2010 Miami Hurricanes Football: A Storm Is Brewing

When senior running back Graig Cooper fell to the turf on that cold December night last year, many feared the worst. The crowd just watched the blooming NFL running back prospect tear his knee on the Citrus Bowl grass.

Cooper’s injury was a sad and unfortunate one to say the least, but he has been focusing on rehabbing for the season. It was expected he would most likely have to sit out this season, but Cooper has pushed up his recovery ahead of schedule.

Could it be too soon to expect Graig to be at 100 percent this early in the healing process? Is this a case of a player trying to push himself too hard too soon? Nobody wants to see Graig pull a Boobie Miles out there on the field.

Cooper is going to need some help and relief this season if he wants to make it through fully healthy.

That relief has to come from the rest of Miami’s running back group, the most notable of those names being Lamar Miller and Storm Johnson.

Miller is a redshirt freshman who came to Coral Gables with high praise as one the top running back recruits in the nation.

The 5-foot-11 back rushed 217 times for 1,749 yards and 22 TDs as a high school senior. He’s a Miami native who has a lot to offer the backfield.

Miller will probably have to share the rushing duties with a true freshman: Storm Johnson out of Loganville, Ga.

Storm Johnson is...well, Storm Johnson is Storm Johnson.

Johnson stands an imposing 6-foot, 218 pounds with the power to run through a defender as well as the speed to run by them. He has the type of explosiveness and versatility that you don’t see very often.

As a senior at Loganville High School, Johnson rushed for 1,937 yards and 31 TDs.

His skills got the attention of schools like Florida State, Penn State, Alabama, and North Carolina, who all offered him scholarships.

The freshman has shown a whole of promise in summer camp so far.

Senior Damien Berry will most likely be the starter on opening day, but if Cooper isn’t at full strength, expect Storm to get a fair bulk of the workload in Miami’s offense this season.