Eye on the U

Shalala releases statement on NOA

STATEMENT FROM UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI PRESIDENT DONNA E. SHALALA ON NCAA NOTICE OF ALLEGATIONS

“The University of Miami deeply regrets and takes full responsibility for those NCAA violations that are based on fact and are corroborated by multiple individuals and/or documentation.  We have already self-imposed a bowl ban for an unprecedented two-year period, forfeited the opportunity to participate in an ACC championship game, and withheld student-athletes from competition.

"Over the two and a half years since the University of Miami first contacted the NCAA enforcement staff about allegations of rules violations, the NCAA interviewed dozens of witnesses, including current and former Miami employees and student-athletes, and received thousands of requested documents and emails from the University.  Yet despite our efforts to aid the investigation, the NCAA acknowledged on February 18, 2013 that it violated its own policies and procedures in an attempt to validate the allegations made by a convicted felon.  Many of the allegations included in the Notice of Allegations remain unsubstantiated. 

"Now that the Notice of Allegations has been issued, let me provide some context to the investigation itself:

> Many of the charges brought forth are based on the word of a man who made a fortune by lying. The NCAA enforcement staff acknowledged to the University that if Nevin Shapiro, a convicted con man, said something more than once, it considered the allegation “corroborated”—an argument which is both ludicrous and counter to legal practice.

> Most of the sensationalized media accounts of Shapiro’s claims are found nowhere in the Notice of Allegations.  Despite their efforts over two and a half years, the NCAA enforcement staff could not find evidence of prostitution, expensive cars for players, expensive dinners paid for by boosters, player bounty payments, rampant alcohol and drug use, or the alleged hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts given to student-athletes, as reported in the media.  The fabricated story played well—the facts did not. 

> The NCAA enforcement staff failed, even after repeated requests, to interview many essential witnesses of great integrity who could have provided first-hand testimony, including, unbelievably, Paul Dee, who has since passed away, but who served as Miami Athletic Director during many of the years that violations were alleged to have occurred.  How could a supposedly thorough and fair investigation not even include the Director of Athletics? 

> Finally, we believe the NCAA was responsible for damaging leaks of unsubstantiated allegations over the course of the investigation.   

Let me be clear again: for any rule violation—substantiated and proven with facts—that the University, its employees, or student-athletes committed, we have been and should be held accountable.  We have worked hard to improve our compliance oversight, and we have already self-imposed harsh sanctions.   

We deeply regret any violations, but we have suffered enough. 

The University and counsel will work diligently to prepare our official response to the Notice of Allegations and submit it to the Committee on Infractions within the required 90-day time period. 

We trust that the Committee on Infractions will provide the fairness and integrity missing during the investigative process.”

A timeline of the NCAA's inquiry into UM, Shapiro, his lawyer and the conduct of the enforcement staff

In case you didn't have the time to read all 52 pages of the external review committee's findings into the conduct of the NCAA enforcement committee on Monday, here's a timeline of facts and events as it pertains to the UM investigation.

It might provide a clearer picture for you of who, what, when, where and even why as we move forward in all this. 

TIMELINE

> August 2010: Former booster Nevin Shapiro tells our Barry Jackson he's prepared to write a tell-all book that will bring the University of Miami football program down. 

> February 2011: Shapiro sends email to Rich Johanningmeier, Associate Director of Enforcement at the NCAA. Shapiro makes allegations that over nearly a 10-year period he colluded with student-athletes and coaches to provide improper benefits. The NCAA buys Shapiro a disposable cell phone and expends roughly $8,200 to fund communications with Shapiro. At one point they transfer $4,500 to his prison to pay for the communication expenses.

> April 2011: Johanningmeier makes contact for the first time with Shapiro's attorney, Maria Elena Perez, after Shapiro requests she be informed of his cooperation with the NCAA investigation.

> April 21, 2011: NCAA asks for copies of Shapiro's FBI 302 reports. A week later, Perez tells the NCAA she is not able to provide copies of the FBI 302 reports but offers to "extract the information regarding any reported NCAA violations or the like." In a email later, Perez tells the enforcement staff she can prepare summaries of Shapiro's 302 reports at a rate of $575 per hour and provide a retainer for the agreement.

> May 2011: After speaking to Shapiro for months, NCAA enforcement staff members Ameen Najjar, who heads the NCAA's investigation, and Johanningmeier meet with Shapiro in jail twice. Najjar visits alone a third time. In one visit, Shapiro provides the enforcement staff with four boxes of documents related to his allegations.

> Aug. 2011: The enforcement staff briefs NCAA President Mark Emmert for the first time in the investigation. Shortly thereafter, Johanningmeier and Najjar meet with UM President Donna Shalala to present her with a notice of inquiry.

> Aug. 15, 2011: UM equipment manager Sean Allen is interviewed for the first time. He later tells The Miami Herald and other publications he lied through his teeth in the initial interview.

> Aug. 16, 2011: Yahoo! publishes its expose of Shapiro's allegations. A day later, UM coach Al Golden said he was blind-sided by the story and had no idea when he was hired UM was facing an investigation.

> Aug. 25, 2011: UM declares 13 football players ineligible and eight serve suspensions.

> Sept. 28, 2011: Perez proposes the idea of leveraging the subpoena process in Mr. Shapiro's ongoing bankruptcy proceedings to compel certain witnesses to provide the testimony they were seeking. Perez tells Najjar that Shapiro wants to help because it helped the Bankruptcy Trustee and because it would help Shapiro "get revenge on the University of Miami and its student-athletes who had turned their back on him."

Despite the advice of the NCAA's legal staff not to retain Ms. Perez, the enforcement staff proceeds with Perez's idea. The notes from the NCAA investigation case strategy meeting suggest the Bankruptcy Trustee did not intend to depose Shapiro's former bodyguard Mario Sanchez, Allen (UM's equipment manager) or Michael Huyghue, Shapiro's business partner at Axcess Sports Agency. That evening Najjar reports the idea to Julie Roe Lach, the Vice President of Enforcement, and Tom Hosty, the managing director of enforcement.

Lach later tells the outside counsel hired by the NCAA she could not recall Najjar's email had not heard of Shapiro's lawyer before that date. Hosty said he did not know about the UM case until August 2011, but he had been briefed on interviews with Mr. Shapiro and knew of Ms. Perez prior to receiving the September 28, 2011.

> Oct. 4, 2011: Perez provides the NCAA with a written proposal to conduct depositions of nine individuals including Huyghue, Allen and Sanchez and her "expenses and legal fees" are estimated to be at $20,000.

> Oct. 10, 2011: UM's counsel of Judd Goldberg and Michael Glazier knew of Perez's proposal before it is presented to the NCAA supervisors for approval. In a conference call with Najjar and Johanningmeier they raise three concerns: 1. That Perez would leak information because she was not bound by the NCAA's confidentiality policy; 2. Perez was not trustworthy; 3. Perez was not listed as an attorney in Shapiro's bankruptcy and did not have the authority to issue the bankruptcy subpoenas.

In another email, Najjar tells Perez the NCAA only wants to depose Sanchez, Allen, Huyghue and only two other individuals of the nine mentioned in her proposal. Another person not named by Perez, but named by the NCAA is basketball booster David Leshner.

Najjar then sends an email to Lach and Hosty about hiring Perez to conduct depositions of the six individuals he previously listed and informs them it could cost roughly $20,000 for the work. Najjar tells the outside counsel later he sought approval simply for the expenditure and to get the guidance whether the arrangement was permissible under NCAA bylaws.

Hosty replies to Najjar's email that same day saying: "Most intriguing. I don't know what we can afford from costs, but this could be a creative solution for bigger breakthroughs on evidence."

Lach emails Isch to green-light the funding. She then emails Hosty to clear the proposal with Naima Stevenson, a member of the NCAA's legal staff.

> Oct. 13, 2011: Hosty forward's Najjar's email to Stevenson asking her if she saw any legal issues. She promptly reviewed the email and said it raised two concerns: 1. Only the legal staff could hire outside counsel and 2. She saw the arrangement as an effort to circumvent the limits on the NCAA's authority to compel cooperation from third parties. She emailed Najjar and Hosty to touch base so she could receive additional information regarding the proposal.

> Oct. 21, 2011: After consulting with her boss, Donald Remy, Stevenson sends an email to Najjar advising him not to use Perez in the proposed manner and offered several explanations for why she and the legal staff believed it was inappropriate.

She warns Najjar using a criminal attorney to conduct depositions would be inappropriate. "Any information obtained through such a manner for use in the NCAA process would be subject to significant scrutiny to the extent any decisions were based on that information if those decisions were to be subsequently challenged," she wrote. Lach, Hosty and Najjar explained the advice "created a significant impediment to our investigation" and asked for a meeting.

> Oct. 25, 2011: After exchanging emails, Najjar and Stevenson agree to meet to discuss the Perez proposal. Stevenson, Remy and Najjar attended the meeting. Lach participated via phone. Remy spoke during the meeting and reiterated Stevenson's message, saying they could not retain legal counsel to represent the interests of the NCAA, but could attend any public depositions or copy transcripts thereof. They also cited concern Perez's proposal could be an inappropriate circumvention of the NCAA's investigative limits. Lach later couldn't recall the meeting and said she was out of the office that day sick. But Stevenson said Lach did "appear to accept" the legal opinion.

A review of Lach's cell phone records show she received a call from the NCAA and was on the phone during that meeting for 11 minutes. Najjar later said he had no recollection of that meeting, but did recall the email of rejection.

Minutes after that meeting, Najjar sends Perez a text message saying he ran into a legal problem retaining her but "there's a way around it.

> Oct. 27, 2011: Najjar has Perez send him her tax information so she can receive payment. Less than a month later he texts her to assure her "everything was approved." Lach later says it was her understanding from emails through Najjar that her and Hosty were told the legal staff had approved the circumstances under which Perez had been retained.

> November 19, 2011: UM self imposes a bowl ban and then announces it will extend the contract of coach Al Golden through the 2019 season.

> Dec. 7, 2011: Perez provides Najjar a list of seven individuals she is prepared to depose.

> Dec. 13, 2011: Perez contacts Najjar to inform him Allen's deposition had been set for Dec. 19, 2011 and Huyghue's deposition was scheduled for Dec. 28, 2011. She also noted a deposition for Leshner on Dec. 27, 2011 and was in the process of trying to serve a fourth witness, Mario Sanchez.

Najjar and Perez also discuss the preparation of questions for the depositions. She tells Najjar that if he is unable to attend he should send questions. Although, she noted, "I believe Mr. Shapiro has all the questions covered."

> Dec. 18, 2011: Najjar provides Perez with a list of 34 areas they would like for her to "explore" with Allen. It was focused on identifying student-athletes who may have received prohibited entertainment and gifts from Shapiro. Najjar's list of areas to explore included questions such as "When Allen was employed/associated with Axcess Sports, which UM players did he recruit for Axcess and what monetary benefits did he provide or was aware were provided for them?"

UM's counsel of Goldberg and Glazier later say Najjar was reluctant to disclose information about the depositions and noted that Najjar never mentioned to them that Allen's deposition had taken place.

> Dec. 2011 to July 2012: Perez sends four invoices to the NCAA (Dec. 20, 2011; Jan. 3, 2012; Jan. 10, 2012; July 13, 2012) requesting reimbursement for court reporter fees, copying costs and conference room rental for a total of $8,467.

> May 2012: Johanningmeier retires from the NCAA. Najjar is fired. Stephanie Hannah takes over the investigation.

> July 20, 2012: Yahoo! reports links Golden to using Allen to help him recruit local players.

> Aug. 2, 2012: Perez sends nine invoices requesting payment of billatable time spent on the NCAA's investigation from Oct. 11, 2011 to July 31, 2012 at an hourly rate of $350. She requests a total payment of $57,115.

> Aug. 29, 2012: Hannah forwards Perez's email to Lach who says the NCAA agreed to pay far less, roughly $15,000.

> Sept. 18, 2012: The NCAA pays Perez for six invoices of her work, totaling $10,500.

> Sept. 28, 2012: Hannah reviews Pere'z invoices with Stevenson for the propriety of certain charges. Stevenson is surprised to learn that Najjar had retained Perez after she and Remy had told him not to. Stevenson meets with Lach and they agree to discontinue all work with Perez in the bankruptcy proceedings.

> Fall 2012: The Enforcement and Legal staff undertake a series of measures to review what happened and agree to pay Perez a final amount of $18,000. To ensure that the parties at risk of the investigation suffer no prejudice from the use of the NCAA's bankruptcy proceedings, the NCAA's Enforcement and Legal staffs decide to remove any information directly or indirectly derived from the work of Perez.

> Oct. 2012: The Legal Staff, in consultation with the NCAA President and Chief Operating Officer agree to remove evidence derived directly or indirectly from the Perez depositions. Remy explains the decision to exclude information was not based on a particular NCAA administrative Bylaw or policy, but instead inspired by the criminal law concept of excluding illegally obtained evidence and its "tainted fruits" to ensure that investigative targets are not prejudiced by any improper investigative techniques.

The staff determines any statements made by Allen in his voluntary interviews with the NCAA, both those that occurred before and after his sworn deposition, would be excluded as well the 13 subsequent interviews of others. They also determine portions of 12 additional interviews conducted after Allen's deposition would be excluded.

> Late November 2012: UM self imposes another bowl ban and announces it will also skip the ACC championship game in football.

> Jan. 11, 2013: The enforcement staff notifies UM and the subject parties of its conduct involving Perez and its decision to exclude any evidence directly or indirectly derived from them.

> Jan. 22, 2013: NCAA retains Cadwalader to conduct an outside investigation of its NCAA enforcement staff and its conduct with Perez.

> Jan. 23, 2013: The NCAA holds a press conference and issues a press release describing the enforcement staff's missteps in conjunction with Perez.

> Feb 18, 2013: Cadwalaer attorneys release their 52-page finding to the public. Lach is fired from the NCAA.

Based upon the review of over 75 interview transcripts and voluminous other records (including bank accounts, receipts, photographs and other records) it is the opinion of Cadwalaer the NCAA's investigative record on UM is not based on evidence that was improperly derived directly or indirectly from the depositions done by Perez. The outside hired counsel estimates 20 percent of the case against UM has been tossed out.

Emmert says the NCAA will continue with its case against Miami and there will be no settlement. He says the Committee on Infractions will have to determine the validity of the case.

UM President Donna Shalala releases a statement firing back at the NCAA, showing signs for the first time in the 22-month investigation the school may actually be digging in its heels for a fight and taking legal action. Shalala says in her statement she wants a quick resolution to the matter.

Blake James sheds interim title, hired as full-time athletic director at Miami

The University of Miami announced Friday that Blake James has shed his title as interim athletic director and been hired for the position full-time. James had been serving as the interim AD since October 2012.

“Blake James has proven that he has the experience, skills, leadership and especially the love for the University that we need in Athletics,” University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala said in a statement released by the school.

James came to UM three years ago as Senior Associate AD after spending seven years the University of Maine, where he served as Senior Associate Athletic Director before serving as Director of Athletics from July 2005 to September 2010. In that role, his primary responsibilities focused on marketing, ticketing, retail operations and athletics development, along with men's and women's track and field, cross country, men's soccer, men's basketball and baseball.

“I’m honored to be named the Director of Athletics here at the University of Miami,” James said. “I want to thank President Shalala and the Board of Trustees for the opportunity as we continue to move forward through these difficult times. We have assembled a great athletics staff with tremendous head coaches and I am grateful to be a Miami Hurricane.”

During his tenure at Maine, athletics experienced tremendous success, including three trips to the Frozen Four for the men's ice hockey program and NCAA playoff berths for football, baseball (two), women's basketball and softball. Additionally, James implemented a comprehensive $17 million facility improvement plan, which included an indoor practice facility and numerous other facility upgrades and renovations. Academically, the program flourished, earning the conference academic cup twice and maintaining better than a 3.0 GPA.

Prior to his stint at James worked in athletics development at Providence College, where he established the "Friars Forever" campaign and the Friar Athletic Fund.

No stranger to South Florida, James began his athletic career with UM, working in ticket sales, corporate sales and athletics development while a graduate student at St. Thomas University.

He graduated from Minnesota State University-Mankato with a bachelor's degree in marketing in 1992 and received his master's degree from St. Thomas University in 1994. He and his wife Kelly have two children, Haley and Ryan.

Appreciate all the calls, texts and emails of congratulations!I am thrilled to have this opportunity to represent the U! Go Canes!

— Blake James (@CanesAllAccess) February 8, 2013

UM issues statement regarding its drug testing policy, strength coach Jimmy Goins

"The University of Miami’s comprehensive drug testing policy, enacted in 1995, continues to evolve as the methods and reliability of testing have improved and as more drugs have been introduced into the world of competitive sports.

"The University’s program is monitored by a University committee, which includes medical professionals, and is overseen by a Medical Review Officer --c urrently, a former UM Miller School of Medicine physician -- who ensures the integrity and confidentiality of the drug testing program. An outside third-party firm administers the tests and provides results to the University.

"Since 2005, approximately 3,380 student-athletes have been tested more than 10,000 times by the University, in addition to drug tests administered by the NCAA. During that period, no student-athlete has tested positive for anabolic steroids. The University of Miami, like many of our peer institutions, the NCAA and many professional sports leagues, does not currently test for Human Growth Hormones.

"The University of Miami's drug testing policy is consistent with those at most NCAA Division I programs and provides more stringent penalties -- including game suspensions for first-time positive results -- than many of our peers.

"As stated last week, we have initiated an internal review involving an employee and will continue to monitor developments."

Bylaw Blog writer weighs in on UM case after NCAA bombshell drops Wednesday

After Wednesday's bombshell fell from the lips of NCAA President Mark Emmert, I reached out to our friend John Infante, a former compliance officer at NCAA Division I schools who runs the Bylaw Blog.

Infante's expertise has been featured on ESPN, Sports Illustrated, USA Today and numerous other media outlets. Keep in mind he isn't privy to the information the NCAA has on Miami. He simply is giving his opinion based on what he's read from published reports and heard today.

Here is the transcript of my 20 minute, one-on-one Q&A with him today:

Q: How does this affect Miami? Most people assume here that the NCAA admitting its made mistakes in the investigation will be positive for Miami. Some think they might even just settle.

"It definitely will be positive. But I think people -- when they think positive -- it's significantly reduced sanctions. To me, that remains to be seen. I know President Emmert said in his press conference that this affected only a small portion of the information in the case. They still have to go through and find out exactly which allegations or specific violations [can't be used]. I don't know how much the NCAA follows the fruit of the [poisonous] tree doctrine -- which basically says if you gather information you wouldn't otherwise have gotten without the use of an improper lead, you can't use that new information either. But anything the NCAA cannot corroborate is helpful for Miami. The fewer student-athletes, the fewer former coaches, the less money, the fewer violations involved the better the case will be [for UM]. The question now is if it is going to better enough to result in a significantly different set of penalties."

Q: A lot of the investigative reports -- including Yahoo!'s -- came from the depositions and information through Shapiro's lawyer Maria Elena Perez. How could the NCAA still have much of a case if you have to wipe out whatever Shapiro's lawyer was involved with?

"Again, you have to wonder if the NCAA could have gotten this another way. It could be they look through their reports -- I don't know who makes this determination the law firm or the NCAA -- but they may say, 'We got this through this [improper] deposition, but then here's the other document we obtained properly that has the same information in it.' So I think you balance it with the idea that they wouldn't try to get subpeona power unless what they got was a game changer or real effective. The extreme [position] that the whole case is going to be gone, the NCAA certainly doesn't sound like the whole case is going to be gone. It sounds like something significant is still there... I think there is a big range -- in the middle -- of what exactly the case was going to look like. Frankly, the other problem is we don't know what the case would have looked like before. We know what Yahoo!'s case would have been and other media outlet's cases would have been. But nobody knows exactly, specifically what the NCAA has been able to corroborate given this abusive power. So, it's tough to know what was knocked out when we aren't even sure what's going to be in there in the first place."

Q: Worst day in NCAA history in terms of them policing themselves?

"As President Emmert said they've had better days. It's certainly up there. It's certainly one of the darkest days in NCAA history in terms of its investigative power. The thing to remember is that in these kind of scandals with the NCAA's investigative process that have come out in the last year -- Todd McNair's defamation case; the Shabazz Muhammad case and now this -- the NCAA has been accused of not following its own rules. One of the responses might be that the NCAA just had some bad seeds and 'we're going to clear out the bad apples that spoil the bunch. We're going to clear out the staff and we're going to have more money to bring in professional investigators and move on from there.' I think the real kind of devastating thing [for the NCAA] is if the courts say you followed procedure to a T and we're still ruling that improper. Then, that calls into question the entire way the NCAA does it's business rather than the idea that investigator or that investigator went rogue. The NCAA is dealing with the same sort of problems athletic departments deal with. There is a violation; now we got to find out what it is and fix it. Did the coach go rogue? Did the investigator go rogue? Did we fail to monitor? I know people are making jokes about it. People have asked me: 'Why would something like this happen?' Coaches are expected to deliver results and they cut corner sometimes. I think in a public case like this --- where the public says 'We had all the facts 15 months ago why isn't Miami punished yet?' -- there is that pressure to get your man, to deliver a result. Well, there would be pressure in that case also for an investigator to cut a corner."

Q: Isn't this unprecedented, the NCAA admitting it made a mistake before a notice of allegations isn't even sent?

"Yes. The leak of info with [UCLA basketball player] Shabazz Muhammad, we found out about that after he had been ruled ineligible and while they were appealing. It was kind of mid-process whereas this is kind of right before [the NOA]. In terms of how it helps Miami, I don't know if procedurally it really does [help] because you would hope that if the NOA went out and then the NCAA [did what it did Wednesday the NOA] would be pulled back and the NCAA would be doing exactly what it is doing now, which is pulling back and seeing what information should be in there and then re-doing the notice of allegations with the info it should have. Really, what it does is it delays [the case], but it doesn't delay it as long [as it could have been] because the NCAA would have had to restart its 90-day timeline. It sounds like the NCAA is fairly confident they can turn this around quickly. They're saying this is a delay of weeks rather than months. In terms of the timing of it, I really don't think its helpful for Miami in terms of what the penalties will be. I think it prevents a really long case from being delayed longer than it is now."

Q: Some people are thinking Miami can pounce here legally and say -- you fired these investigators, you went about this the wrong way, whole thing is a sham -- can Miami do anything here to put pressure on the NCAA that would help solve this case faster and lessen the penalties?

"That's tricky for all the parties involved because you are still down by the cooperative principal. You still have to cooperate with the NCAA's investigation. For Miami [to sue or fight it] that's a very high risk maneuver. Everything in this case has suggested that up until now they're not really putting up a fight. They might be exhausting their options to defend themselves, not digging in their heels to fight it every step of the way. I think the more likely scenario is Miami lets this play out and if the sanctions or the findings that come out of the committee on infractions' final report are excessive, I think that's the point Miami picks up on this and uses [Wednesday's announcement] as grounds for a lawsuit. Miami doesn't look like it's going to fight it like that. They're more likely to appeal anything now. But in terms of suing the NCAA that's always a drastic step. Very few schools have done it. It's generally individuals. As far as the individual coaches, a lot of them are still employed and working. If they had been fired or not working I think they would be much more likely to pounce on this and try to get themselves detached and the case thrown out. But since they're working, I think it's going to be more of a wait and see what their penalties are and if it harms their career. I can almost guarantee there will be a couple lawsuits against the NCAA trying to say this whole thing, none of it is proper."

Q: The NCAA is going to a new enforcement system in August. Can they avoid these similar problems from happening again?

"The new system doesn't really address what happens here. The new system is really more about penalties. It doesn't address how cases get to this point. Depending on the outcome of this external review -- and kudos for the NCAA being up front about it, talking about it publicly let's hope this continues -- I think this leads to a whole new initiative. This is not an isolated issue. This is kind of the third incident. Fool me once shame on you; full me twice shame on me. Three times is a trend. I do think it requires a big change. What that change is it's tough to say. I think the NCAA may take a more serious look at what people are calling them to do which is handing off investigations to third parties or creating an internal affairs unit. If this is a result of public pressure and an underfunded, undermanned enforcement staff, I'm not necessarily sure those things will fix the problem long term other than creating the same type of cycle where schools get caught, clean things up, fall off a little bit and break rules again. The NCAA isn't in a position or the public standing to keep things the same way. They have to come up with something to address this problem long term to sort of regain any public trust."

Q: Gut feeling in the end: Does Miami gets off easier?

"At this point I would be shocked about another post-season ban. I also would be surprised to see crippling scholarship penalties. I do think they will be let off a little easier than they would have been. The biggest challenge now for the NCAA is to explain [to other school] in a way that Miami didn't get a break on a technicality. That won't sit well with people either."

NCAA Bylaw Blog writer John Infante talks positives, negatives for UM with latest developments

With reports surfacing that former basketball coach Frank Haith and football recruiting coordinators Clint Hurtt and Aubrey Hill are expected to be charged with unethical conduct in the NCAA's investigation into wrongdoing done at the University of Miami, I sought the expertise of NCAA Bylaw Blog writer John Infante Tuesday morning to digest what we are hearing and how it might affect the program.

Infante, a former compliance officer at NCAA Division I schools, has been running the Bylaw Blog for over two years and his expertise has been featured on ESPN, Sports Illustrated, USA Today and numerous other media outlets. Keep in mind he isn't privy to the information the NCAA has on Miami. He simply is giving his opinion based on what he's read from published reports.

Here is the transcript of my 15 minute one-on-one Q&A with him:

Q: There were reports Monday that about four former basketball coaches and at least two former assistant football coaches will be cited for violating bylaw 10.1 "unethical conduct" in the NCAA's investigation. How does that affect Miami positively or negatively?

"Well, it sounds like nearly all the assistants are being charged with unethical conduct and it also sounds like Frank Haith is going to be charged with failing to create an atmosphere of compliance, which generally only head coaches are charged with. It can be helpful [for Miami]. The biggest thing is when you have that many coaches [charged with unethical conduct] and go in front of the Committee on Infractions there's going to be a lot of people in the room to spread blame around. When you talk about the presentations and the answers given in front of the COI, I think generally the feeling is amongst a lot of people who have gone through that process is that coaches tend not to perform as well as the institution does. In the end for Miami, it all kind of depends what kind of charges the school is facing. We kind of expect in addition to the specific violations the NCAA feels it has evidence of it's pretty much a guarantee there is going to be a failure to monitor charge. I would also be surprised if there is not a lack of institutional control charge as well. If Miami's cooperation is considered better and the coaches don't perform well in the hearing that could lead to the COI sort of finding that in spite of institutional failings by Miami this was more the coaches fault and bring the penalties down on the coaches more than on the institution -- especially considering the two post-season bans the [football program] has already imposed."

Q: How much does Miami taking a two-year ban help its case with football?

"You're probably looking at no more than [two years]. Three years of post-season ban is pretty rare -- given the USC case, which is some of the harshest sanctions. Being already two years, I'm not sure you add a third one to a school that has self-imposed two. In terms of scholarships or recruiting restrictions, I don't know if it will have as big of an impact there. I kind of feel like they took care of that post-season penalty. The COI will impose other penalties they see fit and not go into any further post-season bans. If they did that's something Miami would probably appeal."

Q: We've heard UM has done a good job cooperating with the NCAA. How much does that help?

"I forget where I saw it reported but I have seen more than just cooperation, but exceptional cooperation. One of the things fans see is that schools get rewarded for cooperating, but there is a level of cooperation you have to do to meet your obligation and then there's a level you get extra credit for. [Cooperation is] making sure you get to interview everybody you want. Going and suggesting you should interview this guy as well because he may have information too -- that's when you see something like exceptional cooperation. It could be that [the NCAA is] giving [Miami] a little bit of praise publicly just because it wants to. But it could also mean [Miami is] reaching a certain level of cooperation that has significance in the NCAA investigation where they might get a break on a penalty as a result."

Q: Would exceptional cooperation be telling former athletes that if they didn't cooperate they wouldn't be allowed back on the sidelines? We've heard that and our Barry Jackson reported that last week.

"If they were able to get people who normally wouldn't have replied to the NCAA or allowed themselves to be interviewed by the NCAA and Miami helped make that happen -- especially athletes UM has no jurisdiction over -- that's going above and beyond what the NCAA asks on the case. That may lead to a lessening of penalties. But there is already a high bar for cooperation. You have to go above and beyond that to get any sort of relief from penalties in front of the COI. Having the coaches there especially if Miami is going along with it and agreeing to the findings of the NOA and the coaches aren't the ones fighting, in the end you are dealing with people who are making a judgement call. Being the one that's not fighting and the ones who want to raise a fuss about stuff makes the school look better in comparison."

Q: Former coach Randy Shannon has not linked to any of this. In fact, we've heard stories and its been reported he was telling his players and coaches to stay away from Nevin Shapiro. Does that help Miami's football program in this case considering it appears Haith was involved with Shapiro.

"It certainly does. We've seen Shannon not being named in any of the violations and him not facing any unethical conduct or failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance charges. Because he is the head coach, he is supposed to be the one as the direct link to the administration and what they do in terms of monitoring and applying compliance. If he did that well, that helps show there was a chain of command of monitoring and promoting institutional control and thus the blame falls on the assistant coaches. If that's the case then, we may see kind of a smaller failure to monitor or lack of institutional control that could end up more centered on the basketball violations where it looks like the head coach was involved in some manner. While charges like failure to monitor are institution violations it can get to be more specific than that. It can focus on what sport led to that charge."

Q: Will UM's history play a factor? The school was still under probation for baseball violations through the 2005-2006 academic year.

"It will. It certainly will be brought up by the COI. But I think it's more important if [Miami] is considered a repeat violator in this case. I believe a lot of that depends on how far back the NCAA is able to prove the violations. I believe they had a case [in baseball] in the mid 2000s. If they did in that case -- as Yahoo! reported -- they would definitely be under a repeat violator status. The thing is we haven't seen with that repeat violator status -- outside of the USC case -- that there have been significantly harsher penalties as a result. UCF is one example. UCF was under repeat violator status -- kind of a similar violation as Miami in terms of a booster or third party who is providing benefits on a smaller scale. But again we sort of saw them impose sort of a standard penalty the COI has been imposing, losing scholarships, a one-year post-season ban, recruiting restrictions, going after the individuals and sort of move on. I think the Miami case is probably a little too big for that. But again, I do kind of think in some ways the COI is going through the motions until the new enforcement program starts up in August. There is a little bit of a sense of the current process having a lame duck quality to it. That play in Miami's favor as well."

Q: How is the NCAA's new process different and how does the fact Miami doesn't fall under the new rules help?

"The new rules are going to be harsher, it's going to be a different kind of process and involve different people. We just saw there are eight new people appointed. So, I think because of this reset almost, the NCAA sees there are flaws in this process and as of Aug. 1, 2013 were going to fix it. While the current cases are taken seriously, the fact the same penalties have been applied in the last two or three cases sort of suggests they're not going with the same fire and brimstone as they did with USC. That helps Miami."

UM Hall of Fame to add seven new members in 2013 including Ken Dorsey

Quarterback Ken Dorsey and center Brett Romberg -- key members of Miami’s 2001 national champion football team -- highlight the seven-member Class of 2013 that will be inducted into the UM Sports Hall of Fame next April.

Other inductees include: Ed Contreras (baseball, 1957-59), Bryan Gillooly (diving, 1994-98), Norm Parsons (administration / coaching, 1972-2012), Don Soldinger (coach, 1984-88 & 1995-2006) and Jay Tessmer (baseball, 1994-95).

With the addition of the seven newest members the Sports Hall of Fame will increase to 274 honorees. The newest class will be inducted April 11 at the 43rd annual UM Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet, which will be held at Jungle Island.

> Contreras led the Canes in home runs and RBI in each of his three seasons (19 HR, 67 RBI in 77 games) and also led the team in batting in 1958 (.316) and 1959 (.310). He left Miami as the school’s single-season and career home runs leader and he still holds the UM career slugging percentage record (.615) for under 300 at bats.

> Dorsey quarterbacked the Hurricanes to their fifth national championship in 2001 and was named MVP of the 2002 Rose Bowl. He was a 2002 All-American by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. The 2001 and 2002 BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year, Dorsey set eight UM career records, including total offense, passing yards, passing touchdowns, completions and attempts. He is the winningest quarterback in program history (38-2) and he won the 2001 Maxwell Award as the top player in college football.

> Gillooly was a two-time NCAA diving champion, winning the 10-meter platform title in 1996 and the 3-meter springboard in 1998. He was a 12-time All-American, garnering the honor in the 1- and 3-meter springboards, and the 10-meter platform in each of his four years at Miami (1995-98). He was also named the 1996 NCAA Diver of the Year and was a BIG EAST Academic All-Star in 1996-97. Gillooly was a finalist at the 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials.

> Parsons, who served as the women’s golf coach from 1973-78 and men’s golf coach from 1980-88, coached the women’s golf team to the 1977 and 1978 AIAW national championships. He served UM as Director of the Herbert Wellness Center (1996-present), Director of Campus Sports and Recreation (1977-96), and Intramural Director (1972-73) among other positions. He coached current UMSHoF members Cathy Morse, Woody Austin and Nathaniel Crosby.

> Romberg was a consensus All-American and Rimington Award winner as the nation’s best center in 2002. He was a first-team All-BIG EAST selection in 2001 and 2002, while never allowing a sack in his time as the Hurricanes center. Miami went 35-2 in his 37 consecutive starts at center, helping lead the Canes to the 2001 national title and three BIG EAST titles.

> Soldinger was the linebackers and tight ends coach for Jimmy Johnson from 1984-88 and was the running backs and special teams coach under coaches Butch Davis and Larry Coker from 1995-2006. He was on the 1987 and 2001 national championship coaching staffs; he also coached six of the seven Miami running backs that rushed for 1,000 yards in a season (Willis McGahee, Edgerrin James – twice, Clinton Portis, Danyell Ferguson, Frank Gore and James Jackson). In his 16 seasons as a Hurricanes assistant coach, Miami won 158 games.

> Tessmer was a first-team Collegiate Baseball All-American in 1995 after collecting 20 saves – tied for second-most in school history – and posting a 1.31 ERA to lead Jim Morris’ squad to the College World Series. He finished second nationally in Division I with a 1.16 ERA in 1994, while his career 1.24 ERA ranks second in school history. He holds the UM record for fewest walks per 9 innings (1.42 average) and has the second-most appearances by a pitcher in a season (45 in 1995). Tessmer finished his career fifth with 23 saves and played professionally for the New York Yankees.

Brandon McGee finally appears to be getting the message, plus news and notes from UM on Tuesday

CORAL GABLES -- Brandon McGee is no longer sitting on the bottom of the Hurricanes depth chart. The cornerback was wearing a black jersey Tuesday -- a sign that he's doing what coaches want and expect of a senior who is supposed to be starting and anchoring his unit.

“He’s working,” UM coach Al Golden said of McGee, who started 12 games for UM last season, but emerged fifth on the team's depth chart after the completion of the off-season U Tough program.

“I see Brandon a little bit differently than maybe most do. I see a kid that’s very talented, that’s willing, that's working hard and we just have to get enough confidence where he then goes out and makes plays. Not freelance, but go out and finish plays because he has all of the skill set that you want, and now he’s 190 [pounds]."

McGee has always had the physical gifts to be a star at UM in the eyes of coaches. He's 6-feet tall, was 180 pounds last year, and was timed at 4.29 seconds in the 40-yard dash last summer. "But I don't think he uses all those gifts the way he should," defensive coordinator Mark D'Onoforio said Tuesday.

D'Onofrio and Golden tried to get that message across heading into spring football -- not only by placing McGee fifth on the depth chart, but with frequent text messages throughout the off-season.

"They'd send me texts asking, 'How great do you want to be?'," McGee said. "Even though I went up in my squat from 380 [pounds] to 415, I guess there was a point where in their eyes I had to push the threshold even more. Even though I beat the man next to me [in U Tough], they didn't want me to beat him just by a yard, I should have beaten him by five yards. It's pushing yourself further and further. It's definitely bringing out good qualities in myself now."

In Saturday's scrimmage in Hialeah, the first of the spring, McGee started showing coaches what they've wanted from him all along -- more physicality.

"The one thing about Brandon in Saturday's scrimmage was that he was physical probably for the first time since I’ve been here," Golden said. "He’s in those short-yardage [situations] mixing it up. I think he feels more confident with his body and the physical nature he can play at 190. Now, we have to get him staying in the system, converting and making plays, getting more interceptions, being more of a ball disruptor for us.”

"I don't want him to press to make a play. I want him to trust D'Onofrio and [defensive backs coach Paul] Williams and let that take him to the play."

D'Onofrio echoed those sentiments.

"If you date it back to this time last year, it's night and day the way he's playing physically now," D'Onofrio said.

"I think he saw himself as an athlete who was a cover corner and there is no such cover corner position on our defense. You have to be physical, you have to be tough and I think he's trusted what we're asking him to do. I think he's delivering on it. Now, we're looking for consistency, not 70 percent, 75 percent of the time, all the time. He has to demand it from himself and give his body up for the team."

McGee had 38 tackles last season (eighth most on the team) including 2.5 for loss with a sack and his first career interception. 

But as a unit, UM's secondary had an awful season in 2011, ranking 95th in pass efficiency defense (they were fifth in 2010). UM's defense produced just six interceptions -- 10 fewer than the year before -- and opposing quarterbacks completed 66.35 percent of their passes (sixth worst among 120 FBS schools).

"Last year was really difficult," D'Onofrio said of the team's cornerback play. "I really didn't have anybody experienced to work with. Brandon was the fourth corner [in 2010], but didn't play a lot of snaps because he was behind the three guys who are all in the NFL now. [Transfer] Mike Williams didn't play for a year and them came over here and started 12 games. Thomas Finnie was a freshman. JoJo Nicolas was a safety and then he had to go back and forth because of the issues we had at safety. Lee Chambers was a running back.

"The hard part for us now is I lost most of those guys. The only guys we got back were McGee and Finnie. McGee got a lot of reps. Finnie didn't get a lot of reps in games, but he did get the second team reps during the week, which were a lot. But, it's better than the year before. We've got seven new guys coming in this class. Last year, we had one [Finnie]. At least we have a place to start."

And that place starts with McGee, who is taking charge not only of himself, but his unit as well.

"My phone is always open for those guys," McGee said. "[Early enrollee] Larry Hope, sometimes he'll hit me up and ask me to go watch film. When they make mistakes in practice, I'll pull them off to the side and try to clean up their technique, just telling them what to look for on the field. And I emphasize don't make the same mistake twice. If they hear coaches getting on me for a mistake, I tell them to listen so they don't do the same thing. That's the one thing that makes coaches hot."

McGee said he's been in constant contact with incoming freshmen Deon Bush and Tracy Howard, the nation's No. 1 high school corner. Whenever Howard or Bush visits UM, McGee gets right to work talking scheme and football.

"I've seen him work out. He has good hips, quick feet," McGee said of Howard. "He's a competitor, talks some trash. I like that about him. I'm just excited for him to get here. To see a guy like that work and be able to help him through the process is going to be good.

"It's never easy. No matter how talented you are and what kind of expectations are placed on you, it's never easy to make that transition from high school to college. I'm going to be there to help him along the way and that's something I promised his parents I would do. Him and Deon."

MORE NEWS AND NOTES FROM TUESDAY

> Both McGee and Finnie said D'Onofrio isn't changing much in the way of coverages or schemes in the playbook. "There's nothing really new added, just perfecting what we did before," McGee said.

Last year, many Canes fans griped that cornerbacks were playing too far off receivers, allowing them to eat up the defense underneath. I've felt all along scheme hasn't been the problem -- it's been personnel. Maybe some continuity in scheme and getting more physical play -- as well as talent -- is the answer.

> As for Finnie, D'Onofrio says toughness isn't his issue. "Finnie's not afraid to throw his face in there at all. He's one of the tougher guys we've got right now. When those guys come around the corner or those tight ends lower the shoulder, he's doing exactly what we want him to do. He's not ducking out of the way," D'Onofrio said.

"What we need out of him is consistency and knowing that on the back end [coverage] you don't get any mulligans like you do in golf. Somebody gets behind you, it's 7-0. You don't get to push the reset button like you do in Madden. That's where we're trying to discipline him. When you're deep, you're deep."

> With Keion Payne now off the team, UM has five cornerbacks in camp. McGee is listed on the first team at field corner with Johnson backing him up. Finnie is the starter at boundary corner with junior college transfer Ladarius Gunter and Hope behind him.

> Of course, there is another part to UM's secondary -- safety. I didn't get D'Onofrio or Golden's thoughts on how seniors Ray-Ray Armstrong and Vaughn Telemaque have been performing, but the overriding sentiment this spring has been that both are putting forth the effort required.

"Ray, every play he's out there talking. VT is brining energy," McGee said. "I've been around them for a long time and can see the change in the them. If we come out flat, they get everybody amped up."

> With left guard Jonathan Feliciano going down for the rest of the spring, Jermaine Johnson has stepped in with the starting unit at that spot. The other starters: Malcolm Bunche at left tackle, Shane McDermott at center, Brandon Linder at right guard and Seantrel Henderson at right tackle.

“Jermaine looked really good inside,” Golden said. “Right now he’s one of the best five. We’ll see how it shakes out.”

> Golden said he's pleased with former defensive tackle Jeremy Lewis, who is taking first team reps at times at right and left guard. "He just needs to get in better condition and play at a high level," Golden said.

> Golden said the only way receiver Kendal Thompkins becomes a real contributor is by "eliminating drops." Thompkins had a few in Saturday's scrimmage.

> Golden continued his praise of freshmen Ereck Flowers and Raphael Kirby this spring calling them "difference makers" on Tuesday.

Sizing up UM's 2012 recruiting class with Rivals analyst Chris Nee (Part 1)

As of midnight Thursday -- six days before National Signing Day 2012 -- the Miami Hurricanes had eight early enrollees and 23 other commitments expected to sign National Letters of Intent next Wednesday. Outside of a handful of kids who could either be added to the class or leaving it, Al Golden's first full-year worth of recruiting work appears to be over. 

How did he and his staff do with a class Golden himself said they couldn't afford to screw up? By most accounts, pretty good considering the Canes are coming off a 6-6 season and the Canes have been recruiting since August with looming NCAA sanctions hanging over head.

With 24 of the 31 UM recruits having played their high school ball in-state, I figured a good person to talk to about the class Golden has lined up was Rivals analyst Chris Nee. He's covered the state for quite some time and has been to All-Star games, playoff and regular season games, camps, just about everywhere in the state. If Larry Blustein is the Mel Kiper of high school football in Florida, Nee has to be Todd McShay. What I like most about Nee is he keeps it real -- no sugar-coating.

In this installment we cover if UM met its needs, where he thinks Miramar cornerback Tracy Howard will end up and who the Canes could end up losing from this class as well as if Palm Beach Central receiver Angelo Jean-Louis will get into school.

Q: Did UM address all of its needs -- cornerback, receiver, defensive line, linebacker -- in this recruiting class?

"I think they're on the way to addressing it. They've addressed some issues that they had, but not all. They still need to get a great cornerback. Obviously, Tracy Howard is the big name that's still out there that they're still involved with. And that's a spot where they need to improve. But they did get guys in the secondary that are going to help them get better, led by [Columbus defensive back] Deon Bush. Deon's an excellent player. He can be a corner. He can be a safety. So he can provide some help there. Then you have guys like [Coral Reef's] Vernon Davis, [South Fort Myers'] Nate Dortch. They're kind of a second level have to develop some and have to improve before they can really contribute. But they'll still help with depth, which is something Miami needs.

"Offensively, They did a great job. Obviously, [Norland running back] Duke Johnson is a beast. But they got a great offensive guard in Danny Isidora -- really talented kid. [Norland's] Ereck Flowers is a future NFL offensive tackle in my opinion. He's obviously going to help anchor one side of the line. Then, on the outside offensively they went out and got some really good wide receivers in Malcolm Lewis from Miramar. Excellent player. They did a great job keeping him home and then they plucked [Virginia prep school receiver formerly of West Boca Raton] Robert Lockhart who was a longtime Virginia Tech commitment. So they did a good job improving some things and they've done a good job overall adding some good top level talent and a lot of depth, which is two things they needed."

Q: Is Miramar All-American cornerback Tracy Howard the only non-commitment they're really still in the running for with a week to go?

"They are bringing in a few kids this last weekend to try and help sure up some spots, so they have a Plan B in case somebody changes -- like a Reggie Northrup. It wouldn't shock me if they looked at another linebacker. I know they were looking at Iowa State commitment Darius White. But he's decided to stick with Iowa State. So, it wouldn't shock me if they did bring in a linebacker. But it does seem like the only big fish left on the pond for Miami is really going to be Tracy Howard. They're in the picture with [Palm Beach Gardens offensive tackle] Avery Young, had him on campus last week, but I think he's SEC bound. [Daytona Beach Mainland defensive end] Leonard Williams is a kid they're bringing in this weekend. They'll have a puncher's chance, but I also think he'll end up in the SEC. So the biggest name out there for Canes fans to pay attention to is definitely Tracy."

Q: So what is your take with Tracy Howard? Where does he end up?

"He recently said he was down to the three in-state schools: Florida, Florida State and Miami. For a long time it seemed like Florida State had the upper hand and then in the last couple months it seemed like Florida turned the corner as the top school. At this point, I think Florida is the top school. But it's really a testament to Al Golden and his assistants that they're getting him on campus for a visit. They were persistent, stuck with it. For a long time they seemed like an after thought with the kid, but when he's the best player arguably in the entire area of South Florida there with the Duke Johnson's you have to stick with him. The fact they're getting him on campus for a visit. His best friend is going there in Malcolm Lewis and I mentioned earlier how Miami has a major need at that position -- they have a chance. It wouldn't shock me [that he picks Miami] despite the fact for so long they were the least likely school of any in-state school to land the kid. At the end of the day right now I still think he'll end up at Florida. But I don't think he's put this to bed. I don't think Tracy Howard has made his final decision."

Q: So if you had to make a prediction it's Florida for Howard?

"Yeah, if I had to put a prediction on paper it's Florida for Howard. But I don't think it's done by a long stretch. I don't think Tracy really has sat down and made the final decision of what he's going to announce."

Q: Now, there are a couple guys they could end up losing, guys who are taking trips elsewhere. What's the latest on the guys who could possibly stray?

"[Jacksonville First Coast linebacker] Reggie Northrup's dad went on the record [Tuesday] saying they're pretty frustrated by everything, they're kind of tired of the whole process. Word is Florida State made a really good impression on him in the last visit. He may visit Ohio State this weekend. I think what it comes down to in the end is it's between Miami, Florida State and Ohio State. Right now, I personally think he'll stick with the Canes. But Florida State does have a need at linebacker. They have a couple of other targets on the board. It's kind of domino effect. If they miss on some other kids they make one last big push on Reggie and they have a chance. Florida State has had a lot of success at Jacksonville First Coast over the years. But if I had to predict, I think he sticks with the Canes."

Q: What about as far as U.S. Army All-American defensive end/outside linebacker Tyriq McCord from Tampa Jefferson?

"It was quite a surprise when he picked Miami at the All-American Game. South Carolina had been his longtime leader and his family and himself were very high on the Gamecocks. But he decided Miami's proximity was nice. Miami's need for him was nice and he did like Miami in general. He is supposed to visit USC this weekend. As of right now what he told me in a text recently he's probably going to stick with Miami. But both Southern Cal and South Carolina are going to put in nice work. Southern Cal always pulls off one Florida kid. But I don't think it's going to be Tyriq this year."

Q: Anybody else UM really has a chance of losing?

"I don't think so. I'm looking up and down their list. [Louisiana defensive tackle] Jacoby Briscoe, I don't know much about him. But I do know Tennessee is trying to make a move on him. Texas A&M was trying to make a move on him. He's supposed to visit A&M this weekend. But I don't know a great deal about Jacoby."

Q: Under Armour All-American receiver Angelo Jean-Louis from Palm Beach Central is a kid who has loads of talent, but his academics are a concern. What have you heard regarding that and if he'll be able to get into UM?

"I chatted with him at the Under Armour game about the academics. He said he did have some more work to do, but he thought he would be able to make it. I think it's one of those things that's going to play out late into the summer and see if he'll be able to be cleared. Hopefully he does because he's an extremely talented kid. He could play on either side of the ball. He has great hands, great body control. He's a big kid. He can help them stretch the field. But he's one of those guys if you need a tough route, seven yard out, he's going to bump the guy with his hip and make the catch. He does a real good job of stretching out and making the catch. I was honestly surprised. In the system he played in high school he didn't get a whole lot of opportunities to get the ball thrown at him. I was honestly surprised what a well groomed receiver he was at Under Armour. Him and [Miami Beach receiver] Ricardo Louis are bigger type of receivers, good body thickness. They're going to be really tough on those outside routes."

Schnellenberger, Bowden saddened by Paterno news

BOCA RATON -- With Joe Paterno's health reportedly taking a turn for the worse Saturday night, two longtime college football colleagues -- Bobby Bowden and Howard Schnellenberger -- shared their concern for the 85-year old former Penn State coach.

Paterno, hospitalized since Jan. 13 for observation of what his family had called minor complications from lung cancer treatments, has experienced further health complications according to a family spokesman and his status is now considered serious.

Bowden and Schnellenberger, coaching in the inaugural Battle of Florida all-star game at FAU Stadium, were surprised and saddened when told of Paterno's condition about an hour before kickoff.

"I'm distraught that this is happening to him," said Schnellenberger, 77, who went 2-1 against Paterno when he coached against him at the University of Miami.

"All of this happened to him so fast. I hope he can pull through it if he has the ability or the chance to improve. The University of Miami's successes are tied real closely to him, the games we played together. We played three times. Everyone of them was a big struggle knowing we were going up against the best coach in America. The last two months have been a terrible thing [for him]."

Paterno, Division I's all-time winningest coach, was diagnosed with cancer in November, days after getting ousted as head coach in the aftermath of the child sex abuse charges against former assistant Jerry Sandusky.

"Oh, I hope not," Bowden, 82, said when he was told Paterno's health had worsened.

"I've known Joe forever. I've known him personally since 1966. The first time I met him was 1962. We've always been very close. We're close to the same age. He's just one of the best coaches ever. I felt like he would go down as probably the best ever, but after this little thing it kind of tainted it. But I'm sorry it happened. I hate it happened. I hate to see something happen to Joe."

Paterno won two national championships and a Division I record 409 games over 46 seasons at Penn State and the family has donated millions of dollars to the school.

This was his second trip to the hospital in a month. He's also recovering from a broken pelvis that required a weeklong stay to make it easier for cancer treatments. Paterno first hurt his pelvis in August when he was accidentally bowled over by a player in preseason practice. The injury forced the Hall of Famer to spend most of the season coaching from the press box - until trustees dismissed him Nov. 9, four days after Sandusky was first charged.

Asked what he will remember most about Paterno, Bowden said: "Just remember the good things. I don't remember the bad things. He didn't have many bad things. I would only remember the good things. He and I spent a lot of time together. We played him 10 times at West Virginia and played him twice when I was at Florida State in bowls. I never beat him in Pennsylvania. He had too many good players."

Said Schnellenberger: "The thing you remember about Joe is that even though he had a lot of good things going for him at that particular school and that particular state and that particular level of football, until they got into the Big Ten, he was always a winner with class. You very seldom found some reason to get upset with him. He was kind of a model citizen as a coach."

UM extends Al Golden's contract through 2019 season

The University of Miami and head coach Al Golden have agreed to terms on a four-year contract extension that will run through February 1, 2020.

This pretty much ends any and all speculation he will be leaving for Penn State, his alma mater.

“I look forward to working side-by-side with Coach Golden for many years,” athletic director Shawn Eichorst said in a statement released by the school around 6 p.m. Friday. “Al has done a fantastic job of rebuilding and solidifying the foundation of our football program while fostering success both on and off of the field. He has been a first-class representative of our University and I am confident that with Al leading the way, our future is very bright.”

Golden’s extension adds four years to the initial five-year contract which began in December 2010.

“My family loves it in South Florida, we have embraced the community and we could not be more excited about the future of the Miami Hurricanes football team,” Golden said in the statement. “I can’t thank President Shalala and Shawn Eichorst enough for their support and commitment to our student-athletes and staff. We are ready to hit the recruiting road and begin our preparations for the 2012 season.”

We'll get reaction after the game.

Ojomo unsure if he'll return in 2012; plus news on Benjamin, Seantrel and more

CORAL GABLES -- Although he's classified on UM's roster as a junior, defensive tackle Adewale Ojomo said Tuesday he isn't sure if he'll be back next year in a Hurricanes uniform.

And the reason has nothing to do with him possibly going pro early. According to Ojomo, his future rests in the hands of the NCAA, who will have to determine whether or not he's worthy of being granted a sixth-year of eligibility.

When Ojomo signed with UM in 2007 he was redshirted his freshman season while he practiced with the scout team. In 2008, he played in 11 games, made two starts and had 22 tackles and three sacks. Then, he missed the entire 2009 season with a broken jaw after being sucker punched by a walk-on teammate in a preseason locker room brawl. That season, Ojomo said, he received a medical hardship for. The question now is if the NCAA will allow him to do the same for 2007.

"They're trying to figure out if they have any medical records from my freshman year when I had a groin injury," Ojomo said. "They're trying to figure out if there's any documentation so they can give it to compliance and file the paperwork. But if they can't, then I don't have another year."

Ojomo said he hopes to hear news on that "documentation" issue in the next two to three weeks. Getting a sixth-year usually isn't that difficult. Offensive tackle Joel Figueroa received a sixth-year before the start of this season. Former defensive end Eric Moncur got one a few years back. But Ojomo said the key is proving you were injured.

UM coach Al Golden would love to have Ojomo back. After injuries decimated the defensive tackle position two weeks into the season, Ojomo was asked to move inside from end to tackle despite being weighing only 260 pounds.

"I'm really proud of him," Golden said. "He's really an example of what we want in terms of being unselfish and being an example to the team. I think he's embraced it. He's been fairly effective in there, he has done a nice job there. He's a starter in the nickel as well, so it gives us more speed inside. Adewale is strong. He's over 270 pounds now. He's starting to become a harder player inside, hold the point better. It's difficult to do during the season. We appreciate what he's doing for us there."

Ojomo said he likes playing tackle and thinks it "suits me better than defensive end."

"I definitely have to add weight, probably another 10 pounds, get up to 280," said Ojomo, who in six weeks has packed on 11 more pounds by loading up on carbohydrates.

"My production hasn't been very good. But in terms of my job and the defense, I think I'm doing my job, holding my own. I'm taking on a lot of double teams. I know that's good because Olivier Vernon and [Anthony] Chickillo will come free."

If he is able to come back next season, Ojomo said he "would like to play all over the line. Just know the whole playbook, everybody's position and stay on the field as much as I can."

Over the past few weeks Ojomo said he's been getting about 45 snaps a game while alternating with Micanor Regis. He said defensive line coach Jethro Franklin told he him he needs to "bat more balls down and have more strip attempts, try to get more turnovers."

"I need to improve in that area," Ojomo said.

NEWS AND NOTES

> Golden said Tuesday that safety Ray-Ray Armstrong is all set to play on Saturday at South Florida after being cleared by athletic director Shawn Eichorst on Monday. But Armstorng will not start after serving a one-game suspension and will be "in the rotation and will be back on special teams as well."

> Seantrel Henderson is the new starter at right tackle.

"Seantrel played better [than Jonathan Feliciano] in the game and Seantrel's weight is where it should be [at 350 pounds]," Golden said. "And Seantrel is preparing the last seven or eight days like he should be. Prior to that it was hit or miss. Really, I think I said this about [Olivier Vernon] last week and I'm saying the same thing about Seantrel today -- he looks different. It looks like the conditioning, all the normal things you would get get in training camp, he has it right now. He has a great attitude. He really has. I'm excited to watch him play Saturday. That kid loves football. One thing about Seantrel. He loves football."

Henderson spent the last few minutes of Saturday's loss to Florida State stomping his feet on the sideline out of frustration.

> Golden said freshman Phillip Dorsett is the No. 1 punt returner -- ahead of Travis Benjamin, who had a key muffed punt return at FSU.

"They're competing, but if we were going to play today, Phillip's the guy," Golden said. "You can't do that in a game and not have some kind of repercussion. You just can't. We can't have that kind of decision-making in a game of that magnitude. Travis knows it, he's been communicated to. He'll fight back; I know Travis will. But he'll have to steal it back now, because that gave Phillip an opportunity."

> Defensive tackle Curtis Porter, who has missed the entire season with a right hand injury, could return this weekend. Golden said Porter is battling with freshman Jalen Grimble to get in the rotation at tackle.

> Golden said sophomore Kacy Rodgers, who gave up the touchdown at FSU, will focus primarily at cornerback this week.

"I don't want to say he froze," Golden said. "He just didn't execute. In fairness to the kid, you would like to have that exposed to him in training camp, in some scrimmage or at some game where you have such a lead that you're playing everybody and not for the first time in front of 85,000 and many more viewers. He wishes he had the play back."

Golden said Rodgers should "have run through and separated [the receiver] from the ball or intercepted it."

Senior JoJo Nicolas, who played the entire FSU game safety, will again stick to safety this week.

> Golden said the biggest difference between UM and FSU right now is depth.

"Just looking at Florida State. That's the one thing they're ahead of us on," Golden said. "We're going to work on that. We have a big recruiting class coming in. I think a lot of those guys are going to have to play.

"Where we're hurt the most is at linebacker. Those are the guys that are run and strike, carry weight. They're 225, 230 and can get down there and make plays. Right now we find ourselves protecting linebackers. We're sitting there with five guys the other day. I'm used to carrying 10 to 12 on the road. We're sitting there five, maybe six. That makes it hard, really hard. We're trying to protect those guys. We understand moving forward we have to get that fixed."

Futch doubtful for USF after collapsing at Tuesday morning practice

CORAL GABLES -- Jordan Futch, trying to work his way back from a shoulder injury he suffered against Duke two weeks ago, was recovering Tuesday from a suspected case of heat exhaustion, which necessitated him being taken from the Hurricanes' practice field by paramedics and transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital.

Luckily, it appears the 6-3, 235-pound senior linebacker is going to be fine according to UM coach Al Golden.

"I think it was a case of dehydration and low sugar levels," Golden said during his weekly Tuesday afternoon press conference. "Again, I’m not the doctor but I’m just trying to give you the idea that everything’s fine. He just felt really weak or faint. It was sneaky hot out there today to be honest with you. I don’t think we had a day like that in a couple weeks. I think it got sneaky hot, and Jordan has been limited in his activity for the last nine or ten days. So I think the combination of that and we wanted to be safe. From all accounts Jordan is doing fine.”

At first, however, it hardly seemed that way. A normally quiet morning at Greentree Practice Field was interrupted at around 8:30 a.m. by police and fire rescue sirens. An ambulance quickly pulled onto the practice field, surprising some players who had no idea Futch had even collapsed.

"I really didn't know what was going on to be honest with you," defensive tackle Adewale Ojomo said. "I was over there on the field, saw the ambulance on the field and heard something about Futch. That's all."

The National Weather Service reported that at 8:30 a.m., when paramedics were called to the field, temperatures in Miami were 81 degrees with 85 percent humidity and a heat index of 87.

Hope Gibbs, the division chief for the Coral Gables Fire Department, said when they received the call about Futch they were told "there was somebody unconscious on the practice field.”

A paramedic on the scene told The Miami Herald Futch was given fluids and was doing much better by the time he was whisked away in the ambulance. 

Still, it's likely Futch still won't play Saturday at USF.

“I want to give Jordan the opportunity to see what he can do moving forward in the next 48 hours," Golden said. "If I had to give his status, it would be doubtful right now.”

Golden said the team usually starts practice at 7 a.m. and players are offered "fruits, Muscle Milks, Gatorade, and bagels and things of that nature" to make "sure their "equilibrium is good" before taking the field.

But, Golden said, "it's incumbent on every player to make sure they're hydrating and eating... I think his was a case he hadn't been doing anything for a couple weeks, 10 days."

UM's No. 1-ranked recruiting class of '08 failed in its quest; now it's all about the Golden process

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

When the nation's No. 1-recruiting class walked through the doors in 2008, the Miami Hurricanes were supposed to return to prominence. Randy Shannon, the man tapped into South Florida's recruiting pipeline, was supposed to restock the shelves with the talent Larry Coker let escape under his watch.

Winning? That was supposed to come quickly.

But we're still waiting.

With two games left in Al Golden's first season as Canes coach, UM is still sputtering, struggling to play better than .500 football. Are they folding like Shannon's Canes? Nope. Not even close.

Golden and his assistants have gotten more out of this group than Shannon ever did. Tommy Streeter, no where to be found under the old regime, has become a star. Jacory Harris is no longer an interception machine, rather one of the most efficient passers in the country. Sean Spence? Even better than he was his first three years, even wreaking havoc at middle linebacker when they've smartly used him there.

But the overall results for this group of 32 signees in 2008 who were supposed to save the day? Not very pretty.

> UM's record is 28-21, 17-14 in ACC play.
> The Canes are just 4-5 against FBS in-state opponents, going 1-3 versus Florida State, 0-1 versus the Gators, 1-1 versus USF and 2-0 versus UCF.
> The Canes record against ranked opponents since 2008? 5-7.
> The highest UM has been ranked in the AP poll was No. 8, before Clemson beat them at Sun Life Stadium 40-37 in overtime in 2009. The highest UM finished a season in the AP poll? 19th in 2009.
> Bowl wins? Zero.

A few of those kids have shined individually:
> Brandon Harris, a second round pick of the Texans who left school a year early, was an All-American cornerback.
> Spence, considered the 11th-best player for UM in that recruiting class by Rivals.com, will go down statistically as one of best Canes linebackers ever.
> Streeter, who did nothing his first three years here, has the potential to be a first round pick.
> Travis Benjamin became just the sixth player in UM history this past Saturday to eclipse the career 2,000-yard receiving mark.
> And Jacory Harris, for all his interception woes, will likely finish second to Ken Dorsey in all the major career passing stats.

Some turned out to be decent starters and contributors:
> Linebacker Ramon Buchanan, out for the season with a knee injury after just four games and could return next year, has 106 career tackles, 13.5 for loss in 39 games.
> Vaughn Telemaque, once compared to Ed Reed by Shannon, is a three-year starter at safety with 152 career tackles, 5 fumble recoveries and 4 interceptions.
> Defensive end/linebacker Marcus Robinson has 14.5 career sacks and 102 career tackles.
> Defensive tackle Micanor Regis has 101 tackles, 14.5 for loss, 3 INTs in 43 games.
> Receiver LaRon Byrd, who has struggled to get on the field his senior season, has 100 career catches for 1,179 yards and 6 TDs.
> Defensive end Andrew Smith, a 2-star recruit coming out of high school, turned out to be a decent third-down pass rusher (49 tackles, 8 TFL, 4 sacks).
> Junior College signee Pat Hill had two decent years opening holes as UM's fullback.
> And kicker Jake Wieclaw, once considered a mistake by coaches, has finally worked his way into the kicker's job after Matt Bosher left.

But so many of those 2008 recruits turned out to be busts:
> Arthur Brown, the No. 1 linebacker in the country and recruit in UM's 2008 class, did nothing in two years at UM. He's now a starter at Kansas State.
> Marcus Forston, the other 5-star recruit in UM's 2008 class, has had two seasons cut short by injuries including this one. But he's still made just 60 tackles, 7 sacks in 31 games.
> Jordan Futch -- a kid with a great attitude and a lot of heart -- didn't crack the starting lineup until this year. He has 36 career tackles in 31 games after being tabbed as the fourth-best player in the class.
> Aldarius Johnson, the No. 1-rated receiver in UM's 2008 class, has done nothing since his freshman year and got booted off the team in August for allegedly lying to NCAA investigators about the impermissible gifts he received from Nevin Shapiro.
> C.J. Holton? Davon Johnson? Ben Jones? Jeremy Lewis? All four-star recruits who have never cracked the starting lineup or done much outside of mop-up or special teams duties.
> From the Where are they Now Department: Joe Wylie, Thearon Collier, Antonio Harper, Gavin Hardin, Cannon Smith, Taylor Cook, Brandon Marti, Zach Kane and C.J. Odom.
> And we're all still waiting to see when Kendall Thompkins -- practice superstar -- does more than just help out on special teams. Fullback John Calhoun is a nice kid. Not much to say beyond that.

The reason I bring all this up -- this recap of ups and downs for what in essence is UM's senior class -- is to try and clear up why I think the Canes (5-5) are still stuck in this muddle of mediocrity even whileGolden and his staff have done a better job than the previous staff. Two reasons are depth and talent. UM simply missed on too many recruits the last few years. Another, is the mental makeup of the kids who are here. When the tough has gotten going, they've simply cracked.

"We have some bad habits that surface during pressure situations that we have to fix," Golden said of his team Sunday. "It is frustrating, but at the same time it's part of the process. We just have to stay with it. The kids have to continue to be willing to make the changes necessary."

That's the frustrating thing with these Canes. They've had three to four years to break those bad habits. This 2008 group -- and the one that came in right after it in 2009 with Ray-Ray Armstrong, Lamar Miller, Brandon Washington, Brandon McGee, Dyron Dye, Mike James and Olivier Vernon -- has just always found a way to blow close games.

The same problems always arise. Poor tackling. Freelancing. Blown coverages. Brain farts. Jacory Harris always seems to make a bad decision near the end zone. Travis Benjamin runs the wrong routes at Ohio State then chases after a punt that's past him at Florida State. Ray-Ray? Forget that he's always out of position because he tries to make too many plays. How does anyone get in trouble off the field again after they've already served a four-game suspension for doing something similar to what they got into trouble for the first time?

It's maddening really.

You can look at this picture sunny-side up and say UM's five losses this season have been decided by a total of 26 points, three by four points or less. You can say UM is just a few plays away. You can say they are just a few players away.

But to me, it feels like the process is going to take awhile. Until this group leaves and new ones with a different late-game DNA come in, it really won't change. Golden has tried hard to change the culture. He's tried to get his team up for every game. But the woes just seem embedded in some of these guys.

In the end, you can't be an ACC or national title contender when you can only hit on 40 percent of what is supposed to be your senior class. Golden has to do better than what Shannon did in recruiting. He has to land quality backups.

And he has to continue to change the off the field culture. You can't build consistency when some of your best players are getting suspended for doing really dumb things (Ray-Ray, Regis, etc). All of that in the end is why I believe this team is 5-5. There's just a lack of depth in too many places (corner, safety, linebacker). And the football IQ just hasn't gotten better.

Now, I'm not trying to say all of 2011 has been bad by any stretch.

Golden has gotten this football team -- which has been smacked hard by distractions -- to improve dramatically in a lot of areas. Despite Saturday's nightmare performance, UM has improved on special teams. Same with penalties. Offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch has worked wonders with Harris and UM's offense, which before Saturday was No. 1 in the country in efficiency. Miller became the school's first 1,000-yard rusher since 2002. Sean Spence is having an All-American season. Freshmen Denzel Perryman and Anthony Chickillo have shown us they will be stars in the future. And Golden has 26 commitments and a consensus Top 10 recruiting class lined up for 2012.

But don't let your imagination wander into the danger zone of unreal expectations. Don't start believing championships are right around the corner. We're still talking about a 5-5 football team that will face scholarship reductions and bowl-bans once the NCAA's investigation into this Shapiro fiasco is completed. We're talking about a 5-5 football team that next season will be without any of those good seniors I mentioned earlier -- and maybe some of those underclassmen too. That's the football team somebody -- hopefully Golden -- will be putting on the field next year.

So, dig your heels in. As Al says, it's a process. One that is going to take some time.

Did swapping QBs hurt UM's offensive rhythm? Byrd appears OK

TALLAHASSEE -- For much of the first half Saturday, Jacory Harris and Stephen Morris swapped in and out for each other at quarterback for the Hurricanes.

While the first half results in terms of offensive output weren't necessarily bad -- they combined to go 13 of 18 for 136 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT and ran the ball five times for three yards -- the results weren't exactly stellar for the Canes offense.

UM only managed to put up seven points -- on a 2-yard Harris to Clive Walford touchdown pass. And Harris, who had thrown just one interception over his previous six games, was easily picked off in the end zone by Florida State's Lamarcus Joyner right after replacing Morris, who lost six yards on a poorly executed option read the play prior.

Did the in-and-out rotation of quarterbacks hurt UM's offensive rhythm? Harris didn't necessarily think so.

"Coach put some plays in for him and he gets in and runs them," Harris said. "[As for the INT] I had a little pressure, but I shouldn't have even went there. If I was going to go there, I should have threw it out the back of the end zone to let [Tommy] Streeter get a play. They were running quarters and he sat flat. I should have gone to the flat. That's on me. I blame it on me."

Said center Tyler Horn of the dual-QB system: "In practice, that's how it is in practice. Stephen goes in for a package and Jacory comes in and throws a touchdown pass. It's just part of it. In my opinion if we might have blocked it better, Jacory might have had time to throw it on point. Put that [INT] on us."

Morris only took one snap in the second half, on a trick play where he ran in from the receiver position and tried to unsuccessfully to dive into the end zone on a sneak near the end zone.

BYRD OK

Receiver LaRon Byrd took such a vicious hit from Florida State linebacker Nigel Bradham late in the fourth quarter some of his teammates got on one knee and began to pray.

Luckily for Byrd, hit he took didn't appear to cause serious injury. After laying on the ground for several moments motionless, Byrd got up and jogged to the sideline.

"I' saw him on the sidelines after that. He was LaRon. He said nothing happened to him, it just knocked the wind out of him," Harris said. "But that was a big hit. It scared the heck out of me. Had to pray for a second."

Receiver Tommy Streeter might be less fortunate. He hobbled off the field with 3:03 to play after diving into the FSU sideline to make a catch. On the sideline, Streeter had his left foot examined by UM's trainers and winced in pain as they pressed down on it. His status moving forward is uncertain.

> Senior Marcus Robinson, who started at strongside linebacker with Jordan Futch out Saturday, left the game with 10:10 to play in the third quarter with an apparent knee injury and didn't return.

RARE FUMBLES FOR MILLER

Running back Lamar Miller moved past Edgerrin James and Daynell Ferguson and into fifth place in UM's single season yardage list Saturday. Miller ran for 92 yards on 22 carries and now has 1,108 yards on the season.

He also fumbled twice Saturday, the first time he's actually fumbled all season. UM, which came in having fumbled six times (four were lost), fumbled three times and lost two of them.

"They weren't making big hits. I was just getting careless with the ball a little bit," Miller said.

FALSE STARTS HURT

UM was flagged nine times for 55 yards Saturday. Five penalties were false starts. Right tackle Jonathan Feliciano, who started and saw his first action in two games, was flagged twice. Fullback Maurice Hagens and tight ends Dyron Dye and Walford were the other guilty parties.

"We practice with [noise] all week, have the speakers out there. But it's nothing like being on the five yard line [facing] the student section at Florida State. You know what can try to reproduce those decibles," Horn said. "At the end of the day you have to watch the football, get used to it if you're going to play college football. That's how it is everywhere."

Gameday blog: Duke at UM

SUN LIFE STADIUM -- The Miami Hurricanes (4-4, 2-3 ACC) welcome the Duke Blue Devils (3-5, 1-3 ACC) for a 3 p.m. kickoff, a game televised on the ACC Network. UM is 7-1 all-time against Duke and hasn't lost to the Blue Devils since 1976. Duke is coming off a 14-10 loss at home to Virginia Tech and has wins over Boston College (20-19), Tulane (48-27) and FIU (31-27).

> ABOUT DUKE: Coach David Cutcliffe has come close to beating UM before. Although UM has won the last four meetings by double digits, 28-13 (2010), 34-16 (2009), 49-31 (2008) and 24-14 (2007), Duke have kept the games relatively tight and came within a Canes goalline interception in 2006 of pulling off an upset. UM won 20-15. This Duke team still has two big playmakers at wide receiver in former Miami Gulliver Prep standouts Conner Vernon (51 catches, 740 yards, 4 TDs) and Donovan Varner (37 catches, 443 yards, 0 TDs). Tight end Cooper Helfet ranks second among ACC tight ends in catches (28 for 276 yards, 2 TDs). Quarterback Sean Renfree has completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 2,004 yards, but also has just 6 TD passes to 7 inteceptions. Defensively, the Blue Devils will often employ an eight-man front to shut down the run. Safety Matt Daniels is their big playmaker. He leads the team with 82 tackles (26 more than the second person on the list) and has 2 INTs and 13 pass breakups (more than UM's entire secondary, 8). Duke is among the best teams in the country in kickoff return defense (5th overall), allowing just 17.19 yards a return. But they rank 66th in punt coverage (7.67 yards per return). Kicker Will Snyderwine is 7 of 14 on field goal attempts.

> WHAT TO WATCH FOR THE CANES: Redshirt freshman Jonathan Feliciano is expected to make his return to the starting lineup at right tackle, which should help UM's running game which has sputtered over the last three games. Receiver Tommy Streeter, who was apparently took a cleat to the top of his left foot on Wednesday during practice, has 14 receptions for 347 yards and 3 TDs over his last three games. With 45 more receiving yards, Travis Benjamin will become just the sixth player in program history to reach the 2,000 yard plateau -- joining Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne, Michael Irvin, Lamar Thomas and Leonard Hankerson. Defensively, the Hurricanes will look to rebound after a deflating performance against Virginia. The Canes gave up six plays of 20 yards or more in the loss including three TD passes of 37 yards or more. Look for Duke to try and expose UM's struggling safeties with playaction, especially when Ray-Ray Armstrong and Vaughn Telemaque are in the game together. UM's pass defense ranks 102nd in efficiency and has surrendered 12 touchdown passes already with only four interceptions. Kicker Jake Wieclaw has either missed a field goal or had one blocked in each of his last two games.

> MANNY'S PICK: UM 33, Duke 21. Canes offense hasn't played well over the last 10 quarters, struggling in the red zone and in short-yardage situations and relying too much on Touchdown Tommy Streeter to make the big catch. Defensively, the Canes have also given up too many long pass plays and looked bad in coverage. Duke is well coached enough to expose all of those areas and upset the Canes the way Virginia did. But UM is the better team and this week Al Golden has scared them enough to make them act like it.

Gunn aiming to jump start Canes offensive line, running game

As the son of a part-time DJ, Hurricanes offensive lineman Harland Gunn said he grew up listening to all kinds of music in his home in Omaha, Nebraska.

Oldies. Rap. R&B. Lately, though, the 6-2, 310-pound left guard at the University of Miami said he's been expanding his tastes even more.

"I've been listening to Led Zepplin and stuff like that to get me ready for the games." said Gunn, a fifth-year senior who has started 26 games in his career for the Hurricanes including 21 in a row.

"If I had to pick one song as my theme song it would be Power by Kanye West."

Why? "Because it's all about power," Gunn said. "You got to have power in this world."

Truth is there may not be a more fitting theme song for Gunn, hands down the strongest and most powerful player on UM's football team. Strength and conditioning coach Andreu Swasey said Gunn owns the highest marks on both squat (600 pounds-plus) and bench press (500-plus). "I think [defensive end] Olivier Vernon might be the only one who has [Gunn] on the power clean," Swasey said Wednesday.

Those strength numbers hardly surprise Gunn's father, Harland Gunn Sr. In the eighth grade, Gunn Sr. said his son was bench pressing 250 pounds, wearing a size 13 shoe and challenging his dad to lift offs in their garage.

"Harland's hands are bigger than mine. My fingers might be a little longer. But his fingers are thick. He's got big paws, man," said Gunn Sr., who at 6-6, 320-plus pounds was a standout high school football player himself who didn't make it further because he "tore his right knee up" and "started making children early."

"Harland's always been a competitor. When you're a young man, you see your father as a big guy and you want to be as strong as him. We'd go at it on the bench. I'd try to push him and keep him going. It didn't take him very long to pass me by."

Of course, there is more to Gunn than power and strength.

After hardly speaking a word to his teammates the first three months he was at UM according to center Tyler Horn, Gunn has grown into a chatter box, comedian and team leader. Gunn has even learned how to perfect his Spanish in his time time in Miami, taking two Spanish classes at UM after taking four years of classes in high school.

"I try to speak to the natives, people around town," Gunn said. "I know the basics. Como estas? [How are you?] Estoy bien, y usted? [I'm good and you?] I'm a pretty big guy, I like to tell people 'Tengo hambre, necesita comer ahora.' [I'm hungry and I need to eat now]. Basic stuff."

"I think you'd be surprised how funny he is because he looks like a quiet guy," Horn said. "[Those glasses he wears] that's the studious Gunn -- that's his costume for Halloween... He's a big personality. He's one of those guys that takes a while to open up and now that he has he's a lot of fun."

Said right tackle Jonathan Feliciano: "Sometimes we can't get him to shut up.

But on the field, Feliciano said, "he's like a bowling ball. He kills people like they're pins."

UM coach Al Golden said Gunn's only bad game this year was against Georgia Tech. But despite that game, Golden feels Gunn is having "an all-conference type year" and said the senior has "the most second level cuts of anyone on the offensive line."

"I don't know if he's the foundation of [the offensive line], but he might be," offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch said. "He's a solid, strong, high character, high work ethic, lunch pail guy. He's a true blue collar approach to offensive line play. He'll fit in great for the rest of his life playing offensive line. They love those type guys in the NFL."

Offensive line coach Art Kehoe said Gunn's style of play reminds him of former Hurricanes K.C. Jones and Claude Jones.

"He's explosive man," Kehoe said. "I'm trying to get him a little more functional, a little more loose on his hips so he can use better footwork. But man, I like the way he plays. I like the way he pulls. He's a terrific person. He's almost a better person than he is a player. And he's a hell of a player."

Still, Gunn himself, wants to see improvement on the Canes offensive line as a whole. UM, which has given up 12 sacks (40th-fewest among 120 FBS schools), has struggled in short yardage situations this season.

The running game, which on Oct. 9 was averaging 182.6 yards per game (39th best in the nation), has struggled to get going over the last three games (UM now ranks 75th best in rushing offense at 145.5 yards per game). And the way the team was manhandled against Virginia left a bad taste in the mouths of everyone in charge of blocking.

"Last Thursday was probably our least physical game as an offense," fullback Maurice Hagens said. "When we watched the film, offensive linemen were in the backfield. Tight ends were getting blown up, fullback was getting blown up. That was something we weren't seeing. The last four games we have to go and blow everybody off the line."

Gunn agrees. "For some reason, we were just off rhythm, out of sync," Gunn said. "Offense is all about rhythm, timing, executing. This was our worst game in terms of execution by far.

"To me, it's just been about finishing. Guys are getting on their blocks. Nothing is wrong with the schemes or the blocks. It's the finish factor and it hasn't been here the last few games. It's the attitude. You have to reinvest in the attitude of running the ball."

Canes Midseason Awards: Winners, Blinkers and Stinkers

The Miami Hurricanes head into Saturday's game against 20th-ranked Georgia Tech with a 3-3 overall record and a 1-2 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play. 

If you listen to WQAM play-by-play man Joe Zagacki and color analyst Don Bailey Jr. -- who always see the bright side of things -- the Canes are just a few plays away from being 6-0. That may be true. But by the same rationale, North Carolina and Bryn Renner were a mere 30 yards away from rallying from a 24-point deficit to beat UM last Saturday and drop the Canes to 2-4. And that's something that surely would have dropped the old Canes Satisfaction Meter on Greg Cote's blog way down.

In the big picture, this team still is what I said it was three weeks ago after Kansas State beat them: Mediocre. Al Golden is trying to squeeze more out of his team. He's trying to create a real sense of competition, questioning the level of play of some of his best players to get them to play even better (Golden said Lamar Miller has a long way to go as a running back; Brandon Washington isn't playing up to par at left tackle). But until proven otherwise, until UM can play four strong quarters of good Hurricanes football (not one very good half in Chapel Hill) I'm not ranking this team's overall grade better than a C. 

But I am giving away fake awards. So, here are your Eye on The U Midseason Winners, Blinkers and Stinkers:

> MVP: Quarterback Jacory Harris. Yell all you want for Lamar Miller. But this category is Most Valuable Player not Best Player/He's Going To Be The First Cane To Get Drafted In The First Round since Kenny Phillips in 2008. No doubt Miller has played lights out. Before North Carolina held him to 29 yards rushing on 16 attempts, he'd run for at least 100 yards in five straight games. He still ranks 11th in the country in rushing with 117.6 yards a game (706 yards on 110 attempts). But Harris has been more valuable. UM might not have come back to beat Bethune-Cookman (OK, maybe that's a bit dramatic), held on to beat North Carolina or even been close at Virginia Tech or at home against Kansas State if Harris didn't all of a sudden find his mojo. Since halftime of the Kansas State loss, Jacory has gone 56 of 81 (69.1 completion percentage) for 900 yards, 10 touchdowns and 0 INTs. He now ranks as the eighth most efficient passer in the country with a QB rating of 170.77.

> MIA: Receiver LaRon Byrd. Not sure if he made Jacory Harris mad at him or not, but Byrd has gone from starter and second-leading receiver (41 catches, 440 yards) in 2010 to a Where Are They Now TV special (4 catches, 41 yards). Somehow I've got a feeling the 6-4, 220-pound senior will still end up on an NFL roster down the road and we'll be scratching our heads as to why he fell out of the picture.

> Most Valuable Coach: Offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch. Jacory Harris couldn't have made this amazing turnaround without Fisch. How amazing? Well, a year ago, Harris ranked 88th in passer efficiency with a rating of 116.60. He threw 15 interceptions (two less than national co-leaders Boo Jackson of Ohio, Ryan Radcliffe of Central Michigan, Duke's Sean Renfree and Texas' Garrett Gilbert). And Harris would have taken home The Canes' Biggest Stinker Award had we had it last year. But behind the 35-year old Fisch, Harris has had a rebirth (0 picks in his last 14 quarters). UM's offense might not have as good a numbers in terms of yardage -- 56th rushing (159.5), 66th passing (224.83), 71st total offense (384.33) compared to a year ago -- 30th rushing offense (182.46 ypg), 43rd passing offense (238.85), 31st total offense (421.31). But where it matters is on the scoreboard and Fisch (48th scoring offense, 30.33 points per game) is outdoing what Mark Whipple did (67th scoring offense, 26.31 points per game). Fisch is also doing a better job getting the team's best playmakers the ball (running reverses, receiver screens, the Wildcat and a handful of trick plays).

> Razzie Recipient: Defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio. Every year Hollywood hands out their thumbs down awards for the worst things they've seen on film. D'Onofrio can send in a lot what we've seen from his unit this year. Not that he doesn't have plenty of legit, acceptable excuses. 28 players have lined up for UM's defense this year. Two of his best players -- Ray-Ray Armstrong and Olivier Vernon -- have missed multiple games because of NCAA mandated suspensions. The defensive tackle position has been riddled by injuries to Marcus Forston, Curtis Porter and veteran linebacker Ramon Buchanan was lost for the season against Bethune-Cookman. But who wants to hear excuses? The Canes rank 94th in rushing defense, 58th in pass defense, 81st in total defense and 48th in scoring defense. What's worse? They've blown the lead in the fourth quarter in all three losses. D'Onofrio deserves more time and a chance to have his entire unit in place before anyone tosses him to the sharks. But right now, his unit needs to figure out a way to slow the other team's option down (UM has been shredded by it). The challenge this week is monumental against Georgia Tech. And it wasn't made any easier by Micanor Regis' suspension Thursday.

> Questionable Call: Coach Al Golden. Virginia Tech. Opening drive. 4th and 1. Fake field goal run by Spencer Whipple. I rest my case. 

> Play That Made Me Say Wow: This run by Lamar Miller against Virginia Tech. Click here. The pass by Phillip Dorsett to Miller two plays later comes in a close second.

> Sean Spence Award: Linebacker Sean Spence. Hard to give a defensive trophy to anyone else who has played defense for the Canes over the last three years. Spence leads the team with 55 tackles (14 more than the next guy behind him Jimmy Gaines), leads the team 8.5 tackles for loss, ranks second with 3 sacks and was named ACC Linebacker of the Week the past two weeks. Nationally, he ranks 11th in the country in tackles per game, 8th in tackles for loss. His late sack of Brynn Renner Saturday in Chapel Hill was the first big play anybody on Miami's defense has made in the fourth quarter all season. Sorry, but it's true.

> Mr. Big Surprise: Right tackle Jonathan Feliciano. There were a lot of strong candidates for this one. Receiver Allen Hurns appeared to have it locked up after two weeks (10 catches, 123 yards, 2 TDs) but he only has eight catches for 163 yards and one touchdown over his last four games. Touchdown Tommy Streeter has sparkled (18 catches, 332 yards, 5 TDs). Sophomore linebacker Jimmy Gaines is second on the team with 41 tackles. But nobody -- and I mean not even his position coach Art Kehoe -- saw Feliciano coming. The 6-5, 320-pound redshirt freshman has started five consecutive games and he's done so well of late Golden wasn't thinking of pushing Feliciano out of the starting lineup to make room for Seantrel Henderson, he was considering veteran Brandon Washington. Yes, Feliciano leads the team with four false starts. But nobody is a bigger surprise on the team. Just listen to Kehoe: "I'm real proud of him. He wasn't even in the picture at all. Now, he's putting guys on [their butts]. He had four pancackes and five metrorails last week. He's on guys, tearing after them and having fun. It makes it fun as a coach."

> The Fab Freshman: Defensive end Anthony Chickillo. Denzel Perryman may end up beating him out by the end of the season -- especially if he cracks the starting lineup and finishes in the top five in tackles (he's currently fifth with 27). But for now, Chick is the man. With Olivier Vernon out, he's been one of the few bright spots for UM on the defensive line. He's started three games, is tied with Micanor Regis for the most tackles on the defensive line with 25, has four tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

> Special Teams Standout: Kicker Jake Wieclaw. This guy was supposedly unusable while Matt Bosher was here. All of a sudden, Al Golden has found a way to make Wieclaw look like Matt Bosher without the tackling ability. Wieclaw is a perfect 7 for 7 on field goals with a long of 43 yards and he could end up taking the punting duties over by Saturday with Dalton Botts struggling. Who knew? Joe Pannunzio apparently didn't either.

> Deserving of honorable mention -- Senior defensive back JoJo Nicolas. He's third on the team with 29 tackles and has played a valuable role in UM's secondary, shifting from corner to safety at the last moment because Ray-Ray Armstrong had to serve a four-game suspension. He also is playing with a heavy heart following the passing of his newborn son in fall camp. Senior receiver Travis Benjamin: Despite sitting out the season-opener due to an NCAA-mandated suspension, T3 leads the team with 24 catches for 246 yards and 3 touchdowns and has shown the type of attitude in practice Golden said he wanted to see. Senior defensive end Marcus Robinson: A year ago, UM had 37 sacks as a team. This year, the Canes have 17 through their first six games. Not bad when you consider Vernon has been out. So who has helped pick up the slack? Robinson. He leads the team with four sacks and two forced fumbles. He also has 22 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss.

Walford eager to help Canes tight ends get in the end zone; Golden talks Forston injury

CORAL GABLES -- Do you remember the last time a Hurricanes tight end caught a pass and got into the end zone?

Clive Walford does. He did it.

Late in the second quarter of UM's 24-6 win at home over Ohio State three weeks ago, Walford caught a pass at about the Buckeyes' 5-yard line, faked two defenders out of their shoes and waltzed into the end zone. The 6-4, 245-pound redshirt freshman from Belle Glade was so pumped about scoring his first career touchdown, he leaped into the arms of guard Harland Gunn and pumped his fist.

But then, the excitement was tempered. UM was penalized for an illegal formation on the play because receiver Tommy Streeter was not lined up with the ball.

"When they called it back I was like 'Oh man'," Walford said. "But what could you do? That's football."

Walford let that play go. But the drop at the goalline late in the fourth quarter against Kansas State a week later -- that's eaten at him a little. UM (2-2) would have rallied to take the lead on the Wildcats had Walford held onto the slightly under thrown pass from Jacory Harris. Instead, the Canes tried unsuccessfully at running it in from 2-yards out on its next three plays and lost 28-24.

Last week against Bethune-Cookman, Walford hauled in an 11-yard pass from Harris, but promptly fumbled it away.

Frustration? Walford said he isn't letting it enter his system. Instead, he's facing his woes head on and taking it all as part of the growth process.

"I wouldn't say any of it is tough luck. I just have to execute," Walford said. "They're giving me the opportunity. I just got to step up and make plays.

"I was supposed to catch that ball [versus Kansas State]. It hit my hands, I dropped it. It was a tough catch. But when it comes down to it, I have to make that catch. I had a chance to help my team win that game and I didn't come through. The following week, I was going hard in practice, got extra work in on that same play to make sure I executed the next time my number was called.

"As for the fumble, when I caught it, as I was tucking it and started running with it, someone came and hit me and it just came out. I didn't even see where the defender was. It happens. The key is not letting it happen again."

The Hurricanes, averaging 29.25 points on offense per game (62nd out of 120 FBS schools), haven't necessarily needed a lot from their tight ends this season. But their production has been minimal. Through four games, Chase Ford (3 catches, 34 yards), Walford (3 catches, 19 yards) and Asante Cleveland (1 catch, 6 yards) have been virtually transparent. That's been pretty surprising considering UM coach Al Golden talked a lot in the preseason about how the tight ends were going to be more involved.

Golden said Tuesday, "it's not like we're dissatisfied with how they're playing... we just have to get more opportunities to get the tight ends involved."

Still, it's now been 15 games since a UM tight end scored a touchdown -- that's when Ford hauled in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Harris with 14:52 to play at Ohio State on Sept. 11, 2010.

While the Canes hves been efficient in their red zone opportunities (UM has scored touchdowns on 8 of 12 trips), both losses can be attributed some to failures in the red zone. Aside from the Kansas State loss, UM had a chance against Maryland to score a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. Instead, the Canes settled for a field goal and 24-23 lead with 4:01 to play. Maryland came back down the field and hit the go-ahead field goal before icing the game on an interception return for a touchdown.

Could this be the week UM's tight ends finally break out and get in the end zone? Well last week, Clemson tight end Dwayne Allen had four catches for 75 yards and a touchdown in the Tigers' 23-3 win in Blacksburg.

After three rough weeks, Walford would certainly love to follow Allen's lead.

"As long as we're winning, that's all that matters to me," Walford said. "But it would be pretty sweet to get to get in that end zone again. And this time hopefully it counts."

MORE NEWS AND NOTES

> Al Golden said Walford has "worked really well on his hands, but he's an infant in terms of football. He has a large upside, and he's just starting his football intelligence and learning the game and everything. He's a guy we should be getting the ball to better."

But, Golden added: "He's a guy that should be doing it in practice like [Tommy] Streeter and Travis [Benjamin] are doing. Streeter and Travis' practice habits are markedly better than they were even at the start of the year. We need that from Clive so quarterbacks can trust him and carry that over to the game."

> Jacory Harris said Walford's blocking has improved and what he likes most about him is that "he's not someone that complains or anything. He just goes out there, does his job."

"And because of that, I'm sure something special is going to happen for him before the end of the year," Harris said.

> Golden has said multiple times this week he hasn't been happy with the Hurricanes' struggles on third and fourth down and short yardage situations.

"Unacceptable," Golden said of the struggles. "Any criticism there is more than fair. We have to do a better job there. We have to decide what we want our identity to be there. We've tried a multitude of things there. We just have to settle in. but clearly when it's one yard and the game is on the line we have to be able to get that via the run. That's going to be critical for us."

UM has been in 13 situations this season where they've needed one yard to either convert a third or fourth down or score -- the most infamous being in the loss at Kansas State. After beginning the season converting 5 of its first 7 attempts in those situations, UM has converted just once over it's last six tries, starting with the loss to the Wildcats.

"It's on all of us," Golden said Sunday. "... We have to look at the schemes from Jedd [Fisch] and the offensive staff, look at our execution, look at whose hands [we're putting the ball in] for those situations."

> Golden went on the Dan LeBatard Show on 790TheTicket Thursday and discussed the season-ending injury to defensive tackle Marcus Forston.

"Brutal," Golden said. "I feel bad for the young man. That's a position we've just been crushed at. Luther Robinson has been out so far for every game. Curtis Porter has been out for every game. Now Marcus is out. It's been brutal in there at defensive tackle. Again, I feel bad for the young man. It will be a three month recovery. He'll come back and be fine. Right now we need the next young man to step up and play better for us."

Gameday blog: UM vs. Bethune-Cookman

SUN LIFE STADIUM -- The Hurricanes (1-2) take on Bethune-Cookman (2-1) in the first meeting ever between in the in-state programs. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

> ABOUT THE WILDCATS: B-CC's offensive coordinator Rob Spence was a member of Al Golden's staff at Temple as his wide receivers coach in 2010. The Wildcats, picked to finish second in the MEAC after a 10-2 season a year ago, rank fifth in the FCS in scoring at 38.67 points per game on offense and are led by former Mississippi running back Rodney Scott. The 5-9, 200-pound junior has run for 231 yards on 32 carries to lead a Wildcats rushing attack that averaged 217.3 yards a game. Receiver Eddie Poole (6-3, 195) is a legitimate pass catching threat and leads the Wildcats with 16 receptions for 165 yards and three TDs. Defensively, Bethune-Cookman has created 11 turnovers in their first three games and ranks third in pass efficiency defense in the FCS. 

> WHAT TO WATCH FOR THE CANES: How UM handles the Wildcats read option, wide receiver screens and quick strike offense. UM ranks 99th in the nation in run defense and figures to once again have trouble defending the run -- even if it is B-CC. Offensively, running backs Lamar Miller (shoulder) and Mike James (shoulder) are expected to play, but could be limited after wearing non-contact jerseys for UM's first two practices this week. Look for Eduardo Clements, Darion Hall and Maurice Hagens to get some more work. UM coach Al Golden said tackle Seantrel Henderson, returning from back surgery, should get about 20 snaps this week.

> MY PICK: UM 34, Bethune-Cookman 22. The Hurricanes have serious issues on defense -- particularly at defensive tackle, linebacker and cornerback. A day like today would be a great opportunity to work on those issues and iron them out. But these Canes really aren't even good enough to do that with ease. I expect the Wildcats to make this game more interesting than you thought they would. 

ACC accepts Pitt, Syracuse as new members

Well, it's official. The ACC will be adding two former Canes' Big East rivals to the conference: Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

Sunday morning the ACC announced that its council of presidents unanimously voted to accept the Panthers and Orange, a move that increases its membership to 14 and sends the Big East scrambling to replace two of its cornerstone programs.

The big questions now: When exactly will Syracuse and Pitt make the move? And is the ACC done expanding?

"We are constantly evaluating the competitive landscape to ensure the conference's viability for years to come, and this, I believe, has staying power," ACC commissioner John Swofford said on a conference call this morning.

"First of all, we are very comfortable with this 14. The only thing I would add to that is that we are not philosophically opposed to 16. But for now we are very pleased with this 14. We think it is just an excellent group."

Sunday's announcement is just another sign college athletics is likely headed toward building 12, 14, and 16-team super conferences -- with the Big 12 Conference and Big East being the two that get picked apart.

Last year, Colorado left the Big 12 for the Pac-12, Nebraska left for the Big Ten and now recently Texas A&M made its intentions known it will be joining the SEC. The board of regents at Oklahoma and Texas are supposed to be meeting Monday to discuss the possibility of the universities leaving the conference too.

It's been speculated Texas, a super power with its own TV network, could end up joining the ACC, the Pac-12 or just going independent. If Texas comes to the ACC, it could bring Texas Tech with it. There are also reports two more Big East teams -- Connecticut and Rutgers -- are also under consideration by the ACC.

While there have been reports the SEC is potentially interested in taking Florida State and Clemson from the ACC, Swofford confirmed Sunday 11 of 12 conference presidents unanimously approved raising the ACC's exit fee to $20 million (up from $12 to $14 million) for any member leaving the conference last Tuesday -- a strong move to keep ACC schools from leaving.

With Pittsburgh and Syracuse's additions Sunday, the ACC has now taken five teams from The Big East. In 2004, UM and Virginia Tech left the Big East for the ACC. A year later, Boston College followed. As for how long it will take for Pitt and Syracuse to actually start playing in the ACC, no one is really sure yet. The Big East's exit fee is $5 million and schools wanting to leave must provide a 27-month notice.

Swofford said adding Pitt and Syracuse schools allows the league to renegotiate its 12-year, $1.86 billion television contract that began this season, "and we're confident that will have a positive impact." Translation: More big TV bucks for the ACC and its schools. Also a new possibility: the ACC Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York. 

So what do you think of the additions? How does this help or hurt the Canes? And what should the ACC do next? Are you pumped about returning to the Carrier Dome or Heinz Field every few years?

Personally, I'm not. I feel this is huge for basketball and not as big a deal in football. Pittsburgh has nine national championships in football, but the last came in 1976. The Panthers have won just two Big East titles (2004, 2010) and have played in a BCS bowl game just once (2004). Since it's last trip to the Orange Bowl in 1998, Syracuse has had six losing seasons and been to just four bowl games.

Now, if the ACC can add Texas to the fold, it makes this an entirely different story -- and potentially makes the ACC the most powerful conference in college sports. But I don't see that happening. 

Golden expects Streeter to play Monday night at Maryland

CORAL GABLES -- Tommy Streeter, who had arguably the best training camp of any player at UM before coming down with an undisclosed injury earlier this week, is no longer wearing a yellow non-contact jersey and is expected to play Monday night in the season-opener at Maryland.

"It looks like he's through the woods," UM coach Al Golden said Friday morning before his team took the field at Greentree Practice Field. "We'll see how he responds today. He looked good yesterday. We're counting on him right now."

Streeter, who had three TD catches in the team's first scrimmage of fall camp, had two more in the final scrimmage and led all players with seven catches for 148 yards. But when the depth chart was released Tuesday, he was listed on the second team behind LaRon Byrd and alongside true freshman Rashawn Scott.

It's likely he'll play a bigger role in Monday's opener now that he is healthy.

OTHER NEWS AND NOTES FROM GOLDEN FRIDAY...

> Golden said he'll have his team sleep in late Monday to "shorten the day up" before the 8 p.m. kickoff. "It's hard [having to wait all day], but you have to deal with it. It's part of the job. We have to get to the point where we're executing regardless of the circumstances."

> Golden said he'll learn later today if three players dealing with clearinghouse issues -- running back Kevin Grooms, linebacker Antonio Kinard and defensive lineman Corey King -- will get into school. I'm not counting on it

> The one special teams job still up for grabs has now been taken. Golden said junior Jake Wieclaw, also handing the field goal and extra points job, beat out freshman Matt Goudis for the kickoff specialist job. "They're both ready," Golden said. "But right now it looks like it will be Wieclaw."

> The battle for the left tackle job is still ongoing, but sixth-year senior Joel Figueroa is still ahead of redshirt freshman Malcolm Bunche. "They're going to continue to battle," Golden said. "But Fig is doing a really nice job. Again, Bunche is young, doesn't quite have the experience. But they're both doing a nice job."

> Sophomore linebacker Kelvin Cain didn't appear on UM's two-deep roster, but Golden said he's still showing a good attitude. "There's a lot of guys in that boat right now that maybe played or had a significant role at some point. But there's a lot more competition right now than in the spring," Golden said. "At least [Cain] has got a good attitude."

> With Travis Benjamin suspended for the opener along with four other players, it's opened the door on kickoff and punt returns for others to step up. Golden said Lamar Miller and Brandon McGee will handle the kickoffs and true freshman Phillip Dorsett will handle the punt returns.

Asked if he was a little nervous putting a true freshman back to return punts, Golden delivered a one word answer: "Yes."

"We're playing a lot of freshman under the lights in a big setting," Golden said. "But you got to make sure believe in them, have confidence in them, train them under all those circumstances. Ultimately, you have to cut the cord and go let them do it. He's gifted. He's got talent. He's returned punts for a long time. This may be his first time in college, but he's been doing it for a long time. I think he'll do very well."

> Asked if UM might feature just one tailback in Monday's game, Golden said Miller and Mike James will platoon. "If we get a hot hand, we'll leave one in," Golden said. "They kind of sub each other anyway. If someone gets a long run or a considerable amount of reps successively they'll rotate."

As for the team's third back, that hasn't been decided yet, though, sophomore Maurice Hagens is listed there on the depth chart. "Eduardo [Clements] is there as well," Golden said of the team's third back. "Mo is kind of an H-Back, fullback for us. But he's also a good one-back runner. Of course, Eduardo has had a really good camp too. Who we put in there third, I don't know yet."

> Asked if his new kicker and punter might be ready to deal with the pressure on Monday night, Golden said he does because he's already placed them under "extreme pressure" in practice. "Not just live situations, but the whole team standing around them as they kick or punt," Golden said. "We get after them pretty good. The idea there is to make the game easier for them and let them have fun."

> Golden said getting the butterflies out of the stomach of his freshmen shouldn't be difficult.

"It should seem normal to them," Golden said. "They've been in the rotation played with guys who have been in games. Hopefully those guys will mentor them. I've never been opposed to playing freshmen. I think they've earned this. I think they've come in in good condition. If they weren't ready, we wouldn't play them. They just have to go out there and do what they've been trained to do."

Golden won't release depth chart until UM hears from NCAA; others news & notes

CORAL GABLES -- Hurricanes football coach Al Golden said Tuesday he won't be releasing a depth chart until he here's back from the NCAA on the players ruled ineligible and seeking reinstatement.

"I know everybody wants the depth chart, but it would be disingenuous for me and for us to release one here today and to have to adjust it later today or tomorrow morning," said Golden who told WQAM on Monday he expected to hear back fro the NCAA regarding his ineligible players by Wednesday.

"I've reached out to [Maryland coach] Randy [Edsall] personally, told them our situation, assured him what we're looking at as a program. From an ethical, sportsmanship basis, I wanted to make sure I'd reach out to him head coach to head coach and let him know we'll cooperate with him on what we know so we can be on the same page.

"What we don't want to do is release something prematurely and we find out from the NCAA we have to go back and release something else. I don't think that would be genuine. Clearly it's gone from releasing it based on where we were, to now when the NCAA comes back."

Where we are in terms of how many players could be suspended remains to be seen. When asked specifically about the eight players The Miami Herald, Associated Press and other outlets reported as seeking reinstatement, Golden said that number was "inaccurate. And I'm not going to comment on inaccurate reporting. I'm not going to do that. It's irresponsible."

UM could ultimately suspend all 15 student-athletes President Donna Shalala said had eligibility issues and that's likely why Golden tried to shoot down the reports of eight athletes seeking reinstatement. Either way, Golden said Tuesday anybody with eligibility issues isn't taking first team reps and that if they aren't cleared to return by the NCAA or UM by Thursday's deadline, they won't be available to play in the opener at Maryland next Monday night.

"If it's someone alleged, they're really not getting the reps," Golden said. "If they have been rendered ineligible, and we have not released any names from our end, if they've been rendered ineligible by the university, they can only be reinstated by the NCAA. So right now we're not counting on those guys. Is it difficult. Sure it's difficult. I'm not going to lie to you. Is it a distraction? Sure, it can be. But we have to maintain our focus.

"The bulk of the game planning goes in on a Tuesday and Wednesday practice so it's really important they're there for one of those at least."

Here's what else Golden was talking about Tuesday regarding his team:

- Asked about the situation at defensive tackle and junior college transfer Darius Smith, Golden said: "He's done a great job, has matured. He's doing a nice job for us right now. We're excited about Darius. Olsen Pierre has been in there as well. [Jalen] Grimble has played in there a little bit, too. And we also have some vets. Hopefully those guys will continue to make progress at that position."

- Golden on Maryland quarterback Danny O'Brien, the ACC Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2010: "If you get good quarterback play you can get good play from your team. Danny does that. He has a strong arm in addition to being really bright. He can move in the pocket and re-set his feet and keep his eyes downfield. That's really hard to do for a young [player] and he does it naturally. We have the utmost respect for O'Brien."

- Golden on his team's cornerback play: "Well, I think Lee Chambers and Mike Williams have helped us out tremendously there. This is the healthiest Lee has been in his career. He's excited. He's always been a tough player, fast player. Now he has the skill set to compete at corner. I think he'll do so. Mike has been a pleasant surprise at corner. We needed experience because we lost four corners to the NFL; we're pleased with Mike's progress there. [Freshman Thomas] Finnie has done a nice job; JoJo [Nicolas] has done a nice job, has really improved his skill set. [Brandon] McGee is more mature now than he was at any point in the spring. I think we've improved that position. They're going to test us at 8:02 on Monday night and we'll get a better [feel] for where we are."

- On the play of senior Jordan Futch, who has moved to weakside linebacker: "He's an excitable guy. Sometimes Jordan has been his own enemy. If something doesn't go right that carries into second down, third down. What we're seeing from Jordan now is a little more poise, maturity. He's playing WILL but can also play MIKE. I'm excited for Jordan. Right now he's probably playing the most consistent football since I've been around. He's playing really consistently right now."

- On freshman defensive end Anthony Chickillo, who has run with the first team in camp: "The expectations are high for him. He's shown a maturity physically and mentally that he should be able to handle this grind, contribute for us. His work ethic is great, he's got a great motor. Those are the things you have to teach freshmen a lot of times, teach that and not the X's and O's. That's why you don't want to play with a lot of them. Hopefully he has that and now we're focusing on the system part with him. We're excited; it's a great opportunity for Anthony, and that's why he came to Miami."

- On how sixth-year senior Joel Figueroa has moved into the fight for the starting left tackle job: "Right now Fig and [Malcom] Bunche [are battling at left tackle]. With Joel, we have to make sure he's careful with his back, keeps his weight down. We're expecting big things from Fig. Fig is good, brings a sense of maturity. He's been through a bunch of coaches, a great deal of experiences. He has a maturity about him that's hard to duplicate in your locker room. It's Harland [Gunn] at left guard backed up by [Jared] Wheeler. At center it's [Tyler] Horn backed by [Shane] McDermott. Right guard - [Brandon] Linder backed by Feliciano. And the right tackle is Washington and Jermaine Johnson."

- Golden said he's hopeful senior transfer Blake Ayles will be available to play this season. "The others will see action for us in the game. Asante [Cleveland] looks to be healthy, Chase [Ford] is doing a nice job and Clive [Walford] and [John] Calhoun have done a nice job as well. We'll see all four of those tight ends. Anyone who has followed my career knows I like to use tight ends."

- Golden said Jake Wieclaw has won the kicking job for field goals and kickoffs and Dalton Botts has won the punting job. The kickoff job is still up for grabs. "Right now Botts, Wieclaw and [Matt] Goudis is who it is for kickoffs. For me it's about hang time - I don't want line drives to the goal line."

UM's Jacory Harris expects to play, but he's also ready to 'weather the storm'

CORAL GABLES -- With his future eligibility and those of seven teammates now in the hands of the NCAA, University of Miami quarterback Jacory Harris seemed like his usual calm, cool and collected self Saturday when he was asked about the Hurricanes season opener at Maryland Sept. 5.

"Do I expect to play?" Harris said. "Yeah."

Harris, linebacker Sean Spence and six other unnamed football players who allegedly took impermissible gifts from convicted felon and former booster Nevin Shapiro hope to learn soon if that will become a reality. The Miami Herald first reported Thursday that eight players -- including Spence and Harris -- had been deemed ineligible by UM and were in the process of seeking reinstatement from the NCAA, a process UM coach Al Golden said Friday he hopes is expedited.

UM President Donna Shalala said earlier this week that UM was trying to determine the eligibility status of 15 student-athletes. She, nor anyone at UM has specified names or how many were football players. But in a large expose done by Yahoo!, who investigated Shapiro's claims for more than 11 months, 12 are football players (including seven starters on defense) and one is a basketball player, forward DeQuan Jones.

Harris, who ranks second all-time in UM history with 50 touchdown passes and set UM's all-time record with 39 career interceptions, didn't seem to be very worried about any of that Saturday during the team's 30-minute media session with reporters.

"I'm probably the happiest I've ever been -- even with everything that's going on," said Harris, who joked with teammates as they walked by during his interview.

"I just see the brighter side of things. I see a future where there's going to be a lot of success. That's why I'm not even worried about what's going to happen, if anything happens. Just leave it in God's hands. Whatever happens, happens. I just got to deal with it, fight through it.

"Just like these penguins we watched the other day where they weathered a storm for six months and the males had to watch the eggs. Then, when the storms finally subsided, the eggs hatched and they had their goal, which is to have their child. Our goal is to win the national championship. And through it all, we're going to fight, keep on fighting and make it at the end."

Before camp started and Yahoo! dropped its bomb, the biggest story at UM was the impending quarterback battle between Harris and sophomore Stephen Morris. We still don't know who won the starting job and probably won't until UM releases a depth chart on Tuesday. But in light of the situation with Harris, it's likely the NCAA will really decide.

"Every day we went out there with the same mindset -- we both wanted the job," said Morris, who celebrated his 20th birthday Saturday. "We were both going 100 percent and we both knew that every throw we had counted. Everything we did mattered and every decision we made was magnified. It just helped us take our competition to another level."

So who do you think won? "I have no idea man," Morris said.

Harris said he's confident that no matter what happens Morris can lead the Hurricanes.

"Stephen will be ready no matter what," Harris said. " Stephen will be ready the whole year. That's my boy and I'm helping him out with whatever I can.

"He was a freshman last year, just out there having fun, just like I was my freshman year. Now, he's going to have it good because he has years to grow and years under the system where he'll be able to run the offense himself. And as long as he learns it and keeps executing the right way, the way Coach Fisch wants, he can do some tremendous things."

Fisch said both quarterbacks were impressive in fall camp. According to UM, both quarterbacks combined to go 77 of 109 for 954 yards, 11 TDs and one interception in two scrimmages. UM coach Al Golden referred to Harris as "nothing short of excellent" during camp. Harris said Saturday he combined to throw 19 touchdowns and four interceptions between the 20 practices and scrimmages during fall camp.

But it's likely going to be the Stephen Morris show -- at least early on.

"When it comes to Stephen, he's shown great leadership and he can make all the throws and most importantly that he can command the huddle," offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch said.

"Stephen's played Maryland before. Stephen brought the team back to a victory, scoring with 35 seconds left last year. Jacory has played in a ton of big games. So these guys have all played in big time games and they'll be fun to watch -- if the quarterbacks, receivers and offensive line do what they're supposed to do."

UM President Donna Shalala releases video statement, says 15 current athletes have questions over eligibility (transcript included)

CORAL GABLES -- UM President Donna Shalala delivered a video address to students and the community Monday afternoon. We have the complete transcript and a few quick points from her 5-minute commentary on the ongoing NCAA investigation. 

KEY QUICK POINTS FROM SHALALA
> NCAA Investigators made it on campus Aug. 15 and conducted interviews with current student-athletes, coaches and staff.
> Shalala said 15 student-athletes currently have their eligibility under review and the hope is to move quickly, but thoroughly.
> UM retained outside counsel familiar with NCAA investigations.

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT (VIDEO BELOW)

"This past Friday was move-in day for thousands of freshmen at the University of Miami. I joined many new Canes as they lugged overflowing suit cases, moved into the residence halls and hugged their parents good-bye. So much optimism, excitement and pride. I thought of those moments over the weekend as I continued to work with our senior staff in the ongoing NCAA investigation.

"I think of those eager young students ready to embrace the opportunity for growing and learning at our university. That is what the University of Miami is about. The young men and women who come here to achieve their dreams. And there are thousands more on our campuses, hundreds of thousands of graduates, who define Miami not nearly as a place, but as an idea.

"The past eight days have been difficult for many members of our community. As I said Wednesday, I'm saddened and disappointed by the allegations leveled against some current and former members of the university community. However, I'm heartened by the kind of displays of support in recent days, phone calls, texts messages, emails and letters from so many of you.

"When our values are called into question as they have been this past week, we have only one option -- do what is right and have the confidence in tomorrow. We will not let others define us.

"The allegations leveled against current and former Miami student-athletes and coaches are serious, and we are treating them with the priority and urgency they warrant. I know there are many unanswered questions about the investigation, about the process and consequences. With NCAA investigators on campus over the past week and with so many unknowns, there's just not much we can say beyond our written official statements.

"The NCAA has instructed us not to comment on specific details of the investigation. It's frustrating for us, for me to be unable to speak more freely or to answer questions. However, we must protect the integrity of the investigation and have patience as the work proceeds.

"I am able to share with you some important points of information:

"I was notified that the NCAA would be on campus on Aug. 15 to investigate potential violations. I insisted on complete and honest cooperation by every member of the Miami athletic department including administrators, coaches, staff and student athletes.

"We retained outside counsel -- outside counsel which specializes in NCAA cases to assist the university in all aspects of the investigation.

"The NCAA enforcement staff in a joint investigation with the university conducted several campus interviews last week and we expect the investigation to continue.

"The Miami Athletic Compliance staff in a joint effort with the NCAA is now beginning the process of reviewing the eligibility of 15 current student-athletes. With the season fast approaching, I know our coaches, players and fans are eager to know the results. The process, however, must be deliberate and thorough to ensure its integrity.

"I'm proud of how our leaders, staff and coaches and student-athletes have handled themselves in the past week. We have been open and cooperative with investigators.

"I should also note the NCAA welcomed our request to conduct a joint investigation and [NCAA] President Mark Emmert commented publicly on Friday that we are being extremely cooperative. Director of Athletics Shawn Eichorst has been remarkable in his leadership of our department through these very difficult days.

"The circumstances have also imposed a great deal on the shoulders of [football] coach Al Golden and [basketball coach] Jim Larranga, all of our coaches. We are fortunate there are no better leaders of young men and women. Their insistence in integrity in their programs will help us move forward.

"I ask all of our friends and supporters to continue to passionately support our student athletes who do the right thing and represent the university so wonderfully to the world. We cannot let the actions of some, define the many as we have so much to be proud of.

"I love the University of Miami. It is my home. My colleagues and I are committed to academic and athletic programs of the highest integrity. Like our new freshmen unpacking in their residence halls who are filled with promise, we will be stronger, we will be better. We will move through the process thoroughly. We will learn where there are lessons to be learned. We will move on with a commitment to the highest levels of professionalism and integrity in everything we do. Thank you."

Board of Trustees Chairman releases letter to community

A letter from University of Miami Board of Trustees Chairman Leonard Abess to the community:

For more than eight decades, our community has embraced the Miami Hurricanes through both celebrations and commiserations. This devotion is not limited to University of Miami students and alumni—the ranks of past and present fans swells to include thousands of adopted ’Canes, many of whom have never even set foot on UM’s Coral Gables campus. This is why it is understandable that recent news of potential NCAA violations committed by current and former University of Miami student-athletes and staff have aroused such strong emotions in our community and the greater “U” family.

Without a doubt these allegations are troubling and demand a thorough and honest evaluation of Hurricane Athletics. President Shalala has taken a strong position, insisting on full cooperation with the ongoing NCAA investigation. The process will be long, and in the ensuing months the Board of Trustees and the university administration will provide both leadership and unwavering support for our great institution, which we all care so deeply about.

While attention has been rightly focused on the allegations this week, during the same time, the University has also welcomed the finest ever incoming freshman class, and campus is in the midst of the wonderful excitement surrounding move-in day and the beginning of the academic year. We must not allow our current crisis in athletics to diminish the excellence and hard work of generations in the UM family.

It is especially important that the alleged misconduct not overshadow our current leadership and institutional values. Moving forward, I ask for your support in helping to ensure that the University of Miami and Hurricane Athletics come out stronger in our continued commitment to excellence in every endeavor.

Rest assured, ultimate responsibility for the conduct of the overall athletics department lies with the UM leadership, which includes President Shalala, the Board of Trustees, and the Athletics Director.

With everyone’s support, the University of Miami will continue to be a community leader and an invaluable resource to all of us.

Sunday's scrimmage will have game-day feel

CORAL GABLES -- After 10 practices in eight days, University of Miami football coach Al Golden said he's going to treat Sunday's scrimmage -- the first of fall camp -- as close to a game-day situation as possible.

Not only will his assistants be up in lifts to simulate game-day operations in stadium booths, players will be wearing game-day uniforms and first and second team players will be getting the bulk of the snaps. About the only thing the scrimmage won't have: punts.

"We're hoping to get 50 plays for the 1's and 2's, another 12-15 for the 3's and 4's," Golden said Saturday morning before the first of two practices.

"We'd like to get everybody on film, give everybody an opportunity to compete. We'll have some of the 2's run with the 1's; we'll have some of the 3's run with the 2's -- wherever we think is a competitive situation. We'll put the ball in all kinds of different situations so we get everything on tape -- short yardage, goal line, backed up. There will be two-minute period, that type of thing."

Golden, who earlier this week said he wouldn't name a starting quarterback until after the team's second scrimmage on Aug. 22, said Sunday's practice game will count more toward winning starting jobs across the board than regular practices.

"Not that they should have anxiety, but it should feel like a test," Golden said. "We're trying to get them to perform, to free up and trust their technique and trust what they've learned and go out there and perform and execute. It should feel different when they prepare tonight. It should feel different when they come over in the morning. We put uniforms on them just to make sure they know it is different."

There will even be a crowd in attendance -- recruits and commitments, who along with family members will be special guests for the scrimmage. Golden said some coaches might not want to open scrimmages to outsiders, "but we want them to see who we are, how we coach, how our team reacts, all those things."

"It will be about as close as you can get to actually being here as a student-athlete," Golden said. "Because it's very real. It's not like we're over there talking to them every minute of the day. We're out there coaching, running the scrimmage and they're watching. They'll have a chance to meet some players, have a meal with the guys, get around our deans and professors and be around our student-athletes, which will be good."

> Golden said tight ends Chase Ford and Blake Ayles are the only players he expects to be held out of Sunday's scrimmage because of injury.

> Golden said freshman defensive end Anthony Chickillo, who was wearing a non-contact yellow jersey Saturday, should be okay to play in Sunday's scrimmage. Cornerback Brandon McGee, who has won a yellow jersey for two straight days, is likely questionable.

> Receiver LaRon Byrd, who was wearing a yellow jersey Friday, practiced normally Saturday.

MORE NEWS AND NOTES

> Golden said the thing that's been most impressive to him about this training camp is that the entire playbook has been installed on both offense and defense after just eight days.

"We had an eight-day aggressive install," Golden said. "You can't do that with a team that didn't prepare or study independently over the summer. We have most of it in, are actually scaling back for the scrimmage and then will go back and try to refine some things next week. It will be a limited package; we don't want a lot of mental errors, a lot of moving parts. We want them to go out and see who is improved."

> Although he won't say Dalton Botts has won the starting job at punter yet, it's clear the redshirt sophomore has distanced himself from the competition. Botts has been wearing a black jersey (worn by starters and leaders) since midweek. 

"I'm hoping someone will come up and really challenge him in the next 10 days," Golden said.

As for the kickoffs and placement kicks, Golden said, those "are too close to call right now."

> Golden hasn't allowed any freshmen to talk with reporters since camp opened, but that could change soon.

"It's not really that I'm not allowing them to talk. I'm trying to let them get in," Golden said. "This is a grind. Literally the last day they had summer school they started camp. I'm sure we'll sit down and give [media] access before we get going here. But this first week there was too much. Every minute they had they're either with a position coach or trying to learn the playbook."

Golden said he likes his freshmen class, "and all but one or two will be playing for us in some capacity. They're all in the mix."

> Running backs coach Terry Richardson doesn't have to worry about who his No. 1 and No. 2 options are. Lamar Miller and Mike James have clearly cemented themselves in those roles.

But the No. 3 job, which became open when Storm Johnson transferred to UCF this summer, remains an open competition between sophomore Eduardo Clements and redshirt freshman Darion Hall.

"I think it's going to come down to who is the better special teams guy," Richardson said. "They're both [Clements] and [Hall] getting the same amount of reps. So it'll come down to that."

Had incoming freshman Kevin Grooms not been held up by the NCAA Clearinghouse, one might only assume Grooms could have won the third-string job easily.

"Speed, quickness, playmaking ability," Richardson said when asked about what he likes about Grooms. "Being a young guy and just coming in he would have to grasp the offense. But he returned kicks, just scored so many different ways for his high school team.

"Right now, he's behind, has to get caught up if he comes in [this fall]. The longer it goes, he's behind and has to get up to speed."

> Offensive lineman Harland Gunn, defensive tackle Marcus Forston, quarterback Jacory Harris, cornerback Lee Chambers and linebacker Ramon Buchanan all served as player-coaches Saturday.

Spring Game Observations

After getting to spend a few wonderful weeks at home with my wife and our first child, I got the chance to escape the house -- and diaper duty -- for a few hours Saturday to catch the Canes Spring Game at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.

Here are a few thoughts and observations (FYI, Saturday's game will be broadcast on CSS at 5 p.m. Sunday in case you weren't there):

> No Canes assistant has a tougher job ahead of them this summer than offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch. I hate to start with the stinky stuff, but it was painfully obvious Saturday that Jacory Harris and Stephen Morris still have a long way to go. Now it's true that the Canes were short on receivers (LaRon Byrd, Aldarius Johnson, Asante Cleveland, Travis Benjamin weren't out there). But with a vanilla offense (Al Golden said there were just seven pass plays used) and an inexperienced secondary, Harris and Morris shouldn't have looked that bad. Both threw two interceptions each (Morris' pick to Sean Spence, which was returned for a TD, was horrendous). But I was more troubled by the poor choices they made with the football, holding onto it for too long at times and just not finding open receivers. Fisch not only has to find a way to get Morris and Harris to protect the football better, but also see the entire field and check down to their running backs and tight ends more often (he kept screaming for that throughout the game). Unless Harris and Morris get it right, 2011 could still end up looking and feeling a lot like last year -- regardless of how much UM improves in other spots.

> Lamar Miller appears ready to hit another gear. Remember when the Canes had Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee and Frank Gore? Lamar Miller, Mike James and Storm Johnson could end up being just as potent a trifecta. All three continued to impress Saturday even though it was Miller who was Saturday's star with three touchdowns and 166 yards on just 10 carries. The question moving forward becomes how Fisch utilizes all three and splits carries and touches. Last season, Miller carried the ball more than 11 times only twice (he had 22 carries for 125 yards and a touchdown versus Maryland and 15 carries for 163 yards and one touchdown versus Virginia Tech). James hit double digits in carries three times (no more than 11). And Storm carried it only nine times all season (for 119 yards, most on a 71-yard TD run versus USF). Personally, I'd make Storm and Miller the primary ball carriers (both are more explosive than James) and use James (13 catches in '10) as the primary pass catcher out of the backfield and the specialist in short yardage situations. And, I would make sure to get the ball into the trios hands one way or the other 75 to 80 percent of the time on offense.

> Moving JoJo Nicolas to cornerback was smart. At first I kind of balked at the idea of seeing Nicolas, a rather average safety, move to cornerback. But Al Golden and his staff obviously saw something most of us hadn't yet in the 6-1, 200-pound senior from Homestead. Nicolas made a couple nice plays in coverage Saturday including batting away a perfectly thrown pass by Harris to Tommy Streeter. Now, I'm not saying Nicolas is going to be able to come in and provide what Brandon Harris did last season. But he could prove to be just as effective as say Ryan Hill was. And that's something this young, inexperienced secondary could use. Brandon McGee, Thomas Finnie and walk-on Andrew Swasey (who appears headed for big things with this team one way or the other) all had picks Saturday. The talent is there, but it feels like the secondary still has a long way to go in terms of development.

> It's time for Tommy Streeter and Kendal Thompkins to really contribute. We heard all about the talents of the former Miami Northwestern receivers before they got to UM. Then, we heard about how great they looked in practice. We've seen glimpses here and there in a handful of games. But after three years, isn't time we stopped hearing and started seeing real results from these guys? Despite reportedly making strides all spring, Streeter had a rough afternoon Saturday. He didn't show enough of a fight for the football on a couple balls he could have had including one in the end zone Swasey (who is seven inches shorter than him) took away from him. Thompkins had a team-high seven catches for 81 yards and made a nice grab near the sideline on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Morris. But we've seen Thompkins do this before in games that don't count. It's time he does it when it matters, especially in the slot where the Canes need help.

> Clive Walford looks like he will be able to help out at tight end. UM's best tight end, Asante Cleveland, missed this spring due to injury. But that gave others a chance to shine. Sounds and feels like Walford was the only one who really took advantage. He had four catches for 48 yards Saturday and looked comfortable blocking. USC transfer Blake Ayles and senior Chase Ford were invisible. Walford said afterward he's got about 90 percent of the playbook down and definitely feels like he will contribute this coming season because "I feel comfortable with blocking." That's great news for the Canes who could use two solid options at tight end.

A FEW MORE QUICK HITS...

> Loved the big hits delivered by safety Ray Ray Armstrong Saturday including one in which he knocked the helmet clean off running back Darion Hall. Armstrong appears as though he's ready to turn the corner.

> I'm not as worried about the middle linebacker spot as I thought I was going to be with Colin McCarthy moving on. Kelvin Cain, Jordan Futch and Jimmy Gaines all appear as though they are headed in the right direction. My guess is Futch will probably earn the starting job in the fall with Cain pushing him hard for playing time. 

> Just wanted to give some kudos to Susan Miller Degnan for doing a great job with the blog while I was out. SMD is old school, but she's coming around to enjoying this blogging deal. I think we make a great team. By the way, she needs more Twitter followers. Jump on board @smillerdegnan

-- MANNY

UM vet Tony Hernandez to serve as acting AD

CORAL GABLES -- The University of Miami announced Thursday morning it has appointed Tony Hernandez, who has been at the school for 13 years, as acting Athletic Director as the school searches for a successor to Kirby Hocutt.

Hernandez currently serves as Deputy Athletic Director. Hocutt left the program for the same job at Texas Tech last week after only 2 1/2 years in Coral Gables. UM has begun a national search for a replacement and a successor is expected to be announced by the beginning of the fall.

According to UM, applicants for the position should apply through the University of Miami employment website. To apply for this position visit www.miami.edu/careers and type in keyword 010547.

Hernandez joined the University of Miami Athletic Department in 1998 and has served in various capacities since that time. He began his career in Academic Services as a Graduate Assistant. He was hired full-time in 1999 as a Compliance Coordinator subsequently being promoted to Director of Compliance in 2002, Assistant AD for Compliance in 2004 and Associate AD for Compliance a year later.

In 2005, he also served as the Interim Associate AD for Development and has served as the Interim Associate AD for External Affairs on two separate occasions. During his term as Interim Associate AD for Development, the Hurricane Club exceeded its annual giving budgetary goal by nearly 9%.

Hernandez also serves on various committees or organizations including as President of the National Association of Athletic Compliance (NAAC), NCAA Amateurism Cabinet, Division 1-A Athletic Directors' Compliance Task Force, and the ACC Constitution & By-laws Committee. He has previously also served on various committees including the NCAA Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet and as Chair of the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Waivers Sub-Committee. He is a member of Iron Arrow, the highest honor attainable at the University of Miami, and served a term as president of that organization.

Hernandez earned a Law Degree and a Bachelor's of Business Administration in Finance, both from the University of Miami.

Prior to being named as acting Athletic Director Thursday, he has served as Senior Associate Athletic Director since February, 2007. As Deputy Athletic Director, Hernandez is the Chief Operating Officer for the Department and is responsible for day-to-day operations of many aspects of the Athletic Department. In addition, he directly supervises Compliance, Academic Services, Training Room, Strength and Conditioning, Equipment Room, Video Operations, and Women's Soccer.

> UM's struggling baseball team (4-4) could get a big lift before this weekend's tough series at Florida. According to UM spokesman Brian Harvey, outfielder Chris Pelaez, the team's second-leading hitter from a year ago, has been cleared to return this week and could be in the lineup Friday in Gainesville.

Pelaez, who injured his shoulder in the preseason, took swings on Tuesday for the first time in the batting cage and has made great strides. The Hurricanes will meet with the media at noon Thursday before boarding a bus for Gainesville.

AD Kirby Hocutt leaves for Texas Tech, says decision was tough

Kirby Hocutt has left his post as athletic director at the University of Miami for the same job at Texas Tech.

"I am deeply disappointed that after only two-and-a-half years of a very successful tenure as leader of our athletics programs, Kirby Hocutt has decided to accept the AD position at Texas Tech," UM president Donna Shalala said in a statement.

"We did everything we could to convince him to stay, but in the end it was an intensely personal decision. I thank Kirby for his integrity, leadership, and dedication to the University.”

The move comes less than three months after Hocutt fired Randy Shannon and hired Al Golden to coach the Hurricanes' football team.

Hocutt released a statement through UM at around 6 p.m. Friday evening.

"While I am very excited about the unique and special opportunity that is ahead at Texas Tech it was a very difficult decision to leave the University of Miami," Hocutt said in the statement. "While I am proud of the progress and advancement we have made in Coral Gables, there is never an easy time to leave and the job at the University of Miami was not complete.

"There are great things in the future for Miami Athletics. The leadership, confidence and support I received during my time at the U from President Shalala and the entire Board of Trustees, and especially Paul DiMare was superior. I could not have asked for anything more. Again, I am confident that the foundation has been set to return this proud program back to national prominence.

"While you can never control the timing in which opportunities present themselves there is no question this is the correct decision for me and my family. The opportunity to return home and be near family and friends is one that we are excited about."

Brissett to announce -- probably for UF -- soon

PALM BEACH GARDENS -- Al Golden said last month the thought of not having enough depth at quarterback scared him to death before going to sleep every night.

Barring a surprise, it looks like there will be a few more restless nights for the Hurricanes football coach.

U.S. Army All-American quarterback Jacoby Brissett will announce shortly if he's decided if he looks better in orange and blue or orange and green. UM, once thought to be the favorites in the Brissett sweepstakes, now looks like the underdog to Florida after a long day of rumors and unconfirmed reports on the internet.

The 6-5, 225-pound high school senior is expected to make his announcement at halftime of his basketball game here on Senior Night. The gym is near capacity.

The Hurricanes, who led all Football Bowl Subdivision schools in interceptions thrown last season, have senior Jacory Harris, senior Spencer Whipple and sophomore Stephen Morris on their current roster at quarterback.

As a senior at Dwyer, Brissett completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 2,473 yards, 32 touchdowns and only one interception. He rushed 63 times for 368 yards and seven touchdowns. As a basketball player this season, he is averaging 15.9 points per game for the Panthers (20-2).

Brissett was ranked the third best quarterback in the country by Rivals.com, ninth best by Scout.com and 25th best by ESPN.

The fact he may opt to sign with the Gators is a bit surprising. Florida already signed Oviedo's Jeff Driskel, rated by numerous recruiting services as the number one quarterback in the country. But, the Gators did sign three Dwyer players last season -- tight end Gerald Christian, receiver Robert Clark and safety Matt Elam. Plus, Dwyer coach Jack Daniels is a Florida grad.

"I'm not saying he can't compete and do well at Florida, but Jeff Driskel is going to be the man there," said ESPN recruiting analyst Corey Long, who said Thursday he heard Brissett was headed to Florida.

"The kid had two chances to really play in my opinion -- at Miami or Wisconsin."

Before UM coach Randy Shannon was fired, the Hurricanes had a commitment from Miami Northwestern's Teddy Bridgewater, also considered one of the nation's premier quarterbacks. But Bridgewater de-committed and signed with Louisville in December. The Hurricanes have been looking for a replacement ever since.

Brissett, who remained uncommitted through the recruiting process until Friday, didn't begin getting recruited by UM until Golden took over as coach. He visited UM on the final available recruiting weekend before National Signing Day "and loved it" according to his mother Lisa Brown, who is a huge Hurricanes fan.

"He can make any throw," Daniels said last week. "He can lose people in the pocket. He's just such a winner. I'll never have a quarterback like him."

With or without Brissett, the Hurricanes could still end up with another quarterback. Former 2009 freshman All-American Tom Savage left Rutgers and has expressed interest in Miami. If Savage were to transfer to UM he would have to sit out the 2011 season per NCAA rules.

"He's a kid that can come in and play as game manager, but I don't think the kid is a great quarterback," said Charles Fishbein of Elite Scouting Services. "He's not very mobile and will need a lot of guys around him to make plays. He struggled at Rutgers."

Even with a transfer or another pickup, the Hurricanes will most likely still sign at least two quarterbacks in their 2012 class. Long said he expects national recruiting coordinator Brennan Carroll to use his West Coast connections from his days at USC to land the Hurricanes a top-flight California quarterback.

Dade Christian's Bilal Marshall (6-3, 180) is considered the best 2012 quarterback in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. Marshall, who threw for 1,600 yards and ran for 1,100 yards last season, said Friday he grew up a Hurricanes fan. UM receivers coach George McDonald visited Marshall last week, but UM has yet to offer him according to Dade Christian coach Mike Sonneborn.

"I'm looking for a school that fits my personality, a program that likes to win," said Marshall, who already has scholarship offers from Wake Forest, Duke, Rutgers, Boston College and Kansas among a collection of nearly a dozen.

"But it's not always about what school was your favorite school was growing up. You have to look at the best interest in your future life."

Art Kehoe press conference (audio/transcript)

Here is the audio and transcript from today's press conference with offensive line coach Art Kehoe. 

ART KEHOE PRESS CONFERENCE

Opening statement: "I can't tell you how great it is to be back. It's unbelievable. My wife Diona and Madison and Jake, they’re so jacked up about being back. Coming home, and coming back to Miami, it’s a great thing. I'm just pumped up. My friend told me, a good friend of mine said, `Just tell them that you had a long haggling contract dispute with coach (Al) Golden and we finally agreed to another 27-year contract.' All right? How does that sound?

"This whole deal came through, and I started talking to Coach Golden and we kept it quiet for a while. Miami is a wonderful thing. And he just kept talking about his vision, and he kept talking about his plan for the University of Miami. It didn’t matter whether it was off season, recruiting, the way they practice, the way they go about their business. He got me so pumped up. That’s the whole deal. Coach Golden is a leader and the staff, I kept reading about them, and kept looking them up on the website, is a bunch of terrific guys. They have what it takes and we're going to win. I love Miami, I love the University of Miami and I wanted to come back, but Al Golden's vision, Al Golden’s plan for what we’re going to do here at Miami has got me over the top. And I want to thank Kirby Hocutt and Paul DiMare and Bernie Kosar – the people that picked this guy -- because you’ve got a winner. It all starts at the top, and he has a great plan.

"And I was born and raised in Philadelphia and I saw Temple football. Temple is a great school. But to say it mildly, they’ve struggled in football. And what he accomplished there, is just amazing. You’re going to find out, I think the best way to put it, is to say that the only variable between the University of Miami going back to the top is time. I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but it is going to get done under Al Golden.

"I’m excited. Jed Fisch, and our whole offensive staff, I love these guys. I love what we’re going to do. I love the organization. Before we’ve even completed our recruiting for this year, we’re already, and I just got in so I couldn’t help very much. Coach Golden told me not to screw any of the guys up. Just don’t try to mess up any recruiting. I think it’s great what’s going on in every facet for next year, for recruiting over the long haul. We’ll already on a bunch of projects, the plan he has is great.

"That’s all we talked about. I kept telling Diona – I said, Dee, I gotta get back on board. And I didn’t know really whether I was going to get the job. So I kind of unleashed Hurricane nation. I went out and called every coach I worked for, every coach I coached with, every player I played with, every player that I coached. I called every alumni, board of trustee, every person that was close to me in this whole environment at the University of Miami. And I think he got the message because the next day he called me and said, `Whoa, Art, stop it. It's a blitzkrieg,'

"So we have a good relationship and like I said, I don’t know how else to explain it if you’re not involved with what we’re doing, whether it concerns recruiting, off the field weightlifting, our classroom, the competitive atmosphere we’re going to have. I don’t know what our schedule is for next year, but someone was saying it could be early on a little slice of Virginia Tech and Florida State and Ohio State and Kansas State. And I say let’s get it on baby, because we’ve got to get ready.

"Other than that, I just want to tell you from my heart and soul, to be back in Miami is a wonderful thing. My family, my son is now 6-year-old Jake, and he asked Diona the other day, ‘Mom, could he play basketball and football for the first time. He says, ‘Do they have football and basketball down there in Miami.’ And she said, ‘no jake, they don’t have it.’

"He’s all gunned up, Madison is all gunned up. and the Kehoe family is very, very grateful to a lot of people. I am so grateful to a lot of people I have to talk to. I have to write a lot of letters as soon as I can catch a breath here, gotta make a lot of phone calls. They’re switching me over from my old cell phone to my new cell phone, computer to another computer. Nowadays you get a new job and you’ve got to be ITT involved and I’m way, way behind right now.

"It’s been kind of interesting because I think I had 85 text messages and 69 voicemails and I’m trying to get to them but it’s hard. The Cane Nation came forward for for Art Kehoe and I appreciate it."

Q: Anybody remotely associated with this place knows what this place meant to you for 27 years. Does this place mean as much to you know. Did the five years away wither that feeling at all?

"I always consider myself like a soldier, like a sergeant, a guy that’s in the trenches. But then I always considered myself very lucky to be under the coaches and the players we had. So many good teams and players and coaches. You get spoiled. But it never left me and it will never leave me. It was tough to deal with but coming back – I see Bobby Revilla in the equipment room and Andreu Swasey in the weightroom and Scott in the training room, and you know there's still remnants of what was [left behind]. But Coach Golden has brought in a nice staff, whether it’s operations or the coaches themselves and I know we have good academic support.

"These guys that just.. we were talking about it. I’m playing catch-up; I just got in this week and we have the National Signing Day on Wednesday and a lot of these guys, I’m looking at quick shots of film on them and trying to play catch-up and put it together and make calls so.. if you haven’t met their parents; if you haven’t been with their coaches, you know, you’re a little bit behind. And they’ve done a good job of playing catch-up. And for me, I’m just listening and learning about some of their theories. They have some great ideas on recruiting, too. I just like what’s going on. We’re actively going to seek out, whether it’s having junior days, having walk-on days, it’s things that, Miami being such a good private school and it’s so expensive, you wouldn’t think that would be a good approach for walk-ons, but until you put it in front of them you never know what kind of package can be worked on financially or whether they can handle it themselves.

"And there’s people out there and he was doing this because he was at Temple and he fought like crazy to get it over the top and now you put it at a place like this, and he knows.. you know this guy is fiercely competitive. I read that both him and Mark D’Onofrio were captains of their team at Penn State and they talked about a couple games we played against each other and man, they were great those Penn State games, and just to know what that’s about. I was captain here with jim burt helped me out with this job, and clem barbarino and don bailey helped me out. There are so many people that helped me. you talk about what it meant to me. I don’t know how 27 years playing and coaching and being a graduate assistant, and winning as much as we did, that you could possibly ever get it out of your system. And trust me it never left."

Talk about the process of how this job came about?

“As soon as coach Stoutland – and he’s done a good job. Everybody I’ve talked to around here talks about what a great job Jeff has done acquiring talent and coaching these kids. Everybody, in all areas. Because I’m trying to find out about my O-linemen. Ana gave me like playing cards so I write notes on the back because we’re limited with our meeting time and stuff. I’m getting to meet everybody but anyway, I met him because I heard that coach Stoutland was leaving. We got in touch with each other early and we kept it a secret which is hard to do nowadays and I was glad. I check that Footballscoop and everything. Nowadays with the social networking, it’s hard to keep any secrets.

"The first time I met him, I talked to him on the phone for 45 minutes the first time and I just hung the phone up and I look at Deiona (wife) and I said, ‘Wow. This guy, he’s got it.’ He wanted to grasp the tradition. That’s what his big thing was, ‘Art, man, oh my goodness. Five national titles. You guys played for about 11 of them and you guys had so many good players and so many good coaches come through here.’ He said, I’m so jacked about it. We have to get this and this and this. He just kept talking. I just said, ‘D, I have to get back on board that thing. We got to do whatever it takes.’ And that’s what we did.

"It’s funny. I got this little gash on my face here the night before we met in Greenwood, Miss. Paul Williams was recruiting a kid out there. I’m sorry I’m not allowed to…I’m sorry. Anyway, there was a guy in Greenwood that we were recruiting and he went and met with me there. The night before, I was playing some tag with my son Jake and he picked up like a heavy bottle and threw it at me and the bottle hit my cheek here. So I spent about nine hours in the emergency ward. Then I had to drive about 2 1/2 hours and I had this big band-aid gash on my face. I said, ‘C’mon coach, let’s get in on.’ He looked at me right in the eyes and said, ‘You know, I remember playing against you up in Charlottesville when I was the D-coordinator and he said we had a bunch of good players, guys that went to the NFL and he said my guys told me that you’re O-line got after them. It was by far the most physical line they had.' And I said, well that’s a good thing. And then we started talking. It was relentless.

"We were having lunch and it was just constant talking about Miami. What they’ve done, what they’ve accomplished, what we can do. What’s the plan. How we’re going to get this done. Boom. He has it and he’s going to get it done. I believe this is going to happen. It’s just a matter of time. I don’t even know what’s out there on the practice field. It doesn’t matter. We’ve got a leader and he’s got the goods and we’re going to win. And we have a heckuva staff and we’re going to find a way to win. I know what’s out there is probably Florida tough and ready. The combination of what he’s going to do and what his plan is and the people he has behind him is going to get this done.”

Have you seen Seantrel Henderson yet?

"Yes."

Do you have a sense of how physical this line can be?

“I’ve talked to the strength coaches because they have such a tight relationship. Victor and Andreu and they think the world of this bunch. Coach Golden said when I first met him that the offensive line was the strength of the team. And I said, well that’s good. It’s nice to come into a cupboard. I haven’t met them all individually. We had a little sit-down and I tried to tell them how we’re going to go about our business. I don’t know that they know yet. Not just me, but there’s a new sheriff in town and you better get on board because I know this guy is going to put it down and they better be ready to bite the apple. And if you’re not, you’re going to be left behind. I just believe that and I know that. That’s why I’m here. I’m so pumped up about it. Guys I’m working with, this whole offensive staff is terrific, man. They have great resumes.

"One thing he kept talking about was the continuity of the staff and I said, ‘Look, I’ve read about all these guys on the Internet. I went on a website and I brought them all up and they’re such a talented array of guys. I said the beautiful thing about football is it’s a constant learning environment. I don’t want to think of myself as old because I think I’m young. I might be the oldest guy on this staff but I want to learn from all these guys because they have so much to bring to the table. Jedd’s been around Dom Capers and Billick and Shanahan and, of course, Pete Carroll. And Brennan, man, he’s a young guy he has a wealthy of knowledge and experience and how can you do anything but learn. George McDonald and Terry Richardson, they’re unbelievable. They have unbelievable ties here. They worked for good people all over. It’s a good situation and we’re having a lot of fun already so I can tell we’re going to grind and it’s going to be a lot of hours but we’re going to have fun and we’re going to find a way to win and we’re going to get it across to our kids.”

Did you watch Miami play much over the last few years?

“Every chance I got but it’s hard sometimes to see them. Like those Thursday night games on ESPN. Sometimes you’re at the end of you’re work week and usually you’re working on tip sheets and scouting reports and reminders and stuff. But I couldn’t help it. I had to get a little touch of the ‘Canes.”

How much has the game changed on the o-line since you were here or is everything the same?

“For me, I got really confused. I don’t want to sound like a dummy or anything. In five months I went from Ole Miss to Lambeth University, an NAIA school, and then a guy got sick at Louisiana Tech, Petey Perot, and I went to Lousiana Tech. And then I was in the UFL. Every system is different. It’s like going from French to Italian to Spanish. The verbage is different for formations, for motions, for shifts, for fronts, for blitzes. I would be confused and going, ‘No, that’s that other system.’ Heck, when I went to Lousiana Tech I was already at Lambeth, helping out there line coach for Hugh Freeze. When I got to Louisiana Tech they handed me a picture of all their O-linemen and thank god I had a good graduate assistant that did a great job for me because they’re all sitting right there and they just handed me a playbook and in the middle of two-a-days you got to start coaching them. It’s a great experience. It’s good.

"But that part of it causes you a some confusion getting in different systems. All these guys are from different systems. We’re going to use Jedd’s system I’m sure and coach Golden’s with their mix. I’m anxious to find out. As soon as this recruiting breaks, we’re going to go into deep, hard think tanks and try to get this all resolved. It only matters what you can teach your players. We’re all teachers. So no matter how involved you get with formations and personnel groupings, you want to be able to teach each other the system and learn from each other and incorporate that into your system of teaching. Heck when I got to the UFL with coach Green under Mike Kryzcek that was a tough, West Coast…we didn’t have the resources and we were putting together a nice playbook…you just have to find a way to simplify constantly, condense and reduce and get it across to them so they can play aggressively.

"When we were talking, Jedd and I, I think that might have gotten this thing over the hump when I talked to Jedd. People that helped me were like Rob Chudzinski, who knew Jedd, and Mike McDaniel, whose like a young guru. He was a running backs coach with me. He was with the Houston Texans and the Denver Broncos as a quality control guy. He graduated from Yale and we were in the same system together. Those guys all called Jedd and Jedd had working relationships. Tony Wise, who was my mentor, also had a good working relationship with Jedd. When they called him up, they said…Here’s what I know. I might not know all about football and recruiting or be the best at either one of those, but to me it’s all about trust. And someway in this short time with coach Golden and coach Fisch, we had to develop some trust. And it helps with a guy like Rob Chudzinski and McDaniel and Tony Wise call Jedd. We just hit it off right away. He said, you know Art I have been in some systems too. And I have a lot of knowledge but what I’ve learned as a young coordinator is that throwing it all in their ain’t the way to do it. The way to do it is get your staff working together and put in a concise gameplan in their and eliminate as you go down so you can focus against a bunch of different looks on a few plays rather than a lot of plays. I like the way he’s going to package it with formations and motions. Like tony Wise said, blocking is blocking and tackling is tackling. Some of the drills I learned from him I still use. A lot of the teaching methods I use to.”

Did you say you talked to Jeff Stoutland?

"I have talked to Jeff. He's super busy. Coach Saban is probably a little bit busy. He called me back. I called him and I've known Jeff for a long time and wanted to talk to him about you know. It's going to come down to me working with my own players and developing my own ideas. But I want to have as much input as I can have going into that and learn about these guys. Evidently, from what I'm listening to, he's done a terrific job recruiting and acquiring talent and they're young. They're kind of fun. Vic and Andrew are saying they're awesome to work with in the weight room. And that's a big part of it. We're trying to change the mentality. It's going to be Al Golden's mentality. It's going to be his vision and his plan. All of us have to be on board. Some of the players I know that were here before or that were here, but some that I know through recruiting or whatever, touched base with them during different meals during recruiting I kind of pulled them off to the side and I go 'Hey, get everybody in on this. Don't miss the boat, don't try and rock the boat. Just get on board, understand the schedule, be early, work hard, do all the Cane kingdom was about.' It's about team, competing, whether its the classroom, whether its the weight room, whether its the film room. I want to create that same type of environment that Coach Golden is talking about in my room. That offensive line better know it's all about competition. The depth chart is etched in sand. Just because you earn a job you better keep that job. I can't tell you how happy I am to be here and how excited I am because I know we're going to win. I know it. Let's get there and we'll see it happen."

How valuable is that you have the institutional knowledge of what it's like when you go into Tallahassee? How valuable do you think that part of is going to be to this new staff?

"I think it will be invaluable and I think that's part of the reason he brought me back. Just from the other guys that I played with, that I coached, that came back here and wanted to meet coach Golden, they all feel the same way. This isn't something like Art's got a good relationship with the guy, everything is hunky-dory. This is a lot of people talking to Al Golden and he's bringing the same message over and over. Is it inputed yet? There's no way. It's not there. You're dealing with 17, 18, 19, 20-year old guys. They're gonna have to figure it out. And they will. Because this is a great place. It has a tradition of winning. They know. Micheal Barrow, there's other people here, and the whole athletic department is going to contribute to this. To win, you have to win as a team. To win the recruiting battles, it takes the whole university. To win on the field, it's a lot more than just the guys on that field. It takes everybody in this building. That's the other good thing. The guys coming in here saying 'God, we're geeked. We're at Miami.' We're coming from Temple and we're going to Miami and 'Wow.' He wants to learn and he wants to bring the old back. He's already talked to Melvin Bratton, Alonzo Highsmith and Michael Irvin about coming back and talking to his team. And he understands how this was built. He's definitely a student of the game.

"The first thing he said to me when we sat down. He looked at me. He has those ice blue eyes man you know. I'm going 'Wooh.' He looked me right in the eye and said 'Art, I'm walking down the field and I see you working in your individual period. What am I going to see?' I thought that was a heck of a question. I told him, 'First of all your going to see a prepared bunch of guys. We're in our meeting, we're going to discuss what we're covering that day. We're going to cover it with film. We're going to know every place, the where the why and when on that football field. We're in whatever area we're in. So they're going to be hustling and I"m going to be hustling to that next drill. And they're going to be sweating when they get to team periods. And they're going to be working and we're going to consume ourselves with effort on the field and preparation.' I said, 'That's what you're going to get from me.' I know he expects that out of everybody. We probably got a lot of things to work at here. What I've been hearing, what I've been seeing, what I've been listening to -- I like."

Have u allowed yourself to daydream what will be like going back to FSU this fall after u never thought u’d go back there again?

"I haven’t gotten to that point. I've been thinking about a lot of stuff but -- you know what’s funny? When we were let go in 2005, that night, I never talked to Florida State guys. I’ve seen them in high schools my whole life, Coach Bowden. I respect them immensely. I think we played them 28 times during my tenure and we were 17-11. And they were the most dynamic crazy football games. The heat -- I remember -- it’s crazy, those games are crazy. We could sit here for days if we’re going to talk about Florida State and Miami.

"I remember one of my last games, it was double 90s in the Orange Bowl – we just pulled it out with a wide right, maybe, I’m not sure – and I’m leaving and I see all the equipment guys with a gigantic push cart of hundreds of pounds of ice. We have 15 guys literally on the floor of the training room with IV bags coming out of their neck, everywhere. They’re in total cramp, total exhaustion. I don’t want to compare it to war, but it looks like a battlefield.

"They were coming back with the ice, and they said ‘you think this is bad? Go over there. they’re spread out all around the locker room. Guys haven’t taken their pants and pads off yet and it’s 35 minutes after the game. I’ve already showered.

"I think we could play them on the beach down here in Key Biscayne and get a couple hundred thousand (fans) for the game."

"But I remember the night we were let go, Bobby Bowden and Odell [Hagans] and Coach Amato all called me at my house. They said, ‘Bro, we just want you to know it a'int going to be the same.’ Odell Hagans, everytime we played them on either field, sometime during the warmup he would find me…and he would point at me like, ‘It’s on baby, get ready. Yes, it’ll be beautiful, it’ll be awesome. And they’re recruiting good and that’s another thing about coach Golden. He said, ‘Hey Art, I don’t like guys that are just going to go, ‘Well, he’s going to Florida State or he’s going to Florida.’ I said, ‘You won’t have that problem with me, man. I’m going to fight to the end.’” I can tell these guys are good at that, too. They’re scrambling because they got into it late, but they’re doing fine."

Before you started talking to Al, in the last 5 years or so, did you think this was a real possibility u’d be back at UM or just fantasy?

"Never. I never thought it would happen -- you get to come home. That’s what he said when he called. It’s a funny thing. I live in Taylor, Miss. Which is about six miles from the {Ole Miss] campus. And you’re really like in Mars. I get no bars on my phone. So I’ve been trying to chase jobs, and my office is the Subway at Walmart up in Oxford. And he called me and said, ‘Are you ready to come back to the family?’ And I screamed, I screamed. And I said, ‘Are you serious?’ He said, ‘I’m dead serious.’ And I screamed out my window. It was raining, cold, about 27 degrees. And I’m thinking this is awesome. I told him, I’m going to go home, kiss the kids and my wife and pack up and I’m going to drive. I’ll see tomorrow about 5 o’clock."

You drove?

"Yeah, I wanted to bring my stuff so I wouldn’t have to make a trip back and waste any time. I did it on no sleep, too, which is fun. But it was worth it. I was excited. He made it fun.

"And I can tell already – the first staff meeting, there’s a lot of preparation, a lot of grinding going on, but he makes it fun, too. We’re going to be around each other for 14, 15, 16 hours a day. U’re going to get tired of each other. So we have to have some fun. That’s a big part of it."

A lot of coaches move around every three, four years, you fortunate to been at UM almost three decades. How tough was the instability last five years on you and your family?

"Actually, we’ve been staying. I was the one that was moving. Dee probably liked that actually. We’ve been in Taylor, Miss. And it’s been really tough. I miss them, man. You go away for 5 months or 6 months and u miss a lot of their lives. Right now we’re probably going to have to go another 7 or 8 or 9 months. I’ll try to sneak up there a couple of times. But I’m anxious to get us all back together. It’s a terrific thing to come back to Miami and bring all of our family home."

Do you see similar traits between Golden and some of the great coaches at UM in the past?

"That’s a great question. It’s a weird combination of maybe Howard and Jimmy. I see some of that in there. I see some Butch in there. We were fortunate all of those coaches were really good. But I see maybe Howard and Jimmy in him. Howard always used to tell us about ‘This is the vision. This is where we’re going to be.’ [laughs] and it happened man. And it happened at a place where nothing like that ever happened before. He talked about it all the time in that strong monotone, very deliberate, never get excited, you’re out on the field, you’re sweating and he’s just pounding on you. Then he calls everybody up and he’d start talking about these visions. You start to listen and it just seeps in there. He gets into your head. And Jimmy was a mind-game guy, too. With Howard, it was always about where we’re going to be and how we’re going to get there. And with Jimmy, it was always about what he put on the wall in the weight room – positive mental attitude plus effort equals performance. And he talked about it all the time. He took each section of that and broke it down to little lectures. I could see a lot of that stuff in Al Golden. I’m really really looking forward to working for him and these coaches because I think we have a good bunch."

UM's strength program under new Golden rules

Strength and conditioning coach Andreu Swasey has seen a lot of change at the University of Miami over the last 11 years. The Hurricanes have gone from being a national championship-caliber team under Butch Davis and Larry Coker to last season's 7-6 mess under Randy Shannon.

So what has Swasey seen in the early stages from his new boss, Al Golden? A lot of what he saw when he first got back to UM in 2000.

"Right now, I would compare him to Butch -- just on discipline, structure and what he's demanding," Swasey said. "The thing I know coach is stressing, that he wants, is mentally tough guys. He wants to find out when guys are going to crack and when they aren't going to crack."

Golden has asked Swasey to implement some new rules in the team's off-season workouts programs. Among the new additions and changes:

> The addition of "The Fifth Quarter."

"It's something at the end of the workout to target intensity," Swasey said. "It starts at five minutes, but can last longer. The kids love it. It's exciting. It's a post workout. It's high intensity. It could be forearm plate raises. It can be core [training] stuff. We could be outside flipping tires, doing a hammer hit, pushing sled, pulling sleds, doing a lot of different stuff. It's something that will challenge them after they're fatigued and tired. You just did a full workout, but now we're challenging you at the end of the workout."

> The addition of "Creative Excellence." After workouts, Swasey said, players are required to work on individual position drills by themselves or with their teammates. It's a mandatory 20 minutes -- at the very least.

"The first week they were throwing up right and left," Swasey said. "I think it's a great addition. He wants guys working on their craft each day, even if they worked out early and are dead tired. He wants them working on their actual individual position drills. The thing I love he said about it was, 'Painter's paint, singers sing, you're a football player you have to work on that too.' You have to lift weights, but at the end of the day you have to be a better football player. You have to go and work on your art after the weight room."

> Also a new Golden rule according to Swasey: Breakfast is mandatory.

Before Golden, Swasey said, there was no monitoring of what players ate before coming to him. And some, he said, would skip breakfast. "They have to come check in or we check on them to make sure they ate," Swasey said. "The good thing about that is they are getting 1200 to 1500 calories prior to starting. Some kids wouldn't eat until lunch before."

> Swasey said he loves the fact Golden has pushed the start of spring practice back to March 5th. Under Shannon, the team would start spring practice in mid-February. Swasey said adding a few more weeks in the weight room "will definitely help guys get bigger and stronger."

> Another new addition Swasey likes -- what players do in the weight room will actually count toward where they start out on the depth chart in spring ball.

"He told guys `You can start, can come out of spring ball a starter depending on how you rank in the weight room, your work ethic," Swasey said. "We want tough guys, guys that will fight, guys doing everything they're supposed to do, which makes you a champion."

Swasey said he feels blessed to still be with the program. When Shannon was fired, he wasn't sure if Golden would keep him on the staff. Swasey and Micheal Barrow are the only remaining holdovers from Shannon's staff.

"I think when I got back from the bowl game [is when I found out I was going to stay]," Swasey said. "He told me to write down somethings so we can get ready for spring, some ideas. He gave me some pointers on what he wanted to target and focus on. When I heard that, I was overly excited about it.

"But the bottomline is that we were 7-6. It is what it is. Whatever happened, can't happen anymore. Whatever's going on, we have to get better. I look at everything as a whole. No matter how we got to those six losses, we came up with them. The approach coach Golden has -- and that's what I love about him -- is that whatever we did last year wasn't good enough. That's a great approach. Right now, that's the approach we're pushing and have in the weight room."

Swasey said the team, which began lifting four days a week with him (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) for an hour and a half a week ago, will not do any strength tests until a week or two before the start of spring ball. But Golden has already been handed stat sheets with players weights, strength and speed numbers -- and he's expecting improvements.

"Right now we don't have a choice but to be better than 7-6," Swasey said. "I do believe we will be. One [reason] is because of Coach Golden's plan of attack and how he's doing it. Just the cohesiveness he's building. Two, I think he has a hell of a staff. We just have to keep working. Time will tell. But we're definitely ready to be a much better football team. We have to be a lot better than 7-6."

A COUPLE OTHER QUICK NUGGETS...

> Defensive end Olsen Pierre became the second early enrollee Friday. He will start classes Monday. Pierre (6-4, 240) was a three-star recruiting according to ESPN out of Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy. 

> UM had its first baseball practice of the spring Friday. I'll have some more news and notes from coach Jim Morris and several of his players. The Canes are ranked 18th in two preseason polls and were picked to finish third in the ACC Coastal Division.

Fisch wants fresh start for QBs, cut down INTs

University of Miami offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch went on Joe Rose's radio show this morning on WQAM. Here is a transcript of most of their conversation:

> Fisch started by addressing the initial ESPN reports the Seahawks may have been interested in bringing him back as offensive coordinator: "No I wasn't close to going back. It was one of those deals the last couple weeks were obviously hectic and crazy. The reason I took the job at The U is because I wanted to come to The U. It wasn't about other options or other offers I was going to have in the National Football League whether to stay with Seattle in a coordinator role or with a couple other teams. It was an opportunity to come down here, to go with coach Golden.

"I think it just happened to be more of a set of circumstances that the logical maybe progression was to ask me to stay or not to stay or whether to have that conversation. But really, as soon as I met with, as I soon as spoke with Coach Golden, as soon as met with Coach Carroll a week prior to our playoff game against Chicago I was totally 100 percent committed to coming to The U and that never wavered."

> Fisch said the fact he didn't meet Golden before he was offered the job -- and spoke to him only a week prior -- isn't as strange as it sounds. Fisch said he hadn't met Pete Carroll before landing in Seattle to take the quarterbacks coaching job a year ago.

"With our profession in coaching, at least in the circumstances I've been in, sometimes you don't have time," Fisch said. "We were in the middle of a season We were in a playoff run. I sensed that not many teams expected us. We were 6-9 going into our last game of the season. So I think coach Golden felt pretty good about talking to me and flying me in to interview me and then we beat St. Louis to win the first game and then we're beating the world champions. So, I think he probably felt pretty good at that point -- that he'd be able to fly in after that game and then when we won that game he had to start moving a little quicker in terms of having to fill his staff. So he called me that Sunday and we had a long conversation. Throughout the week we were able to talk in the morning and then in the evening each day to make sure we were philosophically on the same page.

"I know he probably did a lot of research, talking to a lot of head coaches that I've worked with and players that I've coached. As well as I did my research, talking to a bunch of people that have crossed his path. And we thought it was a great marriage. And that's what it needs to be when it comes to this profession and the role I have for him."

> Fisch said he spent a couple days researching Golden before taking the job.

"The first thing I found out was he's extremely organized, extremely detailed and one of the top coaches in the nation," Fisch said. "And I heard that from three or four coaches that I respect at the highest level. They felt that what he did at Temple -- and I know what he did at Temple. I'm from New Jersey and I know the non-rich tradition of Temple football -- and from 1979 to until Al Golden got there they did not have a winning season and when he was able to get there and go 9-4 and 8-4 in back-to-back seasons, I knew there was something special with Al Golden and the staff he put together at Temple.

"And as I continued to do my research, Matt Hasselbeck, who was on my team, was on a team with Al at Boston College. He spoke extremely highly of him. Along with other guys I spoke with. Everybody felt the same way, organized, detailed, a great football coach, a great communicator and a great person. And he emphasized both family and football. I think those are the two most important things."

> Fisch said the key to his offense at UM will be getting the ball in his playmakers hands. The role of the quarterback, he says, is to be a point guard.

"They have to be the Magic Johnson, the John Stockton, a guy that distributes the football as well as anybody that we can ever hope for and he has to distribute it to the best playmakers he can possibly distribute it to," Fisch said.

> So how does he feel about the Canes' two current point guards, who along with two other backups helped the Hurricanes lead the country in interceptions? Fisch said he wants to give them each a clean slate

"I saw we threw 27 interceptions this past season and obviously that's not a number we're looking for," Fisch said. "We'd obviously like to cut that in half at the most. Sometimes, interceptions are a fluke. I know Tom Brady threw 325 passes without a pick. But I saw nine that could have been. Sometimes you wonder what happens if guys catch balls instead of dropping them. The other thing is we have to do a great job explaining whether its Jacory [Harris], Stephen [Morris] or whoever plays quarterback at The U that they have to know where everybody is on the field. There's no need to force a ball. First of all, punting is fine. Second of all, checking the ball down to our backs is a huge advantage for us. I would guess that our running backs against most linebackers in the nation, I'll take our matchup. So we have to encourage our guys to say it's not just about throw it to this and just throw it to that guy. We have to understand how to go through a progression and most importantly we have to know how to check the football down. And be smart. We understand winning and losing games comes from turnover ratio."

> Fisch, who has been out recruiting and speaking to some of UM's top quarterback targets, said when the dead period starts on Monday he will begin breaking down film to see where and how he can help Harris and Morris.

"I think the first thing for Jacory is we're at a clean slate right now," Fisch said. "I don't have any history with Jacory. As a matter of fact, the games I’ve seen Jacory play were really in 2009 and he had an outstanding year the games that I saw. I know he won a bunch of games without even throwing an interception. He had some real early success. That's kind of the last time I've seen him play.

"What he needs to know is I have all the confidence in him -- as well as Stephen. Because I don't know any better right now. I'm not going to stare at a sheet of paper and see what a statistic told me or a report told me about a guy. I want to see it in person. And what he has to understand -- and what they both do -- we're going to coach swagger, confidence, intelligence, knowledge of the game and passion. We're going to evaluate them on on all of it. And if he has what we’re looking for at the quarterback position, Jacory can have a great year, and Stephen the same way. They both have an opportunity to do something special. What I can't wait for is to be a part of that with them, to help them along, not hold anything back and not hold anything against them for what they’ve done in the past. And really start fresh and start new."

Kiper likes Hankerson, says Bailey has slipped

Mel Kiper, ESPN’s NFL Draft guru, spoke to reporters this morning via conference call. We got in a few questions about where several draft-eligible Canes stand in his mind:

> At the moment, Kiper feels cornerback Brandon Harris will be the only first round pick. He has him going to the Ravens with the 26th overall pick. “That’s a need area for the Ravens," Kiper said. "I think if Harris doesn’t go there, I think [he’ll be drafted] late in the first round. There’s a couple of other teams that certainly could look at cornerback – Chicago being one and Pittsburgh another."

> After Harris, Kiper has defensive lineman Allen Bailey going next. Bailey, who has received a lot of praise at the Senior Bowl this week for his 'Adonis body', has also been ripped this week by a few pundits. Kiper thinks Bailey will be a second round pick.

"You look at him as a 3-4 end, a 4-3 defensive tackle that I think he would fit the bill," Kiper said. "I think the ball location this year was a little lacking. There were times where it looked like he didn't have that awareness, getting in the backfield and making the play some other defensive ends had. Maybe, he felt that wasn't a position that could maximize his ability, that he feels comfortable at that spot when he was kicked out. I think inside maybe he'll feel comfortable as a 3-4 end. I think he can hold stout against the run and hold double teams. I think he's strong enough to do that. I just think his stock dropped from where it was. I thought he would be a first round pick potentially, now he's more of a second."

> If anybody has really shined or improved their stock, its receiver Leonard Hankerson. Kiper believes Hankerson is the best senior receiver in this draft class.

"Hankerson I've liked all year," Kiper said. "I've never put him in the first round. I've never had him in my Top 25. But as a senior receiver I thought he was the best out there. With his size, he runs good routes, I like the pacing of his routes. I think he's a little underrated in terms of the quickness out of his cuts. His hands are very good. He'd have a drop or two, which was very uncharacteristic -- it was more of a concentration issue, not a hands issue. He's not going to be a vertical stretch guy on a regular basis. But he runs well enough. I think he could come in and be a good complimentary good number two guy and be worthy of being a second or third round pick."

> Kiper on a few other Canes:

“In terms of the other players from Miami, offensive tackle Orlando Franklin has some versatility that he provides. I don’t think he played to the level of his talent in games that I saw. He’s going to have to define where he fits best into an NFL blocking scheme. He could be in that early Day 3 area, maybe late Day 2.

“For linebacker Colin McCarthy, probably Day 3 for him which isn’t bad. Day 3 starts with the fourth round.

“I think cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke Day 3 as well. [Kicker Matt] Bosher free agent.

“You also have [running back] Graig Cooper who needs another year to come completely back from that [knee] injury. He came on a little late the year. He was [projected as] a second-round pick before the injury. You might be able to get him on Day 3. Remember James Starks was a guy was a guy that had an injury and fell to the sixth round and has a heck of a finish to the season for the Packers. I think Cooper could be in the fifth, sixth, seventh round and be a nice pickup for somebody once he gets back to where he was a few years ago.”

Kehoe's return 'makes everything feel right again at UM'

Art Kehoe, who won five national championships as a UM assistant coach, was finally named the Hurricanes offensive line coach Monday -- about a week after rumors began to surface he might have a chance to return home.

Kehoe, 52, spent the past two seasons as the offensive line coach for the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League. He played two seasons for UM as a junior-college transfer and served as an assistant UM coach for 25 years before he was fired Jan. 2, 2006, by former coach Larry Coker.

New coach Al Golden interviewed Kehoe last Thursday in Mississippi. Kehoe accepted the job Sunday and the announcement was formally made late Monday afternoon. 

"Everybody who has ever been coached by that guy has a pretty significant and everlasting bond with Coach Kehoe," said former Hurricane offensive lineman KC Jones, who is now a financial advisor who lives in West Palm Beach.

"He was a big reason I came to the University of Miami. His attitude and his passion is unmatched by any player or individual I've been around. You can't help but increase your tempo, your level of excitement just being around the guy. He's a guy that comes over and changes a program, the outlook, the excitement level of anybody involved."

Jones said he'll never forget what Kehoe told him when he was being recruited by UM, Oklahoma, Rice and Duke.

"I was pretty wide-eyed when I got to the University of Miami on my recruiting trip," said Jones, who from Midland, Texas. "I remember him asking me what other schools were recruiting me and when I listed the schools, he said, 'That's great. That sounds great. You can go to those other schools. But just know we're going to end up kicking your ass.

"The attitude he has is what the University of Miami is all about. He embodied that spirit. Bringing Coach Kehoe back makes everything feel right at the University of Miami again."

Former Cane Hurlie Brown joins UM staff

Former Hurricanes defensive back Hurlie Brown, who played on two national championship teams in 1989 and 1991, was hired Thursday as a special assistant at the University of Miami. 

Brown coached the secondary at FIU from from 2001 through the 2006 season and spent the last few years at Louisiana-Lafayette coaching defensive backs there.

Brown replaces Tim "Ice" Harris Sr., the father of former Hurricanes cornerback Brandon Harris, who spent three years as a special assistant to former coach Randy Shannon. Harris Sr. left the program earlier this week according to UM and will likely be named the head coach at Miami Booker T. Washington High as early as next Monday.

Harris helped coordinate the football team's community relations projects and assisted in other day-to-day operations of the football program when he was at UM. He won state championships in football and track at Booker T. in and was named USA Today's Coach of the Year in 2007. He sent three players -- including his son -- to UM in 2008.

After his son declared he would enter the draft earlier this month, Harris Sr. said he would remain at UM but was looking to get back into coaching.

> In other news, Miami Central cornerback Thomas Finnie was accepted into UM on Thursday morning and is set to begin taking classes according to UM's sports information office. Finnie is the first of three possible early entrants to begin taking classes in the spring semester.

> Spoke with former longtime UM assistant Don Soldinger who is crossing his fingers for Art Kehoe to land the Canes' vacant offensive line job. As our Susan Miller Degnan is reporting, Kehoe is meeting with Golden today for the first time. 

"I think Art could really help 'em," Soldinger said. "He's been there for everything. He's a Miami guy. Always has been. It doesn't make sense what happened with both of us. We just dedicated ourselves to winning games at Miami."

Meet UM offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch

New University of Miami offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch spoke with reporters Friday afternoon. Here is what he had to say:

Opening statement: "I want to say how excited I am about joining The U. While it's been a crazy time here in Seattle preparing for the second round of the playoffs, the opportunity to join the U football program, coach [Al] Golden, is really exciting. I can't wait to be down there, but hopefully it won't come for a few more weeks as we're hoping to continue on our Super Bowl quest. It's a great moment for me, my family. My wife can't wait to get down there as well as my two kids."

Why did you decide to make the move to college now?
"That's a great question. The first reason is I realized how much I missed the game of college football, the pageantry that college football brings, the youth, excitement, energy of the players you have the opportunity to coach. The second reason was I wasn't planning on going back to college football this year. It wasn't something I was looking into at all. I was thrilled to death to be in the job I have, but when a program like the University of Miami calls and you have that opportunity, it was a dream come true. I grew up in northern New Jersey, my brother went to law school at the University of Miami. I couldn't believe it, was so thrilled to take it."

When will you be able to start recruiting?
"Depending how we move forward in Seattle. Assuming we win on Sunday [in Chicago], then I will continue in my role as the quarterbacks coach of the Seahawks and the program will recruit knowing that I will be there when the season ends. I hope the athletes Miami is recruiting, there will be some visibility because then we will be in the NFC Championship Game and from there the Super Bowl. Recruiting would be going on without me making the direct hit, hopefully the indirect hit of being part of a championship program [would be beneficial]."

Are you allowed to recruit while you are still coaching the Seahawks?
"From what I understand about the compliance, until I take the NCAA recruiting exam, which is administered at the university, there would be no contact with potential student-athletes."

Can you at least evaluate the QB's Miami is currently recruiting, watch film of them to figure out who you want?
"That will have to wait. Brennan Carroll who is the national recruiting coordinator has been evaluating some top-notch quarterbacks. He's looking at them and coach Golden is looking at them, George McDonald, the wide receivers coach, is looking at them. They know what direction we're going in on offense. What I appreciate most about coach Golden is, `You take care of your business, winning this week and beating the Chicago Bears, and whatever happens after that we'll revisit it.' Right now we're about winning, taking care of the Seahawks business."

Can you talk about your offensive philosophy?
"I know a lot of people use the term pro style offense. We'll be multiple and balanced. That's the key to a pro style offense. We'll use personnel groupings to our advantage. We're going to try to find our best matchups whether that be through the air, on the ground, getting the ball to our running backs in space, more of a downhill running attack, taking one-on-one matchups with our wide receivers. We're going to evaluate all of that. We'll be under center and shotgun, and we're going to attack. The one thing I really believe in is taking advantage of the defense with your personnel and being able to make explosive plays when the opportunity presents itself. If you take care of the football and make explosive plays you'll win a lot of football games."

What did you learn in your time as offensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota (2009)?
"You can never underestimate the value of experience. It was a phenomenal learning curve for me, both the good and bad. What you learn is what the players can handle, the 20 hour rule versus an NFL work week, how it really feels, what you can ask your players to do, really do a better job of evaluating your own talent. I think the key thing in college football vs. pro football - you better really know what you have. You better know what you can ask your guys to do. The thing about coming to the U is we have the ability and opportunity to have the best players in the country. To be able to figure out what they do best, put them in position to do that, will give us our best chance."

Having coached at the pro level, what do you think can you bring to a college team?
"I believe a lot. Pro football -- it's football all the time, and you're around the best of the best in terms of the athletes you're coaching and you get a great feel of what can be done and can't be done, what's too much and what's not too much. When you're around the pro athletes scheme is so important, the amount of time you can study film, get ideas, learn from different coaches in what people are doing to attack defenses. It's really good. To be able to take that experience and the resources you have in the NFL in terms of offensive line coaches, quarterback coaches, wide receiver coaches, coordinators - talking to those guys and asking those guy questions you build such great relationships that they never die. What I'm looking forward to is coming in and taking the experiences of what we did in the NFL, and we did a lot of good things in the nine years I coached in the NFL, and the things we did at Minnesota - we did some good things there - and put those together and put [forth] the best possible plan for the University of Miami to put the U offense back on top, which is where it belongs."

What is the history of your relationship with Al Golden?
"It's a very short history. It goes about five days. I never met coach Golden prior to our phone conversations. I will tell you I can't be more impressed. Obviously it's not an easy decision to make when you're in the middle of a playoff run with a very young team and a first-year head coach. The reason I left is two-fold: one, Al Golden, two the tradition at the U. The times I spoke to coach golden on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, every time that we talked prior to the offer and the acceptance of the position has been great conversation. We're on the same page not only philosophically but schematically. We bring a similar passion and energy to coaching. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work for him."

So you've never met coach Golden?
"No."

So how did the connection form between you and coach Golden?
"I never specifically asked him that question. I don't know the answer. The relationship, we'll build that over time. The relationship will thrive; I can tell that from the conversations we've had.

When did he first make contact with you?
"He made contact with me on Sunday evening, spoke with coach [Pete] Carroll and then he spoke with me. It was more of a brief introduction at first, talked about my history, the people I've coached, coached with, the philosophy I have. We moved forward from there."

Can you talk about working with Mike Shanahan, coach [Pete] Carroll and Brian Billick, coaches like that?
"Those coaches have won three national championships, have competed in five national championships, and they are coaches that have won three Super Bowls - it's about as good as it gets in that regard. Obviously each guy brings something else to the table. Each guy has a special quality. But all of them universally have the No. 1 quality of being great competitors. The No. 1 thing I've taken from those guys is the motivation to compete every time. I hope I can take all of their characteristics and mold them into the coach that I'll continue to be."

UM's quarterbacks have thrown a lot of interceptions the last couple of years. How do you work with quarterbacks to make better decisions?
"Interceptions are the craziest things. You watch Tom Brady, it's in the 330 range of throwing without an interceptions. You can watch ones tipped, dropped interceptions. Sometimes it just works out that way. Other times it works out that they weren't clear on the read. Sometimes it's experience in the offense. What we need to do is make sure with the quarterback that the first thing you teach them is where everybody is on the field. Until they realize where their receivers are they stick the ball in tight places when they don't need to. The other thing is you have to teach quarterbacks to take care of the football - punting is okay, it's okay to throw it away. When you don't, sometimes momentum swings. We have to teach our quarterbacks to be extremely disciplined. They have to have a great work ethic so they understand what we're asking them to do."

You never played football, even at the high school level. How unlikely is it for you to be where you are now at age 34?
"There's a lot of circumstances that go around a lot of things. The one thing I know is when you work extremely hard, if you give it everything you have usually good things happen. One thing I chose to do growing up is I was going to be a football coach and a football coach at the highest level. That opportunity presented itself every time I turned around."

Your offense struggled at Minnesota (2009). What went wrong?
"They were in their third year [under the same head coach], had run spread, had no experience with the quarterback under center, from an I formation. I tried to go and put in an offense thinking they had more experience in that type of system than they actually did. I might have been quick to assume they were able to get it right away. We just have to always continue to evaluate, how to get better and make sure that at Miami if there's something that I'm going to make sure I keep a close eye on, it's what our players can handle mentally and physically."

How familiar are you with the guys you're coaching with and will you have any input on the offensive line coach hiring?
"I know George McDonald, spent three weeks prior to him departing for Cleveland - he was at Minnesota when they hired me. I think highly of him. In terms of Brennan [Carroll]] - Brennan and I met a couple of times, have always had great conversations. I'm looking forward to meeting with everyone on the staff. Coach Golden and I have been speaking about the line coach and we'll continue to have that communication. Obviously it's a critical hire for the program, for me to make sure we're on the same page with)the philosophy of running the football and pass protection."

Al Golden's press conference transcript

Here is the audio and transcript from Al Golden's press conference Friday. It's 44 minutes long and covers a lot of recruiting, his Sun Bowl thoughts and much, much more: 

AL GOLDEN PRESS CONFERENCE (44 MINUTES)

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Opening statement: "Thank you for coming out today. We really appreciate it. And obviously we appreciate your coverage of Miami football. It’s been a crazy three weeks for us, clearly with the  dead periods, the bowl game, shortened contact week this week and then obviously going into another dead period. We’ve been able to get a lot accomplished in a short period of time. I’m excited about our new staff additions. I’m excited about the staff members that have stayed on to continue with us – Micheal Barrow and Jeff Stoutland.

"We’re moving forward and I hope to have the whole staff completed by Tuesday morning at the latest – which, of course, we’re going into another dead period Sunday. We’ll be in the office all next week. We’ll use that time to finish this recruiting class and then also evaluate the next class. With that, that would just give you a quick overview of where we’re at as a football program and then I’ll open it up to the many questions you have forthcoming."

How difficult has recruiting been in the sense, negative recruiting about Miami, how difficult to both sell and battle back from what people are saying?
"I don’t know what they’re saying but I can tell you what we’re selling -- an incredible product. We’re selling the team with the most national championships in the last 30 years, the most first-round picks in the last 18 years, the No. 1 university in the state of Florida, a top-50 university in the country; an intimate setting which most power Division I programs don’t have in a 15,000-person campus. We are very much blessed to have kind of an insulated campus, if you will, a beautiful, picturesque campus but yet have access to the world right outside our doors; have access to a world-class city. There’s no shortage in what we have to sell here. What we have to get back to is communicating and building trust in our relationships with the high school community and our peers in all the high schools in South Florida, and as I said the night I was hired, supplement that with not only some of our roots up in the Northeast but also with Brennan [Carroll] and Jethro [Franklin] in both Texas and California; and we’ll do that. But our primary recruiting base is going to be here.

"In terms of what people are saying about us, they’re always going to say -- that’s recruiting. We choose to be a staff that doesn’t negative recruit. And that should be a show of strength, a sign of strength, a sign that you really believe in your product and you believe in what you’re going to do with obviously the opportunity that we have here in Miami."

How tough is it to get back the trust? Can you do it instantly? Does it take a while?
"I think, No. 1, your reputation with the student-athletes precedes you. So no matter where you’ve been you have a resume. And your resume with the student-athletes is by far the most important thing for both parents and coaches. And we’ve hired a staff that believes in developing relationships with the student athletes, with treating them fairly, with communicating with them on a daily basis and that’s what we built  a program on. That’s what we’re obviously going to build this program [on], and that’s how we’re going to change the culture here."

"I feel I’m fortunate to be at Miami at this time, because this is not like taking over some of the programs where there’s a transition where it’s two or three or four wins or five wins. This is a program that obviously won seven games but really had a chance to win two others in south florida and Virginia, so we could be, obviously, with the right kids in the right places, moving forward in this recruiting class and getting the team on all the same page. This doesn’t need to take a couple years to get this thing going. We want to get working on this on Jan. 18th."

What were your impressions of the Sun bowl? Did you leave there thinking there was a lot of work to do?
"Here’s how I left there: I left here thinking that the things we need to do are fixable.  We need to be a smarter, tougher, more disciplined and better conditioned team, and I didn’t see that. I didn’t see a team that executed with a high football IQ. I see a lot of  talent. I see kids with want-to. I saw a team that didn’t quit to be quite honest with you. had a goal-line stand and then finished the game, which means there’s a lot of pride in there and we’ve got to get it out.

"I discussed at the site that I’m not going to apologize for how we played, but at the same time I do want everybody to know that transitions are very difficult. And certainly that was a difficult transition because it was one of Miami’s own and just because of the circumstances of which I took over and Jeff was the interim head coach. So there were a lot of things going on.  But if you have those kinds of penalties in the game – especially the personal fouls – and you turn the ball over, you don’t have a chance to win.We’re going to create value in that game by not burying it in 2010, but rather by showing it to our players as a kind of a paradigm if you will of what we need to do and what needs to be fixed, because talent alone is not going to get it done.

"But there is talent here, so from that standpoint I’m excited. But we’ve got to be a far more disciplined team, we’ve got to be a better conditioned team and we’ve got to get back to our roots here a little bit, which means we’ve got to get hungry. To be quite honest with you, we’ve got to get back to being hungry, and I think that’s what we’re doing right now in the recruiting trail.

"And again, this is my assessment: we’ve kind of become a clam in the recruiting trail, which means we open up and let all the food rush in. We’re going to go back to being an eagle. We’re going to go back to being hunters, and knowing that we have a good product and knowing that we have a tremendous legacy, and knowing that we have the most players in the NFL and knowing we have something that no one else, including anybody in this state, can sell And that is a program that has the opportunity to win a national title in football, produce NFL players and have both a campus and world-class city at its disposal, which is very unique. And it’s obviously something that kids are looking to do in this day. In this wired age, kids are looking to be connected. We have no shortage of positive responses out there I can tell you right now.

"What has been a little bit difficult, and it’s more of a psychological factor I believe, is that the kids that were committed and then decommitted and then looked – those kids are really struggling with the fact that they committed to a former staff and they can’t get by that. But all the kids that are either a commitment at Michigan or a Stanford kid or a kid that’s not committed or even some of the juniors that we’re getting responses from, the brand is strong, and we’re excited about that. You can understand how it’s like you see your prom date five years after the prom and you think it’s going to be the way it is. It’s never going to be that way again. Some of those kids, it was in their mind that it was going to be a certain way, and it’s changed. And if they could ever get by that, that there was a staff change and really defend their decision to be part of this university and be part of this alumni and be part of this community, they would come here. But that’s part of the negative recruiting that some of you alluded to. People keep saying you committed to this coach or that coach. Well, it’s over, it’s 2010, so we’ll get by it."

As far as BCS schools, you have a coach at FSU in second year and same thing at USF, does that present any sort of opportunities?
"Sure it does. I don’t think there’s any question it does. But just understand one thing. They can’t survive without South Florida. Those schools that you mentioned, I’m not going to mention them but they can’t survive without South Florida. We’re very fortunate where we’re located and the type of football that is played down here. We’re not going to get them all. There are probably going to be 100 kids from down here alone. So we’ve got to make sure we get the right15 to 20 kids every year that match our core values, that understand what this tradition is all about, that want to get an education. That’s the one thing that amazes me. As you go around the country, most people don’t understand how good Randy and his staff and the commitment they made, and Kirby and his staff and the commitment that they’ve made from an academic standpoint – a 100-percent graduation rate a year ago, No. 7 overall in the APR, so there are a lot of things in terms of a foundation that are in place that we can build upon and we will do that."

Do you have a plan for the weight room?
"I’ve evaluated that and I’m sticking with the current staff. I really feel good about Coach Swasey and what he has down there right now. Obviously he has been here for a long time and we’re excited about him. [Associate SID] Chris [Freet] had made me aware that there were some rumblings about changes down there and everything. And like everything else in this organization, I evaluated and I will continue to evaluate but I’m very excited about the staff that is down there and the commitment they have toward student-athletes. I’m also excited about the interaction that I see between the student-athletes and them, and that shows me something. And again our approach is going to be different. Coach Swasey gets his marching orders from the head coach. Our approach is going to be different. And as I said multiple times, we’re going to get back to butch davis, Jimmy Johnson, the off season is not going to be badminton."

You said it's been a whirlwind the past three weeks with recruiting, but how have you dealt with team issues here? Guys leaving early for the NFL and possible transfers?
"You’ve got to do it all at once. Our team is going to be back the following weekend. We’ll have a team meeting prior to the start of school, and I’ll have a chance to sit down with every one of them. I’ve spoken to many of them. Many of them have come in after the bowl game to sit down with me, which was great. Many others have phoned. Even some parents Ive been able to stay in touch with. It’s been a little awkward in terms of not being able to just sit down and have a week where I can meet every player on the team and give him the time I want to, but we’ll do that. We’ve made a commitment for a long time of being a staff that communicates and makes sure that every kid has no gray area in their life and that they know where they stand. I do that three times a year with every player no matter how long I’ve been coaching. I sit down with every player three times a year. We’ll continue to make that commitment. It has been a challenge. I’m not going to say it hasn’t."

Can you talk about Brandon Harris' decision to leave early?
"Brandon Harris irrespective of what anybody in here thinks of his decision, you cannot fault somebody that makes a man decision, that doesn’t have to makie a decision because he did something illegal with an agent or anything like that. You’re talking about a guy who sat down with his family, got the information, made a decision, prayed on it, woke up the next day and came and saw me. That should give you an idea what kind of person he is. Brandon has a chance to just be an internship shy. He has agreed to stay here and finish his coursework and work out and get ready for the NFL, which I think is a great idea, and he just has an internship left. He’s a fine young man. We’re going to miss him, but he’ll always be part of our family. I tell them all, you go to The U or to college to get an education and to get a job. Congratulations you got a job."

There were rumors about Sean Spence and Marcus Forston possibly transferring or leaving early. Can you address those concerns?
"I don’t deal in the rumor business and I mean that respectfully. I’ve talked to Marcus, and Sean has talked to Coach D’Onofrio. If that’s something they choose to do, we’ll certainly evaluate it and make sure they get the information they need. We’re not going to prvent anybody from exploring that or making that decision."

How many scholarships do you expect to have -- 15?
"I think it’s going to be a little more. I don’t have a definitive number. We’re working thru that. Brandon puts that number up one more. There’s going ot be probably more than that when it’s all said and done. Honestly, it’s not as cut and dry as you think.We haven’t had kids coming in saying they want to transfer. I want to make sure we put that to bed. We have a lot of kids right now in this program that are excited about the direction, the energy and the organization moving forward."

Ryan Hill made a comment after the Sun Bowl about the players here being little boys, says u’ve got to weed out certain guys. How do you feel about that comment?
"I have a lot of respect for Ryan Hill and I don’t like to comment on something I wasn’t a part of. That would be tough for me to comment on. I will say this to you: I’ll challenge anybody that’s either an outgoing senior or senior or an upperclassman to make sure we handle that in house first. So if you're not prepared to go up in front of your peers and talk about that – and he may have, so that’s why I’m answer ing it the way I’m answering it. Certainly Ryan is one of our better players. He may have been a leader – I only saw three practices and then the game. But if that is an issue, I’m going to get to the bottom of it. Certainly, there’s going to be a price to pay in terms of wearing that U and putting on that uniform again moving forward. There has to be a greater commitment on the part of everybody and as coaches we have to lead by example."

Did you try to convince [defensive coordinator Mark] D’Onofrio to come here or leave it up to him solely to turn down Temple?
"When it comes our families and business, we really draw the line there. We talked briefly about the temple job and gave him the information he would need to make the decision. And that’s it. I gave him a hug and said ‘I’m going. This is a great opportunity for me and my family.’ And I said, ‘Mark, you know I would love to have you down there, but if u

want to be a head coach here I understand that and that’s not going to change our relationship. A little bit surprised [he came to MIA] but honored. And I understand it. Last night I got home at 3:30 and I was in here at 6:30 with a meeting. We all feel like if u’re going to be that passionate and work that hard, then we want to be at a school that feels the same way. And for all of you people to come in here and ask me questions about recruiting, that gives me a good idea that I’m in the right place, that the expectations are high. You want to be around a place that the expectations and challenge is to win championships. I think that’s what Mark saw. He saw that if he could take his intellect, his scheme, recruit the kids in south Florida and cultivate the kids that are here, I think he believes he can have one of the best defenses in the country."

You wanted former players to get more involved. Have they? And how do you see former players being involved move forward?
"First of all, it’s been overwhelming already, the number of former players who have reached out or dropped by. But really what we need them to do – we’re going to have an alumni function this spring – is to come back and fill up these rooms and be a part of our family. Some of them we would love to have them talk to our current players to make sure they understand…it’s such a microwave generation where everything is instant and they see ray lewis, ed reed or andre Johnson on a little soundbite or 20 second clip, but they don’t really see the work ethic those guys have and had when they were here, how much Ed Reed studies film. I’m a football fan and a coach so I’ve talked to many peers who have coached here and have been around those guys. Some of their workouts are legendary. Michael Irvin’s workouts are legendary. People want to choose to focus on ‘The playmaker’ and all that. That guy worked hard to be the kind of player he was. We have to get back to that. So I want to make sure the former players talk to our current players and that there’s a connection. I would love to have them come out to practice so our players understand the tempo we need to get. It’s been great. Just to see guys like Tony Fitzpatrick, who I watched growing up. He came up and said coach we’re behind you and support you. Or Dan Sileo. Any of these guys that have reached out to support the program. It feels good and there’s a sense of family there."

Who is your recruiting coordinator now that Aubrey Hill is gone?
"During that first two weeks, Mark [D'Onofrio] was spearheading it because I was doing so many other things organizationally from a staffing standpoint and human resources. Mark was spearheading that even when Aubrey was here. But Terry Richardson will be our Florida recruiting coordinator and Brennan Carroll will be our national recruiting coordinator. So we’ll have two. We’re looking to focus all of our energy here in South Florida. If we go out of state, it’s going to be for the best of the best and Brennan had done that in a similar capacity at SC. Now we’re fortunate to have him here."

[UM national recruiting coordinator] Brennan Carroll talked about this yesterday. How do you feel about recruiting kids who’re already committed elsewhere?
"I’m not real excited about doing that, to be honest with u. I don’t want to be sitting here a year from now having to do that. But there’s obviously a shakeup in some programs. There’s probably one or two kids on the Maryland or Pitt lists that we’re looking at, there’s more on the Michigan list and a couple of more even on the Stanford list – we don’t know how that’s going to shake out. Many of them, if not all of them, have agreed to take visits. And there are a lot of kids around the country still that are taking visits. It’s been incredible. We have 45 visits scheduled this month. The last couple of years, I don’t even think they got out of the 30s in terms of total visits. So there’s been a great response. We’ve got to make sure we get the right ones. We’ve got to get to know them as people. I’ve been fortunate to have been thru this a couple of times, going to BC after that scandal, going to Virginia after George Welsh was replaced by Al Groh, taking over Temple. I understand that sometimes the bloggers and the fans and the websites, they worry about every single guy that goes somewhere else. I’ve learned A. to not pay attention to any of them and B. most importantly, make sure the ones you get can play for you. Don’t worry about the herd effect of just recruiting guys because they have an offer from an SEC team or one of the big three in the state of Florida. It’s far more important to get somebody who matches your values, that wants to get an education, wants to be a part of your program, comes from a good family and can help you in your system. From that standpoint, we have a lot of poise right now. We’re not trying to make anybody’s Rivals list or anything like that. We want to make sure the 15, 16, 17 guys we get can play for us and that we don’t have any mistakes when we wake up on Aug. 8 and we’re doing training camp."

When will you start spring practice?
“What I’m going to try to do is, does anybody know when spring break is? March 10? I was going to try to get in three practices that week and then break for spring break then go basically on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday schedule. And then the spring game is going to be that Saturday which I think is around (April) 15, 16. Right in there. A little bit later. Moving forward I want to make sure both coordinators and staff have a chance to get their systems in place including special teams. And I also want to insure that we have a real good 7-, 8-week period here where the guys can lift, get stronger and then go out there and get back to doing circuits and everything the way the Miami Hurricanes used to do.”

How much is doing that going to help you know what you have?
“It’s important that the first time we install a play is not the first day of spring ball. We’ll start to get a couple of hours a week prior to that we have a chance to meet with the kids and develop them from a football standpoint. So we want to make sure we do that. I’m sure there will be some position changes, I’m sure there will be some depth changes as we implement our systems. My philosophy has always been that the person who prepares and practices the hardest starts the game and the person that plays the best, finishes the game. It’s always been that way. The first phase of building a team is the offseason program and that starts Jan. 19. From Jan. 19 to the first day of spring ball, they will be evaluated on a daily basis. Whoever performs the best in that off season program is going to be a starter going into the spring. It’s up to them to hold onto that job. That’s going to create a lot of competition right there and that’s the only standard that we have – you’lll be measured on performance as we all are.”

Are you solid on that spring game date?
“Chris says absolutely not. I think we’re going to have everything in place by next week in terms of our staff.  I’ll actually be in here for the next 6 or 7 days which will feel weird, but I’ll be able to get you all those dates."

How difficult or easy has it been to attract assistant coaches?
“It’s easy. It’s easy. Wonderful place to live, climate, the tradition and the same thing we’re feeling now as we go on the road,  you get a sense as a coach that you want to be a part of that as well. Again, from that standpoint, it’s not hard. We’ve got some work to do. But that’s why we’re here.  I wouldn’t have had this opportunity if everything was perfect. There’s things we can fix, there’s things that are fixable and that’s what drives me every day. The fact that I’m at a place that you don’t have to worry about anything else. You don’t have to worry any jobs, any anything on the outside other than chasing a championship. Which is great. That’s what drives coaches to pick up the phone and say, ‘Coach, whatever position you have available, I want to be a part of it.”

How much has the recent moves among NFL staffs impacted your search?
“It has. It has.”

Have their been names that might have seemed unlikely that now seem more likely because they’re available?
“Correct. Is that tentative enough. There’s guys under contract, there’s guys in the playoffs, there’s all kinds of guys and really, we’re just trying to do it the right way. We’re going to do everything here the right way and we’re not going to cut corners and putting rumors out there and all those other things."

Do you envision the offensive coordinator being the quarterbacks coach?
“I do. That’s safe to say.”

You talked about the former commits struggling with a new staff and not being able to get that. Do you commit to a staff or a program?
"Here’s what I do believe; I believe that one of the biggest mistakes student-athleties make in the recruiting process is identifying with only one of the three aspects that you’ll encounter, that you’re seeking in a college football program – either football, academic or social. If only one of those is present, you’re in a lot of trouble. For instance, if you’re a great studen-athlete and you pick a school solely because of a stadium or because they promised you a jersey number or they promised you to start right away, the first time you turn your knee and you go back to the dorm and you don’t have anything in common with that place and then you go to class and you really don’t like the school as you wlak arouund the facility or campus, that’s when things can go south quickly.That’s when you see all those stories of guys leaving campuses, returning home and those types of things. You better evaluate academically, socially and athletically because you’re only in that stadium seven times a year and the other 359 days you better like where you’re at, you better like the school that you’re going to. The way I’m answering your question is, that people are important, I really believe that, but I’m a conduit to something that’s bigger than all of us. That’s the University of Miami and our football program. We just believe we have a way of communicating and recruiting from a culture and organization standpoint that’s going to help us get back to that.”

Are you recruiting more junior college players because of getting into the recruiting process late?
“A couple. Most particularly on defense because of the depth issues there. I would say that we’re looking at more than we normally would.”

How do you see the quarterback situation?
“I see it as 2011 and both young men I’ve already spoken with and both know it’s performance based now. I’m not saying it wasn’t prior to that. All I’m saying is that everyday they’re going to compete. I think Jacory maybe arguably his best season was the year he was competing with Marve. I think he knows now there’s going to be a competition but that’s not just isolated to the quarterback position. There’s going to be competition at every position. Those jerseys and those numbers are owned by the University of Miami and the former players that built this program and they better understand when they put on those numbers, what that represents and they better be ready to compete every day. Certainly that applies to the quarterback position as well. I’m excited to have two guys who are experienced at the quarterback position. I’m scared to depth as I go to sleep every night that we just don’t have the depth at cornerback that you need to get through a season. That’s something obviously that we’re trying to fix in the recruiting process right now.”

Is Spencer Whipple not coming back?
“No, I have every intention that Spencer Whipple is coming back. I was focusing on the two that played in the game.  Certainly Spencer is coming back as far as I know and we’re looking to add two quarterbacks in this recruiting cycle.”

Has your family settled in South Florida yet?
“You mean I’m a father and a husband too? We hope that everybody will be down here by Friday the 14th which is wonderful that they’ll be able to start school here, that we’ll have everybody together. They’re excited.. My wife’s excited. Hopefully from that standpoint, I don’t have to worry about that aspect of it. I’ll worry about these 105 here but not my three at home.”

Have there been any surprises you've encountered with this job being in South Florida?
“The one thing I can tell you – I know you guys sometimes live in the doom-and-gloom part of it – but you go out in the road now, it’s exciting. I mean kids are excited about the University of Miami football program and the opportunity to come here when it is a transition whether that means you’re part of this class of the next class, you have a chance to be on the ground floor. Obviously, everybody knows what the ceiling is here. The ceiling is the best that you can be. That’s the ceiling here. There’s a lot of kids that are looking at it as an opportunity. I know the negative recruiting and sometimes you guys have to write about the negative things, but the positivity when you go out to those high schools about kids who want to have an opportunity to come in and play during a transition where there usually is a little bit of attrition, where maybe the numbers are down, there’s going to be great opportunities both in this class and the following class to stake your claim to a position that might have been four or five-deep four years ago or four years from now, once we get it back to where we want to get it.”

Is being more of a celebrity something you have to get used to?
"It's a little new. My Burger King stop at midnight last night was a little unique. But again, it speaks to the power of the brand and the power of this university. Really, how respected how the university and the football program is. I want to make one point perfectly clear to everybody. A bad year or a couple years that fell short of our expectations is not going to erase the last 30 years. It's not going to do it and we won't let it do it. And we've made commitment to make sure we get this place back to where it needs to be. Certainly, that's a little unique from that standpoint. I'm living right, so I don't have anything to worry about."

What happened in Burger King?
"Nothing. The guy recognized me and I was flipping fries before you knew it [Laughter]"

Have you had a chance to watch all the games on tape and is that something you plan to do?
"No. We're looking forward to doing that. I don't even know if we'll be able to do it this week to be quite honest. We're really recruiting two classes right now. But we'll be real aggressive in the spring with our junior days and evaluating those young people. We'll have five camp dates that we'll get out to you here. There will be a little different approach to our camp, which obviously we think will be a good feeder for us and a good public service so to speak for the high school kids and youth kids in South Florida. But I probably won't even get to looking at that until February 3rd, 4th in that range."

From a talent standpoint is there a position group that stood out to you during the bowl practices?
"Yes. Offensive line. I think the offensive line looks the way a Miami offensive line should look. Again, I don't think we're satisfied anywhere with our depth.That's a position I think looks good. The running back situation obviously looks good and there are some other positions that look good. But there's not the depth we need on the second and third team and we need to create that with competition. We'll do that with recruiting with how we place the athletes here in the spring moving forward.

Do you have a special teams coordinator already?
"Yes. We're going to announce all this. But I'm going to announce it right now. Micheal Barrow is going to be our special teams coordinator. I'll assist him with that. Micheal has done a great job. He's approached me about it. I know he's excited about it. So, I'll assist in that aspect of the game as well. Cuz that's always been something that's fun for me. I get a chance to touch everybody on the team because everybody is a part of special teams."

You mentioned quarterback, but do you see kicker/punter and specialists as needs in recruiting?
"Can you wait until after my wife moves in to bring all that up? My goodness. I can't speak to specific prospects. But you guys can put it together. We feel like we're going to have a really good punter joining us. We have place kickers on our team right now that are looking to compete. But I'm also looking to add a kicker or a kicker/punter or field goal guy to that mix and really create the competition there to find somebody that is going to help us win some games. It's going to be like every position. Whether you're a walk-on or scholarship player, it's immaterial to me when we go on the practice field. Whoever practices the best is going to start. They'll be competition. So to answer your question, I am looking for a scholarship punter and kicker. We have a commitment from a punter right now. And I'm looking to get a commitment from a kicker."

With the Heat, Dolphins, South Beach, do you have a sense of what football means in South Florida?
"I think you know. When you get this rolling and back to where we need to be, I think the evidence has shown it can be pretty special. Again, you guys sound like the recruiters sometimes from Gainesville or Tallahassee, but I'm going to remind you: ' What did you just say? I can go to a Heat game. I can go to a beach? I can go to South Beach? I can do all that?' Well, so can the student athletes. That's the greatest selling point of this place. We can have a self-contained campus that is on the doorstep of one of the greatest cities in American. And again, that's something we have that's special."

Do you consider the 30-for-30 film (The U) a sales film for recruiting?
"Which part? [Laughter] I think if I slice it up, it will be good. It's like anything else. If they did a documentary on what we were doing in college, too, it wouldn't be pretty all the time either. All you guys that are laughing right now, you know what I'm talking about. The reality of it is, they had a passion for each other. They had an us versus the world mentality. They worked really hard. That's one of the things that's legendary. All the scouts that used to come through here and all the coaches that used to be here said the same thing: it's an incredible practice. And we have to get back to doing that. And they created that. There was a bond there we have to get back that we don't really have. There was a unity there, a cohesion, a commonality that maybe is not present right now that we're going to work on fixing. We'll get back to that. We'll get back to that. Maybe not all of it. We got kids that are graduating now and doing a great job in the community, but there are a lot of those elements we want to get back to."

Recruits have opened up their options, taking visits, high school All-Star games make it tougher as a coach?
"No. We're not one of the teams that's hiding kids out. I think if you recruit at a certain level. I've recruited at all different levels. Virginia. Temple. Penn State. Boston College. I've recruited at all different levels. If you're at one of those next level programs and you're recruiting a kid hoping that somebody doesn't come in and scoop somebody up in the last couple weeks, your worried about that. But for us, really, we just want to make sure we get the right guy. We have great guys visiting. We have national kids visiting. If kids were maybe involved with a Michigan or something like that, or kids that made it at these All-Star games. That's not really a worry for us."

Will Mark D'Onofrio be the associate head coach at UM like he was at Temple?
"I haven't made a decision on the rest of that right now. But certainly, he's capable of doing that. I just want to make sure once this whole thing is finished here we'll be able to release that early next week."

What have you been looking at in terms of the offensive coordinator?
"Just like I've been saying: we want a pro style offense, so I'm looking for a quarterback that fits that. Again, just watching Stanford the other night we want to get back to that, that kind of quarterback here at Miami. Certainly we feel like we have two coming back that can do those type of things. We're looking for a coordinator that believes first and foremost being a tough, physical football team. I think if you get to know me and my philosophy evolves here, I don't believe you can do anything without being tough and disciplined. So, we have to start eliminating the things that cause you to lose before we can start to win -- the penalties, the sacks, the turnovers, those type of things. So, we want to be a physical football team, we want to be a dynamic, shock team, playaction team. And obviously we want a guy that can stand in there with the offensive line we have and throw a three-step in a drop back setting. Obviously, we're asking the quarterback to do a lot but we want to go back to having year after year after year guys that fit the pro system, that want to be pro system quarterbacks and come in here and learn that as an apprentice as they move forward. That was a staple here for decades and we have to get back to that."

What was your reaction to Andrew Luck's decision to stay in school?
"I don't really know. God bless the kid. I think he made the decision for all the right reasons and he and his family and his education. Whatever he wanted to do. Better to see that than when we see a bunch of kids leave early and not go in the first or second round, which is not advisable either. I wish there was a little bit better way to do this. I don't know if the basketball motto isn't a little bit better, which I think if you don't get picked up, you can go back in. I don't know precisely. Maybe you guys know it better. It's tough. A lot of the NFL teams really aren't done with all the evaluations. And we're asking the kids to decide in the middle of January which is a little bit tricky."

What is your feeling [about leaving early for the NFL Draft] -- first or second round?
"Oh yeah. And again, we just had one at Temple that left and we thought he would. He'll start off as a second rounder, Muhammed Wilkerson. He declared I believe. He's a second rounder to start. In the defensive line, you have a chance to move up with a good combine and everything. If your not a first or second rounder, it's not worth coming out."

Meet Brennan Carroll, UM recruiting coordinator

Here is a transcript from Carroll's teleconference Thursday:

Do you see similarities between UM and USC and how do you think you will help Miami get back to where it needs to be?
"I think there's quite a few similarities. One, the great home recruiting bases. South Florida is very similar to Southern California -- great talent, great kids. I also believe both private schools bring huge benefits for recruiting, and for these kids to get a private education. It's almost $55,000 a year. It's the same at USC. It's a really and impressive education, world class, all that stuff. In terms of helping the program get better, hopefully, I'll be able to help in recruiting and coach the tight ends up, get this offense going."

When you look at the roster, what are the biggest areas, immediate needs that need to be met through recruiting in 2011?
"I really haven't gotten a long look at our depth chart. I haven't been able to evaluate our own guys. I know obviously we lost our big receiver, so that's going to be an area of need. We only have two quarterbacks on scholarship. So, obviously, we're going to have to go and get some depth there.

What is your background in recruiting? What did you do at USC?
"I did both. I did California recruiting, recruited Orange County, the city, North Carroll and also went out of state. I recruited Midwest, East Coast, New York, Arkansas, Michigan, a little bit of Florida. I've been kind of everywhere. Wherever the top guys have been, that's where I went."

Have you had a chance to watch any film on this team?
"I really have not. I got into Miami the 1st, flew out right after New Year's Eve. It's been non-stop recruiting. The coaches have done a good job keeping me up to date, kind of what our needs are for recruiting. And I just kind of just gone off that. That's the one thing I wish I could do and I will do next week when we have our dead period, really evaluate our team. I just don't have the time. I can't do it right now. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'll be all over it. I'm really excited to get into that."

On coming into recruiting game late with new staff...
"It's always tough. When you have a new staff, there's always questions, concerns. Most of these guys have been getting recruited for 12 months by other staffs. We've been at it for a week -- a week or two. Obviously, it's difficult. But we're trying to bring a new energy, a new passion to Miami and hopefully some of these guys feel that."

Recruits have been changing minds on coming to UM. Do you ignore it and move on? What do you do?
"I haven't stayed up to date on who is supposed to come in and who is all that right now. Some of these guys were scheduled before we were hired. We just want to get all the guys that want to be Hurricanes. If a kid doesn't want to be a Miami Hurricane, he's not the kid for us, to be recruited. So, we'll find a way to get there."

How do you know Coach Golden and what was the decision making progress to come to UM?
"I knew him just a little bit, through the coaching circles. My decision process was: it was Miami. How could I turn it down? Tight end U. Tight ends coach. I had to come check it out. It wasn't very hard. The only thing I had to really make sure was that it was good for my family and that the kids could make the transition. I talked it over with the wife. She was great about it. We're in a new area now. But you're in Miami."

How do you plan to restore UM tradition at tight end?
"We've got to work with the guys we have here, get those guys coached up, to maximize their potential. And then obviously we're going to go out and recruit, and find some prospects to keep going in the future."

With quarterbacks, you watch the Top 100 guys, most of them are committed somewhere. How tough is it to get on a top quarterback at this point?
"There's a ton of kids. The rankings are great, they're great to look at, especially if at the end you have one of the top classes. But really, there's a lot of great quarterbacks out there that aren't always on everybody's radar. We've identified a couple of them. We still think we can get guys we think are great quarterbacks. It doesn't always have to be who everybody thinks is the best. We just have to get the best for our system, the best fit for what we're trying to do and guys who want to be winners and great leaders, great kids and guys who love Miami."

Miami hasn't signed many JUCO players in the past. Seems like you guys are going after a good number now. What is the benefit of getting a JC player versus a high school kid?
"Well, obviously, the JC guys have played against guys that are older than high school. They've played against 19, 20, 21 year olds, so they've played at a higher level of competition. They've played in college technically. So, if there's a need we're trying to fill -- obviously, Harris, our corner, is going into the league, going to the combine and tear it up there. So, there's a possibility we may have to go get a junior college guy to replace a starter we may lost to that spot. At USC and Miami they have very strict relations on getting JUCO kids in. So, there's a lot of kids we won't even be able to touch in recruiting because of the rules and such. We're trying to work it out, we're trying to find any means we can to make this team better as fast as we can."

The state has become a lot more competitive with UCF, USF on the rise. How tough does it make it to recruit in state?
"I haven't been here long enough to really get into what the kids are feeling about those schools. But I think it really goes back to how much talent there is down there. You can really have different programs and they can all be successful. They can all go to bowl games. If I'm not wrong, four out of five won their bowl games. That just goes to show you how much talent the state has."

What is the biggest lesson you've learned regarding football from your dad?
"Just be a great competitor. Just find a way to compete, whether it be in coaching or recruiting. Just find a way to get better. Usually things will work out as long as you compete."

Getting into recruiting so late, are you guys selling your vision or are you finding your dealing with negative recruiting?
“Our core is just to talk about us. Our motto is, it’s all about the U. That’s what we stand for. You can go down that route of negative recruiting but it just reflects on your overall program. It’s hard to find negative things about Miami University. With a great education, private school, top school in Florida in terms of education, great location Miami, South Beach, Coral Gables all that and we always have a great talent pool to recruit from. So we don’t find anything to talk about because we have all positives to talk about. We don’t have to cover anything up. We’ll let everybody see what we got.”

Do you find that people still use negative recruiting?
“Oh yeah. Sure they do. I think they need to and when they do, it’s a backwards way of respecting us because they know they just can’t talk about their program..."

You guys are going after a lot of players that are committed to other schools?
“That we can’t really consider kids committed to other programs. -- that term holds so little value nowadays anyway. We’re going to recruit everybody. We’re a new staff. Just because somebody says something to somebody  they’re going to do this or go to that school or whatever that doesn’t deter us at all initially, Some of these kids are truly committed and want to go to whatever school they want to go to. That’s just how it’s going to be. We wish them well. It goes back to we want guys that want to be at Miami. That’s what it’s all about. There’s some kids who always wanted to be at Miami and for some reason didn’t get recruited….if we can find those guys who have been to other schools but always wanted to be at the U, we’ll try to find a way to get them here.”

Some local coaches felt that relations with the previous staff had deteriorated. Has that been a focus of your efforts to mend those relationships?
“I can’t really comment too much about the last staff because I don’t know too much about them. The only coaches I’m familiar with are coach Barrow and coach Stoutland, but our goals are always going to be to get to every school in Florida and let every coach know that Miami is the top school in Florida and we’re going to be recruiting their kids, we’re going to do our research, do a very good job at it and involve them in the process and let the coaches know what we’re all about.”

What was so enticing about this job for you?
“The chance to win national championships. When we were at USC, our goal was to win all our games and whatever happens, happens. We can do that here. We have a great recruiting base, with everything the university has to offer, we really don’t have an excuse why we shouldn’t be competing with the top teams in the country real soon. The chance to win, that’s really why we do things. We want to win for our program and win for our kids and get our kids degrees and all that. They’ve done a great job with graduation rates here, they’re through the roof right now which is a testament to the previous staff and the academic facilities. You put all that with a chance to win, play on a huge stage, that’s what I’m all about. That’s what I want to be involved with.”

Can you talk about the parellels of when you father took over USC and taking over this program?
“I agree. I feel coach Golden and coach Carroll got started at the same time in recruiting, it was late and were trying to make a push and make a splash. They felt like they needed a ton of guys and they really had a ton of talent. Coach Carroll inherited Troy Polamalu and Carson Palmer. Just talking to coaches, there’s a ton of talent in this program. There’s a great offensive line, a great defensive line. That’s the core of everything so in terms of recruiting there’s a lot of similarities. They’re both city schools. USC is south of downtown and Miami is a little south of the city and South Beach. That’s one of the things that attracted me to it.”

But the stages of the programs, USC was a sleeping giant waiting to get awoke again and Miami seems to be in the same situation?
“If we get anywhere near what we did at USC, I think we’re doing pretty good. Miami went to a bowl game this past year so they’re doing a little better than USC when that change was made. But we’ll see. Hopefully we can get going right away. USC’s first year, coach’s first year there at USC went 6-5, went to a bowl game. I think we can do better than that, but we’ll see. There’s a lot of work to do and a lot of hours to put in. Hopefully, we’ll get a lot better and there will be a lot of similarities. Hopefully.”

Will you get a chance to see the playoff game this weekend?
“I hope so. Somehow I have to work it out that I’m on a home visit and that family likes to watch the Seahawks. That would be great. I wish those guys all the best. They have a tough task ahead of him.”

What did your dad tell you about taking this job?
“He was fired up. He was excited for me to come down here and get started. We’ve always been talking about if I left USC what could be my value and what could I get done..."

Were you out of football last year?
“I was out of ball and working on some family projects. When the shot came up, everything I was trying to do on the side fell off. I said let’s go do this. This is what I always felt comfortable doing. When you start coaching football, there’s not many opportunities to do something else. When this opportunity came up, I couldn’t even think twice about it.”

For D'onofrio, "it's all about player development"

The South Florida media got to meet and spend a half hour with new UM defensive coordinator Mark D'onofrio Monday. If there is really one thing you can say about D'onofrio it's that he's hungry -- and wants his players to play that way. 

The former Penn State middle linebacker, now 41, had the opportunity to become a head coach at Temple and passed on it to follow his former Nittany Lion co-captain and close friend Al Golden to UM.

Making brash decisions is nothing new for D'onofrio. He had a chance to become the defensive coordinator at Virginia and instead decided to go with Golden to Temple to try and make the nation's 120th ranked defense better. He and Golden started out with only 53 scholarship players in 2006 and eventually made Temple relevant.

His defense his final year improved to 17th nationally in total yardage and 16th in scoring defense -- allowing only 19 points a game. Temple ranked in the Top 25 in 12 defensive categories in 2010 -- including 45th in run defense, much better than UM. Six players from his defenses in 2008 and 2009 who were two star recruits or worse are now in the NFL. He expects to have three more in the league off this last defense.

"It’s all about player development," D'onofrio said Monday. "Whoever we have here we’ll coach and we’ll coach them to be the best they can be. And I’m proud of that, because I think we’ll get our guys to play hard. I think they’ll play disciplined. I think they’ll tackle well. that will be at the core of who we will be. And we’ll put them in the right position to make plays.

"That’s finding the right guys who love the game, who want to learn, who want to work and teaching them the fundamentals. Teaching them how to get off blocks and tackle and learn how to prepare and learn situational football and all those things. I’m confident that now, stepping up and being able to recruit at a higher level will only pay off for us really as we try to go from where, you know, there’s a top-25 defense here and try to move higher."

D'onofrio wasn't in El Paso with Golden when the Hurricanes took a beating of Notre Dame in the Sun Bowl. He was with his parents and two sons up in Jupiter watching the game on TV. But what he saw between commercials turned his stomach as much as it did yours.

"Well, I’ll preface it with I know any transition is hard, and obviously this was a hard transition here," D'onofrio said trying to be nice. "Anytime there are coaches that are going out and players staying on, I think that’s a tough situation. I haven’t been in that one, but I can imagine it being tough. I think the things that stood out to me are really at the core of who we want to be defensively. If you had a pyramid built up of what our goals would be on defense, I think at the very core, it’s going to be that we’re going to play really, really hard. we’re going to finish. We’re going to be physical. We’re going to knock back piles. All 11 guys better be in the frame when we freeze it. that’s where it starts and that has nothing to do with talent. That has nothing to do with talent. We want to play harder than they played the other day.

"I think we want to be disciplined. We can’t have penalties. Obviously a lot of penalties in that game led to touchdowns. Right there we have to eliminate that. and we have to tackle well. we have to tackle better than they tackled in the game. again, those are things that you can talk about. Those can be your philosophy, but if you don’t have a plan to execute those, you’re really not going to be able to get it done. and those are things we work on everyday, those are things we teach, those are things that al makes a big emphasis on as far as penalties go. tackling. We tackle everyday. We tackle every single day. at the end of the day you can’t play defense if you don’t tackle well.

"I think sometimes people get caught up in schemes and all these other things, but at their core they have to be fundamentally sound. So I think that’s where we’re going to start. We’re going to start with that foundation, clean that up with what I saw the other day needs to be cleaned up based on how the season ended and then get into the execution phases of stopping the run and third-down defense and red zone and all those things that we feel we do a good job of teaching."

A FEW MORE TIDBITS

> Being a Penn State grad, you might believe D'onofrio's heart won't be in coaching The U. But he knows the program well and respects it. "Before I was a college football player and before I was a college football coach I was a fan," D'onofrio said. "I know the history here. I know the players. I was just talking with Micheal Barrow and he was talking about a recruit. I said this guy kind of reminds me of Bill Hawkins, No. 54. He looked at me said 'Yeah, Ok.' I don't know how many guys from Penn State know what number Bill Hawkins was, but I'm one of them."

> D'onofrio said he watched four bowl practices and a few UM games on tape to study the Canes defense. He feels he has a good grasp of what's missing and what is needed in terms of personnel. He said the top needs at the moment are linebacker and cornerback.

"It's really not about the players. It's about playing with passion, playing with energy, playing with discipline, tackling well, playing like you love the game, not faking it out there," D'onofrio said. "Showing passion, enthusiasm and that you really love the fact to wear that Miami jersey and be a part of this tradition. Guys need to respect that. And I think at the end of the day, they need to appreciate that and what they have here and respect that."

> D'onofrio said he likes the defensive staff that has been put together. "Paul Williams has been our secondary coach and been with us for five years at Temple and really instrumental in the success we've had there. There's no question he and I are on the same page. We work really well together and have a good feel for one another as far as game planning goes, adjustments and all those kind of things. I'm definitely fired up to have him," he said.

"Jethro Franklin, our defensive line coach, was only with us for one year. We were fortunate enough to get him last year from USC. He got caught in that whole Pete Carroll change and what not and he was available. I got his resume and said 'I'm going to call this guy up. He probably doesn't want to come.' Sure enough he did. I'm going to give this guy a shot. We were getting all kinds of resumes. Here was a guy with eight years of NFL experience, two years at SC, Fresno, played in the NFL, has an unbelievable resume. Gave him a call. He interviewed. Hired him. And now we're glad he's here.

"And obviously Mike has been tremendous. Mike is a year younger than I am. Mike was playing in that '91 game. He was the middle linebacker on the other side. You want to talk about a guy that bleeds UM. He's excited. We're here right now and we're excited to have him. But he's really bright, a football guy, he's passionate, works really, really hard. Does a great job in recruiting. I think we have a great staff -- guys I'm really excited to be working with. Again two of them I worked with. Adding Mike will make it a smooth transition. Plus, he's a UM guy, so that will be great."

> D'onofrio said he hasn't spoken with cornerback Brandon Harris about his future. Harris could opt to leave early and is currently projected as a borderline first round pick. "I tried not to get involved in that," D'onofrio said. "It’s one of those things where I just casually said hello to some of the players while this whole thing was going on. I didn’t think it was fair to the outgoing staff and those guys involved to really be a distraction. Obviously, those guys got home just the day after the game and will be home on break right now. I’ll be catching up with all the defensive guys here over the next week, trying to get in touch with all of them and talk and do all those things.”

> What's his philosophy on blitzing? "I don’t think you could ever blitz as much as the fans and you guys want," D'onofrio said. "Everybody says, ‘Why don’t you blitz? Why don’t you blitz?. A lot of it depends on personnel, first and foremost. You have to first have the guys that can be able to cover. And you have to be able to have the guys who can get them on the ground if something does pop when you’re aggressive, but we mix it up. I mean, we will pressure a bunch. We’ll mix up coverages. We’ve played a lot of zone coverage , we’ve played man coverage, we’ve had the flexibility to get in and out of an odd front. We’ll drop eight at times or we’ll max pressure and we’ll bring seven.

"I think you just have to mix it up and you have to find spots where it’s the right thing to do. But I don’t think you can be blitz happy. I think one of the things we pride ourselves on is that at the end of the day, scoring defense is the no. 1 statistic. At the end of the day. I mean you don’t want to give up points, so however you do that, whether somebody decides they’re going to blitz 70 times a game or maybe it’s, you know, a third of the game. whatever you can do to get the points down at the end of the day and not give up big plays and do those kinds of things is the way you have to play. But obviously, personnel will dictate that."

Golden, UM have talent to build around in '11

Things might be down in Coral Gables as Al Golden takes over the program. But it's not unsalvageable. 

The Miami Hurricanes have holes to fill and quality depth to add through recruiting (linebacker, cornerback, quarterback and receiver). But there is enough talent around at the moment -- assuming we see some better coaching and play calling -- that can have the Canes winning and competing in the ACC relatively soon.

For me, it all starts with the offensive coordinator and a commitment to running the football. If there is one real strength UM is bringing back next season, it is experienced talent on the offensive line and NFL-caliber talent in the backfield. Leading rusher Damien Berry and his tough, bruising running style is heading out the door. But with speedy redshirt freshman Lamar Miller, sophomore Mike James, Storm Johnson and Eduardo Clements expected back along with bulldozers Seantrel Henderson and Brandon Linder up front on the offensive line, the Hurricanes should and can become a team that consistently runs the football to setup the pass.

In Friday's 33-17 loss to Notre Dame, the Hurricanes ran the ball only 24 times for 103 yards. A 27-3 deficit by halftime obviously forced UM to pretty much abandon the run. But this goes well beyond one bowl game. In UM's seven wins this past season, the Canes ran an average of 42 times for nearly 196 yards and a total of 13 touchdowns. In the Canes' six losses, UM ran an average of 33 times for nearly 170 yards and six touchdowns. Nine carries and 26 yards may not seem like a lot. But it is the commitment to running first instead of throwing the ball that is the difference -- especially since the Canes led all FBS schools with 27 interceptions thrown. 

With leading receiver Leonard Hankerson gone and Stephen Morris expected to take over as starting quarterback heading into his sophomore year, it only makes sense for the Hurricanes to take this run-first approach. While the Hurricanes do have some untapped talent at receiver (it's time to see more from LaRon Byrd, Travis Benjamin, Aldarius Johnson, Kendall Thompkins and Tommy Streeter) and a budding young star at tight end in freshman Asante Cleveland, its going to take Morris (82-153, 1,240 yards, 7 TDs, 9 INTs) and his receivers some time to get adjusted to the playbook of UM's new and yet unnamed offensive coordinator. Feeding the ball to Miller, James, Johnson and Clements at least 42 times a game will only make that transition easier and take some pressure off a defense in 2010 that constantly had to keep coming back onto the field after turnovers.

Speaking of the defense, that is really where Golden has to restock the shelves with talent (we'll talk about linebacker shortly) and get a lot more production. Love him or hate him, leading tackler Colin McCarthy is gone and the linebacker spot is in dire need of not only help, but an upgrade in starting talent and depth. Sean Spence, the most consistent playmaker at linebacker for UM the past three years, needs major assistance heading into his senior year to help a UM run defense which ranked 81st nationally and gave up an average of 173 yards a game on the ground and 20 touchdowns on the season.

Who will Spence get that help from? Ramon Buchanan, who started 10 games on the outside, has had his moments (54 tackles, fifth most on the team). But he needs to take his level of play up a notch or two. Freshman backup middle linebacker Kelvin Cain (12 tackles) had a monster game at Duke in his only start of the season. And as of now, he's third leading tackler at linebacker returning for next season. That's scary. Scarier? The depth. All of it is young and unproven. Kevin Nelson, who was redshirted this season, was said to have the most upside of all the young players UM recruited. He and Cain should fight for playing time at middle linebacker. At outside linebacker, with senior-to-be Jordan Futch moving over to tight end (and maybe even fullback), the guys expected to provide depth are freshmen Tyrone Cornelius (a standout on special teams), James Gaines, and junior-to-be C.J. Holton (12 career tackles). 

Aside from better tackling and improving the run defense, the Canes will have to continue to produce sacks (they finished 10th nationally) and tackles for loss (led country with 8.85 per game) without future first round pick Allen Bailey at defensive end. Bailey may not have made as much noise as Hurricanes fans wanted, but he still led the team in sacks for the second year in a row (7) and ranked third in tackles for loss (11).

The good news for UM? Veteran help returns. For starters, we began to see better play from redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Marcus Forston (a 5-star recruit at Miami Northwestern) as the season went on. He had six tackles in the bowl game including three in the backfield for loss and finished second on the team behind Spence in TFLs. Forston and junior defensive tackle Micanor Regis (42 tackles, 8 TFL, 3 sacks) will be among a ground of veteran defensive linemen, which will also feature defensive ends Olivier Vernon (39 tackles, 10.5 TFL, 6 sacks, 4 QBH), a sophomore, junior Marcus Robinson (19 tackles, 5 TFL, 2.5 sacks in 10 games), junior Andrew Smith (12 tackles, 4 TFL, 3 sacks) and senior-to-be Adewale Ojomo (38 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 5 sacks).

The pass defense, which ranked second nationally, are where the bigger question marks lie. Sophomore safeties Ray Ray Armstrong, the team's third leading tackler with 79 tackles and 3 INTs, and Vaughn Telemaque, who finished fourth with 58 tackles and 3 INTs, are the veteran returnees. But it is unknown if junior cornerback Brandon Harris (44 tackles, team-leading 10 pass breakups) will be back. Ryan Hill, who had a stellar senior season despite a few bad moments in the Sun Bowl (51 tackles, 8 PBUs), along with Demarcus Van Dyke are gone, leaving UM potentially without its top three cornerbacks from the 2010 season. Sophomore Brandon McGee (15 tackles, 2 PBU in 10 games), former running back Lee Chambers and a cast of redshirt freshmen and potentially true freshmen are what the Hurricanes will have at cornerback next season should Harris decide to enter the NFL Draft early.  

Special teams? Not only will the Hurricanes likely have new coordinator, but also a new kicker, punter and a need for improvement on kickoff and punt returns as well as kick and punt coverage. After their big day at Ohio State where they returned a kickoff and a punt return for a touchdown, UM's return unit went into hibernation. Take away his 79-yard punt return at Ohio State for a touchdown, junior Travis Benjamin had 22 punt returns for a total of 27 yards the rest of the season. When it came to kickoff returns, UM ranked 102nd nationally with an average return of 19.96 yards on 44 returns. Matt Bosher ranked 16th nationally in punting with an average of 44 yards a kick and he made 13 of 17 his field goal attempts. UM's punt return defense ranked 56th and the kickoff coverage unit ranked 69th. 

For Canes, time to pull the weeds out

ON A SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FLIGHT HEADED HOME TO SOUTH FLORIDA -- After Notre Dame was done taking the Canes to school Friday afternoon at the Sun Bowl, I spent about 20 minutes behind the stadium watching UM close its chapter on the 2010 season.

One by one, as players and assistant coaches trickled out from the locker room, all I saw were somber, defeated and disappointed faces. This unceremonious finish wasn't the way guys like Damien Berry, Leonard Hankerson and Ryan Hill figured their careers would end after Randy Shannon took over four years ago.

Hankerson tried to hide his disappointment. But he couldn't. In the middle of talking about all the great times he had at UM with his "brothers" and his "family" he broke down, covering his face with a towel so we couldn't see him weep. Berry, who led the Hurricanes in rushing this season, started to tear up as he said good-bye to a few equipment workers and friends who came to watch him play. Hill, who along with the rest of UM's secondary had a rough afternoon trying to chase down Michael Floyd, didn't hide the chip on his shoulder. Now that he knew his ride in Coral Gables was over, he cut loose when I asked him if he thought the next coach could do what Shannon couldn't.

"I think [he'll turn it around], but it will definitely take some time. I don't know how much time," Hill said before unleashing a little displeasure. "But I think the first thing he has to do is weed out the guys who he doesn't think will be beneficial to the program. We have a lot of guys that have to do a lot of maturing, that act like little boys. There are points like this in November, late in the season that it hurts you. We have a lot of growing to do in this program."

I couldn't have said it better myself. What Hill said summed up exactly what we failed to see during Shannon's tenure -- real, sound, player development. For all the praise Shannon got for being a great recruiter (I'll touch on that later), disciplinarian and bringing the school's APR scores up, two things he failed miserably at were hiring the right personnel to make his football team better on the field, and being a well-liked, charismatic ambassador of the program. Like it or not, the last two are probably the most important when it comes to winning and being a successful coach -- with recruiting right in there as well.

If there we one constant under Shannon, really, it was coaching instability. In Shannon's four seasons, UM had two offensive coordinators, two recruiting coordinators, two running backs coaches, two receivers coaches, three defensive line coaches and three defensive coordinators. And then you wondered why guys never seemed to take a step forward. It's kind of hard for players to develop when they have start over with a guy who has new ideas constantly. It's even harder when many of those assistants weren't very good to begin with.

Shannon's personality -- as you well know -- wasn't sparkly either. For as much as his players may have loved him and still do, he never really won the fans or the media over, opting instead to be abrasive and at times combative when he really didn't need to be. Instead of letting people see the good side of his program that might bring people closer to liking it -- like the personality of his players (he shut down Twitter and cut off access to interviews), assistants and even how fired up he would get in the locker room (go back and watch those clips from Hurricane Gameday) -- he shut everybody out, closed the door for privacy. All we saw instead was that stern, disinterested look on the sideline from Shannon and a team that went 28-22 under his rule and did nothing but make people angry and frustrated on most Saturdays.

You want to talk about brand? That's not an image of a successful program, one you can sell to boosters, trustees and more importantly -- the people who buy tickets on Saturdays and the top high school recruits who might have been interested in coming to the program.

I said I was going to get into recruiting: Shannon was hardly great at that. To me, he did what was expected. He got many of the top players locally who wanted to come to UM and a few top-notch pieces from other places (Seantrel Henderson, Storm Johnson to name a few). But he still missed the boat on a lot of good players who wanted to come to Miami and didn't fill key needs (look at linebacker and cornerback). Coming out of high school, you didn't hear a lot about guys like Pittsburgh defensive end Jabaal Sheard (Hollywood Hills) and West Virginia safety Robert Sands (Carol City). But you will in April during the NFL Draft. Both were in his backyard for the taking and now both will go on the first day of the draft. There are plenty of other examples -- UCF quarterback Jeffrey Godfrey (Maimi Central) is a big one.

I got the sense toward the end of his tenure, Shannon and his staff got a little complacent when it came to recruiting -- thinking they could go in at the last minute and swoop up local guys they wanted. Sound familiar? Ask local coaches like Miami Central's Telly Lockette, who just led the Rockets to the Class 6A state title with a roster loaded with nearly two dozen D-I recruits, and he'll tell you the Hurricanes didn't begin recruiting a single one of his players until Shannon was fired. Southrdige coach Patrick Burrows, who has two legit defensive backs headed to BCS programs, said he sent his top two players down to UM in his truck nearly every day during spring practice when they were juniors.

"They just kept coming back telling me 'Coach, they're just not interested in us,'" Burrows said two weeks ago.

The point here isn't to bash Shannon as his era comes to an end and his players begin walking out the door. There really is no need to pile on here. The point here is to learn from four years worth of mistakes.

There is no reason a talented player like Sam Shields should go through his career at UM as a mediocre player at best only to go to the NFL and start for the Green Bay Packers (where he's learned the basics of playing the cornerback position with flash cards). There is no reason a player like Leonard Hankerson should have to go work with former Dolphins receiver Mark Duper to learn how to become a better receiver. There is no reason a player like Jacory Harris, in his third year at UM, should still be looking like a freshman in his third bowl game.

I'm not saying players don't deserve some blame themselves for underperforming. But how can a football team continue to make the same mistakes game after game after game? How come the Canes looked progressively worse at the end of each and of Shannon's four seasons? UM ranked 114th in penalties this season, led the nation in interceptions thrown and probably was first in missed tackles (nobody counts those).

If you didn't think so before, I hope you know now that Al Golden has a heck of a job in front of him. Not only does he need to mend and solidify the fence that fell down locally in recruiting, he needs to hire a top-notch staff that is going to start making the players here a lot better and put them in situations to be successful. He needs to bring fans back to Sun Life Stadium and a sense of excitement back to the program.

Do you realize that if the Gators win their bowl game today, the Hurricanes will be the only in-state FBS program that didn't win its bowl game? Do you realize Miami's 7-6 record was tied with FIU for the second-worst among the FBS state schools (FAU finished 4-8)? The Golden Panthers won their bowl game. And right now I'm not sure UM could beat the Golden Panthers. UCF, meanwhile, not only won its bowl game, but is going to finish in the Top 25. The Canes lost to USF. And those Seminoles up at Florida State, they won 10 games in Jimbo Fisher's first season and seem primed to start ruling the state again. Sure, the Gators are down. But they've got a new head coach and Charlie Weis is supposed to be the team's next offensive coordinator.

It's time to start realizing how big a hole the Canes are really in.

It's time to start pulling out those weeds in Coral Gables.

It's time to start moving forward.

Good luck, Coach Golden. You've got a nation full of Canes who are praying you get the job done.

Canes news, notes day before Sun Bowl

EL PASO -- A couple of quick notes from Thursday's press conference with UM interim coach Jeff Stoutland.

> As expected, Jacory Harris will start at quarterback, but freshman Stephen Morris will be available to play. Stoutland said he was waiting to see what happened with Morris' left ankle, which he injured during practice Tuesday. Either way, consider this a big opportunity for Harris. He needs to play well to have any shot of trying to convince Al Golden to give him a chance to start next year. Stoutland said Harris has been "extremely sharp in practice."

Harris played in nine games this season, starting the first eight before a concussion sidelined him for the better part of a month. On the year, he has completed 144-of-263 attempts for 1,756 yards with 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Morris, who played in five games and started Miami’s last four games, completed 60-of-120 attempts this year for 958 yards, five touchdowns and eight interceptions.

> All-American freshman Seantrel Henderson will not start for the Hurricanes at right tackle; redshirt freshman Jermaine Johnson will. Stoutland said Henderson's conditioning is the key factor. Henderson missed a number of practices while he was out with the flu. Henderson will play, however, Stoutland said.

> Sophomore running back Mike James, whose mother died Dec. 20 in a car accident, is supposed to join the team today at 1:15 p.m. local time. Stoutland said James was on his way in on a flight from Chicago. Stoutland said he's assured James he will play because he practiced with the team everyday before they left South Florida.

> Expect to see more of freshman running back Storm Johnson in Friday's game. Stoutland said Johnson has earned more playing time with the way he's practiced. "Everytime you are ready to turn away, he does something to keep your attention," Stoutland said.

Soldinger would love shot to go back to The U

At one point during his coaching tenure at the University of Miami, Don Soldinger had an office full of future NFL running backs fighting to carry the ball in the Hurricanes backfield.

"I got pictures now that if you saw them, you would just shake your head," said Soldinger, who spent 16 years at UM as a linebackers/tight ends coach from 1984 to 1988 and running backs coach/special teams coordinator from 1995 to 2006.

"At one point or another in my office, I had [James] Jackson, EJ [Edgerrin James], [Clinton] Portis, [Jarrett] Payton, [Najeh] Davenport, [Willis] McGahee and Frank [Gore]. I'd love to start another round like that again."

Soldinger, now 66, has spent the last five years since being let go by Larry Coker working as a strength training and speed development coach. He's spent the last two years serving that role at Miami-Dade Community College, training the national championship winning softball team, Steve Hertz's baseball team and most recently the men's and women's basketball teams. He's also traveled the country working special camps and coaching running backs. The bug inside him for coaching at the University of Miami? That remains as strong as ever.

New Canes coach Al Golden hired his fourth new assistant coach Wednesday when it was announced Brennan Carroll, the 31-year old son of former USC coach Pete Carroll would become the team's new tight end coach and national recruiting coordinator. But the offensive coordinator spot along with running backs coach and special teams coordinator remains open. Soldinger? He's interested in the latter.

"I hope does enough research just to talk to me," Soldinger said Saturday at the Citrus Bowl as he watched Miami Central play Orlando Dr. Phillips in the Class 6A state championship game. "Whether he comes up to me or not, I think I can help him. I know so many people in the state, still have a little bit of coaching left. The way it all ended wasn't good. I had a great career and I like to finish it off on the right note.

"[Golden] seems to want to want to have some sort of tie to the old players and tradition whereas I think Randy [Shannon] kind of made a mistake that way, turning a few people off that way. I love Randy because I coached him. But I think he kind of pushed some guys away.

"We'll see what happens. I've kept my hands in football in case something happens. I actually did a clinic for Butch [Davis] recently, went up to North Carolina, met with their staff for a few hours. I did a high school clinic for them. He really doesn't have anything there yet. But this is the first time I thought about leaving Miami. I haven't wanted to because my wife does real good in real estate. But if something came open I'd certaily like to help out."

Soldinger said the talent he sees in UM's backfield now "is probably the best group they've had since I've been gone."

"It's similar to the guys I had sitting in my room just a few years ago," Soldinger said. "[Mike] James, [Storm] Johnson, [Lamar] Miller, the kid from Booker T. Washington [Eduardo Clements] those guys all have it. They just need to be patient, stay positive and not worry about who is the man. All of the guys I had before were like that. They didn't like it back then. But they like it now. They're all making a ton of money."

LIVE! Hurricane Hoops from Sunrise ... Miami (7-2) vs. UCF (9-0) @ BankAtlantic Center, 1 p.m.

George Richards here LIVE! from the BankAtlantic Center in scenic Sunrise.

It's a little chilly in here, but that's what happens sometimes when hockey meets the hardwood.

The Panthers ice is covered up and there's a basketball court. Hopefully some fans will join us. If not, we're here for you.

The first game of this Orange Bowl double-dip features Miami against the upstart UCF Knights. UCF hasn't played too many tough teams, but they did knock off the Gators. The Gator plays Frank Martin's Kansas State squad in the second game.

Anyway, the LIVE! chat is below. Just click on the play button to see the posts. If you have a question or comment, submit it and I'll approve it (as long as it's clean). That process may take a moment or two so be patient.

Let's play two!

 

Four Canes earn All-Freshman honors

Four Hurricanes have been named to the Rivals.com ACC All-Freshman Team -- running back Lamar Miller, tight end Asante Cleveland, offensive lineman Brandon Linder and right tackle Seantrel Henderson, who was also selected as a Sporting News Freshman All-American on offense.

> Henderson (6-8, 330) started the last nine game games of the regular season for UM at right tackle. He was tabbed a third team selection on Phil Steele's All-ACC Team. Henderson helped pave the way for Miami to rank atop the ACC in total offense (422.6 yards per game) and third in rushing offense (190.4 yards per game). Last week, he was named Miami's Newcomer of the Year at the annual UM football awards banquet.

> Miller, a 5-11, 210-pound redshirt freshman out of Miami Killian, finished the regular season second on the team in rushing with 633 yards and a team-leading six touchdowns. Miller has also caught nine catches out of the backfield for 64 yards and returned a kickoff for a touchdown against Ohio State.

> Cleveland (6-5, 245) saw action in seven of the final eight games on the year, picking up a start against North Carolina. Cleveland pulled in seven catches for 95 yards (13.6 per catch) - with his best game coming in a start against the Tar Heels, where he reeled in two passes for 34 yards, and a long of 25, setting up a touchdown on the drive.

> Linder, a 6-6, 300-pound true freshman out of St. Thomas Aquinas, saw action in 10 games for Miami, including five starts - suiting up as a starter in three of the last four contests. Linder combined with Henderson along the front line that paved the way for the `Canes to rank first in the league for total offense. He also helped protect quarterbacks Jacory Harris and Stephen Morris which led to UM ranking second in the league in sacks against. Miami finished the regular season with 19 touchdowns on the ground, adding another 19 through the air.

Golden, Canes pounding recruiting trail

Al Golden didn't officially become cleared to begin recruiting until around 5 or 6 p.m. Tuesday. But since he's been given the green light, UM's new football coach and recruiting coordinator Aubrey Hill have been pounding the recruiting trail.

> Goal No. 1: Pursue the players who plan to enroll in January and have been strongly considering the Canes -- whether they're uncommitted or have de-comitted.
> Goal No. 2: Phone as many coaches in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties as possible and let them know the Canes are eager to build friendships and get some players.

Golden started the day by visiting with Vero Beach offensive linemen Marcus Jackson at his high school, then followed him home to meet with his mother after school. How did it go?

"He said it went well -- and that's pretty much all he said," said Pete LeDuke, assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator at Vero Beach. "I didn't get to talk to Marcus too long because the coach from Georgia Tech was coming in to talk to him tonight. But Coach Golden and Marcus talked, the and mom talked to Coach Golden and pretty much that was it."

Jackson, who is trying to complete an online course while studying for finals, is declining all interview requests. But what Golden set out to do, he achieved. LeDuke said Jackson told him he is planning to go through with visiting UM this weekend. Jackson (6-2, 315) is considered the 13th best guard in the country by Rivals.com. He was committed to UM until two weeks ago when former coach Randy Shannon was fired.

LeDuke said Jackson will make his announcement Jan. 5 at the Under Armour All-American Game in Tampa -- the same place where Monsignor Pace defensive back Jabari Gorman, considered the 10th-best safety in the country by Rivals, plans to announce his decision as well (We'll get to him later).

"Marcus hasn't said where he's leaning to and all that," said LeDuke, who said Jackson visited Michigan State, Georgia Tech and Tennessee twice (once unofficially).

"The visit to Miami will be huge. But I think coach Golden did a great job. I was very impressed with him. I thought Miami did a great job hiring him. He's very personable, very easy to talk to. We talked about families. Obviously, he's a family man. So am I. I like what he was talking about. He talked about how we want football players. I liked how he talked. He was very easy to talk to like I've known him forever. He's a former linemen. We had a bond there. I think he had the same bond with Marcus."

Golden's next scheduled stop Wednesday night was Boston where he was set to meet with another Canes de-commitment, cornerback Albert Louis-Jean, rated 12th best at his position by Rivals. No word yet on how that meeting has gone, but Louis-Jean's father told me Monday night his son was coming down this weekend to visit UM.

The big question that remains is if Miami Northwestern quarterback Teddy Bridgewater will be joining Jackson and Louis-Jean as the only other guests at UM this coming weekend.

According to a source, Bridgewater, who visited the University of South Florida officially on Tuesday, told UM coaches last night he would be making the trip. But UM is still waiting for a final confirmation.

Bridgewater (6-3, 185) has and continues to be the No. 1 recruiting target for the Hurricanes according to the source and was set to receive an in-home visit from Golden on Tuesday night until it was learned he was in Tampa. The hope now is UM coaches will be able to visit Bridgewater on Thursday night and try to convince the No. 2-ranked dual threat quarterback in the country according to Rivals to jump back on board at UM.

It will definitely take some convincing. His mother, Rose Murphy, wasn't happy with the way UM fans reacted when her son de-committed last week, telling me, "nobody reacted this way when those other boys de-committed. They should be happy he's looking for a great education, be respectful."

OTHERS WAITING FOR A CALL: While some recruits and coaches have received phone calls from Golden and Miami assistants, others are still waiting patiently.

Miami Belen defensive end Nick Menocal (one of four commitments along with Tampa Alonso defensive end Anthony Chickillo, St. Thomas Aquinas receiver Phillip Dorsett and Milford Prep cornerback Jeremy Davis) said Wednesday afternoon he had still not heard from Golden. But Menocal said was he told by defensive line coach Rick Petri on Monday to expect a call from UM's new coach soon. Menocal said he's hoping to be invited to come see the Hurricanes practice for their bowl game.

"I am still committed," Menocal said. "I look forward to seeing what Coach Golden has to tell me and who is going to bring in and hopefully I can go to UM and do big things."

Menocal (6-3, 235) is ranked as the 58th best outside linebacker by Rivals. He said he plans on visiting UM in January, somewhere between visits to Georgia Tech, Virginia and possibly North Carolina, which still hasn't offered Menocal but has been after him harder of late.

> Coral Gables High linebacker Denzel Perryman, a longtime target of the Hurricanes rated, met with UM coach Aubrey Hill on Wednesday and spoke to Golden by phone in the morning.

"I talked with him to touch base," Perryman said. "It was a regular conversation. He's going to touch base with all the recruits. I'm looking forward to talking to him in person. Everything is still up in the air. But I still feel good about UM."

Perryman (5-11, 217) rated the 23rd best middle linebacker in the country by Rivals said he has plans to visit Florida State, Florida, USC and LSU in January, but wants to squeeze in an official to UM as he gets to know the new Canes coaches better. He said he planned to be out at practice on Friday.

What could end up being huge for Perryman is if linebackers coach Micheal Barrow sticks around. "I hope he does, I really do," Perryman said. "It's a big factor. We've had a little bond since my freshman year. I don't want to lose that."

> Monsignor Pace defensive back Jabari Gorman (5-11, 170) cut his list down to Ohio State, Miami and Florida earlier this month before Randy Shannon was fired and Urban Meyer stepped down in Gainesville. He said Wednesday night while Ohio State still leads, the Hurricanes and Gators remain in the hunt. Gorman said he plans to announce his choice at the Under Armour All-American Game on Jan. 5.

"I'm sure I'm going to talk to him soon, talk to him this week and have a meeting so I can get a feel for him," Gorman said of Golden. "I'm hearing great news about him. I like the fact of how he turned Temple's program around. That means the coach knows what he's doing. You want to be around a coach like that."

Gorman said even if he picks a school at the UA game, he will still visit UM in mid-January and could end up changing his mind by National Signing Day.

"Nothing is final until signing day," Gorman said. "I've been feeling OSU. But I've been having doubts about it too. You know how Miami is, they come at you hard. Coach Hill has been on me.

"Stephen Morris is recruiting me as hard as the coaches the do. Me and Stephen have always been real close since my ninth grade year. We always talk. Me and him always used to be together as far as doing the right things on the field. I know what he tells me at Miami is no lies. I can trust him."

> While Golden was in the Northeast Wednesday night, Hill was visiting with Oakland Park Northeast defensive end BJ Dubose at his home. Dubose is one of several local players UM plans to make hard efforts to get in the coming weeks.

Others include Perryman, Gorman, Palm Beach Dwyer tight end Nick O'Leary and Miami Southridge defensive back Gerrod Holliman. Golden is expected to also make a push for Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Ishaq Williams (6-6, 220), considered the second best defensive end in the country.

Golden makes impression; CB Harris weighing NFL

New Hurricanes coach Al Golden made quite an impression when he had his 50 minute conversation with players Monday night before his press conference.

Jordan Futch, Marcus Forston, Adewale Ojomo, Jacory Harris and Lamar Miller said they were all impressed with the strong message Golden delivered about winning national championships and taking this program to the next level.

One player who also enjoyed his meeting with Golden was cornerback Brandon Harris, who unlike the rest of UM's underclassmen is the most likely to bolt early for the NFL. So did Golden's first impression leave Harris feeling better about possibly coming back to UM?

"I can't lie, it definitely did," said Harris, who according to at least one mock NFL draft could go as early as the 15th overall pick next April.

"Leaving the room and after talking to a couple of the upcoming seniors and having a good time with those guys and talking about it and planning things out and where we can get better at, how we can make this team better, I really felt at home. I felt good about it."

So when will he make a real decision on coming back or going pro?

"After the bowl game that's when its really going to set in. Right now it's still kind of all talk. To me, I still can't believe its an opportunity," Harris said. "After the bowl game, the decision will really have to be made. I haven't given much thought to it, fantasizing about it of course because you want to play in the NFL. But serious thought? I never really thought about it. I never thought I would be in this position as a junior to leave early. It's definitely exciting. I know after the bowl game a lot of things are going to pick up, a lot of phone calls will be made. We'll just go from there."

Will he talk to other juniors on the team about it and will their decisions affect him? "We kind of talk about it every now and then," Harris said. "We understand at this level everybody has to make the best decision for themselves. Everybody comes from different situations and different backgrounds. Everybody has different morals on the decisions they're making. Each guy is different. But we do talk about it and do voice our opinions. They'll definitely have a say-so in my opinion and hopefully my opinion matters to them."

Either way, Harris said he will be sending a request into the NFL to see where he could end up going. What will he weigh?

"Ultimately, its going to be about if I feel the opportunity presents itself to be a top NFL pick or coming back, maturing my game a little bit, playing with my teammates for another year. It obviously wouldn't hurt. It would help me," Harris said. "If It's something you can't turn away from, then obviously it's a different situation. Everything is up in the air and in the wind. I definitely want to be here, I want to continue playing here and I don't have a problem with it.

"If your not going to be a guaranteed first round pick, I don't think I would consider leaving at all. I would love to come back and play for another year. If it's not a guarantee, sure thing I wouldn't even think about it. Even if it isn't guaranteed, it's still something I'm going to weigh my options on coming back and maturing myself a little more as a player and as a person. Either way it goes, I'm still going to look into it, weigh the pros and cons of it and talk to a couple guys who have been in the situation and made the decision and see what they say."

Will the future of his father, Tim Harris, who is currently on the staff, affect his decision?

"Not at all. It's a business. We both understand that," Harris said. "By him being here obviously its great having him here. It would be different with him not here. But he's still not my coach at this level. He's not my position coach. Having him around the building is fine. He brings a little relaxation to the whole room and to the team and all that. But that definitely won't have no impact on my decision at all."

VIDEO: Reaction from Golden press conference

Reaction from Monday night's press conference introducing Al Golden as the Hurricanes next football coach. Plus, Al Golden spends 20 minutes with the UM media.