Miami Hurricanes Football: Spring Game Report Card

The Miami Hurricanes spring game brought some exciting plays as well as some disappointment. There is still the summer and fall for the players to tone their game before fall practice begins in August.

Here is a breakdown and report card of the spring game, in which the Green team prevailed, 30-17.

The game was played at Lockhart Stadium in front of a surprising 11,274 fans, a terrific turnout from the Hurricane faithful.

Many members of Miami's 2001 national championship team—including Ken Dorsey, Andre Johnson, Bryant McKinnie and Antrel Rolle—were honored at halftime. NFL stars Jon Beason and Devin Hester were also on the sidelines as well as Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin.*

Miami officials said about 300 football alumni were back in town for the weekend events.*

* From Miami Herald.

Coaching

Little goes into spring games like a regular game, but the coaches did a great job in giving his players time.

Many freshmen and their main stars got sufficient time throughout the day.

The primary concern has been defensive back, special teams and quarterback; Al Golden and company kept a close eye on the entire process.

For the first primary game for these coaches, everything went as planned.

Grade: A

Special Teams

Jake Wieclaw was really the only special teams player all game. There wasn't anyone else that showed anything at all during the spring, with is pretty typical.

Wieclaw, who made two of three field goals, will be the starter this year as Matt Bosher graduated last year.

Going into fall practice, special teams will be something to really look forward to.

Grade: C+

Defensive Backs

Jacory Harris and Stephen Morris made the defensive backs look pretty good during Saturday's spring game, picking both quarterback off three times (other interception was by linebacker, Sean Spence).

Brandon McGee intercepted Harris and ran it back 36 yards for one of Jacory's two interceptions, while true freshman Thomas Finnie also got in the act with an interception thrown by Stephen Morris.

The biggest suprise came from junior college transfer, Andrew Swasey, who made a leaping interception against the much taller Tommy Streeter (seven inch height difference) in the second quarter.

Other than that, there were some very aggressive plays made by the entire backfield for both teams.

Ray Ray Armstrong made a few big hits including a forced fumble and helmet jarring hit on red shirt freshman Darion Hall.

Armstrong also finished with nine tackles.

Grade: B+

Linebackers

There were many questions surrounding the linebackers this year, but after the spring game, this actually may turn into one of the bright spots for the Hurricanes.

Redshirt freshman, Sean Goldstein, stole the show Saturday with 16 total tackles for the Orange team.

Sean Spence also played a great game totaling nine tackles, one tackle for loss, an interception for a touchdown and a sack.

On the green side, Kelvin Cain, led the team with six tackles.

Grade: B+

Defensive Line

Miami's defensive line has been highly touted over the last couple years, and with the loss of NFL draft prospect Allan Bailey graduating, the line was questionable.

Hurricane fans know better and proved in on Saturday.

Marcus Robinson had a terrific game for the Orange team tallying three tackles, a tackle for loss, and a sack.

On the green side, Micanor Regis ended the game with five tackles, and Adewale Ojomo had four tackles, a tackle for loss, and half a sack.

The real star of the line though was Olivier Vernon who had four tackles, two tackles for loss and one-and-a-half sacks.

The defensive line as a whole seems very deep and were definitely a bright spot on Saturday, but they did give up a lot of rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns.

Grade: B

Offensive Line

The offensive line, which may come off a little raw, actually has a lot of talent.

Although they offensive line was split up between two teams, there was plenty of spark on both sides.

Both teams were able to successfully create holes for both the green and orange teams in the run game but did allow the defense to put some pressure on the quarterbacks, allowing four sacks.

Overall, the offensive linemen proved to be a force to be reckoned with.

Grade: B+

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

The wide receivers were a very tough subject to grade, with all the injuries.

Aldarius Johnson and Laron Byrd were held out of the game, and Travis Benjamin got hurt early and never returned.

Benjamins injury was mild and should be fine for summer drills and fall practice.

The ones that did play made some pretty good plays.

Kendal Thompkins led the way with seven catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.

Tommy Streeter, who had a marvelous spring season, struggled and looked tentative, had just one catch for 17 yards.

Sophomore, Allen Hurns had a great game as well catching six catches for 64 yards.

The tight end spot was also filled with the injury bug, as Clive Walford was the only tight end with a catch and had four catches for 48 yards.

Grade: B-

Running Backs

Just as everyone expected, the running back core of Mike James, Storm Johnson and Lamar Miller stole the show on Saturday.

Mike James rushed nine times for 25 yards and a touchdown, while catching four balls for another 29 yards.

Storm Miller rushed seven times for 34 yards and three catches for 33 yards.

Saturdays game though, belonged to Miller who had 10 carries for 166 yards and three touchdowns.

Miller had touchdown runs of 64 and 70 yards.

This only means that either the running back core is that good, or the defensive is really behind at the moment.

I'll take the first one.

Grade: A+

Quarterbacks

The reason I put up Brandon McGee's interception under the quarterback slide is to show everyone that some things just have not changed down in Miami.

Jacory Harris and Stephen Morris threw two interceptions a piece in Saturday's game.

Although the running attack was simply amazing, the quarterback play has once again proved to be a serious question mark.

Harris ended the day with 18-30, 149 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns.  There were times he had players open but the loft on the ball once again haunts Harris.

He seriously doesn't understand the speed of the game at the college level, which is pretty sad for a Junior quarterback.

Morris, on the other hand, didn't do much better going 14-22, 140 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown.

The only thing I see wrong with Morris at this point is lack of experience.  His interception to Spence proved that as Morris stared down the receiver, giving Spence the ability to read Morris's eyes and pick the ball off.

Spencer Whipple played on both the green and orange team completing three out of four passes for 16 yards.

Grade: D- (Only reason I didn't give them an F is because Miami did have a thin receiver core)