#CANESCAMP NOTES
#100Days Countdown to Kickoff: 23 days (Miami opens 2013 season Aug. 30 vs. FAU at 8 p.m. on ESPNU)
Wednesday was the first day of full pads for the Hurricanes, concluding the NCAA-mandated 5-day acclimation period.
NFL scouts from the Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns were in attendance.
Senior QB Stephen Morris, sophomore WR Malcolm Lewis and senior DE Shayon Green wore jerseys and shorts Wednesday and serve as team leaders.
Sophomore DB Deon Bush was in a red (non-contact) jersey, freshman DB Corn Elder and junior DE Anthony Chickillo were in yellow (limited contact) jerseys. Freshman OL Sunny Odogwu was back in a white jersey.
Junior QB Ryan William practiced with the first-team offense and redshirt freshman Gray Crow with the second-team offense.
Duke Johnson, Phillip Dorsett, Artie Burns, Stacy Coley, Malcolm Lewis and Corn Elder worked on kickoff returns, while Matt Goudis and Pat O’Donnell alternated as kickoff specialists.
Offense won the 3-by-2 skeleton thanks in part to an Allen Hurns 45-yard TD catch and big catches by Rashawn Scott and Stacy Coley.
Defense won the first 11-on-11 drill. Tracy Howard jumped underneath a route to pick off a pass from QB Ryan Williams.
On the next play, Williams bounced back with a long TD throw to Hurns.
Both Duke Johnson and Dallas Crawford broke off TD runs of 30-plus yards in 11-on-11.
Alex Figueroa batted back a Gray Crow pass, which was caught by Tyrone Cornileus for a TD.
The Canes ended practice with work on 2-point conversions.
QUOTABLES
Al Golden on the first day of full pads…
“We’re ready to go. We’ll see if some guys take the next step for us. It’s not a lot different than going in tops, but we’ll have some goal line and short yardage periods in there. So we want to make sure we get them covered and put the full gear on them.”
Golden on difficulty to hold guys back from hitting while wearing pads at practice…
“The hardest thing is to teach young guys to stay off the legs and to dive for guys and take side shots. We’re always talking about that in practice but in general we’re doing a pretty good job. We’re just staying up and staying healthy.”
Golden on if there will be more injuries now that they are in full pads…
“I hope not. I think we are real safe. We don’t practice differently in full pads than we do without them, to be honest with you. We don’t take guys to the ground. There might be two periods that we do that today, just the goal line and short yardage, because there really is no other way to do it. Other than that, we don’t really change our philosophy.”
Olsen Pierre on defense’s progress…
“Last year we had a lot of new guys and guys at different spots. This year I feel like we are a better group. We were told over the summer we got to stay with each other. We went out to eat, we worked out, we all got bigger together so we could all go out and attack and make that wall for no running backs, full backs or anything to get past us.”
Duke Johnson on what impresses him about the team…
“We’re competing big time this year. We come in, practice every day and compete. Everything we do, we compete with each other. We compete off the defense. It’s big competition.”
Johnson on his running style…
“A lot of it is instinct. You go off on what you feel and let your eyes guide you the rest of the way.”
