The season is a month out. Fall ball kicks off this weekends, shake ups on the offensive line, a talented player moves back from defense to offense and some healthy competition taking place at the quarterback position. Check it all out and get ready for some football here at allCanesBlog.com.
The big guy will be out for an extended period of time this season, if not the whole year. Left tackle Seantrel Henderson is having back surgery in the coming days which means up and comer Malcolm Bunche will moved to left tackle and the rest of the line will be reshuffled. Bunche is 6-foot-7 and 320 pounds. He’s said to be a hard working kid and has been pushing Henderson for playing time all year, earning the first-team spot after spring ball.
Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for No. 77. Back pain and back surgery is no joke. Also, check out some recent Herald ink on Bunche being ready to step up.
Some good ink regarding the quarterback competition that will highlight fall ball when practice opens this Saturday. Jacory Harris opened up to the Herald’s Susan Miller Degnan regarding his love for ‘The U’, the fact he’s been both loved / hated and that he enters August both upbeat and grateful for the opportunity to compete.
Head coach Al Golden and offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch plan on naming a starter somewhere between August 19th and 22nd, with Fisch believing someone should step up immediately, indicating who should earn the job.
Both guys want the job, both guys have been banged up and both need to take a giant step forward in effort to become ‘the guy’. Question remains, who does?
It’s the kind of question that has kept Miami fans up nights in the past, but this time around there seems to be a different confidence in the process. In years passed, rumors of coaches playing favorites or looking to avoid controversy – that doesn’t appear to be the case this time around.
Neither Golden or Fisch have any allegiance to Harris or Morris. It is about doing what’s best for the team and choosing the guy who is in position to lead, to protect the ball and to make plays. The competition is wide open and the guy who has the poise and steps up will be the guy who should start.
It has nothing to do with a senior versus a sophomore or what’s better in the long-term. Who will put Miami in the best position on Labor Day at Maryland and every game thereafter? That’s who needs to be named starter in two weeks.
Running back to defensive back and now back to running back. Eduardo Clements is moving back to offense to help build depth at a position that took a hit when Storm Johnson transferred / got the boot and another when incoming freshman Kevin Grooms got caught up in NCAA Clearinghouse issues.
Lamar Miller is your starter, Mike James in your number two and one would expect Clements to take the number three spot. Grooms and redshirt freshman Darion Hall are your next two.
Clements was a highly-touted back out of Booker T. Washington in Miami, rushing for 3,105 yards and fifty touchdowns over four seasons. Moving back to offense is a natural fit and with injuries so prevalent at the running back position, the added depth is a must for a team that plans on being run-heavy in a new offense. Especially one where quarterbacks have been turnover-prone the past few seasons.