Rules are rules; suspensions & depth chart info

Robert Marve isn’t the only player missing Thursday’s contest against Charleston Southern. Six more Canes were added to the list of pine-riders – Damien Berry, Kayne Farquharson, Eric Houston, Chris Ivory, Adewale Ojomo and Randy Phillips.

No official reasons were given, but offenses supposedly range from missed study hall or class, tardiness, improper cell phone use or any other rule Randy Shannon has implemented and players have broken.

I’ll again go on record saying I applaud this move. Mess with the bull, get the horns. Shannon laid out these rules when he took the gig almost two years ago. Screw around and he’ll hit you where it hurts; with playing time.

Regarding the Marve situation, anyone who really sees this as ‘new’ news, hasn’t been paying attention. All current Canes were made to sign a contract regarding off the field transgressions and the punishment that would be accrued for such behavior.

Marve had a run in with the law and even though charges were eventually dropped, it’s another to file under “nothing good happens after 2am” and a one-game suspension should’ve been expected, even though it hadn’t been made official.

Another thing to note, Ojomo and Ivory were the only freshman on this list. Marve is a r-freshman and Berry is a sophomore, while Farquharson, Houston and Phillips are all seniors.

Safe to say #82 and #6 better get it together quickly, or both can bank on little playing time as the season rolls on. Competition will be fierce regarding wide outs and in the secondary and neither wants to start this season in Shannon’s doghouse. Just ask Sam Shields, who missed almost half of the 2007 season due to grades and attitude issues.

As expected, ESPN opened today’s edition of College Football Live with info on the Miami suspensions and was refreshingly non-biased. ACC blogger Heather Dinich reported nothing new, but thankfully ESPN went to Canes expert Bruce Feldman for his take on the matter, after talking to Shannon and sources at The U:

“Word inside the UM program is Randy Shannon is adamant his players be accountable in all aspects of their lives. The second-year coach is determined that message, above all else, gets through.

Shannon understood how this news would play externally; ‘Canes suspend seven’ but a source at UM said Randy’s not so worried about ‘that stuff’. He’s more concerned with trying to build back the Canes program the right way — the way he wants it handled.

As for the timing of the Marve announcement, Shannon didn’t want a season-opening game suspension for Marve influencing the way his team approached fall camp or the way that his quarterbacks competed. Only time will tell if he got this decision right.”

Shannon is going to continue doing things the way he feels they need to be done. As someone who’s won at Miami as a player, grad assistant and defensive coordinator, he knows the formula for success and will get the right kids on board, believing. How anyone can question his thinking — at this point and in regarding this situation — is beyond me.

While ESPN loves the good business that comes with Cane-bashing, one analyst seems to have Miami’s back. Kirk Herbstreit usually has his thumb on The U’s pulse, calling for the resurrection around 2000 before others were on board. He’s also been dead wrong at times, penciling the 2006 Canes into the national championship game against Notre Dame, while Miami stumbled to a 7-6 season and Larry Coker’s firing.

This time around, Herbie sees something that has him calling for Miami to win the ACC Coastal in 2008 and facing Atlantic representative Clemson in this year’s conference title game in Tampa.

Miami has a rough go early on, with games at Florida and Texas A&M, but obviously neither are conference games. The Canes get North Carolina, Florida State, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech at home and have ACC road games at Duke, Virginia, Georgia Tech and NC State.

With the meat of the conference schedule coming to Dolphin Stadium, it helps Miami’s cause. As do some questions at Virginia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Duke. Virginia Tech is still the team to beat – and if Miami picks up steam, they just might be beatable in a Thursday night home game (Nov. 13) making Herbie look like a genius… or a hell of a guesser.

The 2008 depth chart was released on Sunday night. It doesn’t include the seven suspended players for Thursday night’s contest, so it’ll have a little bit different of a look and feel for next Saturday’s contest at Florida. A few things to note:

– Leonard Hankerson locked down a starting wide receiver role, giving him a chance to pick up where he left off, finally earning some playing time at the ned of last season. True freshman Aldarius Johnson is his back up.

– For all the preseason hype LaRon Byrd earned, he didn’t crack the two deep. Might have something to do with Harris starting in place of Marve and some familiarity between quarterback and receiver from their high school playing days.

– Xavier Shannon walked on from FIU and earned the starting nod at center. The apple must not fall too far from the tree.

– Dedrick Epps and Chris Zellner are splitting duty at tight end. Epps is the better pass catcher and Zellner, the better blocker. A battle to watch as the season rolls on.

– Par for the course, Khalil Jones had another strong spring and fall, but how will that translate into games? He earned the starting nod, but true freshman Travis Benjamin and perennial doghouse dweller Shields are on his heels. I’d bank on Shields getting the nod next week at UiF, as long as he keeps his grades up.

– Neither Eric Moncur or Allen Bailey are anywhere to be found on the defensive line, due to injury. Look for a depth chart shake up next week as both are needed for Gainesville.

– Veteran leadership bested the youth movement at linebacker. Seniors Darryl Sharpton and Glenn Cook are both healthy and will start alongside junior Colin McCarthy, though Jordan Futch and Sean Spence will see significant playing time. Super frosh didn’t crack this first depth chart, but should as the season progresses.

– Chavez Grant and Bruce Johnson are your starting corners, with JoJo Nicolas and a finally healed Anthony Reddick back at safety. Brandon Harris is making a push at corner, though DeMarcus Van Dyke is said to not quite have some of the mechanics down regarding the new Bill Young defensive scheme.

– Matt Bosher earned the starting role at both punter and kicker, holding off freshman Jake Wieclaw and back up quarterback Taylor Cook.

– Graig Cooper will return punts, with Benjamin and Thearon Collier also seeing some action back there, while Ryan Hill can add kick returner (and back up safety) to his list of duties. B. Harris will join Hill, while Shawnbrey McNeal and true freshman Davon Johnson will also get their chance to shake and bake.

WR Leonard Hankerson (Aldarius Johnson)
LT Jason Fox (Tyrone Byrd)
LG Orlando Franklin (Matt Pipho)
C Xavier Shannon (AJ Trump or Tyler Horn)
RG Joel Figueroa (Harland Gunn)
RT Reggie Youngblood (Chris Rutledge)
TE Dedrick Epps/Chris Zellner (Richard Gordon)
WR Khalil Jones (Travis Benjamin or Sam Shields)
QB Jacory Harris (Cannon Smith)
RB Javarris James (Graig Cooper)
FB Patrick Hill (John Calhoun)
K Matt Bosher (Jake Wieclaw)

DE Steven Wesley (Gavin Hardin)
DT Antonio Dixon (Marcus Forston)
DT Joe Joseph (Dwayne Hendricks)
DE Marcus Robinson (Andrew Smith)
LB Darryl Sharpton (Jordan Futch)
MLB Glenn Cook (Romeo Davis or Spencer Adkins)
LB Colin McCarthy (Sean Spence)
CB Chavez Grant (Brandon Harris)
CB Bruce Johnson (DeMarcus Van Dyke)
S JoJo Nicholas (Vaughn Telemaque)
S Anthony Reddick (Ryan Hill)
P Matt Bosher (Taylor Cook)

LS Jake Byrne (Lovon Ponder)
PR Graig Cooper (Travis Benjamin and Thearon Collier)
KR Ryan Hill and Brandon Harris (Shawnbrey McNeal and Davon Johnson)

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