Canes

"Grading the Canes in 2009"

Feb 16, 2010

The Canes finished their 2009 season with a 9-4 record after falling to Wisconsin 20-14 in the Champs Sports Bowl.  Miami players emphasized that they wanted to get 10 wins so that they could carry that momentum into next season.  How much will not getting win number 10 hurt them.. if at all?  I'll examine that in my next and final blog of the season.  But for today.. I'm passing out report cards for every part of this year's team.  Now kids remember.. have your parents sign these and then send them back here to school.

QUARTERBACK- Sophomore Jacory Harris played like a Heisman Trophy candidate during the first month of the season and then quickly came back down to earth in the weeks that followed.  No doubt Jacory is the answer at quarterback for UM but his inability to learn from his mistakes was a little troubling.  He's been saying for the last month that 7 of his interceptions this season happened on the same misread and on the same play but against different opponents. Harris is a very smart kid but to see the same play over and over and continue to make the same forced pass.. is only one of the many signs that his developement hit a wall this season.  You can't pile on a kid too much who threw for over 3,300 yards and 24 touchdowns this season.. and he did it with an elbow injury suffered against Florida State and then an even worse thumb injury suffered against North Carolina that still bothers him as you're reading this.  B-

RUNNING BACKS- When the Canes started the year.. the talk in the backfield was all about Javarris James and Graig Cooper but by season's end.. the Big Man On Campus was Damien Berry.  In only 9 games.. Berry nearly became Miami's leading rusher on the season racking up over 616 yards on 93 carries for a sizzlin average of 6.6 yards every time he touched the ball.  For good measure he led the UM running back fraternity in 2009 with 8 touchdowns.  Graig Cooper put up over 800 yards of total offense to go with 5 touchdowns and had his carries somewhat reduced once he took over kick return duties.  Javarris James.. once again.. has the type of season where he made an impact in certain games and was merely a cheerleader in uniform in others.  In the end he put up over 600 yards of total offense and scored 6 touchdowns.  Collectively I feel that this was the Canes most productive unit on offense and thats despite the fact that Miami Offensive Coordinator Mark Whipple got a little pass happy during the last month of the season.  Quite frankly these guys had the ability to make an even bigger impact on this team but the offensive play calling wouldn't allow it.  B+

RECEIVERS- This was unquestionably the sexy position for the Canes going into 2009 but by season's end.. they were nothing more that cute.. if you're judging a beauty contest.  Leonard Hankerson found his game this season and pulled in 800 yards receiving to go with 6 touchdowns.  Sure Hank had a drop here and a drop there but for the most part.. he ramped his game up to where Miami really benefited from his improvement.  Travis Benjamin's numbers are good with 500 yards receiving and 4 touchdowns.. the only problem is that it feels like all of those stats came over 4 games.  Benjamin's disappearance in the rest of the games symbolizes how I feel about what the Canes receivers, as a group, did this season.  They made plays here and there but more often than not.. they went silent into the night.. or afternoon if it was a day game.  LaRon Byrd.. Aldarius Johnson and Thearon Collier are all capable of making big plays but all three of them registered only a touchdown a piece in 2009.  C+

TIGHT ENDS- Truthfully I didn't know what to expect at this position in 2009.  My mind embraced the idea that Jimmy Graham could be a suprise and but I had to see a few games first.  Congratulations to both Jimmy Graham and Tervaris Johnson for a fairly productive season.  Jimmy had 17 catches and scored 5 touchdowns and Tervaris was the player that most coaches and players pointed to that always does his assignment on every snap.   On numerous occasions this year.. either Coach Shannon or Jacory Harris singled out a block or a route that Johnson carried out that led to a Canes touchdown.  The good news.. the tight ends were an asset for Miami.  The bad news.. they're all seniors.  B 

OFFENSIVE LINE- This is probably the hardest grade that I have to give out because Jason Fox and AJ Trump are two of the nicest guys that I've ever met and interviewed in all of my years of covering college football.  But even they will tell you that allowing their quarterback to get sacked 34 times in 2009 is not acceptable.  Granted that some sacks can be traced to receivers not getting open quick enough or Jacory holding on to the ball too long but in this case.. if you were watching the Canes this season than you know that the offensive line let him down in too many big spots.  I expected a front line with three seniors and Orlando Franklin at left guard to be more productive and far too often we saw them scratching their heads while Harris pealed his body out from under a mountain of defenders.  C-

DEFENSIVE LINE- Truth be told.. injuries killed this unit right from the beginning.  From Adewale Ojomo to Eric Moncur to Marcus Forston.. the Canes defensive line looked more like a MASH unit than a front line of defense.  Allen Bailey and Olivier Vernon stood out in 2009 and although as a group they weren't dominant.. Clint Hurtt's bunch held it together all things considered.  C+

LINEBACKERS- Sean Spence.. Colin McCarthy and Darryl Sharpton led the way this year as the most consistent (by default) part of the Canes defense.  Spence didn't register the numbers and was hobbled by injuries but still made his share of plays.  McCarthy and Sharpton were all over the field in 2009 when it came to run defense but on pass defense the unit as a whole was average at best.  B-

SECONDARY- Two thoughts come to mind quickly when I think of this unit.. Brandon Harris (barring an injury) is a guaranteed superstar in the making and the fact that converted receiver Sam Shields was one the Canes best options (with DeMarcus Van Dyke) opposite Harris for most of the season.. shows you how much work UM's group of corners needs.  As far as safeties go.. I love Randy Phillips and his energy but this was by far Miami's weakest unit on defense this past season.  Vaughn Telemaque and Ray Ray Armstrong have bright futures in Coral Gables but we're talking about 2009 and as a group.. aside from Brandon Harris.. this unit was scorched far too many times and in every which way possible.  Great guys but too many blown assignments and missed tackles.  D

SPECIAL TEAMS- Matt Bosher had another consistent year as both place kicker and punter and Graig Cooper provided the "jolt" in the return game.  The Play of the Year was Thearon Collier's punt return for a touchdown against Virginia.  On the flip side.. the Canes gave up a few costly blocked punts and their kick coverage was average at best.  B-

COACHING- Let me make this very clear from the start.. the longer John Lovett and Mark Whipple stay at UM.. the better the football program will be.  There's no question that the players love these two guys and believe in their systems.  Starting with Lovett.. he was dealt some bad cards with injuries to the unit as a whole this year and patched things up fairly well.  The down side with him was that in certain games.. I didn't see good adjustments and it cost them.  At Virginia tech.. the defense never looked prepared.  Against Clemson.. it felt that like he was guessing wrong the whole second half. 

Up next Mark Whipple.. a guy who's brilliance should never be questioned but his logic at times absolutely should.  Look.. I'm not privy to game tape so when coaches spend the week looking at opponents and figuring out their weaknesses.. thats something that I don't get to see.  So I understand developing strategy based on what you see on tape but what about looking at common sense once in a while also.  Your quarterback has a damaged hand.. an average offensive line and he's forcing the same throws every week.  When you process that and factor in that Graig Cooper.. Javarris James and Damien Berry were starving to perform Operation Smashmouth.. you've got to get them the ball more.  A good or even decent running game both sets up your passing game and also protects your (injured) quarterback.  But Whipple was set in his ways with PASS THE BALL.. PASS THE BALL.. PASS THE BALL and I think it really cost this team in important games.  Againt North Carolina.. Jacory Harris threw the ball 50 times and that's the actual game where he injured the thumb on his throwing hand.  In that same game.. Miami's running backs only saw the ball 21 times and the longest run of the day came from Matt Bosher on a fake punt.  In the Duke game.. which was Senior Day at Land Shark Stadium.. Whipple had Jacory throw the ball 28 times in the first half alone.  Meanwhile.. with their families sitting in the stands.. seniors Jason Fox.. AJ Trump and Matt Piphio told me they wanted to go out by pounding the Blue Devils on the ground and in the first half UM running backs only carried the ball 15 times while their quarterback continued to struggle with an interception and a fumble.  Miami trailed that game 13-10 at the half until they came out and ran the ball in the second half with Damien Berry.  Jacory Harris is not former Whipple students Ben Roethlisberger or Donovan McNabb.  He doesn't have the experience or the time from the offensive line to perform like those two superstars.  But he does have the ability to make plays when opponents are seeing the Hurricane running backs have at least a little bit of success running the ball. 

Finally Randy Shannon.  We saw some bad examples of clock managment in 2009 but for the most part.. I thought Randy did a pretty good job of leading this team and more importantly trusting his assistants.  Go back and look at Randy the last two seasons and he has the appearance of a man who was worried about too many facets of his team in one single football game.  Patrick Nix alone gave him fits last season.  But this year.. we saw Shannon step away from the time-out huddle at times and count on his assistants to put his players in the right position.  The chemistry experiment between Randy.. Lovett and Whipple is off to a pretty good start but I think the coordinators need to do a better job of making adjustments and maybe more importantly.. using a little bit of logic in their play calls.  B-