The Latest at The U…

Some recent Miami Hurricanes related news going down right now. Let’s dive right in:

Let’s address the biggest elephant in the room right now; the injury to defensive end Adewale Ojomo. Story goes that an unnamed, unknown walk on sucker punched the sophomore defender and broke his jaw in two places.

With a jaw wired shut for the first third of the season, a loss of weight and an extended amount of time before being able to handle taking hits, it’s safe to say Ojomo could miss the majority of this season – if not all.

Randy Shannon has talked a big game regarding discipline and it’ll be interesting to see how this is handed. In all my years of following Hurricanes Football, I can’t recall a time a player – let alone a walk-on scrub – took a swing at a starter. This wasn’t an on-the-field incident that spilled over to post-practice. This is a nobody who is rumored to have challenged Ojomo to a wrestling match and took a shot after the fact.

Shannon needs to throw this scrub off the squad and a ‘no fighting’ rule needs to be implemented. Entering year three, this type of tomfoolery is unacceptable. Especially by some idiot who isn’t even listed on the roster.

Shannon originally labeled this incident locker room horseplay. Now that the facts have started coming out, it’s on the third-year coach to deal with this head-on. Some issues should stay in-house. Not this one. Step up, Randy. Draw a line in the dirt. Squash out a little issue before it becomes a big one. This needs to be the first and last player-on-player tussle in your tenure.

Ojomo’s injury aside, Miami has dealt with a few minor blows this week. Defensive end Gavin Hardin is expected to miss an ‘extended period’ of time – making the Ojomo loss that much more of a setback. Andrew Smith and Oliver Vernon are other defensive ends who are banged up and Eric Moncur has been limited in action, as well.

Outside of the defensive line woes, Graig Cooper was spotted in a walking cast today and many are questioning the seriousness of the injury to the junior tailback. The Miami staff is calling the injury ‘nothing serious’ and the productive back is expected to be in the line up opening night at Florida State.

The Cooper injury is an interesting one as running back is a position where the Canes are loaded. Javarris James returns for his senior season and is ready to go. Back ups Damien Berry and Lee Chambers have shown flashes of greatness, albeit in practice or mop up duty and true freshman Mike James and Lamar Miller are coming along nicely, though getting their first reps against the Seminoles will be no picnic. (Ask Baby J, who carried 3 times for 3 yards as a true freshman against Florida State in 2006.)

Here’s hoping #2 is ready on Labor Day. As witnessed in 2008, Cooper is a force with fresh legs… though he wore down as the year went on, asked to shoulder too much of the burden. A steady diet of James, Cooper and one more back should help the Canes cause in the season opener. That said, if there’s a position that could take a minor hit, running back is second only to wide receiver.

Georgia-bred linebacker Tyrone Cornileus verballed to Miami on Tuesday night. The three-star product chose UM over Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan and a few others.

The family is on board, tradition played a part in the decision and like many other commits, Cornileus is a fan of the tradition, the U Family environment and knows the NFL looks favorably on talented ballers from The U.

Cornileus is the fifteenth verbal commitment of the 2010 class.

Miami Herald beat writer Manny Navarro posed a recent question regarding Miami’s move to the ACC and a potential move back to the Big East, should the Canes’ former conference come calling. The Big East needs an anchor school and while Notre Dame is the top choice, is Miami a potential fit if the Irish don’t get on board?

There’s been a lot of chatter these past few years regarding Miami’s move to the ACC in 2004. The Canes have taken their share of grief after five seasons with no finish better than 9-3, while plummeting to 5-7 when the program bottomed out in 2007.

Rival fans have taken their digs, but I expected more out of a Canes beat writer. How come nobody is calling this as it is? Miami’s decline has nothing to do with the conference move and everything to do with timing. Would the Canes have struggled in the ACC between 2000-2003? Hardly. Conversely, what kind of record would UM have put together 2006-2008 if still in the Big East? Safe to say the West Virginias, South Floridas and Cincinnatis would’ve taken down a depth-starved, talent-laden Miami program during that era.

Look no further than Louisville’s 31-7 beating of Miami in 2006 for further proof. Same to be said for West Virginia’s 22-4 run between 2006-2007, capped off by a 48-28 Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma. Even at 9-4 in 2008, the Mountaineer beat ACC rival North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

The Big East is no juggernaut, but safe to say the conference’s best teams were all better than a below-average Miami team the past few years. That said, when Florida State dominated the ACC the past decade and a half, on many occasions the Canes found a way to beat the conference’s best.

Give UM another year to stockpile talent, build depth and bring along young talent. This was a five-year rebuilding project, but we can start the clock year four. By 2010 let’s see if the ACC is the problem or if the blame belongs on the shoulders of Larry Coker, the architect of the demise.

Last but not least, another bad week for those who have spurned The U.

A few weeks back it was former quarterback Robert Marve tearing his ACL in a Purdue practice. Today the hammer is falling on former Miami commitment and current Tennessee running back Bryce Brown.

Brown – a fixture at CanesFest and in Miami’s locker room the past few months – is being questioned by the NCAA regarding his acceptance of money to make unofficial visits during his recruiting process. Brown’s involvement with “advisor” Brian Butler is being questioned as well as Butler’s pay-for-info website raised eyebrows from day one. Tennessee isn’t being accused of any wrongdoing, but Brown’s eligibility is in question three weeks before kickoff.

The Brown/Butler relationship was questionable from day one and the investigation is dating back several years. Should Butler be in the wrong and should Brown’s ties with his ‘mentor’ be as deep as expected, this thing could get messy.

One more time for the record, kudos to Shannon and staff for backing off this kid late in the process. There were red flags and unlike the Willie Williams situation years back, it’s a breath of fresh air to not see a program sell its soul and risk its reputation for one player.

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