More Tidbits From Coral Gables

The Canes are 22 days away from the home opener against Charleston Southern, but I'm on top of the practice situation at Coral Gables as the Canes prepare for the Florida Gators (you can't honestly believe they'll spend 4 weeks preparing for Charleston Southern and 1 week preparing for UF). Here's the latest:

* It looks like Randy Shannon's son, Xavier, is locking down the starting center position. The 5th year senior who transferred this summer from FIU, where he was a multi-year starter, has gotten into offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland's good graces with his mental aptitude and advanced maturity (funny, they were saying things like that in the mid-80's about Shannon the Elder). He is physically unimpressive, but has picked up the offense better than anybody contending for the starting center gig (Tyler Horn, Matt Pipho, and A.J. Trump).

* Senior safety Anthony Reddick has been held out of practice the past couple of days. He's missed two seasons with ACL tears, so coaches are wary of bringing him back into the tough practice routines too fast.

* There was an article in yesterday's Herald about fullback Patrick Hill's head-hunting instincts, but check this quote out from his backup, freshman John Calhoun (not the 19th century Senator): "I was brought in to lay people out and that's what I'm going to do...I love the position to be honest with you." You just have to love the type of people Randy Shannon is bringing in to the program - sounds like old Miami to be honest, and I couldn't be more excited.

* Junior cornerback Chavez Grant, who has been the Hurricanes nickel specialist, is priming for a larger role this season on the outside, and will most likely start the season there. Freshman Brandon Harris, who has exhibited great cover skills and an impressive early display of leadership, is Grant's backup (for now).

* Someone put me to sleep for the next 3 weeks. I don't want to have to wait.

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).