The Hurricanes had their first 5:45 a.m. practice Thursday under the lights at Mark Light Field, home of the baseball team. Because of the threat of afternoon thunderstorms, coach Randy Shannon chose to move almost all practices through September to the early morning sessions.

``It was good,'' Shannon said. ``No slack-off, guys with enthusiasm. It was focused.''

Safety Randy Phillips said he woke up at 4:45 a.m. and enjoyed the session.

``It's great to come out real early and see the guys respond, playing football when everyone else is asleep. Coach Shannon is kind of an early bird. He likes to get it out of the way so he can feel good the rest of the day.

``He's just keeping us disciplined, keeping us away from the nightlife so we can focus in on football and our school.''

HIGHSMITH GETS MORE WORK

With quarterbacks Cannon Smith and Taylor Cook departed, new backup A.J. Highsmith is getting more repetitions before the Sept. 7 opener at Florida State.

``He does a lot of good things,'' Shannon said. ``Still, he made some mistakes.

``But that's the learning curve, which is something he has to overcome. But then you see him do some great plays, so it was really upbeat.''