After nearly four months off, the Miami Hurricanes took to the field today for the first drills of fall camp. With the Indoor Practice Facility looming over Greentree, and less than 2 weeks from completion, it's official: football is back in Coral Gables.
**The QB rotation was essentially the same as when spring ended. When Cade Weldon was out for a part of spring with an eye infection, Jarren Williams was temporarily elevated to QB3, but Weldon slotted back in ahead of him when he returned. We were looking to see if Williams had jumped Weldon over the summer, but that was not the case today.
Quarterback
1st Team: Malik Rosier
2nd Team: N'Kosi Perry
3rd Team: Cade Weldon
4th Team: Jarren Williams
**Performance-wise, I thought the QB's overall looked pretty good today: confident, accurate, and stepping into their throws. There didn't seem to be any first day jitters like there was for the first day of spring earlier in the year, when the QB's were wild and seemed to be missing on every other throw. This was a problem I noticed specifically for N'Kosi Perry in the past and he seemed much more focused today. Routes were skinny post, bubble screen, curls, and out routes to the sidelines
**No changes at running back either. Freshman FB Realus George began with the third team.
Running back
1st team: Travis Homer
2nd team: Deejay Dallas
3rd team: Lorenzo Lingard
4th team: Robert Burns
Fullback
1st team: Trayone Gray
2nd team: Michael Parrott
3rd team: Realus George
Wide Receiver 1
1st team: Ahmmon Richards
2nd team: Darrell Langham
3rd team: Evidence Njoku
Wide Receiver 2
1st team: Lawrence Cager
2nd team: Brian Hightower
3rd team: Mark Pope
Slot
1st team: Jeff Thomas
2nd team: Mike Harley
**Ahmmon Richards was the first receiver to run a route in single receiver drills today. Richards looks fully healthy coming off knee surgery in the fall and was running very smooth out there. He looks 100% and primed for a big bounce-back season.
**Freshman WR Mark Pope made the catch of the day in early drills, snagging a low throw behind him off the turf, keeping his balance, and finishing the play.
Tight Ends
1st team: Michael Irvin
2nd team: Brian Polendey
3rd team: Brevin Jordan
4th team: Will Mallory
**TE's were another position group that looked better as a whole; if you remember in spring they were plagued by consistent drops. Much less of that today and it helps when your #3 isn't a walk-on and your #4 isn't a ball boy. Jordan and Mallory looked quick and efficient with their routes and neither dropped a pass that I saw. Jordan in particular had a great play on a seam route/skinny post and the ball was slightly overthrown; he skied to make the catch, came down with it, and ran through the endzone. However, coach Hartley got slightly animated at Jordan on one rep for not breaking off his route crisp enough, and made him run the drill over again.
**The offensive line was simply doing basic workouts and drills, but here's how they lined up:
Offensive Line
RT
1st team: Navaughn Donaldson
2nd team: Zalon'tae Hillery
RG
1st team: Hayden Mahoney
2nd team: Venzell Boulware
C
1st team: Tyler Gauthier
2nd team: Corey Gaynor
LG
1st team: Jahair Jones
2nd team: Delone Scaife
LT
1st team: Tyree St. Louis
2nd team: George Brown
**Unlike in spring when the team started every practice that I attended in the striker package, today the defense began drills in the traditional 4-3 base. The first team and second team was like so:
First Team
DL: DE Joe Jackson, DT Gerald Willis III, DT Patrick Bethel, DE Jon Garvin
LB: SAM Zach McCloud, MIKE Shaquille Quarterman, WILL Michael Pinckney
DB: CB Michael Jackson, S Jaquan Johnson, S Sheldrick Redwine, CB Trajan Bandy
Second Team
DL: DE Gregory Rousseau, DT Jonathan Ford, DT Tito Odenigbo, DE Demetrius Jackson
LB: Striker Derrick Smith/Romeo Finley, MLB Mike Smith/BJ Jennings, WILL Waynmon Steed
DB: CB Jhavonte Dean, S Robert Knowles, S Amari Carter, CB Gilbert Frierson/DJ Ivey
**Striker Derrick Smith worked in some reps with the first team, replacing McCloud. BJ Jennings also got some work with the second team LB's, replacing Mike Smith at MIKE. Frierson and Ivey switched off at second team corner, along with Jhavonte Dean.
**The QB rotation was essentially the same as when spring ended. When Cade Weldon was out for a part of spring with an eye infection, Jarren Williams was temporarily elevated to QB3, but Weldon slotted back in ahead of him when he returned. We were looking to see if Williams had jumped Weldon over the summer, but that was not the case today.
Quarterback
1st Team: Malik Rosier
2nd Team: N'Kosi Perry
3rd Team: Cade Weldon
4th Team: Jarren Williams
**Performance-wise, I thought the QB's overall looked pretty good today: confident, accurate, and stepping into their throws. There didn't seem to be any first day jitters like there was for the first day of spring earlier in the year, when the QB's were wild and seemed to be missing on every other throw. This was a problem I noticed specifically for N'Kosi Perry in the past and he seemed much more focused today. Routes were skinny post, bubble screen, curls, and out routes to the sidelines
**No changes at running back either. Freshman FB Realus George began with the third team.
Running back
1st team: Travis Homer
2nd team: Deejay Dallas
3rd team: Lorenzo Lingard
4th team: Robert Burns
Fullback
1st team: Trayone Gray
2nd team: Michael Parrott
3rd team: Realus George
Wide Receiver 1
1st team: Ahmmon Richards
2nd team: Darrell Langham
3rd team: Evidence Njoku
Wide Receiver 2
1st team: Lawrence Cager
2nd team: Brian Hightower
3rd team: Mark Pope
Slot
1st team: Jeff Thomas
2nd team: Mike Harley
**Ahmmon Richards was the first receiver to run a route in single receiver drills today. Richards looks fully healthy coming off knee surgery in the fall and was running very smooth out there. He looks 100% and primed for a big bounce-back season.
**Freshman WR Mark Pope made the catch of the day in early drills, snagging a low throw behind him off the turf, keeping his balance, and finishing the play.
Tight Ends
1st team: Michael Irvin
2nd team: Brian Polendey
3rd team: Brevin Jordan
4th team: Will Mallory
**TE's were another position group that looked better as a whole; if you remember in spring they were plagued by consistent drops. Much less of that today and it helps when your #3 isn't a walk-on and your #4 isn't a ball boy. Jordan and Mallory looked quick and efficient with their routes and neither dropped a pass that I saw. Jordan in particular had a great play on a seam route/skinny post and the ball was slightly overthrown; he skied to make the catch, came down with it, and ran through the endzone. However, coach Hartley got slightly animated at Jordan on one rep for not breaking off his route crisp enough, and made him run the drill over again.
**The offensive line was simply doing basic workouts and drills, but here's how they lined up:
Offensive Line
RT
1st team: Navaughn Donaldson
2nd team: Zalon'tae Hillery
RG
1st team: Hayden Mahoney
2nd team: Venzell Boulware
C
1st team: Tyler Gauthier
2nd team: Corey Gaynor
LG
1st team: Jahair Jones
2nd team: Delone Scaife
LT
1st team: Tyree St. Louis
2nd team: George Brown
**Unlike in spring when the team started every practice that I attended in the striker package, today the defense began drills in the traditional 4-3 base. The first team and second team was like so:
First Team
DL: DE Joe Jackson, DT Gerald Willis III, DT Patrick Bethel, DE Jon Garvin
LB: SAM Zach McCloud, MIKE Shaquille Quarterman, WILL Michael Pinckney
DB: CB Michael Jackson, S Jaquan Johnson, S Sheldrick Redwine, CB Trajan Bandy
Second Team
DL: DE Gregory Rousseau, DT Jonathan Ford, DT Tito Odenigbo, DE Demetrius Jackson
LB: Striker Derrick Smith/Romeo Finley, MLB Mike Smith/BJ Jennings, WILL Waynmon Steed
DB: CB Jhavonte Dean, S Robert Knowles, S Amari Carter, CB Gilbert Frierson/DJ Ivey
**Striker Derrick Smith worked in some reps with the first team, replacing McCloud. BJ Jennings also got some work with the second team LB's, replacing Mike Smith at MIKE. Frierson and Ivey switched off at second team corner, along with Jhavonte Dean.
