South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Orlando scrimmage to go on as scheduled
CORAL GABLES — The Rolling Stones have had to adjust their spring tour schedule. The Miami Hurricanes, meanwhile, have no plans to change theirs.
On Saturday, shortly after the Rolling Stones announced they would be postponing their tour, set to begin April 20 at Hard Rock Stadium — the same day Miami had hoped to play its annual spring game at its home field — Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz said UM plans to proceed with its relocated scrimmage at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
The Hurricanes originally made the decision to move one of their three spring scrimmages north because Hard Rock was unavailable while it hosted Mick Jagger and Co. But now, even with that concert postponed and their home stadium potentially available, Diaz noted wrapping up spring practice where the Hurricanes are set to open the season Aug. 24 against Florida has its benefits.
And so, Miami’s show — in Orlando — will go on as scheduled.
“We’re so far down the road with going to Orlando and to be quite honest, we really want to use that trip with the new staff as a dress rehearsal for the opener,” Diaz said. “To really get a feel of what it’s going to be like getting up there, the same locker room and just really making that as close to a dress rehearsal as possible for Aug. 24.”
While that Orlando scrimmage will mark the end of spring drills for the Hurricanes, next Saturday, Miami will host its first scrimmage, giving Diaz and his staff the opportunity to evaluate how the Hurricanes will react in several game-like scenarios after three weeks of drills.
That scrimmage — which will be held at the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility
— will be closed to fans and media, though Miami’s April 13 scrimmage at Traz Powell Stadium and the April 20th scrimmage in Orlando will be open to both.
By then, the Hurricanes hope to have a better idea of what they’re working with and next week’s scrimmage could start providing some answers.
“What happens in a scrimmage is now you’re going to find out what our guys really know. The coaches will be on the field, it’s a game situation and you don’t have that sort of little bit of training wheels which you have out here in a practice setting,” Diaz said. “So, that’s a big part of the scrimmage. But more than anything, what I want to see when we scrimmage, is I want to see our style of play.
“Again, I don’t imagine that our execution’s going to be perfect. Of course it couldn’t [be]. It’s the first time some of that stuff will be debuted on that type of stage. But what I want to see is strain. I want to see toughness. I want to see guys that are playing as hard as they can play and look like they’re having as much fun doing it as they possibly can. If we get that, then we can certainly fix all the details and the schematic stuff.”
Early enrollees off to good start
More than once since spring drills started, Diaz and his staff have praised the play of several of the youngest Hurricanes — receiver Jeremiah Payton, offensive lineman Zion Nelson and defensive end Jahfari Harvey.
All three would normally be wrapping up their senior years of high school instead of practicing with players that have already played at least one season of college football, but so far, they seem to be holding their own, Diaz said.
On Saturday, Diaz also mentioned former Dillard standout Jon Ford and former American Heritage-Plantation standout Nesta Silvera have proven pleasant surprises, echoing the statements made by defensive coordinator Blake Baker earlier this week.
“You’re really not surprised, maybe you’re hopeful, right? But I think we mentioned it, certainly the way Jon Ford has played, he’s taken the step that we expected him to take. I would say Jade Silvera has taken a step. He’s a better player now than he was in December when we last saw him in New York.
“Even just seeing the new guys, what Payton, Nelson and Harvey have done as midyear enrollees — you never really know with those guys — they’re all competing at a pretty high level for just being in really, the second semester of 12th grade. So, I’d say that’s been a pretty neat surprise.”
Hurricanes wishing ‘The Playmaker’ well
Hurricanes legend and Hall of Famer Michael Irvin — the father of current UM tight end Michael Irvin II — was at some of UM’s early workouts, but posted on social media this week he was “terrified” after undergoing testing for throat cancer.
On Saturday, Diaz said the Hurricanes have reached out and sent messages of support to Irvin Sr., while trying to provide encouragement for his son, who remains on Miami’s campus and has continued practicing with his teammates in recent days.
“We reached out to Mike Sr. and we’ve reached out to Mike Jr. to let them know we’re there for both of them because this is a family,” Diaz said. “Mike Sr. was at our first two practices, so we had a chance to see him. When one of us is ill, we all feel it in this family. It is important for all of our guys to know that anything that happens to them, we’re there behind them.”
High school coaches descend on UM
The Hurricanes hosted more than 200 high school coaches at Saturday’s practice as part of a day-long clinic designed, Diaz said, to not only provide instruction and show them how things operate at a major college program, but as a sign of gratitude.
Diaz pointed out many of South Florida’s high school coaches don’t always have the resources they need to keep their programs running at a top level or to even continue their own personal professional development.
That’s why the Hurricanes wanted to host Saturday’s event.
“We’ve not had a per se high school coaches clinic the last couple years and we had a great turnout today,” Diaz said. “Had a chance to watch our practice. We changed the way we practiced a little bit. It was more of a demonstration practice, showed them a lot of our individual drills, a lot of what we do and let those guys take notes and watch and bring things back to their teams.
“We’re so indebted to the high school coaches, especially down here in South Florida, who do more with less than anybody in America. Anything we can do to try and show those guys how much we appreciate them is our pleasure.” Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, from left, coach Brian Flores and general manager Chris Grier know what they’re hoping to get in the draft.