Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Reed has been on an excused absence
Chief of staff has yet to be at spring practice
CORAL GABLES — The Miami Hurricanes have completed four of their 15 spring practices, and UM legend Ed Reed has yet to be in attendance since he was hired as the program’s chief of staff.
The Sun Sentinel learned that on Monday — as Miami started spring drills — Reed was playing golf at Augusta National, the Masters’ course in Georgia.
Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz said after Friday’s practice that there was a mutual agreement when the two sides agreed to terms that Reed would be away this week.
“When we hired him, this was a week that — we knew that early on there were things that he was already committed to from a time standpoint,” Diaz said.
Reed, the Hall-of-Fame safety who was one of they key cogs in Miami’s 2001 national championship-winning team before starring for the Baltimore Ravens, was active in assisting the team prior to this week, according to Diaz.
“Ed was here, I would say, during the majority of our offseason program,” said Diaz of Reed, who was hired Jan. 30. “This was a week that he was going to be gone. When we come back from spring break for spring practice, Ed will be back.”
Reed previously said he wouldn’t be on campus every day when he was introduced in a National Signing Day news conference on Feb. 5. Diaz and Miami athletic director Blake James have previously stated that would not be the expectation of Reed.
“Ed’s going to be here quite a bit. Does his schedule allow him to be here every single day? No,” said James at baseball media day on Feb. 11. “We all know Ed’s done a lot away from the University of Miami to really establish himself as a national brand, and so that was part of the conversation that we understood that there were commitments that he has in place. He’s going to need to honor those commitments and do those things, but he’ll be around our program quite a bit for practices, for games.”
Lockette’s status
The hiring of former FSU tight ends coach Telly Lockette as an offensive analyst has not been made official yet.
“There are still some paperwork things that we’re hurdling,” Diaz said.
Before coaching at FSU the past two seasons, Lockette was running backs coach at Oregon State for three years. He held the same role at USF in 2013 and 2014. Lockette has strong recruiting ties in South Florida as he coached at Miami Central.
“A major benefit to our program,” said Diaz of Lockette being able to talk to recruits on campus once his hire is complete. “We’re really excited about when it becomes official.”
Diaz added on analysts and quality control coaches: “They can work with a position group. They can be in meeting rooms. They can be part of film study, those types of things. They can’t be involved in directing the players in a coaching manner. But they can certainly have a lot of impact on our staff.”
Jordan has surgery
It was already known that UM tight end Brevin Jordan would be out for the spring. On Friday, Diaz said Jordan underwent surgery on his left foot.