Miami Hurricanes Finish Spring Practice With Final Scrimmage
The Miami Hurricanes finished spring practice with their third and final scrimmage of the season at Boca Raton High School. The scrimmage was a homecoming for Miami Head Coach Mark Richt.
Returning to his hometown was important to Richt. The second year boss of the Hurricanes has made a lot of inroads in recruiting in less than 18 months on the job. Miami has commitments from 11 players in the class of 2018 that come from Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties.
Miami held the first two scrimmages on campus at the Greentree Practice Fields. The Hurricanes were not able to have a full-fledged spring game at their in-season home Hard Rock Stadium.
The Rock is undergoing renovations that make it unavailable. Miami held last year’s spring game at Lockheart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. The scrimmage was not open to the public.,
Miami held last year’s spring game at Lockheart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. The scrimmage was not open to the public.,
Richt was a star Quarterback at Boca Raton High School before playing collegiately at Miami. He was primarily a backup with the Hurricanes. One of his teammates was future Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly.
Richt discussed how he felt being back at Boca:
"“It was very nice to be here at Boca Raton Community High School, home of the fighting Bobcats…I had some wonderful moments out here as a player. Great team. As a matter of fact, I ran into about four or five teammates before the game today and we all looked a little bit different. But everybody has got the same smile, same friendship, same bonds, so that was a blessing to see all those guys. You know, today I mean it was a good day in that you got to learn so much. There was a lot of plays that were made, a lot of plays that could have been made offensively. Defense early on was dominant and then before you know it they are giving up some big plays here and there, which we can’t do. We have to keep our focus the whole time.”"
Miami broke the teams down into White and Orange teams. The White came from behind to earn a 24-16 victory.
The Orange opened the scoring on a 27-yard field goal from rising senior Michael Badgley. That punctuated a 63-yard, nine play drive. The Orange extended the lead to nine on a Malik Rosier to Christopher Herndon IV 23-yard touchdown pass.
Malek Young sparked the White comeback with his second spectacular play this spring. He made an acrobatic end-zone interception last week. Young jumped a sideline route and returned the INT 72-yards for a touchdown. The rising sophomore also had five tackles and another interception.
Rising Junior linebacker Charles Perry and Young’s classmate, safety Romeo Finley also had interceptions on Saturday.
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Young discussed his interceptions:
"“The one that I scored, we were in zone… I was reading the quarterback. He took two steps and threw it and I broke on the ball. The other one, we were in man and I was reading the quarterback also and I undercut it and broke on the ball.”"
Two players that will be fighting for playing time were also impressive on Saturday. Quarterback Jack Allison was back after injuring his shoulder earlier this spring. Allison threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Langham to cap the first half with the White team leading 14-9 at the break.
Langham who hasn’t played much in his first three seasons with Miami (he redshirted as a freshman) discussed what he needed to do this spring:
"“I felt like this spring I had to really push myself to do better and actually explode this year…I have to do more.”"
Langham later connected with freshman Quarterback Cade Weldon for his second score of the afternoon. The four-yard touchdown reception put the White up 24-9.
Rising sophomore Ahmmon Richards stated the case for Langham to get more playing time this fall.
"“Langham is a bully on the field, honestly…Any 50-50 ball, he is going to come down with it. He made a huge jump and he is going to surprise everyone this year.”"
Richards later added his own highlight play to help the Orange squad narrow the score. The freshman All-American hauled in a 72-yard score from Rosier to cut the deficit to 24-16.
Richards discussed his future goals:
"“I’m just trying to go out every day and try to be better…I am not letting all that stuff go to my head like people telling me, ‘You had a great season.’ I just try to go out there and just work.”"
Many expect the defense to be the strength of the Hurricanes this fall. Saturday’s scrimmage illustrated why.
Freshman defensive back Amari Carter’s ten tackles was the scrimmage’s high mark. Linebacker Shaquille Quarterman and defensive back Sheldrick Redwine shared the lead for the White team with seven tackles.
Former tight end Pat Bethel also played well defensively with 1.5 sacks for the Orange. Kendrick Norton led the White with four tackles and a sack.
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With spring practice concluded it’s now up to the players to work on their own games. Getting in the weight room for many of the players will be the priority. For others, it will be refining their games and getting their bodies into better playing shape. The Hurricanes will report to training camp in about three months.