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Miami Gardens, FL— The Miami Hurricanes are just a few days from opening up against the Florida A&M Rattlers this Saturday in the opening game in Hard Rock Stadium. After practice today, head coach Mark Richt gave an update on where the team is in preparations.
Opening Statement…
“We had a Thursday practice today. In the course of the season, today was kind of the dress rehearsal day – trying to cover all the kicking situations that have to happen, offense, defense, all that stuff. We get a chance to do it again tomorrow because we’re ahead of schedule, that’s a typical thing going out of camp. Not a whole lot of drama. We do a little one-minute offense in the pass scale or seven-on-seven format, just to get used to moving the ball down the field and getting into situations, and, quite frankly, more practice for me to call that type of situation in a ballgame. We actually finished up one with what we call ‘mayday’ – where the field goal team has to run off the sideline without a timeout, getting lined up and kick it. We did a good job of that. Little things like that, we’re covering. It was a good day.”
On if he expects defensive linemen Trent Harris and Anthony Moten to play Saturday…
“There’s a chance for both. One is more likely than the other. There’s a chance of neither, but I think at least one will play. I’m not sure. How sore is a guy? How much is it bothering him? If it’s bothering him to a point where he can’t function well, he won’t go. If he feels good enough, he will. If he feels bad today, maybe he feels good tomorrow or maybe he feels good Friday. I’ll be honest with you – if one of them felt good Saturday morning, I’d probably have them at least dressed and ready to play.”
On wrapping up a hand injury…
“Normally you can. Normally any time with a hand fracture or hand issue, you can usually club them up and play. That’s a possibility.”
On if a hand injury would affect a player’s ability to tackle effectively…
“I don’t know. If you wrap a guy real good with your arms, and use your arms to tackle, you have teammates to help – it’s not ideal, but it’s better than playing a guy that isn’t as ready as him.”
On if he has seen defensive players step up in light of the recent dismissals…
“I see effort every day. I really do. Everybody is working hard every day. I don’t think I can sit there and go, ‘Wow, they’re working hard.’ If they’re working harder now, that’s a bad sign to me. They should have been working as hard as they can all along.”
On if he is expecting a breakout year from defensive end Chad Thomas…
“I don’t know what a ‘breakout year’ means, but I expect him to play hard every down and play the technique we ask him to. Usually guys that play really hard, plays come to them. I do expect him to play well.”
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