This post is really intended only for those die hard fans that really care to stare at over 100 pictures of the 2008 Hurricanes spring game. All other casual viewers of this blog probably won't be too interested.
Ok with the disclaimer out of the way, here is a bunch of sequence pics from todays game. Not the best zoom, but if you click on a picture you will get a much bigger copy that will give you an idea of how our young team looked. Overall I was much more impressed by our game this year than that of the last few years. We had many more big plays that in those dark coker years, and there seems to be some awesome potential here. That being said it was pretty sloopy with way too many dropped balls by our receivers, which probably resulted in the defense winning 32-29 over the offense. Here is a play by play (please take this with a grain of salt, as I am trying to remember the tiny details 12 hours later, so may have made a mistake or two on a play or player)
This was Khalil Jones first catch of the day, with very tight coverage. Great start, though I only remember his drops after this catch.
This one is very blurry, but I had to leave it in as it shows the speed of Cooper. Look how he makes an open field one on one a non issue by blowing by for the touchdown. This was in the first quarter and was pretty exciting to see coming straight at us.
Kayne Farquharson stands out in my mind as being on the receiving end of a lot of balls today. He had a few drops but made up for it by making some big catches. I love how Tervaris Johnson 23 throws aside a much bigger O-lineman in the third picture.
Aldarius Johnson 4 got some action today. This would have been an awesome catch, though he couldn't pull it in. Check out his picture later, that is very similar, of him making the catch. Chavez Grant 24 is glued pretty tightly to him, giving me some confidence in our DBs. Overall our DBs didn't get burnt by any long plays. The only long plays actually came on runs or dump offs to RBs, and is more telling of our LB play.
Couldn't quite remember who caught this pass, although Armour is on defense. We seemed to have alot of these flare type pass patterns, and I was very impressed by both Marve and Harris' arm strength to gun the ball out there in time to give the WRs time to make a move. Here we picked up a few yards after the catch.
Damien Berry makes a hard tackle on Lee Chambers.
This panoramic didn't quite stitch very well, but it can give you an idea of the stadium and crowd from today. Not too sure on the numbers, but there was a very nice crowd for a practice game 40 miles from campus. Weather was awesome and it really got me jonesin for that first game against Charleston Southern.
Harris showed a little too much arm strength on this bomb to Shields (?). Harris definetly has awesome potential but was probably a bit too revved up at times. I do recall if he missed it was long, while Marve missed a couple times way too low (pic to come).
If you look closely at the third pic, you will see a ball that definitely can not be dropped come this fall. Luckily the number is obscured, so I am not sure who the WR was, but this ball was in the basket and was allowed to slip out. Not the best way to give your QB confidence. That being said, the stats definetly were smaller than they could have been, as our QBs made some great throws, only to suffer too many drops.
I love the arm strength I saw today, here from Marve doing a Brett Favre impression on a bullet to Khalil. I have missed that the past few seasons.
Here Canon Smith hands to Shawnbrey Mcneal, who sees a huge hole, only to see it closed very quickly by Allen Bailey.
OK, this pic is a bit blurry, but I thought it showed Marves ability to roll out the opposite way, turn his body and make a great throw. Unfortunately JJ had a pretty bad drop on this one. Not to worry, as we came right back with the same play, minus the huge roll out, and picked up a first down.
Here is that next play, with Marve (who was wearing number 9 today) gunning it in for a nice pick up.
See if you can follow this one. Marve tries another dump off (we did alot of this today), but it is tipped at the line real high, and the pass is then picked off. The pic sequence here ends with a pile attempting to make the tackle, but the play wasn't over, as our defense broke the tackle and picked up another 20 or so yards. Some penalty or call got the crowd booing, so not sure if it was called back, but none the less, Marves sequence was over for a few minutes.
Another dump off, this time from Harris to Dedrick Epps. The offensive scheme seemed a bit like the old 49ers as they used the passing game like an extension of the running game, with screens, roll outs, flares and dump offs. Not sure if this is a sign of things to come, or lack of confidence in the deep game, but was definetly a change from what we saw over the last couple years.
Hankerson gets a bullet from Harris with very tight coverage by Arthur Brown. Very nice throw and catch on this well covered route. I also love how Harris anticipates the route, as look where he throws it...Hank hasn't even made his cut or turned around yet. Nice sign form Harris...one that had me pulling for him all day.
This play was almost comical. Harris tries a dump off to JJ, who trips over an O-lineman before he can catch it. Luckily no LB was close enough to make a pick. Not our proudest play today.
Harris doing his best Mike Vick impression (don't look for any dogs on the field, I mean Vicks scrambling), and picking up some nice yardage in the process. I would be thrilled if Harris could scramble well, and had a monster arm. Lethal combo.
Zellner 88 gets in the game and tries to make a move down the sideline. Arthur Brown is trailing him. Brown didn't catch him on this play, but it seems like half the pictures I got, Brown was in the play somewhere. I see real big things from this guy in the next few years before we lose him as a Jr to the NFL.
If you can get close enough into the third pic you will see a huge missed opportunity. The DB falls down and a nice throw is made but our WR (luckily can't see number) has a pretty bad drop. The crowd let him hear it after this one. We gotta correct the bad hands, as even with this many receivers, I would rather have one Andre Johnson and his hands of glue.
Another example of Harris having a bit too much arm. This pass to Shields really never had a chance although it got us all up on our feet. It seemed like more of a prayer than a planned route. Funny thing is we came back the next play and did the same exact thing, with the same exact result. We then sent Bosher in for the field goal, which he missed! Ugh please none of that wide right stuff as there was little wind and no excuses.
Here is that Bosher miss. The coach at the bottom left doesn't seem too happy.
Here is Marve throwing way to low, and missing Aldarius Johnson pretty badly. We got a few months to shake off these nerves, but they better be gone by the time we head into the swamp.
OK I don't want to just share bad news, but there was some. Khalil drops another one that definitely should have been caught. In the hands and right through into the sidelines. UGH
When you are not feeling good about your WRs there is always JJ to dump off to and let him run. Here he picks up some nice yardage in the 3rd quarter, on their way to a field goal.
T Johnson gets some credit for this incompletion although I still gotta believe A Johnson makes this catch. Is it too much to ask that our WRs catch everything thrown to them!?
Alot in this sequence. First is the formation with Marve in shotgun and Coop and JJ lined up on either side. Then JJ gets jacked on his route. Kayne makes a nice catch and move, but T Johnson makes an even nicer tackle.
So when you are in doubt, dump it off to Coop. He gets to the few feet line, but the next play, a false start, only nets a field goal.
What do we do after the false start call? You get three guesses and the first two don't count. Of course, a dump off. Always seemed like a check down call, and if that was the case, our QBs checked down a lot today. Thing is the down field coverage was not that tight, so our guys need to start seeing the field and not bailing out. Course if this was a planned call, then ignore me.
OK, here Aldarius lives up to his ranking with a superb catch on the sideline, strangely similar to the drop from earlier.
Finally Ryan Hill gets in the action with a nice catch, only to get jacked by Bruce Johnson. Bruce had a huge following today as there must have been 20 people in front of me with his Jersey on, and waving to him everytime he looked our way.
Glen Cook makes a spectucular knock down, looking more like a DB than a LB.
Very pretty pose, and very close to being caught by Khalil. He must do yoga, cause that doesn't look natural.
Great sequence of Coop breaking a 50 yard TD run. DVD looks like he has cement in his boots, as he is frozen and then burned by a quick coop juke. Awesome run!
So check out the stud Joel Figueroa. He loses his helmet, and even though the play is pretty much over, dives into the pile with no helmet. Now that is an O-lineman, and he is my new favorite anchor on the line.
OK hope I didn't screw up too many times, but I hope that gives all you Canes across the nation not lucky enough to be at Spring game, a taste of what we have to look forward to over the next few years. Very exciting time to be a Cane. Havn't felt like this since the 99 season, when we had such an awesome team ahead. It is great to be a Miami Hurricane!
