets, to designing their weight regimens.

Good thing, because Fisher (with whom Trickett has coached before) is on a mission to have a powerful running attack. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see FSU run more than pass this year.

Finally, first-year running back coach Dexter Carter (former Nole and 49er) has been a breath of fresh air, bringing new ideas and attitudes to Antone Smith and the other young backs.

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