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Coral Gables, FL– Flying high off of their blowout victory Saturday over Florida A&M, the University of Miami team is pleased but tempered knowing they have tougher opponents to look forward to on their schedule. The bar will be raised slightly again this Saturday as they face Florida Atlantic at home.
Because of their performance and previous standing at No. 26 in the AP poll, Miami moved into the nation’s Top 25 college football teams in Division one this week, debuting at No. 25.
The Hurricanes are ranked in the AP top 25 for the first time since Nov. 16, 2013, when the team was ranked No. 23.
Here are the notes and quotes from Tuesday’s practice:
On the injury front Miami lost a linebacker during the Florida A&M game hurting depth at that position even more. Jamie Gordinier was lost for the season according to Miami because “he suffered a knee injury yesterday during the Hurricanes’ season opener.”
Richt said of Gordinier’s season ending injury that “it was sad.” He went on to add “anytime a guy gets hurt and can’t play the rest of the season…it’s heartbreaking for those guys.”
Coach Richt also talked about how also puts pressure on the rest of the team. “We’ve lost depth across the board on defense and on special teams. We hurt when guys get hurt. We know it’s part of the game. Guys have to rise up. Even that, it puts pressure on your second team, it puts pressure on your scout team, it puts pressure on your special teams. The more attrition you have, the tougher it is for everybody to stay healthy.”
Also battling through injury is DE Trent Harris who played limited snaps on Saturday with a visible club appendage on this hand.
Preview of FAU by Coach Mark Richt:
“We’re getting ready for Game 2. We’re not ready for it, but we had a good practice this morning. Tuesdays are typically the tougher day of the week – full pads, lots of run game, play-action pass, things like that on a day like today. We did a good job. I thought the first half of practice was actually very good. I thought the second half of practice, we started to break down a little bit, a little bit similar to our ballgame [against Florida A&M], when it came to penalties. We had one penalty in the first half, maybe five or so in the second half or whatever it was. I think we, to a slight degree, lost a little focus in the second half of practice. We have to get better doing that.
“We’re getting ready to play the Owls of Florida Atlantic. Coach Partridge is doing a wonderful job. You just look at the tape to see – guys playing hard, playing physical, their defense is very, very stout. They’re very tough up front. Good run-stoppers. They don’t play a lot of one high safety looks, where some safeties in the box are being a free hitter. They try to hold up with the front seven. They have a safety near the box, but he’s not as close as somebody people put him because they are strong at the point of attack.”
“Trey Hendrickson is their returning starter who was No. 2 in the country in sacks – 13.5 sacks last year. Very physical against the run, too. Most pass-rushers are that – they’re pass-rushing specialists – but he’s not. He is an outstanding pass-rusher obviously from his stats, but he’s also very strong against the run.
“I think it’s [Azeez] Al-Shaair, No. 2, their linebacker – he was a freshman starter a year ago, played extremely well last year and you can see him already, I think he had 10 tackles in the first game. Very productive guy. Their safety No. 18 Young is a very physical guy and the leading returning tackler of the guys on the perimeter. Lot of inexperience behind him and alongside him.
“Offensively, they go about as fast as a team can go. They do a really good job of getting a lot of plays. We’re going to have to communicate very quickly to our defense, get lined up quickly and be ready to play ball. Their punter, Dalton Schomp, had 22 kicks over 60 yards last year. I think he led the nation in yards, average per punt – I think it was around 48 per punt. That’s amazing. He really can boom it, so it will be interesting to see how that goes. We’re looking forward to a great challenge. We know they’ll be ready. We’re working hard to make sure that we’re ready as well.”
