Miami football team holds first practice at Sofer Indoor Practice Facility.

The Miami football team held their first practice at the Soffer Indoor practice facility on Friday morning. The Hurricanes were not driven inside because of weather. The Miami football team used that as a special occasion to hold their inaugural practice at the Soffer.

Miami Athletic Director Blake James told reporters on Monday that the school received a temporary certificate of authenticity to use the building according to Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald. The Miami football team was excited to be able to use the Sofer Indoor Practice Facility.

Carol Soffer was among several high-level donors that attended the first practice at the facility in her name according to Christy Cabrera Chirinos of the Sun Sentinel. Cabrera Chirinos also observed that the Hurricanes practiced in shorts, jerseys and helmets but went without pads.

The practice is the Miami football team’s last one before they hold their second of three scrimmages during training camp on Saturday. Saturday’s practice will likely be the last one for players to move up on the depth chart. Head Coach Mark Richt has said he wants the last scrimmage to prepare for LSU.

The official Miami Hurricanes Twitter account Tweeted that it is “A monumental Day for Hurricanes Football.”  James sent out his own Tweet thanking “Thank you to all who made this possible…..but we are not done yet. We still need your support.” James gave a lengthier statement to Associated Press, the Sun-Sentinel and the Post.

"“It’s a great day for the University of Miami, for our athletic program, for the young men in our program, [and] for all the people who have a passion and want to see us win ACC and national championshipsThis was a piece of the puzzle that was missing for us and one we knew we needed to get in place. Thanks to the support of, obviously, the Soffer family and so many, to the great work of the contractors, campus, city of Coral Gables and the commission.Everyone really bought in and supported and recognized what a need this was for our program. That’s why we’re here in relatively a short window and I couldn’t be happier for our guys.”"

The official Miami football Twitter account @CanesFootball sent out a trio of Tweets with video and photos of the players using the new Soffer Indoor Practice Facility.

The Hurricanes have permits to practice at the Soffer but construction is not completed yet. Miller Degnan reported that James said the school will hold the grand opening for the facility on October 11.

The facility is a literal game changer for the Miami football program and other Hurricanes sports teams that are forced to cut practice short because of inclement weather.

The most common cause of that is lightning. When lightning is detected the team is forced inside for 30 minutes. Every time lightning occurs after that the 30-minute wait restarts.

The Soffer is air conditioned, has an 80-yard field and 40-yard field. Miami football Head Coach Mark Richt’s office will be under the 40-yard field.

The groundbreaking for the Soffer was on May 4, 2017, at the Greentree Practice Field. The facility is 83,000 square feet and costs $34 million to build.

The Athletic Department raised the amount to build the facility through private donations. According to James they have exceeded that amount and are now up to $36 million in donations for the facility.

The most recent announced donation towards the Soffer Facility was from alumnus Robert Finizio for $3 million. The practice fields at the Soffer will be named the “Robert Finizio Family Field.”

The Finizio’s donation was the second largest towards the Soffer Indoor Practice facility according to Miami Senior Associate Athletics Director Jesse Marks per the Post.

The media was allotted their usual 15 minutes of time to view practice on Friday. Photos and video were not allowed inside the Soffer by the media. The Hurricanes official website HurricaneSports.Com and their Twitter account @MiamiHurricanes posted several pictures and video to honor the occasion.

The Soffer practice fields are turf. The fields outside at Greentree are natural grass.

Once completed the entire facility will also have the Miami football coaches offices, a 30,000 square foot operations center for the entire athletic program, a recruiting suite and according to Marks “A state of the art self-enclosed office space for football.”

Special thanks to Cabrera Chirinos, Chaing and Miller Degnan for the great information in the Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach Post and Miami Herald contained in this article.