Eye on the U

B-Rad First-Team All-ACC; Football roster making space; McDermott on Rimington Watch List.

Bryan Radziewski was not his usual self during his last regular-season start, but he was amazing all season -- coming off shoulder surgery nonetheless.

The left-handed junior was among five starting pitchers named to the 2013 All-ACC First Team on Monday.

B-Rad, as he is called by his fans and teammates, ended the season ranked among the conference leaders in nearly every statistical category. He ranked third in ERA (1.64), tied for second in wins (eight), tied for second in complete games (two), third in strikeouts (96) and first in batting average against (.175).

Radziewski is one of three pitchers in the ACC averaging more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings (11.27). The former Baseball America Freshman All-American has recorded 204 Ks over 33 starts and has a 19-4 career record and career ERA of 2.64. 

Miami begins its quest for an ACC title at 3 p.m. Thursday, when it meets No. 1 seed North Carolina in a Pool A matchup in Durham, N.C.

UM lost in the title game to Georgia Tech last year.

RICARDO WILLIAMS OFFICIALLY OFF FOOTBALL TEAM

   Chris Yandle, director of communications for UM athletics, just confirmed to me that 6-5, 251-pound defensive end Ricardo Williams is no longer on the team. A redshirt sophomore, Williams is out of Homestead Senior High. Williams played in one game last year -- against North Carolina. 

   Williams' name has already been removed from the football roster.

   Wide receiver Robert Lockhart Jr., who also has been granted his release, according to Canesport.com, is still on the roster.

    "As far as Robert Lockhart, I have not been informed about anything,'' Yandle said.

   Lockhart is a 6-1, 183-pound redshirt sophomore out of Fork Union Military Academy, via West Boca Raton High.  Lockhart was a four-star recruit by Rivals.com and ESPN. As a high school senior he had 34 catches for 686 yards and six touchdowns. He chose UM over Virginia Tech. Lockhart played in two games last season -- UNC and FSU -- but sustained a season-ending knee injury.

 SHANE McDERMOTT ON RIMINGTON WATCH LIST   

     UM center Shane McDermott is one of 44 players named to the 2013 Rimington Trophy spring watch list. The award is presented annually to the nation's top collegiate center.

    McDermott, a junior, missed spring practice after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.

     An All-ACC honorable mention selection in 2012 by league coaches, McDermott started all 12 games at center for UM. UM had the ACC's third-best passing offense (295.4-yards-per-game average) and fifth-best total offense (440.2). As a redshirt freshman in 2011, he played in 10 games, allowing no sacks and not being flagged for any penalties.

    McDermott is from Lake Worth. He was awarded the Walter Kichefski Endowed Football Scholarship at the most recent UM Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet. He will earn his bachelor's degree this summer.

    McDermott's younger brother (I won't say "little'' brother as he's 6-6 and approaching 300 pounds), Kc McDermott, has already pledged his commitment to UM for the Class of 2014, a huge get for the Canes.
 Kc is a four-star lineman, according to Rivals.com, and is listed as the 40th best player overall, regardless of position. He is listed as the fifth best tackle in the Class of 2014.

   Notre Dame also wanted Kc, and actually still wants him, but Kc said he's not budging from his commitment to the Hurricanes.  

     SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN

Monday's UM practice notes, plus audio from Golden, D'Onofrio and Fisch

A couple of quick notes from Monday's post-practice interviews:

> UM coach Al Golden said linebackers Eddie Johnson and Gabe Terry, who did not make the trip to Virginia Saturday for not following team rules, didn't practice Monday. But Golden said he hopes to resolve issues with both of those players "tonight and tomorrow."

"I just wanted to get through the game film of this and didn't really want to -- they weren't part of that and I wanted to get through today and move forward with them tonight and tomorrow," Golden said.

> Golden on the length of the suspension of receiver Rashawn Scott: "Indefinitely. I don't know if that means there will be closure to that or not. But it's indefinitely for sure."

> Linebacker Denzel Perryman (ankle) was back at practice Monday according to Golden and practicing with the first team at weakside linebacker according to Mark D'Onofrio. Safety Deon Bush (stinger) was back at practice and was running around and participating in conditioning. But Golden said Bush will need medical clearance to return for Saturday's home finale against USF.

"Denzel is going to be ready it looks like," Golden said. "Deon, we're still in that stage where we have to evaluate. He looked great. He's out here running and everything. It's just, the doctor has to give him the okay. From a conditioning standpoint we'll keep him on track to play. But he can't play until he gets cleared."

> Freshman running back Duke Johnson was named ACC Rookie of the Week for the fourth time this season after tallying 368 all-purpose yards at Virginia. Johnson became only the third FBS player since 2000 with a TD pass and a kickoff return for a TD in the same game.

> Sophomore Gionni Paul was named co-Linebacker of the Week after tallying a team-leading 14 tackles against the Cavs. Paul, who was honored by the ACC for the second time this season, was practicing as the backup to Perryman at weakside linebacker on Monday according to D'Onofrio.

> For those of you hoping Golden might decide it's time to make a change at defensive coordinator, don't hold your breath. We continue to get the sense that despite the Hurricanes resetting the record book for most points and yards allowed on defense, Golden doesn't blame D'Onofrio for any of it. He blames youth.

"The mindset right now is we're in this to fix it long term," Golden said Monday. "We just had a two minute drive at the end of the game and we didn't stop them and there were no seniors on the field. None. So, I think the guys understand we didn't get it done, but if you're here long term and you want to get it fixed, it's going to be all of us that are here plus whatever we add next year. It's not just going to [snaps fingers four times] just turn overnight. I think they have a good attitude. I think they understand that. For all the things we didn't do persay in that two minute drive, look at all the guys who were on the field. The [Tyriq] McCords, Tracy Howards and [Rayshawn] Jenkins that did a nice job."

> Big picture you get the sense Golden is tiring of dealing with outside distractions. It's not even the NCAA anymore. It's his own players like Johnson and Rashawn Scott getting themselves suspended in Week 10 of the season that are troubling him.

"It's been TMZ since I've been here," Golden said of the outside distractions. "Let's be honest. Yeah, it's been tough. It's been tough on the coaches. It's been tough on me, personally. There's not one minute I go to bed where I don't think I'm fighting that with the team. Again, I'm looking forward to the day when we're focused on our opponents and making our players better and not talking about [outside distractions]."

Are the players totally focused and where they need to be? "I don't think we're there yet," Golden said. "I think we've made a lot of progress. I think we've gotten to the point where we're starting to focus on what's important for our program and what we need to do in terms of the Coastal Division and those opponents. But clearly we had some missteps last week. I don't think there's any questions about it."

Golden said players need to do a better job policing themselves "proactively" or before someone makes a mistake. "Every team battles it," Golden said. "I just don't want to be there in November."

> Golden believes UM will be focused to take on South Florida (3-6, 1-4 ACC) this week.

"This has turned into a rival," Golden said. "There's going to be a lot of energy and effort that both teams are going to put into this game to prepare. I see some guys playing a non-conference game, but it's a non-BCS or FCS game to get them ready for their rivalry game or get them settled in for their conference championship. That's not the case here. This is all we can handle. This will be a well rested team, a tough team coming in. We better get back on the horse."

I will update and post more notes after I transcribe them. Stay tuned for updates. But for now, the audio from today's interviews are available for your listening pleasure.

AUDIO: Coach Al Golden post-practice Monday

AUDIO: Defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio post-practice Monday

AUDIO: Offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch post-practice Monday

Depth Chart just released for last home game, vs. USF. Deon Bush (injured) not on it; Eddie Johnson (lack of football discipline) not on it.

Good morning.

The Hurricanes just released their newest depth chart for the USF game at 3 p.m. Saturday at Sun Life Stadium -- the final home game of the season, which will honor the seniors.

It's too bad some of the underclassmen haven't been disciplined enough, or done the right things, to help make it a more pleasant experience for the few seniors.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Eddie Johnson's status "is yet to be determined,'' UM coach Al Golden said Sunday evening. Eddie Johnson, a former starter and second-leading tackler on defense, wasn't allowed to make the trip because of something football-related, the coach said. Whether they say the word "suspended'' or not, if you did something wrong and you aren't allowed to travel and you're one of the most productive players on defense, you're suspended.

Starting safety Deon Bush, a freshman with stingers that usually affect the neck/shoulder area, is not on the depth chart and "doubtful'' for USF, according to Golden, who said that nonetheless he was still "hopeful'' that Deon could return. Kacy Rodgers and A.J. Highsmith are listed as the starting safeties.

Denzel Perryman is expected to practice at some point this week.

The new depth chart has sophomore Thurston Armbrister as a starting outside linebacker, Jimmy Gaines in the middle and Gionni Paul OR Denzel on the outside.

Davon Johnson now joins Phillip Dorsett and Allen Hurns as a starting receiver, with walk-on redshirt freshman Garrett Kidd as Johnson's backup.

And Curtis Porter, who made his first start of the season at Virginia, is now a first-team defensive tackle, along with Olsen Pierre.

DEPTH CHART, COURTESTY of UM

OFFENSE
WR	1	Allen Hurns	6-3	192	Jr.
	86	Herb Waters	6-2	185	Fr.
LT	79	Malcolm Bunche	6-7	325	RSo.
	64	Hunter Wells	6-4	300	RFr.
LG	70	Jon Feliciano	6-5	314	RSo.
	68	Jeremy Lewis	6-4	316	RSr.
C	62	Shane McDermott	6-4	295	RSo.
	75	Jared Wheeler	6-5	314	RJr.
RG	65	Brandon Linder	6-6	308	Jr.
	63	Danny Isidora	6-4	320	Fr.
RT	77	Seantrel Henderson	6-8	340	Jr.
	74	Ereck Flowers	6-6	314	Fr.
TE	46	Clive Walford	6-4	250	RSo.
	82	Asante Cleveland	6-5	263	Jr.
	49	Dyron Dye	6-5	255	RJr.
FB	33	Maurice Hagens	5-11	240	Jr.
	43	Sean Harvey	6-4	262	RSo.
QB	17	Stephen Morris	6-2	214	Jr.
	11	Ryan Williams	6-5	221	RSo.
RB	5	Mike James	5-11	220	Sr.
	8	Duke Johnson	5-9	188	Fr.
WR	4	Phillip Dorsett	5-10	185	So.
	83	Kendal Thompkins	5-10	182	RSr.
WR	24	Davon Johnson	6-0	188	Sr.
	87	Garrett Kidd	6-2	186	RFr.

 

  

DEFENSE
DE	71	Anthony Chickillo	6-4	262	So.
	92	Jalen Grimble	6-2	295	So.
	99	Jelani Hamilton	6-5	271	Fr.
DT	96	Curtis Porter	6-1	305	RJr.
	72	Earl Moore	6-1	300	Fr.
	66	Dequan Ivery	6-1	303	Fr.
DT	91	Olsen Pierre	6-4	300	So.
	93	Luther Robinson	6-3	288	RJr.
DE	51	Shayon Green	6-3	260	RJr.
	17	Tyriq McCord	6-3	236	Fr.
	90	Ricardo Williams	6-5	240	RFr.
OLB	34	Thurston Armbrister	6-3	222	So.
	59	Jimmy Gaines	6-3	230	Jr.
MLB	59	Jimmy Gaines	6-3	230	Jr.
	56	Raphael Kirby	6-0	218	Fr.
OLB	36	Gionni Paul -OR-	6-1	230	So.
	52	Denzel Perryman	6-0	229	So.
	31	Tyrone Cornileus	6-2	210	So.
CB	37	Ladarius Gunter	6-2	198	So.
	3	Tracy Howard	5-11	185	Fr.
	20	Thomas Finnie	5-10	183	So.
S	22	Kacy Rodgers II	6-2	210	Jr.
	29	Rayshawn Jenkins	6-1	203	Fr.
S	30	AJ Highsmith	6-0	202	RJr.
	7	Vaughn Telemaque	6-2	204	RSr.
CB	21	Brandon McGee	6-0	194	Sr.
	39	Antonio Crawford	5-11	188	Fr.

SPECIALISTS
P	13	Dalton Botts	6-3	205	Sr.
	40	Jake Wieclaw	6-2	193	RSr.
FG	40	Jake Wieclaw	6-2	193	RSr.
	18	Matt Goudis	6-0	170	RFr.
KO	40	Jake Wieclaw	6-2	193	RSr.
	18	Matt Goudis	6-0	170	RFr.
H	13	Dalton Botts	6-3	205	Sr.
	11	Ryan Williams	6-5	221	RSo.
LS	61	Paul Kelly	6-1	262	RSr.
	59	Jimmy Gaines	6-3	230	Jr.
SS	61	Paul Kelly	6-1	262	RSr.
	65	Brandon Linder	6-6	308	Jr.
PR	4	Phillip Dorsett	5-10	185	So.
	8	Duke Johnson	5-9	192	Fr.
KR	4	Phillip Dorsett	5-10	185	So.
	8	Duke Johnson	5-9	188	Fr.

SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN