Thursday, July 24, 2008

Canes Suffer A Hit On The O-Line

Freshman offensive lineman Brandon Washington, one of the national champ Northwestern Bulls that was supposed to be an integral part in the Canes eventual revival, will have to wait a season to make any sort of impact on his new team. He, along with two others - linebacker Antonio Harper and safety C.J. Odoms - are headed to Milford Prep (NY) since they could not get academically qualified for the beginning of the fall semester.

Miami desperately needs offensive lineman help, with recruiting at the position precariously thin over the years. Washington's absence puts even more pressure on freshman Ben Jones, also from Northwestern, to help bolster the o-line, which outside of spring impressives Jason Fox, Orlando Franklin, and Joel Figueroa, has many more question marks than answers.

Perhaps the key to the season is how much protection the offensive line can give a freshman starting quarterback (the Canes have nothing but freshmen at the quarterback position) - you know teams will be gunning for the green QB. Newcomer fullback Patrick Hill - known to blow a few people up in his pre-Miami days - will be heavily counted on to be the last line of defense to protect either Robert Marve or Jacory Harris once the season starts.

In other news - I can't wait for football season (as you can surmise from the July college football posts).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I can't wait either...All the frustration that the Marlins are causing right now is making the upcoming seasons much needed...go canes, go heat...I've given up on the Marlins...they're way too inconsistent...in relation to the actual blog...yes...losing washington for a year hurts...but I'm sure we can work past him.