Spring camp comes to a close for the Miami Hurricanes this weekend with the annual spring game Saturday night. Read this for snarky comments, gifs, photoshops, and limited insight on what to expect.
With Ryan Williams' unfortunate ACL tear a few days ago, this weekend's Spring Game takes on a different tone. Our best player (Duke Johnson) was already out, so the thing people were probably most interested in seeing was what our defense would look like with some fresh faces on the 1st team. Now our projected starter at QB is out as well and likely won't be available this fall. Golden sounded hopeful that he might be able to return sometime this fall, but we shouldn't count on it. Them's the breaks. ACL injuries are no joke and the odds of Williams being able to both recover from surgery and be ready to play by the start of this season are pretty small. Here's to Ryan making as speedy of a recovery as possible.
Here's what's on tap this Saturday:
[TABLE="class: grid, width: 450"]
[TR="bgcolor: #005030"]
[TD="colspan: 2"]UNITE.14 SCHEDULE[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]2:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Parking lots open (Park in Maroon lot, enter Gate 4)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]3:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Stadium gates open (enter through Gate D/E)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]3:00-8:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Carnival on field[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]3:00-6:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Select-A-Seat[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]4:00-5:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Team Autograph Session[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]5:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]New uniform unveiling[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]5:00-6:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Team Warm Ups on Field[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]6:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Kickoff on ESPN3 (FREE/OPEN TO PUBLIC)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
According to Barry Jackson the team will be using a "50 yard field". No idea what that means other than every drive starting at the 50. We'll find out what our new uniforms look like an hour before the game. Nothing has leaked to date. However, this picture has surfaced:
No word yet if the pants will be above the knees or not. I just hope they aren't an abomination. I've said numerous times that I'd prefer something akin to what we wore from the late 70's up until the year 2000, but I have low expectations. It'll probably be some chromed out helmets with crazy straps and slashes all over the uniforms. We'll probably get about 97 different combinations too. I have severe doubts that they'll even be decent looking. Please surprise me, UM.
1. Where Miami finished in the standings/rankings:
Duke..............yea.
The last time we saw Miami strap on the pads in anything resembling a game, we saw Miami get absolutely embarrassed by Teddy Bridgewater and the Louisville Cardinals in the Russell Athletic Bowl. It was pretty much the worst outcome possible, with Bridgewater setting a career high in yards against his hometown team.
From: Louisville Rustles Miami 36-9
Rough night for everyone wearing "Smoke" helmets on the field that night.
2. What happened the last time Miami played in a Spring Game?
[video=youtube;GZ6bOb6Ev6M]www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ6bOb6Ev6M[/video]
Well hey lookie there it's Chip....where'd he go? Anyways, the game itself was about average for what you can expect from a Spring Game. There were no major injuries to speak of. And it was pretty cool seeing Gino, Dre, and Romberg back. Also the gimmicked play with Malcolm Lewis was a nice touch.
[video=youtube;_s0UJVWohhw]www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s0UJVWohhw[/video]
Still pretty awesome to see that. We came out of that spring camp with pretty high expectations for the season since our schedule was pretty weak.........:/
3. Who other teams on our schedule should be scared of:
Stacy Coley
With Duke being out for the spring this isn't even a debate. Coley was a big play machine last year, scoring 7 of his 9 touchdowns from 30 yards out or more. He did it catching, rushing, and on special teams. After Dorsett's and Duke's injuries the team leaned on him for big plays and the true freshman provided them as the season went on. Most freshman hit a wall when they are getting a lot of burn, but Stacy just kept getting better. This gif sums up just how good he can be:
^yikes at those uni's
Sure the blocking was set up nice, but look at those DB's Coley is leaving in the dust. He ran right through the secondary and pulled away from them as he got closer to the endzone. That's 4 or 5 guys in a secondary that will all be playing on Sundays three years from now. Coley will be too. I have to include this as well, if for anything to hear Dave Lamont's voice go up 20 octaves at the :11 mark:
[video=youtube;m2qjy11oe44]www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qjy11oe44[/video]
"...Great leg strength and balance!!!"
From all accounts this spring Coley has been building off that great freshman season and is only getting better.
4. Player that will score this weekend:
Gus Edwards
With both Duke and Yearby out this spring, Gus has been getting all the meaningful 1st team reps. So it's only natural that he'd be the easiest choice to get a touchdown on the ground. His problems last year were that he didn't run behind his pads all that well, and went down too easily for a back his size. From what little we've been able to see, he seems to have improved somewhat in those areas. All the extra reps can only help him and the team this fall.
I was as butt-hurt as anyone the past couple of years when we lost out on Alex Collins, Dalvin Cook, and Brandon Powell. And we only have 4 running backs on scholarship at the moment. But you'd have to be blind, half-retarded, or willfully ignorant to deny that Duke, Gus, and Yearby should make a pretty solid 3-headed monster. Gus doesn't have to be Earl Campbell for us (although he's more than welcome to try). Just provide the dimension to our running game that Duke and Yearby can't bring to the table. It shouldn't be a difficult task. I'm anxious to see what he can do this weekend.
5. Some guy with a chance to prove something:
Kevin Olsen
Olsen will likely take the majority of the reps this Saturday. And barring a medical miracle, Williams won't be back this fall either. This puts Olsen in the best position possible to make his mark and take control of this job. This is as close to a silver platter as it can get. He also hasn't sucked this spring which has only gotten some people more excited.
^not sure who made this but it always gave me a chuckle
The Baby Jesus name has been around for a couple of years now. Now would be the time to show fans (and more importantly the coaches) that he can continue producing in a controlled setting like a scrimmage. If he doesn't, then things will change once Brad Kaaya gets on campus this fall. It won't just be that way because there's 2 more quarterbacks coming in to compete for the job. It's the fact that Kaaya is Offensive Coordinator James Coley's guy. Jedd Fisch recruited and built a relationship with Olsen, not Coley. Even though Olsen's been here a year and probably knows the playbook better than Kaaya or Rozier, he's taken just as many in game snaps as them. Zero. It's just something to keep in mind.
One bad performance won't put him in jeopardy of losing his spot to them or Gray Crow. But a really good one can go a long way to make it tough on the coaches to take it away from him. I kinda hope Olsen wins the job just so we can avoid a quarterback controversy. The buffoonery with which Randy Shannon handled the Marve/Harris situation in 2008 has permanently soured me on playing musical chairs with quarterbacks.
6. Some other guy:
Rashawn Scott
Scott had a solid sophomore year, hauling in 35 balls for over 500 yards. After an impressive spring in 2013 he was expected to be a decent sized part of our passing game. However, a shoulder injury in the opener against FAU sidelined him for the bulk of last year. With Allen Hurns graduating there's a pretty big void to fill, and Coley isn't going to fill it all by himself. There's plenty of extra reps and receptions to go around. I think Scott is going show he's just the guy to do that. He seems to have continued his ability to not suck throughout spring practice. He'll probably make a pretty sweet and acrobatic jump-ball reception over one of our smaller DB's.
7. Some other, other guy:
Jamal Carter
This Saturday will be our first opportunity to see how good Carter has become in the past few months. From what little we've been able to see and read he's been getting very positive reviews. The idea of him being paired with a healthy Deon Bush, with Jenkins and Crawford backing them up is pretty **** solid. Pete labeled him as a hunter. Just don't injure any of our guys.
All last year whenever people complained about our secondary they bemoaned the fact that Kacy Rodgers and AJ Highsmith were seeing so much time at safety. Some mentioned them to shield the coaches from blame for the poor performances by the defense by saying there wasn't any talent on that side of the ball. Now that they're gone, some of those people are saying we'll be better simply from an addition by subtraction sort of thing. Jamal Carter is mentioned often as an example of that. We'll see.
8. Person that will **** you off:
Should be no one, but it will probably be someone on defense
To be honest, Spring Game's are mostly worthless. Nothing should really get you all jammed up about what happens during it. So the only interesting thing to pay attention to (other than our new uniforms and Kevin Olsen) is some improvement on the defensive side of the ball. I'd hate to see our offense join the same club that 6 of our 13 opponents joined last year by putting up 500 or more yards against our defense.
^Made by HCanes
Or maybe that would be a good thing, for Kevin Olsen at least. The point is if something really ****es you off about the game this weekend it will be seeing someone on your personal projected 2-deep making sloppy mistakes. This is all basically just a 3 hour commercial for the program anyways.
9. Official Internet meme for the Spring Game:
Hipster Kitty
[video=youtube;pele5vptVgc]www.youtube.com/watch?v=pele5vptVgc[/video]
Here's to no more injuries.
With Ryan Williams' unfortunate ACL tear a few days ago, this weekend's Spring Game takes on a different tone. Our best player (Duke Johnson) was already out, so the thing people were probably most interested in seeing was what our defense would look like with some fresh faces on the 1st team. Now our projected starter at QB is out as well and likely won't be available this fall. Golden sounded hopeful that he might be able to return sometime this fall, but we shouldn't count on it. Them's the breaks. ACL injuries are no joke and the odds of Williams being able to both recover from surgery and be ready to play by the start of this season are pretty small. Here's to Ryan making as speedy of a recovery as possible.
Here's what's on tap this Saturday:
[TABLE="class: grid, width: 450"]
[TR="bgcolor: #005030"]
[TD="colspan: 2"]UNITE.14 SCHEDULE[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]2:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Parking lots open (Park in Maroon lot, enter Gate 4)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]3:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Stadium gates open (enter through Gate D/E)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]3:00-8:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Carnival on field[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]3:00-6:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Select-A-Seat[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]4:00-5:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Team Autograph Session[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]5:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]New uniform unveiling[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]5:00-6:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Team Warm Ups on Field[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]
[TD]6:00 p.m.[/TD]
[TD]Kickoff on ESPN3 (FREE/OPEN TO PUBLIC)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
According to Barry Jackson the team will be using a "50 yard field". No idea what that means other than every drive starting at the 50. We'll find out what our new uniforms look like an hour before the game. Nothing has leaked to date. However, this picture has surfaced:
No word yet if the pants will be above the knees or not. I just hope they aren't an abomination. I've said numerous times that I'd prefer something akin to what we wore from the late 70's up until the year 2000, but I have low expectations. It'll probably be some chromed out helmets with crazy straps and slashes all over the uniforms. We'll probably get about 97 different combinations too. I have severe doubts that they'll even be decent looking. Please surprise me, UM.
1. Where Miami finished in the standings/rankings:
Duke..............yea.
The last time we saw Miami strap on the pads in anything resembling a game, we saw Miami get absolutely embarrassed by Teddy Bridgewater and the Louisville Cardinals in the Russell Athletic Bowl. It was pretty much the worst outcome possible, with Bridgewater setting a career high in yards against his hometown team.
From: Louisville Rustles Miami 36-9
Me said:...Miami's defense had been on the field all night and it was just a matter of time before they cracked. It came on the next possession by Louisville. Bridgewater was methodically moving his team down the field and then he spotted Parker deep. Teddy lofted a jump ball to him and Parker out jumped Burns for the touchdown. Parker stared down at Burns as he just sat on the ground.
Rough night for everyone wearing "Smoke" helmets on the field that night.
2. What happened the last time Miami played in a Spring Game?
[video=youtube;GZ6bOb6Ev6M]www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ6bOb6Ev6M[/video]
Well hey lookie there it's Chip....where'd he go? Anyways, the game itself was about average for what you can expect from a Spring Game. There were no major injuries to speak of. And it was pretty cool seeing Gino, Dre, and Romberg back. Also the gimmicked play with Malcolm Lewis was a nice touch.
[video=youtube;_s0UJVWohhw]www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s0UJVWohhw[/video]
Still pretty awesome to see that. We came out of that spring camp with pretty high expectations for the season since our schedule was pretty weak.........:/
3. Who other teams on our schedule should be scared of:
Stacy Coley
With Duke being out for the spring this isn't even a debate. Coley was a big play machine last year, scoring 7 of his 9 touchdowns from 30 yards out or more. He did it catching, rushing, and on special teams. After Dorsett's and Duke's injuries the team leaned on him for big plays and the true freshman provided them as the season went on. Most freshman hit a wall when they are getting a lot of burn, but Stacy just kept getting better. This gif sums up just how good he can be:
^yikes at those uni's
Sure the blocking was set up nice, but look at those DB's Coley is leaving in the dust. He ran right through the secondary and pulled away from them as he got closer to the endzone. That's 4 or 5 guys in a secondary that will all be playing on Sundays three years from now. Coley will be too. I have to include this as well, if for anything to hear Dave Lamont's voice go up 20 octaves at the :11 mark:
[video=youtube;m2qjy11oe44]www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qjy11oe44[/video]
"...Great leg strength and balance!!!"
From all accounts this spring Coley has been building off that great freshman season and is only getting better.
4. Player that will score this weekend:
Gus Edwards
With both Duke and Yearby out this spring, Gus has been getting all the meaningful 1st team reps. So it's only natural that he'd be the easiest choice to get a touchdown on the ground. His problems last year were that he didn't run behind his pads all that well, and went down too easily for a back his size. From what little we've been able to see, he seems to have improved somewhat in those areas. All the extra reps can only help him and the team this fall.
I was as butt-hurt as anyone the past couple of years when we lost out on Alex Collins, Dalvin Cook, and Brandon Powell. And we only have 4 running backs on scholarship at the moment. But you'd have to be blind, half-retarded, or willfully ignorant to deny that Duke, Gus, and Yearby should make a pretty solid 3-headed monster. Gus doesn't have to be Earl Campbell for us (although he's more than welcome to try). Just provide the dimension to our running game that Duke and Yearby can't bring to the table. It shouldn't be a difficult task. I'm anxious to see what he can do this weekend.
5. Some guy with a chance to prove something:
Kevin Olsen
Olsen will likely take the majority of the reps this Saturday. And barring a medical miracle, Williams won't be back this fall either. This puts Olsen in the best position possible to make his mark and take control of this job. This is as close to a silver platter as it can get. He also hasn't sucked this spring which has only gotten some people more excited.
^not sure who made this but it always gave me a chuckle
The Baby Jesus name has been around for a couple of years now. Now would be the time to show fans (and more importantly the coaches) that he can continue producing in a controlled setting like a scrimmage. If he doesn't, then things will change once Brad Kaaya gets on campus this fall. It won't just be that way because there's 2 more quarterbacks coming in to compete for the job. It's the fact that Kaaya is Offensive Coordinator James Coley's guy. Jedd Fisch recruited and built a relationship with Olsen, not Coley. Even though Olsen's been here a year and probably knows the playbook better than Kaaya or Rozier, he's taken just as many in game snaps as them. Zero. It's just something to keep in mind.
One bad performance won't put him in jeopardy of losing his spot to them or Gray Crow. But a really good one can go a long way to make it tough on the coaches to take it away from him. I kinda hope Olsen wins the job just so we can avoid a quarterback controversy. The buffoonery with which Randy Shannon handled the Marve/Harris situation in 2008 has permanently soured me on playing musical chairs with quarterbacks.
6. Some other guy:
Rashawn Scott
Scott had a solid sophomore year, hauling in 35 balls for over 500 yards. After an impressive spring in 2013 he was expected to be a decent sized part of our passing game. However, a shoulder injury in the opener against FAU sidelined him for the bulk of last year. With Allen Hurns graduating there's a pretty big void to fill, and Coley isn't going to fill it all by himself. There's plenty of extra reps and receptions to go around. I think Scott is going show he's just the guy to do that. He seems to have continued his ability to not suck throughout spring practice. He'll probably make a pretty sweet and acrobatic jump-ball reception over one of our smaller DB's.
7. Some other, other guy:
Jamal Carter
This Saturday will be our first opportunity to see how good Carter has become in the past few months. From what little we've been able to see and read he's been getting very positive reviews. The idea of him being paired with a healthy Deon Bush, with Jenkins and Crawford backing them up is pretty **** solid. Pete labeled him as a hunter. Just don't injure any of our guys.
All last year whenever people complained about our secondary they bemoaned the fact that Kacy Rodgers and AJ Highsmith were seeing so much time at safety. Some mentioned them to shield the coaches from blame for the poor performances by the defense by saying there wasn't any talent on that side of the ball. Now that they're gone, some of those people are saying we'll be better simply from an addition by subtraction sort of thing. Jamal Carter is mentioned often as an example of that. We'll see.
8. Person that will **** you off:
Should be no one, but it will probably be someone on defense
To be honest, Spring Game's are mostly worthless. Nothing should really get you all jammed up about what happens during it. So the only interesting thing to pay attention to (other than our new uniforms and Kevin Olsen) is some improvement on the defensive side of the ball. I'd hate to see our offense join the same club that 6 of our 13 opponents joined last year by putting up 500 or more yards against our defense.
^Made by HCanes
Or maybe that would be a good thing, for Kevin Olsen at least. The point is if something really ****es you off about the game this weekend it will be seeing someone on your personal projected 2-deep making sloppy mistakes. This is all basically just a 3 hour commercial for the program anyways.
9. Official Internet meme for the Spring Game:
Hipster Kitty
[video=youtube;pele5vptVgc]www.youtube.com/watch?v=pele5vptVgc[/video]
Here's to no more injuries.
