Miami Hurricanes Football 2011: 10 Training Camp Priorities

The Hurricanes started their practice on Saturday and there already has been some good news coming out of the camp.

The impressive play of Blake Ayles, LaRon Byrd and the defensive linemen have been well documented already.

New head coach Al Golden already has the attitude changed in Miami and soon we will know if it shows on the field.

Here are the top 10 priorities of the fall session.

Conditioning

By the time the Hurricanes got to the 11th game last year, they were completely wiped out.

Lack of conditioning showed in their losses to Virginia Tech, South Florida and in the bowl game against Notre Dame.

Even after the game against Notre Dame, Golden said one of the first things he will have to do is get these guys in shape.

Apparently, Golden is making a difference already as Seantrel Henderson lost roughly 40 pounds since the end of last season.

Olivier Vernon and Adewale Ojomo came into this fall in the best shape of their lives as reported by the Miami Herald.

"Ojomo told me he worked during the summer with Denver Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil, who grew up in Miami. He was teaching me a lot of things. Coach Swasey, he turned up the notch, a lot of extra running, a lot of extra lifting, so I think it's going to go well. I'm seeing changes in my body type and everything. My speed in the 40 (4.8), I'm hitting 225 (bench press) 25 times (in a row). I'm getting strong. Last year [my 40 time] was bad.''

On Olivier Vernon: "He's an animal. He's a beast. If you've ever seen this guy take off his shirt... He's about 270 pounds. He's running like a 4.6 [40], he's doing like 395 pounds on the bench press. He has great fundamentals, great work ethic. He's going to have an amazing season."

If Miami wants any chance of finishing the season in a BCS bowl game, they will need to be in the best shapes of their lives.

(Quotes are taken from the Miami Herald, read entire article here.)

Special Teams Play

One of the best Hurricane tacklers last year on special teams was their kicker, Matt Bosher.

With Bosher taking his talents to the NFL, Miami needs to make sure they can get their kickoff team corrected or they will be in trouble.

There should be no excuse for the kicker to be making the tackle on kickoffs.

Golden and special teams coach Michael Borrow need to get quality tacklers and speedsters on the kickoff to stop the opposing teams from getting good field position.

On the return side, the depth chart lists Travis Benjamin as the starter at both punt and kick returner.

Things could be shaken up with true freshman Kevin Grooms, who had six punt returns for touchdowns in his senior season.

Either way, Miami needs to improve their return teams as they have been less than stellar the last few years.

The kicking game is also changing as Bosher left, leaving Jake Wieclaw to do the kicking and punting.

He too will need to get as much practice in before the season starts as he has only kicked off one time in his career.

As the fifth practice ended, though, it was still a question mark on if Wieclaw will do both or share the duties with Matt Goudis or Dalton Botts.

Get the Latest Incoming Freshman on Board

There were a handful of freshmen that enrolled early at Miami and were able to make it to the spring session.

Now all but three (Taylor Gadbois, Antonio Kenard and Corey King) are with the team for the fall camp.

The players that enrolled early have been working with the team for over seven months now and have an early jump on those that joined this summer.

Now what Al Golden and the coaches need to do is get those freshmen in shape and ready to play in about a month.

The Entire Defense Needs to Improve Their Tackling

I cannot even count on how many missed tackles the Hurricanes had last year, but I can tell you in one game against the Florida Seminoles, I counted 11 in the first two quarters.

Last year, the defense was all about making highlight-reel tackles instead of fundamental stops.

Defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio will need to do everything in his power to make sure the defense wraps up on every tackle.

If the defense can get the tackling resolved, the Hurricanes' defense will be as dominating as I can remember.

2 or 3 More Recievers Need to Step Up

In order for the Hurricanes to have a successful year, they will need to have a good passing game to compliment their running game.

It was reported that the Hurricane receivers dropped 67 passes last year.

With the loss of their best receiver to the NFL draft, Leonard Hankerson, there are question marks at the receiver position.

Travis Bejamin and LaRon Byrd are pretty much the only players that have had successful seasons.

Aldarius Johnson, Tommy Streeter and Kendall Thompkins are probably in the lead for the third and fourth spots at receiver, but none of them have been consistent throughout their college careers.

One of those receivers, or possibly a freshman like Rashawn Scott or Phillip Dorsett, needs to step up this fall in order to add depth to the wide out position.

Either Quarterback Needs to Pull Away from the Other

I know the topic of quarterback has been like a broken record all offseason, but poor quarterback play has turned a very good team to a fair team in a matter of one year.

The spring session was supposed to show improvement by both players, but the final spring game proved otherwise, as each player threw for two interceptions.

This fall will be that last opportunity for Stephen Morris or Jacory Harris to pull away from each other.

Golden has specifically said he doesn't want to run a two-quarterback rotation every game, but will if they can't separate from each other.

I think it would hurt the Hurricanes by running a two-quarterback system, so I am hoping either quarterback takes over the starting position.

Miami cannot afford to have questionable quarterback play this year, as the rest of the team seems destine for a great year.

Need to Find a Good Starting Cornerback and Create Depth

The Hurricanes lost both of their starting cornerbacks last year to the NFL, Demarcus Van Dyke and Brandon Harris.

That leaves a gaping hole on the defensive side that needs to be filled, asap.

The end of spring depth chart showed two cornerbacks at the starting position that haven't played the position until this spring, JoJo Nicolas and Lee Chambers.

Last year Nicolas played safety and Chambers was a backup running back.

In fact, the only player on the roster with college experience at cornerback is Brandon McGee, who was listed as a backup to Chambers on that same depth chart.

I expect true freshman Thomas Finnie to get a lot of playing time this fall as he had an excellent spring session.

Get Anthony Chickillo in the Mix

Anthony Chickillo, a top defensive end prospect, didn't get into Miami until late summer, but is already making waves.

He was a dominating end for Tampa Alonso High School last year as he recorded 18 sacks and 140 tackles.

It was Chickillo's play in the Under Armour All-American game, though, that put him on the national stage.

He was awarded the MVP award after getting one-and-half sacks, four tackles and a fumble recovery.

In just the fourth day of practice, Chickillo was doing so well that the coaches listed him as the starting defensive end when they go to the 3-4 scheme.

Malcolm Bunche Needs to Get Ready

Seantrel Henderson was supposed to be the main focal point on the offensive line this year, even making it to the 26-man roster of the Playboy All-American team.

Then during the summer, it was determined that Henderson would need to undergo back surgery without a time frame of when he will play again.

That changes a lot of things on a great offensive line.

During the spring, sophomore Malcolm Bunche outplayed Henderson and ended the spring as the starting left tackle, and was named by Golden as the most improved player.

Bunche will need to continue his dominating ways this fall if the Hurricanes will need to replace a potential All-American in Henderson.

Discipline

The Miami Hurricanes were ranked fourth in penalties last year, creating over 107 of them.

It's not the number that is so intriguing, but most of them came at horrible times, and many of them were due to false starts.

Let's face it, the Hurricanes have always been a heavily penalized team, but there is no excuse for college players, especially on the offense, to not know the snap count.

Coach Golden has already expressed his dissatisfaction with stupid penalties and is already working on ways to make the players more disciplined.

The lack of discipline last year, and all the interceptions thrown, were a couple of the main reasons why the Hurricanes had such a bad year.

They need to correct it this fall and not wait for the season to begin.