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Article: Al Golden 8-1 Press Conference

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****, I let my subscription lapse. Guess I'll catch the recap later!
 
Tough to watch it on Hurricanesports, can't hear the questions the reporters are asking Coach Golden.
 
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[video=youtube;jIbBYb_mZYA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIbBYb_mZYA[/video]

Per BJack:

Thursday noon update: Al Golden address issues, Dolphins news, views from Wed. practice

Highlights from Al Golden’s Thursday news conference:

### Golden wishes he would have known NCAA sanctions before camp starts Saturday, but that’s not going to happen. But “we’re not going to let this disrupt our third consecutive training camp…. We’ve been to **** and back the last two years.”

Though some parties have been told the NCAA is targeting late next week to reveal sanctions, the NCAA has cautioned that it’s not definite and could stretch a couple weeks beyond that. Nobody at UM would be surprised if this goes deep into August.

### Golden said running back Eduardo Clements (neck) will be medically cleared.

### He said incoming defensive linemen Julio Derosier and Ufomba Kamalu are expected “to be here by Saturday.” Of the signees, only Devante Bond, Rhyheem Locksley and Derrick Griffin haven’t been cleared academically. Locksley and Griffin are going to prep school, as previously announced. Bond could be headed there, too.

### Golden, on his mindset heading into the season: “I don’t know if I’m any more confident. I’m just being me. I’m a football coach, I’m not a litigator, a researcher, a defender. I had 15 different jobs the last two years. It’s been so long since we’ve been able to talk about anything but that four letter word [NCAA].’”

He mentioned Virginia Tech’s long run of success and said: “If we want this conference to be what it wants to be, Miami has to do its job.”

### Golden’s nephew Greg is a walk on receiver: “It’s a lifelong dream for him. He’s mature enough to understand I’m the coach. He’s in a good shape. I’m excited he’s here.”

### He said having difficult choices about playing time at some positions such a receiver “is a good problem. I don’t know who the starters are there, or who are the six or seven that are going to travel. I’m as anxious as you guys to see where they’re at…. We’re going to have a good rotation at every spot.”

### Players who didn’t adhere to team rules have been purged. “We have the right guys on the train. We have a team that’s focused. This is a very mature team right now.”

### He said he feels very good about eight offensive linemen and would like to identify a ninth and 10th. “I don’t know who the starting five is and that’s a good thing. I know there are at least six guys going to bed tonight thinking they’re the starter.”

### Most of the front seven has put on considerable weight, which was an offseason priority. Anthony Chickillo has gone from 260 to 275.

“Chickillo grew up on the field [and] his lack of weight and strength was evident. Now he’s going to hopefully harness all that experience and be where he [needs to be] physically.” Jelani Hamilton has gone from 258 to 285.

### He likes how tight end Beau Sandland has developed.

### He said Duke Johnson has an “elite stiff arm and protection of the football. He has to take the next step and be able to handle a little bit more. We’ve got to get his touches up a little bit more. He’s got more muscle. His body composition is better. He’s stronger.”

Fortunately, he’s not taking Duke Johnson off returns to try to conserve energy. “For us to say we’re not going to have Randy return kicks, then he’s not Randy Johnson.”

### He said Jimmy Gaines is ahead of Raphael Kirby at middle linebacker. “If I wanted to show a kid what a middle linebacker should look like, I would go to our web site, hit [a link], and listen to Jimmy” explain “what a linebacker does pre-snap.”

### He said receiver Allen Hurns “has been a tremendous leader for us. Really proud to have him on our team. He deserves a measure of good health.”

### Will Ray Lewis be around the program more now that his son is here? “I don’t know. We haven’t had that dialogue.”

### He said one reason he came to UM is “I believed there would less Achilles’ heels here, less chinks in the armor in recruiting.”

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/spor...ws-views-from-wed-practice.html#storylink=cpy
 
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Fortunately, he’s not taking Duke Johnson off returns to try to conserve energy. “For us to say we’re not going to have Randy return kicks, then he’s not Randy Johnson.”

Love it.
 
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I see that he didn't mention Dave Gilbert. I presume that is because Gilbert hasn't graduated yet. August 3rd, I believe.
 
I think Chick is really going to reach a different level this year. 10+ sacks. He's spent 2 years learning the hard way while trying to develop physically. In a perfect situation he'd be a redshirt sophomore coming off a 500 snap season. Instead he's been through the school of hard knocks because we needed him.
He was a 5 star recruit with great potential. Now he's a 270lb man with 2 years of starting experience and grown men like Pierre, Porter and Robinson crashing the middle.
Big year for him.
 
Agree on Chick, think people are sleeping on him because of last season, but forget his very good freshmen season. Had a really nice spring game, showed some solid quickness and flashed the great hand usage that disappeared last year.

Completely forgot this until the other day, but Gaines is only 20 years old and will be all season. Start to see a big physical development around that age. I'm really high on Kirby but I think we could see Gaines step up big this year, incredibly athletic and now has a ton of experience and some legit size inside. Starting DL of juniors and seniors (Chick/Porter/Pierre/Green), two really experienced linebackers (Gaines, Denzel) with two extremely athletic young guys (Figs, Kirby) and two other guys with solid experience (Armbrister, Cornelius), extremely young but extremely talented DB group (Gunter, Tracy, Crawford, Bush, Jenkins). Defense has a lot of experience and we're finally getting some grown men on that side of the ball, think people are gonna be shocked at this unit this season.
 
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Chick looked sluggish with the extra weight last year, and he packed on even more pounds...

Hmm, hope its for the best
 
skyman said:
Chick looked sluggish with the extra weight last year, and he packed on even more pounds...

Hmm, hope its for the best
Click to expand...

Chick looked sluggish because he was constantly battling 600+ lbs of offensive linemen on seemingly every play. Hard to show a burst when at every turn there is 300lbs of strong men trying to put your **** in the dirt.
 
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I don't see why people are *****ing about Duke returning kicks. The kid is an absolute playmaker and is going to score multiple TD's on special teams. Of course he can get hurt..... its football.

Lamar Miller returned punts and kicks too didnt he?
 
My hope for Chick is a Dan Morgan type ending to his playing days at the U.
Forced into playing time out of desperation and grows into a monster.
 
SebastianTheIbis said:
SMD is awful, how do they still let her ask questions?
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing as I watched the presser. Crazy thing is that in a bad economy with tough unemployment situations all over, but particularly in print media, she is actually getting paid money to do something a lot of us would do on the cheap, if not for free.
 
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