Canes leave 7 behind for bowl

Richt says suspensions send message to rest of team to ‘do things right.’

ORLANDO — As the Hurricanes ran through their fifirst on-site practice before Wednesday’s Russell Athletic Bowl (5:30 p.m., ESPN), UM announced that seven players did not make the trip.

Four of the suspensions — tight ends Jovani Haskins and Michael Irvin II, safet y Cedrick Wright and defensive end Tyreic Martin, all freshmen — The Post reported last week.

Additionally, i n j u re d d e f e n - s i v e e n d G e r - a l d Wi l l i s wa s named by UM. The Post previously reported t h a t W i l l i s , a redshirt sophomore, will miss the bowl game because of a knee injury.

However, UM’s release said Willis, along with the others named, “did not meet the standards of the program.” Freshman safety Jeffff James and walk-on wide receiver O’Juan Carney were also left home for that reason.

Coach Mark Richt said the suspensions were only for the bowl game, and was largely him “sending a message to guys just saying, ‘Tighten up. Do things right.’ A lot of it is little things. It’s a message to them and to the other guys that we’re going to do things right around here.”

Richt said he was generally pleased with his team’s behavior this season, but added he will never be surprised when players break rules.

“Sometimes if you get guys missing a game or suspended for a game, people would be like, ‘Well, there’s a problem.’ The problem is if you don’t discipline them,” he said after the team’s fifirst on-site practice of the week, at Celebration High in Kissimmee.

“I’ve been coaching long enough to know that, any given morning, anything can happen and probably will. You’re dealing with 100 or so to-22-year old guys. Their frontal lobes aren’t fully developed at this point. They tend to do fifirst and think later. I’ve had a lot of very remorseful guys in my offiffice that are great guys who do stupid things. I did my share of stupid things when I was a player too.”

Shopping spree: Gifts from the bowl are a much-anticipated Miami vs. West Virginia, 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, in Orlando, ESPN