Miami Football Spring Game: 5 Things to Expect on Saturday
With spring practices and scrimmages soon ending, the Hurricanes are about to pad up for the final time this spring.
The game starts at noon and will be played at Lockart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
There are many intriguing stories that will come out of the game. Here is a list of what we can expect.
5) The Roster
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The rosters have been picked by Hurricane alums, Jimmy Farrell and Tony Alhadeff, who both won the online auction through Hurricanesports.com.
Jimmy and Tony sat down with Hurricane coordinators (Jimmy with OC Jedd Fisch and Tony with DC Mark D'Onofrio) to make their selections.
Here are the rosters.
Orange (Jimmy/Fisch)*
DB Ray-Ray Armstrong
WR Chad Barnes
OL Malcolm Bunche
WR LaRon Byrd
TE John Calhoun
DB Lee Chambers
DB Eduardo Clements
P/K Cameron Dean
DE Chris Dunckel
OL Jonathan Feliciano
DB Thomas Finnie
TE Chase Ford
LB James Gaines
DB Nathan Gholston
QB Jacory Harris
LB C.J. Holton
DB Kenneth Jackson
RB Mike James
OL Jermaine Johnson
RB Storm Johnson
LB Erik Lichter
OL Brandon Linder
OL Shane McDermott
DE David Perry
DE Olsen Pierre
DL Curtis Porter
DL Luther Robinson
DE Marcus Robinson
DB Kacy Rodgers
TE Billy Sanders
LB Sean Spence
WR Tommy Streeter
DE Matthew Sweet
TE Andrew Tallman
DB Jordan Tolson
OL Jared Wheeler
TE Cory White
P/K Jake Wieclaw
LB Travis Williams
Green (Tony/D'Onofrio)*
TE Blake Ayles
OL Jermaine Barton
WR Travis Benjamin
DL Jeffrey Brown
LB Ramon Buchanan
LB Kelvin Cain
DB Tyrone Cornelius
LB Akil Craig
DB Devont'a Davis
LB Jordan Futch
LB Sean Goldstein
OL Harland Gunn
RB Maurice Hagens
RB Darion Hall
DB Alonzo Highsmith
P/K Ben Hopfinger
OL Tyler Horn
P/K Alex Irastorza
LS Chris Ivory
DB Curt Johnsen
OL Ben Jones
DL Jeremy Lewis
OL Eduardo Lopez
DB Brandon McGee
RB Lamar Miller
QB Stephen Morris
DB JoJo Nicolas
WR Shawn O'Dare
DL Adewale Ojomo
DB Keion Payne
DL Micanor Regis
DB Jamal Reid
DB Andrew Swasey
WR Kendal Thompkins
RB David Thompson
DE Olivier Vernon
TE Clive Walford
OL Brandon Washington
QB Spencer Whipple
*From Hurricanesports.com
4) First Spring Game Coaches
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This will mark the first time that new head coach, Al Golden, will be on a bright spotlight outside of a press conference.
The fans and media will have the opportunity to really break down the game and to see if the players or team has really made any type of positive changes since he was hired.
Granted there has been access, more so then ever, to previous scrimmages and practices, but this game is the first true test for Golden.
Keep in mind that it's not only Golden's first game, but also a handful of other coaches that Golden brought in.
Here is a list of the other new coaches who will be coaching their first spring game for the Hurricanes.
Mark D'Onofrio (Defensive Coordinator)
Art Kehoe (Offensive Line Coach)
Jedd Fisch (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach)
Brennan Carroll (Tight End Coach)
Jethro Franklin (Defensive Line Coach)
George McDonald (Wide Receivers Coach)
Terry Richardson (Running Back Coach)
Paul Williams (Defensive Backs Coach)
3) Same Players, New Beginnings
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Jordan Futch and Tommy Streeter were highly touted high school recruits just a few years ago. The problem they had was in their respective positions.
So far in the two scrimmages Miami has had they both have looked like opening-day starters.
Take Futch of example, he wasn't getting the playing time he thought he deserved so was switched to tight end before the Notre Dame bowl game last year to get on the field.
Head coach Al Golden moved him back to linebacker and it is exactly where he belongs.
In the first scrimmage game, Futch had nine tackles and two sacks. He has been basically promoted from a special teams player to sharing a starting linebacker spot in one spring season.
Golden has given Futch such high praise after a six-tackle, two-sack performance in the second scrimmage.
In 2008, Tommy Streeter (aka Street) was an extremely highly touted wide receiver out of Miami Northwestern.
At 6'5", 200 lbs, he ran a 4.5/40 and was destined to become the next great Hurricane wideout.
During his freshman year though, Street suffered a wrist injury that would later force Miami to redshirt him.
After a successful spring in 2009, he was thrown into 10 games, primarily on special teams, and ended the season with just four catches.
Last year while sitting behind other great receivers in LaRon Byrd, Travis Benjamin and Leonard Hankerson, he was again barely in the mix and only caught one pass for a 42-yard touchdown against Notre Dame in the bowl game.
This year is different.
Golden has already given Streeter the utmost respect, stating he was one of the most improved players on the team that he has seen.
In the first scrimmage Street only had three catches for 18 yards, but in the second game he truly showed improvement and has showed that he can fully improve the receiving group at Miami.
Streeter ended the second scrimmage with six catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
Expect both players to shine this weekend in Ft. Lauderdale.
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2) The Neverending Saga Between Quarterbacks
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Although Jacory Harris is listed as the starting quarterback, Stephen Morris isn't too far behind them. In fact, both quarterbacks were listed as starters in one of the depth charts this spring.
Jacory definitely has the edge in experience, but Morris has the more athletic ability in both passing and running with the ball.
With the run-first system, no matter who starts, Miami will be in a better position as they won't have to force the pass as much.
During the spring scrimmages this year both Harris and Morris had respectable numbers, even though Harris threw the ball a little more.
Even though this game will not predict who starts come September, it will determine who has the lead thus far in a long offseason.
Since both quarterbacks are on separate teams, it will be interesting on how each player will perform against each other.
It will be a very interesting spring game, just watching the two.
1) Running, Running and Running Some More
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With Damien Berry and Graig Cooper leaving the Hurricanes, many people thought before last year started that the 2011 running back stable wouldn't be that good.
Lamar Miller, Mike James and even a few carries by true freshman Storm Johnson changed everybody's mind last year.
This year's running back stable could be just as good as another threesome group the Hurricanes once had in Willis Mcgahee, Clinton Portis and Frank Gore.
Johnson and James will be on the orange team for the spring game, so you will a lot of alternating between the two.
On the green team Miller will be the primary focus of their rushing attack.
Once again, the rivalry will be heated as the race for the starting position is still in the air. Each player has shown that no matter who starts, Miami will be in great hands.
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