The Beast : South Florida’s Team

More than once Al Golden has referred to his Miami Hurricanes football program as South Florida’s team.

I love the slogan. I love it a lot. Someone put it on a poster, a t shirt, maybe a bumper sticker or a banner. It coveys it all.

Let the “other two schools” fight for nether regions; we’ll take the population center. It also says to Florida International and Florida Atlantic, “nice try, but the big boys are back.”

As my good bud The Wizard and I drove into the parking lot at Spanish River High School on Saturday morning, more than an hour before the scrimmage was due to start, I realized this road show was not a bomb like the one Charlie Sheen got himself involved in. No, at least on the second day in April, the Canes were #Winning!

I had no idea the first open scrimmage of the spring would be so packed and I was happy to be wrong. I know I say it a lot, but it always feels happy to be around one big happy #CanesFam.

The Wizard and I grabbed seats on the forty-yard line and the closer we got to “kickoff” the more we realized we were lucky to even have bleacher seats. Capacity at Spanish River is 2,600 and to say this event was standing room only would be truly understating the crowd. There were over 3,000 in attendance and it was amazing to see.

We knew from the start that we weren’t going to see anything flash as Coach Golden plays everything close to the vest. Plus, with so many injured receivers you weren’t going to see Jedd Fisch airing it out with his offense.

Even with that, it didn’t take long to realize this group of running backs has the potential to be the most dangerous in the nation. Mike James, Storm Johnson and Lamar Miller put on an incredible show; and equally as impressive as their ground efforts, their role in the passing game.

We finally saw Jacory Harris doing the right thing, dumping the ball off to his backs instead of throwing into double or triple coverage. These backs are more than a ‘security blanket’ for a hurried quarterback. These guys can take a three-yard swing pass, busting it for a forty-yard gain.

The big passing plays will come in time, but seeing smarter decisions and big pick ups with the ground game was refreshing.

Word out of Greentree is that No. 12 is by far leading the race at quarterback – as he should be, entering his senior season. This is his final shot, he has a quality staff around him and there’s no more time for excuses. Harris did a lot of nice things on Saturday, even if he didn’t get a ton of help from his receivers. Still, the throws were there, for the most part.

Jacory did miss two touch passes, which was disconcerting. It felt like a pitcher trying to make a throw to first. They know how to throw a hundred miles per hour, but sometimes that soft, delicate throw winds up in the dugout. Between now and fall, Coach Fisch will have to continue getting Harris’ mind and throwing motion right.

Stephen Morris looked good, as well. The sophomore did some nice things, but also missed a few throws. Even if Morris doesn’t beat out Harris, Miami now has a solid number two guy. For the first time in years, should the Canes’ starter go down, you won’t miss a beat when the second team guy reaches for his helmet.

The receivers looked all right. Travis Benjamin had the biggest day with four catches and a few reversed. It’s quite clear that if you can utilize his speed, you’re already ahead of the game.

Tommy Streeter hauled in three catches, but had way too many drops. It’s easy to look at Streeter’s frame, feeling like he should be dominating, but he’s just not there yet. There are flashes of greatness, followed by a series of mishaps. One hopes he can pull things together this off-season, turning into Miami’s next Leonard Hankerson.

There wasn’t as much action from the tight ends and h-backs as expected. Chase Ford had a nice grab, as did Clive Walford and Blake Ayles is expected to immediately step in as an upperclassman transfer. Asante Cleveland was nicked up, but should be back soon.

Regarding those who are ‘nicked’ (re: guys who are hurt, not injured or unable to participate), fans at the scrimmage saw guys wearing red jerseys in the north end zone getting worked over. That crew was under the tutelage of assistant strength coach Cols Colas and let me tell you something; you don’t want to be “hurt” under this new regime. Anyone out at practice on a daily basis can tell you that those guys get a workout from hell every single day. At some point you almost expect to see some form of Chinese water torture before the final whistle.

Seriously, this team will be in tip top shape come August. Under this new regime that is one thing you can absolutely bank on. No doubt about it.

On the defensive side of the ball, one guy that really stood out was Jordan Futch, as he recorded seven tackles and two sacks. After catching up a few weeks back on allCanes Radio, I got a sense that No. 58 is finally in the right place mentally. He’s been through so much both life-wise and career-wise and I’m not really sure he hit it off with Randy Shannon, either. Regardless, he really put on a show Saturday and hopefully that carries into fall.

The usual suspects look good, too. Sean Spence, Adewale Ojomo and Vaughn Telemaque all stepped up while Travis Williams had a great day with seven tackles (two for loss) and a sack.

Overall it was a great day out at Spanish River, partly because our Canes were on the field and getting after it – but more so because the fans came out and droves and we were all in good spirits and back together again. We should see more from the spring game at Lockhart Stadium in two weeks, but before that, one more scrimmage at Traz Powell next weekend. We’ll have it all covered here at allCanesBlog.com and at allCanes Radio.

IN OTHER NEWS : Congratulations to women’s basketball coach Katie Meier, who earned a well-deserved share of the Coach of the Year award. Coach Meier will have this program rolling again next year and this isn’t the last we’ve heard from her or her hard-working, gusty, emotional and fun-filled go-getters.

The baseball team went up to Chesnut Hill this weekend and took the two games that they played against Boston College. Friday’s game was snowed out and a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday was postponed as well. Miami wound up taking game one, 19-4 and the travel-shortened game two, 7-6. The Canes remain undefeated in ACC road play and are now 17-11 on the season.

Here’s a random thought. What if instead of spending the $20K it costs to take the baseball team on the road, UM flew BC down to Coral Gables for the three-game series. No chance any games get snowed out and no baseball in forty-degree weather – which benefits both the players and fans. Again, just a thought.

Miami is home next weekend for a three-game series against NC State and has a one-game showdown with Florida Gulf Coast this Wednesday at A-Rod Park.

One final note. It’s with a heavy heart that I let you know one of the most important people in my life – Eric Harold – passed away last week. Most of you don’t know Eric, so let me give you some back story.

Years back Eric volunteered to design and run a website for legendary Miami broadcaster Neil Rogers. He did this because he believed the future of audio entertainment was headed online.

After Neil “retired”, his longtime producer Jorge Rodriguez started SoFloRadio.com, where I was asked to host a show back in September 2009. That’s when I first start working with Eric pretty much seven days a week.

Eric single-handidly engineered the entire broadcast system that both SoFlo and allCanes Radio now use. The genius of it is in the technology and all the processes that occur – from the live streaming, to the archiving, to the episode labeling, to the podcasts being uploaded to iTunes – all happening seamlessly and automatically.

Because of that forward-thinking, we were able to do a show last week that was immediately up for download, even after the passing of the man whose technology made it all go.

I can’t begin to tell you how many hours Eric put into allCanes Radio. Every time we wanted to do a special show – be it from the BUC or Columbus, Ohio last fall – Eric would stay up for days on end, getting all the code written and behind the scene things in place so that we could produce and distribute the best show possible.

We’re moving as fast as we can to make sure that allCanes Radio continues with the same quality that you’ve come to expect, but have a lot of things to get done on the professional side as Eric’s passing creates a huge void.

On a personal note, our thoughts and prayers go out to the Harold family.

Eric, we thank you for the selfless dedication you gave to our vision of bringing the best and most entertaining Canes coverage to this fan base and want you to know that you are deeply missed.

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