Miami Hurricanes bringing some players back this week for important step
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Tuesday:
▪ UM, which is fully intent on playing its football season as scheduled, has summoned at least some players to campus Thursday to take a physical examination, according to a source. That’s the first step toward integrating them back after being off campus for more than two months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
At least some players who are currently in South Florida are being asked to report for physicals Thursday. That will allow UM officials to make sure they are healthy and have not sustained any injuries or health setbacks while they have been away.
And by getting updated weight numbers on their players, UM coaches will know what players have stayed in shape during the pandemic and will be able to tell players what they need to gain or lose to reach their target weight.
UM athletic director Blake James told the Miami Herald on Tuesday: “We are working with campus on a plan that will allow guys to start returning to campus in June and July with the idea that they will be ready for fall camp and our scheduled season opener Sept 5.
“The timeline and process will not be the same for every guy. With that said, I do believe that part of the plan has certain guys receiving physicals this week.”
Players who are currently living outside South Florida are not being brought back for physicals this week, according to a source. UM players coming off injuries were permitted to return to campus last week, a group that includes safety Bubba Bolden and linebackers Bradley Jennings Jr. and Waynmon Steed, among others.
Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford on Tuesday told Mike Tirico on Tirico’s NBC-SN program that “it’s likely that if half or more of our schools can play and want to play, we would make every effort to do that. You hope you are not in that situation with our league. We’re in 10 different states. We have states that could prohibit competition.”
Meanwhile, Iowa State on Tuesday became the first Power 5 school to announce a definitive attendance policy for this season. The school said capacity at Jack Trice Stadium will be cut from 61,500 to 30,000 this season in accordance with social distancing guidelines.
UM president Julio Frenk said on CNN last week that games “probably” would be held without fans, but left the door open to having some fans at games in a subsequent interview with NBC-6.
▪ So are UM defensive ends Quincy Roche and Greg Rousseau the best 1-2 defensive punch in the nation?
Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney says yes:
“Rousseau and Roche will be the most dominant 1-2 defensive punch in college football, and it should make the Hurricanes’ defense even nastier than before,” Gorney said. “Being on the field at the same time is going to overwhelm opponents as both defensive linemen should be living in the backfield.”
Rivals national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said Rousseau/Roche “is a dynamic duo for sure and probably the best set of bookends in college football. But for overall defensive impact give me Christian Barmore and Dylan Moses at Alabama.”
▪ With UM target and four-star Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas linebacker Jayden Hood committing to Michigan this week, the Canes still need to add one or two quality linebackers to join 2021 nonbinding commitments Tyler Johnson (Miami Killian) and Ja’Corey Hammett (Miami Northwestern).
Among their targets: Orlando Edgewater’s three-star DeShawn Troutman, St. Thomas Aquinas’ four-star Dallas Turner and Brooklyn-based two-star Sebastian Sager.
Miami has a pretty good chance to land Troutman, who had 89 tackles last season and has drawn interest from FSU and West Virginia.
Turner has said Georgia is atop his list. Sager is interested in Miami.
▪ What’s the merchandise item that Canes fans apparently want more than anything? Hurricanes masks and face coverings.
Harry Rothwell, who owns All-Canes in Coral Gables, has received hundreds of requests and hopes to get the licensed masks in his shop in the coming weeks.
College merchandise stores are among thousands of businesses that have suffered during the pandemic. Rothwell has sold a dozen to two dozen jerseys during the past three months, less than usual, and the shipment of 2020 jerseys has been slowed because Adidas factories were closed due to COVID-19.
If only a limited number of fans — or no fans at all — are permitted at Canes football games, then that would result in much lower merchandise sales, Rothwell said. He hopes fans will still buy things to wear — or hold — when they get together at homes of friends or family to watch Canes games.
Rothwell’s store reopened last week, but not every South Florida college merchandise story is as fortunate. Rothwell was told an FAU merchandise store near the Owls’ Boca Raton campus shut down permanently, an economic victim of the pandemic.
▪ Per Fox, UM is the university responsible for the most NFL snaps from 2006 to 2019, with 285,455. Here’s the top five:
(1) The U — 285,455
(2) LSU — 278,907
(3) Ohio State — 264,790
(4) Georgia — 256,748
(5) Southern Cal — 245,738
▪ Four-star prospect Jalen Harrell will play safety at UM, he told Canesport.
Harrell, who has signed with UM but hasn’t yet enrolled, has the ability to play striker, safety or cornerback, but the Canes want to look at him at safety for now, with striker also a possibility down the road.
Incoming freshman Brian Balom also is expected to play safety.
That means there are two scholarship strikers on the roster: Gilbert Frierson and Keontra Smith. If one is injured or ineffective, UM could move Harrell or Balom there.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 12:57 PM.
