‘Canes jump into outreach events
UM players: Offseason about getting better, too
MIAMI — Lawrence Cager was asked if it hurt when he got the tattoos on his arm. Ahmmon Richards was asked if he’d ever gotten in trouble while in school. And DeeJay Dallas was asked what he was studying at Miami — and what career he wanted to pursue once his football days were finished.
Wednesday afternoon, a handful of Hurricanes took a break from their summer classes and offseason workouts to participate in the first of Miami’s annual community outreach events, visiting with students at Frances S. Tucker Elementary, not far from the UM campus in Coral Gables.
And while some of them spent time visiting with their pen pals, shooting hoops or jumping rope with the youngsters, the Hurricanes soon discovered that when you’re projected to be one of the top college football programs in the nation next season, there’s really no escaping questions about expectations, goals and a daunting Sept. 2 opener against LSU.
“We just started summer workouts Monday and we’re taking it step by step, getting stronger and faster and [paying] more attention to detail on all our assignments, get these freshmen coming in going and seeing what they can do so we can be ready for Sept. 2 against LSU,” said receiver Lawrence Cager. “Probably the biggest time of your football career is the summer. You get about two or three months to get stronger, faster. You meet with your coaches and see what you can work on going into the season, what you can get better at, what you need to hone down on during workouts. It’s probably the most important time going into the season.”
For the Hurricanes, who are coming off their first 10-win season since 2003 and are widely projected to be a preseason top-10 team this year, there is a sense of urgency with all of that because of that opener.