Miami Hurricanes Football: Al Golden Addresses The Media To Start Off The Season

On Monday morning, Canes coach Al Golden took the podium for the first time, and officially kicking off the 2014 football season. With camp starting off Tuesday afternoon, the local media took to ask Golden some important questions surrounding the problems and the depth of the 2014 Hurricanes team.

We try and take a look at some of the quotes that were produced during Monday’s presser.

This has been a hot topic for the most part of the summer amongst Canes social media. The future of Trayone Gray has been in doubt ever since he signed his national letter of intent back in February. Despite a lot of doubt early on in the process, it appears that Gray will get the requirements done and join the team this week. Coach Golden added that he expects to have both Gray and Darrell Langham with the team  “tomorrow”, which is interesting considering Gray told someone on his Instagram that he will be arriving the 6th. This remains a wait-and-see process, but adding both of these guys would be a huge win for Miami.

I don’t think it’s any surprise that Golden mentioned these two guys as players who can have a big impact. After the unfortunate events that led to Alex Figueroa and JaWand Blue getting kicked off the team, Miami will be looking for guys to fill those roles. Jermaine Grace is a super talented kid out of Miramar that is going to have to step up, even if he’s a little under weight. I believe he’s one of three sophomores that will have a bigger impact this season. Darrion Owens is a guy that enrolled early so he should be ahead of the curve in terms of being a freshman. As Golden also noted on Monday, the depth of the linebacker position got weakened by the dismissals, but he’s hoping that these two guys can help fill out the needs.

If the Canes defense is going to have any success this year, one or two of these guys are going to have to make a big impact. Chad Thomas is the highly regarded player, and the expectations for Michael Wyche are high because he looks like a monster. One thing is for sure, though, and that’s the fact that these four guys provide a lot more depth for the Canes.

This is great news, and a little interesting. Chickillo, Perryman and Gunter being vocal leaders should be expected as their all heading into their senior season, but the Jamal Carter mention is extremely encouraging. Carter, in my opinion, has the tools to be the best safety on the team and he was quoted saying that he didn’t fully know the playbook his freshman year. Now heading into his second season, he’s bigger, smarter, and according to Al Golden — he’s a team leader. All those attributes point to a huge year for the sophomore safety.

This is probably good news, but I’m sure the fans just want to see these guys able to wrap up and bring a guy down for a tackle. If the Virginia Tech game happens again, people might riot.

For more updates on the press conference, check out @CanesFootball on Twitter.