Dwayne Hendricks is an inside player who is going to be a real good player as far as helping us inside.  He has a chance to be able to compete and to be able to do the things that we want to be able to get done.




(giants.com)

Arkansas Twisters: OL/DL Vegas Franklin 6'2 240

Corpus Christi Sharks Roster: OL/DL, Adrian Wilson 6'3 305

Stockton Lightning: WR/LB, Carl Walker 6'3 215

Peoria Pirates: OL/DL, Brad Kunz, 6'7 315

Florida Firecats: WR, Magic Benton 6' 1" 205

Former Whitney Young star Russell Maryland is teaming together with Bears tight end Greg Olsen to support a scholarship fundraiser for their school--the University of Miami.

Maryland will be honored at a dinner May 28 at the Metropolitan Club at Sears Tower in the 11th annual Chicago Scholarship Classic. Olsen is scheduled to appear along with Miami head coach Randy Shannon, other members of his staff and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Ted Hendricks. The event will be emceed by Bryan Dolgin of WMVP AM-1000. He is a 1997 graduate of the school. A golf outing will follow May 29 at Oakbrook Country Club in Oak Brook at 1 p.m.

For more information and tickets visit www.chicago-canes.org.

(suntimes.com)

Pick 14 Jim Kelly  |  QB, Bills, 1983
The Bills drafted him in the great QB class of '83 but had to wait until '86 to get him, since he took a detour to the USFL. But when Kelly arrived in Buffalo, he was the consummate leader, taking the Bills to four Super Bowls.

Pick 24 Ed Reed  |  S, Ravens, 2002
Reed is almost unanimously considered one of the best defensive backs of the decade. He has been selected to five Pro Bowls and twice led the league in interceptions. He was named the 2004 Defensive Player of the Year and holds the record for the longest interception return in NFL history (108 yards in 2008). Reed was the fourth defensive back chosen in '02.

Pick 26 Ray Lewis  |  LB, Ravens, 1996
He has been the centerpiece of one of the greatest defenses in NFL history and five times led the league in tackles. A 10-time Pro Bowler and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Lewis is known for his vocal leadership and his outstanding speed to the ball. Steelers' offensive lineman Alan Faneca would have been a good pick in this spot as well, but Lewis' astonishing resume of awards and decorations gives him the edge.

Pick 30 Reggie Wayne  |  WR, Colts, 2001
Since 2004, Reggie Wayne has become one of the most prolific and consistent receivers in the NFL, which is why he gets the slight nod over Titans' linebacker Keith Bullock. In the past five seasons, Wayne has logged over 75 receptions, 1,000 yards and five touchdowns five times while not missing a single game and being named to three Pro Bowls. Wayne played a pivotal role in the Colts' 2006 Super Bowl run and usurped Marvin Harrison as Peyton's No. 1 receiver when Harrison went down with an injury in 2007.

(cnnsi.com)

University of Miami football great Gino Torretta had two of his biggest thrills Thursday in New York, as he was named one of the newest members of the College Football Hall of Fame and then got to officially open the NASDAQ stock market in Times Square.

Torretta, 38, is a former quarterback who led the Hurricanes to the 1991 national championship and won the Heisman Trophy -- college football's most coveted award -- in 1992. He is one of UM's most decorated football players, having won in 1992 the Maxwell Award (best overall player), Davey O'Brien Award (top quarterback) and Unitas Award (top senior quarterback). He also was a consensus All-American that year.

At 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Torretta -- flanked by National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame president and CEO Steve Hatchell and NASDAQ senior vice president Bob McCooey -- rang the NASDAQ stock market's opening bell in New York.

''It's a great honor to be here and to represent the University of Miami being the fourth inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame,'' Torretta said moments before signaling the start of the NASDAQ trading. ``Hopefully we have a few more in years to come.

``I want to thank all my teammates, my family and obviously all the coaches I had from Pop Warner all the way up. Thank you.''

Torretta finished his Miami career with 11 school passing records. He threw for 7,690 yards from 1989 through 1992. He lives in Coral Gables with his wife and 4-year-old daughter. He is the CEO of Touchdown Radio, a company that syndicates a college football game every week for national radio. He also is vice president for Institutional Sales with Gabelli Asset Management.

''It's pretty awesome,'' he said by phone after opening the market. ``Obviously with my background in finance, to ring the bell for NASDAQ is a pretty neat experience. You remember all your hard work over so many years. I've gotten some text messages from friends and family and [UM] president [Donna] Shalala called to congratulate me a few minutes after they rang the bell.''

UM head football coach Randy Shannon said in a statement released on the Hurricanes' website, ``This is a great honor for Gino. He contributed so much to the University of Miami football program as a student-athlete. He was a Heisman Trophy winner and a member of our 1989 and 1991 National Champion teams. He's one of the great players in Hurricane football history, and we appreciate The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame for recognizing him.''

The other UM players in the College Football Hall of Fame are running back Don Bosseler, defensive end Ted Hendricks and safety Bennie Blades. Former UM coaches Jack Harding and Andy Gustafson also are in the college Hall.

In addition to Torretta, the other new Hall players announced Thursday live on ESPNEWS television: Pervis Atkins, HB, New Mexico State (1958-60); Tim Brown, WR, Notre Dame (1984-87); Chuck Cecil, DB, Arizona (1984-87); Ed Dyas, FB, Auburn (1958-60); Major Harris, QB, West Virginia (1987-89); Gordon Hudson, TE, Brigham Young (1980-83); William Lewis, C, Harvard (1892-93); Woodrow Lowe, LB, Alabama (1972-75); Ken Margerum, WR, Stanford (1977-80); Steve McMichael, DT, Texas (1976-79); Chris Spielman, LB, Ohio State (1984-87); Larry Station, LB, Iowa (1982-85); Pat Swilling, DE, Georgia Tech (1982-85); Curt Warner, RB, Penn State (1979-82); and Grant Wistrom, DE, Nebraska (1994-97).

The new coaches announced Thursday were Dick MacPherson of Massachusetts and Syracuse; and John Robinson of Southern Cal and Nevada-Las Vegas.

Last November, Torretta also became one of five UM football greats announced as the newest members of the Ring of Honor during halftime of the game against Virginia Tech.

(miamiherald.com)

Some fans of proCanes.com asked us whether we had a copy of the “Unrestricted” magazine cover from the 2008 College Football season which featured the 7 University of Miami freshmen from Miami Northwestern. We kept a copy of the magazine and have posted the cover along with an inside spread for all of you to see. Click on the images below to enlarge them.

Signings among undrafted Canes: Antonio Dixon (Redskins), Bruce Johnson (Giants), Dwayne Hendricks (Giants). Tryouts this weekend: Chris Rutledge (Dolphins), Chris Zellner (Bucs), Anthony Reddick (Bears), Kayne Farquharson (Saints).


(miamiherald.com)

I think Michael Cunningham, "The Hater," went a little soft on the Hurricanes recent slide from relevance. The BIG problem at the U is talent development. It's not getting done anymore, on either side of the ball. Let's hope new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, who is rented from the NFL (he's going back when Bill Cowher finally takes a coaching job) can save the program, and Randy Shannon's job.

I know for a fact players go to Miami because it WAS the best pipeline to the NFL. When the pipe's shut off, and I think it has unless Eric Moncur, Colin McCarthy, Darryl Sharpton, Jason Fox, Javarris James, Graig Cooper, Dedrick Epps and Randy Phillips really turn it on next season, there will be no reason for prospects to look in UM's direction.

A LOT of programs have better facilities. Everyone is on TV these days. And if you have talent the NFL will find you, even at Coastal Carolina. The Hurricanes have to get back to coaching up their players. There once was a day when I watched players make drastic improvements from season to season, and it never stopped. Why doesn't that happen anymore? Bruce Johnson and Spencer Adkins, two Hurricanes that might be late-round picks on Sunday, are the same players they were their freshman year.

(sun-sentinel.com)

Not much activity so far for UM on the day after the NFL Draft.

The only player to land a free agent contract is defensive tackle Antonio Dixon, who signed with the Washington Redskins. The 6-foot-2, 325-pound Dixon had just 45 tackles and 2.5 sacks in his career, but has impressed scouts with his mobility. Dwayne Hendricks signed with the NY Giants as well.

Cornerbacks Bruce Johnson and Carlos Armour, receiver Kayne Farquharson, linebacker Glenn Cook and tackle Reggie Youngblood are among those still searching. Don't be surprised to see Johnson and Youngblood wind up with the New York Giants. Also, former troubled UM linebacker Willie Williams, who transferred after his freshman season, was picked up by the Green Bay Packers.

(sun-sentinel.com)

NEW YORK — Once the nation's foremost football factory, the University of Miami barely got a mention during this year's NFL draft.

The U's streak of 14 years with at least one first-round draft pick was snapped Saturday. Then Sunday came, and just how far the Hurricanes' talent-level has fallen since Butch Davis left for the NFL and handed the program to Larry Coker in 2001 was magnified.

The first and only Miami player drafted went in the sixth round. Linebacker Spencer Adkins was taken 176th overall by the Atlanta Falcons.

In fact, Miami, Ohio, had just as many players selected this year.

The previous time no Miami player was taken in the opening three rounds was 1986. For the record, the last time no Hurricanes were drafted was 1974.

Miami has gone 19-19 over the past three seasons.

Perennial doormat Temple even had a player taken before Miami. Defensive tackle Terrance Knighton was selected in the third round by Jacksonville.

In fact, the first Temple Owls player came off the board before anyone from Michigan (defensive tackle Terrance Taylor to Indianapolis with the 136th overall pick), Nebraska (linebacker Cody Glenn to Washington with the 158th overall pick), Notre Dame (defensive back David Bruton to Denver with the 114th overall pick) and Virginia Tech (cornerback Victor Harris to Philadelphia with the 157th overall pick).

As for Miami, its record-setting run started in 1995 with star defensive tackle Warren Sapp taken by Tampa Bay. The list of All-Pros and Pro Bowl players from Miami over the last two decades is staggering. A sampling: Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Edgerrin James, Reggie Wayne, Santana Moss, Willis McGahee, Jon Vilma and Sean Taylor.

In all, 33 Miami players - including an NFL-record six in 2004 alone - were taken in the first round of drafts since 1995, by far the most of any school. The second-longest current streak of first-round selections is six years by LSU.
Until Miami's string came along, Florida held the record of first-round selections with nine consecutive drafts (1983-1991).

Prospects are good for a turnaround for Miami. Coach Randy Shannon has had highly rated recruiting classes the past two seasons, but in many ways this draft could be viewed as rock bottom for the once great program.

(ap.com)

HOLLYWOOD Notice the dateline. It says Hollywood. Not Miami Beach, or wherever super-agent Drew Rosenhaus would host the draft party for a University of Miami NFL hopeful.

No, Hollywood is my residence, the UM media headquarters for the NFL Draft. Times have changed for UM football as well as for those who cover the team. Time was, this day was intense as covering the Rose Bowl or National Signing Day. I spoke today with Omar Kelly and Andrea Adelson, the two previous UM beat writers for the Sun Sentinel.

They covered the team during the glory years. The Draft was a time when they spent weeks planning coverage, deciding which players to follow. Adelson hung at Dan Morgan's house during the 2001 Draft. She also covered it in 2002 where five `Canes were taken in the first round, calling the experience "nuts."

"In 2002, I was in the office basically from the start of the draft, which was noon back then, to 10 or 11 at night," Adelson said. "...But it was a lot of sitting around, then scrambling to make calls and get guys on the phone before they took flights out to their new teams."

The only call I made today involving athletics was to my 6-year-old nephew, so he could tell me more about his T-ball debut. He went 2-for-3, and expressed his disappointment of the game not being televised.

Omar (I won't refer to him as Kelly because he's reached one-word status with most of you) said his days were spent at some draft party while also hustling on the phone to catch up with the draft picks. The day was almost the equivalent of covering a Rose Bowl or National Signing Day in terms of workload. Now, it's become more like a day off. 

Today came and went without a single UM player selected, ending the school's NFL-record streak of 14 years with a first-round draft pick. My day consisted of losing two basketball games at L.A. Fitness, running a few errands, making some turkey Sloppy Joe's and watching a few episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 (Brandon Walsh cheated on his exam).

Hardly the expected draft-day experience for someone who covers a team many used to call an NFL football factory. 

"It's real disappointing to see what's happened to the program, and not all of the blame belongs on the players" Omar said. "It's not always their fault they didn't develop."

Covering Miami the last two years has been like having a conversation with your grandfather. You know,the ones that begin, "Back when I was your age ..." Miami used to be Quarterback U. Used to be Running Back U. Used to NFL U.

Now, it's more like Remember When U.

The positive is the blocks are in place for the start of a new streak. Players such as Sean Spence, LaRon Byrd and Marcus Forston are already way ahead of the game. In time, the `Canes should be making their way back toward the top of college football and  wearing their fancy suits and baseball caps once again for Draft Day on ESPN.

(sun-sentinel.com)

Mike Mayock is connected in NFL Draft circles, so when he talks about the topic it's not the uninformed ramblings of some guy who threw up a Web site and called himself an expert.

Mayock covered college football for years as a TV reporter and analyst and now is a draft guru for NFL.com. His opinions are based on studying game film, observing pro days, taking in All-Star games, breaking down the Combine and constantly talking to NFL scouts.

So with the Miami Hurricanes' celebrated record streak of 14 straight seasons with at least one player selected in the draft's first round set to end Saturday, Mayock is qualified to relate what NFL personnel types are saying about UM's program now that it's not spitting out pro prospects.

"I think what they say is that things are cyclical," he said. "USC is the place now that Miami used to be as far as star power on pro day."

That won't satisfy many Hurricanes supporters, a group never known for patience. They want simple, clear-cut reasons for the program's decline because simple, clear-cut reasons can be dealt with more easily.

They tend to think UM's problems are all about coaching and recruiting. Because then restoring UM's glory would be as straightforward as finding a new coach.

They don't want to accept that it's just UM's turn in the valley after so long at the peak and that it will take time to get back. They may not even care to listen to Butch Davis, the coach for UM's last resurgence, when he says he had no instant solution but benefited from a long process.

"Miami in its heyday, that was the byproduct of 18 years of a program building and growing and adding players to the program every single year," Davis said.

UM did it so well that NFL scouts flocked to Coral Gables annually to salivate over the latest batch of stars. Other programs copied the formula, though, and Mayock thinks that's part of UM's dilemma.

"In the last 10 years it's amazing how many colleges are recruiting in the state of Florida," Mayock said.

Whatever Randy Shannon's faults, he's still protecting UM's turf. Shannon's Miami-Dade-dominated 2008 class is the future and perhaps more stars come from that group.

But right now cornerback Bruce Johnson is the only Hurricane projected to be drafted at all this weekend, and that's a maybe.

"He's going to go late if he goes at all," Mayock said.

How did the 'Canes go from first-rounders every year to one marginal NFL prospect this year?

On the surface, at least, the perception that Larry Coker and Shannon botched it has some basis. From '02 until the '05 class that produced '08 first-round pick Kenny Phillips, there were eight UM prep prospects that Rivals.com rated as "can't miss" five-star players.

Five ended up as disappointments if not busts for UM: Ryan Moore, Willie Williams, Kyle Wright, Lance Leggett and Reggie Youngblood.

Did Coker and Shannon, like every other coach, misjudge their talent? Did suspect recruiting analysts overrate those kids or did they just not get the right college coaching?

Again, there's no simple explanation, though Davis had one interesting angle on UM's coaching. He said his NFL background and that of Howard Schnellenberger and Jimmy Johnson before him nurtured a pro-style philosophy of "position-specific" projections for prospects.

Coker and Shannon don't have NFL coaching backgrounds. Of course, maybe they just didn't sign enough players with the self-motivated makeup of UM's past stars.

"God blessed [those players] with athletic ability but they also had a tremendous amount of competitiveness and work ethic to push themselves to become great players," Davis said. "There was more to [evaluating] than just getting 40-yard dash [times] on guys."

And there's more to the end of UM's NFL Draft streak than poor recruiting and coaching, no matter how much frustrated 'Canes fans want to believe otherwise.

(sun-sentinel.com)

When former Hurricanes tackle Mike Sullivan got the phone call from a woman who told him he would be inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame, he didn't believe her.

So Sullivan did what any skeptic with jokester UM buddies would do. He googled Jodi Appelbaum-Steinbauer -- the Hall president and woman who identified herself as the caller.

''I had just spoken to some UM guys I hadn't heard from in a while,'' said Sullivan, the San Diego Chargers offensive line coach. ``Then I got the call from Jodi. I thought it was a locker-room-type prank because it was just too much of a coincidence. I was happy to find that Jodi is well-represented on the Internet as being legitimate.''

UM's other newest Hall of Famers to be inducted Thursday night at Jungle Island:
• NFL star Edgerrin James.
• Sunrise Piper High graduate and Olympic runner Davian Clarke.
• Miami Northwestern grad and former Miami Heat player Tim James.
• Retired LPGA Tour member Cathy Morse.
• South Miami Middle School teacher and former major-leaguer Warren Bogle.

Baltimore Orioles slugger Aubrey Huff, already inducted into this class before a UM baseball game, will not attend. Tim James is in Texas training for the Army and will be represented by former UM football player Duane Starks.

Arizona Cardinals running back Edgerrin James, second in UM history with 2,960 yards in three seasons, will be at the ceremony with a heavy heart. Longtime girlfriend Andia Denise Wilson, the mother of his four children, died April 14 of leukemia. James declined to speak before Thursday's event.

Among those in attendance: former UM pitcher and power hitter Bogle, who lettered at UM in 1966 and '67. He left the Hurricanes with a .329 batting average and .523 slugging percentage.

The first Hurricane to make it to the majors, Bogle was drafted in the fourth round of the '67 Major League Baseball secondary draft by the then-Kansas City Athletics, now the Oakland Athletics. A relief pitcher for one summer, Bogle made his first and only major-league start at Yankee Stadium on July 31, 1968.

''When Jodi Steinbauer came into school at the end of the day with her daughter and told me about making it to the UM Hall of Fame, I got pretty choked up,'' said Bogle, 62, about to retire from teaching at South Miami after 36 years. ``It's a great honor to be recognized by any institution, but especially the University of Miami.

``I don't mind showing emotion. It proves to people that you're human.''

OLYMPIC RUNNER
At times during his UM career, Clarke, now 33, seemed super human. The two-time NCAA national champion 400-meter runner became the first -- and still only -- UM male track and field athlete to win an NCAA individual title. He did it outdoors as a sophomore in 45.29 seconds. That summer, he went on to win a bronze medal for the Jamaican 1,600-meter relay team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

''After 400 meters,'' Clarke told The Miami Herald after winning the NCAA title, ``your body is in agony. Your legs are like lead weights that refuse to walk. Your head starts pounding. And the dizziness makes you stumble like a drunk looking for a place to vomit.''

Today, Clarke lives in Austin, where he is training to become a University of Texas police officer.

''I wouldn't trade my UM experience for anything,'' said Clarke, a three-time Olympian and gold medalist in the 1,600-meter relay at the 2004 indoor world championships. He has been married 10 years to Jamaican Olympic hurdler Lacena Golding-Clarke.

Sullivan, the offensive lineman, is a Chicago native whose greatest personal moment at UM -- despite winning national titles in 1987 and '89 -- was defeating Notre Dame 24-0 in the Orange Bowl as a redshirt freshman. Sullivan's parents were from Ireland, and his extended family idolized the Fighting Irish.

''The championships were great, he said, but beating Notre Dame was amazing,'' he said.

RELIABLE PLAYER
Sullivan started every game for four years, the first UM player to do so. Known as one of the smartest Canes, he was drafted in the sixth round in 1991 by Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, his first UM coach, and played another five seasons for Tampa Bay. Today, he coaches with San Diego assistant head coach Rob Chudzinski, a former UM player, offensive coordinator and roommate of ''Sully's'' for three years.

''As I look back on my career, my life's path,'' Sullivan, 41, said, ``it has been the people from the University of Miami football program who have steered every single avenue I've taken. . . . I was telling my wife that they made an emphasis on having a short acceptance speech. I have a slight reputation, if someone gives me a microphone, to talk a bit. They underlined in bold face three to four minutes. I can triple that.''

Chudzinski can't make the ceremony because of this weekend's NFL Draft. But he said his heart will be with the UM ``brotherhood.''

''I miss those times,'' Chudzinski said. ''Mike was a great, incredibly tough player,'' adding that Sullivan also was ``a neat freak. If anyone left crumbs or an unwashed plate around, you'd end up finding them on your bed.''
Said fellow UM Hall of Famer Randal Hill: ``Mike is very animated, very intelligent and very deserving.''

(miamiherald.com)

The streak lasted so long that during its span, Warren Sapp crafted a Hall of Fame-caliber professional career, retired, finished a season on “Dancing With the Stars” and began a second career as an analyst on the NFL Network.

It wound through so many generations of football players that Sapp stumps people with a trivia question: who was the highest-drafted University of Miami player the year before the streak started? (Running back Donnell Bennett, second round in 1994, by Kansas City.)

The streak has hung on for so many years that when Sapp spoke to Kenny Phillips, who saved the streak when the Giants chose him with the final pick in the first round last year, he welcomed him to an extraordinary Hurricanes club.

“I said, ‘Way to keep the streak going,’ ” Sapp recalled recently. “It’s a common bond with someone who is 13 years removed from me.”

Sapp and Phillips are the bookends of a singular period of Miami football dominance: at least one Hurricanes player has been selected in the first round in 14 consecutive N.F.L. drafts. But Miami’s fortunes on the recruiting trail and the football field have suffered in recent years — no national championships since the 2001 season, and a losing season in 2007.

Even if Miami’s absence from college football’s loftiest ranks is just temporary, as most recruiting experts and N.F.L. personnel executives believe, it will take its toll this month. The streak — and one of the Hurricanes’ favorite trash-talk fodder — will almost surely end. When the college draft begins April 25, cornerback Bruce Johnson could be the only Hurricane drafted, and probably not before the fourth round. Years of the draft being colored in orange and green will fade to black.

“My streak ends,” Sapp said, sighing. “It’s something we took immense pride in.”

Still, with the dispersal of talent to more colleges than ever — players from football lesser lights like Troy (Leodis McKelvin), Delaware (Joe Flacco) and Tennessee State (Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie) were selected in the first round last year — Sapp may not have to worry about Miami’s record being matched. Elias Sports Bureau found Louisiana State has the next-longest current streak of first-rounders (five). Recruiting powers like Southern California (one) and Florida (two) are well off Miami’s pace.

And it is unlikely that any program will touch Miami’s mind-boggling run early this decade, when it had four first-rounders in 2001, five in 2002, four in 2003 and an N.F.L.-record six in 2004.

Miami nearly scuttled football in the 1970s, and it still fails to sell out games against anybody but its biggest rivals. But Howard Schnellenberger, the coach who revived the program in the 1980s, laid the groundwork for the streak by eschewing most out-of-state recruiting and mining talent-rich South and Central Florida.
From those areas came Michael Irvin, Bennie Blades, Jerome Brown, Ray Lewis, Phillips and Sapp. All were first-rounders. Schnellenberger started a slogan: “Pipeline to the pros.”

“We caught all kinds of flak,” Schnellenberger, now the coach at Florida Atlantic, said. “The university hierarchy thought it was guff because it was emphasizing pro football as an end to the means.”

Without the lavish facilities and tradition of Texas and Michigan, Schnellenberger encouraged a culture that emphasized college and regional pride, binding the players to the campus and to one another. Its most obvious manifestation is that players, even deep into their pro careers, still return to Coral Gables to work out in the off-season.

With one coach after another leaving for pro jobs (Schnellenberger, Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson and Butch Davis), those players provided continuity at Miami, filling, Schnellenberger said, the institutional role that coaches like Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden do at Penn State and Florida State.

The pros provided a powerful recruiting pitch on national television when they stood on the sideline at Miami games. And once the prospects came to Miami, the pros helped prepare them for their next step. When Sapp was there, Russell Maryland and Brown showed up. When Phillips was a freshman, he worked out with safety Ed Reed and running back Edgerrin James, both first-rounders.

When Ernie Accorsi, the former general manager of the Giants, visited the campus, Alonzo Highsmith, Micheal Barrow and Jessie Armstead were working out with Miami players.

“They give you tips — they teach you how to watch film,” Phillips said. “It does a lot for a guy who is 18 years old. My junior year, Ed said: ‘The way is paved for you. All you have to do is play.’ ”

Sapp and Phillips credit the influence of former Hurricanes for fostering sustained excellence.

“We were not going to bend those standards,” Sapp said.

Accorsi saw the not-so-subtle pressure up close when he went to campus to “box” the players (teams used a battery-powered reaction box to test quickness, explosion and change of direction). It was so hot that the dry-cell battery melted. Two players found a store that sold the hard-to-find battery. The test was on.

“They were going to make sure we were able to test them, a test players generally would duck, but not them,” Accorsi said. “Then they competed against each other like it was an Olympic trial. All the players put pressure on each other, current and past, to be relentless competitors.

But just as the decrepit Orange Bowl stadium crumbled a few years ago, so did Miami’s supremacy. There are many theories why Miami did not produce a top pro prospect this year. Schnellenberger says coaches tried to recruit too much nationally, forsaking their backyard. He also notes that Miami’s decline has coincided with a failure to find a top-flight quarterback.

And as bowl games and cable channels showing college games have proliferated, more teams play on national TV. That has helped put lower-profile teams on the recruiting map. On national signing day in February, Miami Pace defensive back Kayvon Webster, who had committed to Miami, signed with South Florida.

Tom Luginbill, the national recruiting director for ESPN’s Scouts Inc., says Miami’s recruiting dip started after the 2003 season. For years, Miami had its pick in South Florida. But then Florida, Florida State, South Florida and others in the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference began plucking their share.

“They just weren’t getting the same caliber of player as they had gotten before,” Luginbill said. “I don’t attribute it to anything other than maybe they had a little dip in effort, but more than anything else, streaks come to an end.”

Larry Coker, fired as coach after the 2006 season, has been blamed for what is perceived as lackluster recruiting. He won the national title in 2001, his first season after replacing Davis, and the Hurricanes lost to Ohio State in the title game the next season. Then the slow slide began.

“The overall talent in South Florida wasn’t as good as it has been as far as really great talent,” said Coker, the coach for the new football program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. “The key for Miami is always the talent level in South Florida. When I left, I think there was good talent. Were there six first-round draft choices? Obviously not, but the talent was good.”

The recruiting analyst Tom Lemming says he suspects Coker’s efforts were also hampered when Miami moved to the A.C.C., from the Big East, in 2004.

“They dominated everything before that, and they had trouble after that,” Lemming said. “They helped elevate the rest of the A.C.C. They started losing more than they did. Miami would still be Miami if they’d stayed in the Big East.”

But everyone agrees that Florida Coach Urban Meyer has hurt Miami the most. Meyer arrived in Gainesville in 2005, and the Gators have won two national championships since. They play in a raucous stadium and on national TV. That has helped Meyer make inroads into what had been Miami recruiting territory. He has in turn elevated the rest of the SEC.

The most startling example of how things have changed: Bryce Brown, a running back from Wichita, Kan., considered by many the top recruit this year, committed to Miami last year but continued to visit other colleges. In February, he signed with Tennessee — even though his older brother plays for Miami.

Sapp was outraged by Brown’s about-face — “What an idiot,” he said — but Lemming blames something else.
“It’s no longer the place to be,” Lemming said of Miami. “Now, U.S.C. is the place to be.”

Maybe, but perhaps not for long. When he replaced Coker two years ago, Coach Randy Shannon adopted Schnellenberger’s strategy of recruiting in South Florida. In 2008, more than half of his class of 33 signees was from the area, and it finished near the top of nearly every recruiting class ranking. This year’s class ranked as high as 11th, landing 6 of the top 150 recruits, according to ESPN.com rankings.

“They have some good young guys,” Baltimore Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome said. “They’ll be back.”

He should know. Newsome’s hand is all over the streak — the Ravens drafted Lewis and Reed.

(nytimes.com)

This story appeared in the April 20 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

After finishing his final 40-yard dash attempt, Miami cornerback Bruce Johnson lets his momentum carry him to the far end of the Hurricanes' practice field. There, in the shadow of a parking garage, he glances back at the school's pro day setup. What he sees are the unmistakable signs of the end of an era. Aluminum bleachers, once bulging with 100 scouts reeking of rental-car living, are not even half full on this late-February afternoon. The large section roped off for agents contains only seven people, four of whom are university employees. In the nearly deserted area behind the end zone—which most years overflows with family, friends and students—a woman with her back to the field talks on her cell about her cousin's canine-allergy medication. The VIPs, once a who's who of NFL royalty, are limited to a pair of big-name former Canes: Panthers linebacker Jon Beason and Cardinals running back Edgerrin James, who wrapped Johnson in a hug before the day began and implored him to "represent the U."

As Miami's best pro prospect, Johnson, 22, does in fact perfectly embody the state of the Hurricanes, who have gone 12—13 since 2007. Undersized (5'9") and a step slow (40 time: 4.42), the soft-spoken Johnson is ranked as the draft's 25th-best corner by Scouts Inc. and will likely be a late-round pick. That means that for the first time since 1994, the program dubbed NFLU won't have a player taken in the first round, ending a streak that changed both college and pro football. The last year a Hurricane wasn't selected in one of the first three rounds? Try 1986. "I guess it's kind of a sad day," Johnson says after his workout.

In many ways, Miami is a victim of its own success—it became so good at producing NFL players that everyone stole the school's formula. Dennis Erickson, who took over for Jimmy Johnson, cranked up the pipeline while winning national titles in 1989 and 1991. The coach wooed players to his program by promising what they really wanted: a paved path to the pros. Unlike most college teams then, Miami became NFL-friendly, giving scouts ample access to game film, prospects and facilities.

That open attitude most noticeably manifested itself in a souped-up pro day that had the intensity of a bowl game and the star power of South Beach. While the Canes performed the same drills and underwent the same measurements as prospects elsewhere, they did them in front of stands packed with family, recruits and ex-players. The day was a can't-miss event rather than an obligatory exercise. Allured by the hoopla and wealth of talent, all 32 NFL teams sent their GM, their coach or often both, and a few dispatched up to seven scouts. "It was like a festival, a celebration," says Titans GM Mike Reinfeldt. "You knew there'd be so many good players you might discover someone you weren't even looking for."

The results are staggering. Over the past 14 years, Miami produced more first-round picks (33) than any other school, beginning with defensive tackle Warren Sapp, who went 12th overall to the Bucs in 1995. (Ohio State ranks second, with 25 over the same period.) The following year, picking 26th, the Ravens selected Ray Lewis. The pipeline reached its peak after the Hurricanes won the 2001 national championship. Over the next three drafts, 23 players from the title team were selected, including 11 in the first round. It was a group of players—featuring safety Ed Reed, wide receiver Andre Johnson and running back Clinton Portis—who set new standards for speed, attitude and pro-level preparedness. "You knew what you were going to get with a player from Miami," says Giants GM Jerry Reese. "Tough guys who played hard and loved football."

There are whispers in the scouting community, punctuated by Vince Young's breakdown in Tennessee, that players at many high-profile programs are coddled, soft and illprepared for the next level. That was never a concern with the Hurricanes, and it's one reason why no school had more players on NFL opening day rosters last year than NFLU (44). Under Miami's system—one that Reed has called The Crucible—hardened players from rough urban high schools are pushed to the limit, not just by coaches and teammates but by past generations of greats. In the main hallway inside the team's facility is a massive wood display that has the feel of an altar, honoring all the former Canes now playing in the NFL. Many of those alums, like Reed and Portis, work out at the school during the off-season and make a habit of staying in touch and mentoring the current Canes with tough love. Word is passed down that there are no promises or guaranteed roster spots at the U. Each week the best play—period.

Few players represent the self-perpetuating, competitive furnace better than Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey. As a Cane, if he ever felt practice lacked proper pop, he'd run downfield and cheap-shot a defensive back, sparking a brawl. Drafted 14th overall by the Giants in 2002, Shockey pushed himself hard in order to live up to predecessor Bubba Franks (taken 14th by the Packers in 2000), while setting a good example for Kellen Winslow (sixth by the Browns in 2004). "That's why we're NFLU," says Johnson. "If you don't make plays, they will sit you, forget you and move on to the next guy, just like in the NFL."

Of course, as Johnson has discovered, the scouting game is just as ruthless. As Miami waned, so did interest in its players. The burnout started when coach Butch Davis took his scouting smarts to the NFL after the 2000 season. Although successor Larry Coker led the team to title games in 2001 and 2002, he ultimately couldn't restock his ranks quickly enough to keep up with all those Canes going pro. By the time the team fell out of the national rankings four years later, several key components of its can't-miss recruiting formula were no more. The crumbling Orange Bowl no longer impressed prospects; the school instituted much tougher admissions standards; a focus on national recruiting cost the Canes their monopoly on talent-rich South Florida. Perhaps most critical of all, there's nothing unique about Miami's pro day or scout-friendliness now. It's the standard. "The playing field leveled," says Lions coach Jim Schwartz.

That's made Miami an optional stop, not a must-see, on the scouting calendar. Only a dozen or so teams showed up for this year's pro day, including reps from the Lions, Giants and Titans, all of whom have shown interest in Johnson. Even late in the draft, a prospect from NFLU is a worthy choice.

And Johnson, even at 167 pounds, represents what teams are looking for in a second-day pick. He plays with fluid hips that allow him to change direction and accelerate with power in the open field, where he craves contact. "That's the dog in me," he says. "That fight, that's the U right there."Sitting on a high-jump pad, Johnson slowly unties the fluorescent-green cleats he wore during his workout. As is the Miami tradition, he plans on passing the shoes to a younger teammate, maybe even one of the recruits in the Hurricanes' freshman or sophomore class, who are expected to restart the school's first-round streak in 2011 or sooner. Finally, it appears, third-year coach Randy Shannon is turning the program back around.

A linebacker on Miami's 1987 title team, Shannon has put together three straight top-10 recruiting hauls the Erickson way, by focusing on local talent. In fact, eight members of the 2008 class, widely considered the nation's best, played for prep power Northwestern High, located just a few miles from Miami's campus. "The future is bright," Miami AD Kirby Hocutt said in January.

In the meantime, it's up to Johnson to represent. As he stuffs the cleats into his bag, students walking past on their way to class recognize him and yell out, "Bruuuuuuuce!"

He waves back, but without looking up. Instead, his eyes remain fixated on the tongue of the neon cleats, labeled by the manufacturer with a 40 time—4.2—that he'll never come close to running. Not that it matters.

Teams already know what they're going to get.

(espn.com)

Having attended just about every University of Miami spring game for the past 20 plus years, I have had the opportunity to watch the way the Hurricanes have always commanded the respect of high school football players -- locally and throughout Florida.

While a 12-13 record is never something you want to showcase to your recruits, the reputation that follows this program is as easy as picking up a pro football magazine on the shelf of the local supermarket. Last Saturday, I found out that it makes little difference what the Hurricanes have done in the immediate past, it's what has gone on here since the late 1970s and early 80s that brings kids in from as far away as New Jersey and as close as Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

While I have always had the answer to why football recruits pay little or no attention to the record of the Hurricanes, it's those alumni that might hold the key. Watching an Alonzo Highsmith, Jon Vilma, Ed Reed or Leon Searcy on the sideline, mixing with 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds is something you rarely see any place else in the country.

IT'S ALL CLEAR WHY
As I sat in the stands last Saturday watching the the Hurricanes play in front of just about 10,000 fans at Lockhart Stadium, it all came into focus why they attract throngs of high profile players to come watch. It's something that doesn't exist when 90,000 fans pack into Tuscaloosa for an Alabama spring event. It's not present when the Florida Gators bring in 55,000 to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium or when Ohio State gets 60,000 to come into the Horseshoe in the middle of April.

As I watched Lamar Thomas trot back and forth with Danny Stubbs, Dave Heffernan and others along the sideline, it reinforced that the past of this program is so strong, and the mystique is still so vivid, having a Brandon Linder, Jeff Luc, Lamarcus Joyner, Ivan McCartney, Jakhari Gore and James White in attendance was a given.

Whether many recruits are looking at Miami as an option or not, it's that attraction -- like a strong magnet -- that pulls these budding stars in the direction of the University of Miami football program, and it's not likely to change as this program is certainly on the verge of producing more stars who will only add to that mystique and aura that four decades of winning and churning out professional talent brings.

To see a Vinnie Mauro, Mike Anderson, Mike Palardy, Turner Baty, David Perry, Tommy Heffernan, Brandon Doughty and Justin Birkenholz in the stands, watching the spring game only adds to the lists that have been in attendance throughout the years to be a part of that tradition and take part in something that Miami has been known for during the past 35 years.

Perhaps no program in the nation boasts more players returning to give back than the ''U'' does. That is something that was started back with Michael Irvin and the Blades brothers and has continued.

GIVING BACK TO UM
Much of the talk at a post game party last Saturday afternoon at Miami Prime Grill in North Miami Beach centered around the very fact that Miami players have always given back. That event, put on by 790 The Ticket, truly backed that up.

From Joe Mira to Don Soldinger, Art Kehoe, Gerard Daphnes, Twan Russell, Bobby Harden, Eddie Edwards, Wesley Carroll, Don Smith, Willie Smith, Kenny Calhoun, K.C. Jones, James Burgess, Melvin Bratton, Yatil Green, Ryan Collins, Chuck Hirschenson, Anthony Hamlett, Kelvin Harris, Duane Starkes, Carlos Huerta, Edgar Benes, Don Bailey Jr. and Donnell Bennett, these standouts came out to show how special the program has been through the years.

It's little surprise why Brian Robinson, Tony Grimes, Keion Payne, Max Belieau, Desmond Bozeman, Gideon Ajagbe, Reginald Moore, Alec Ogletree and Louis Nix were on hand as well!

Don't forget that we are always looking to help our area recruits for the current Class of 2010, 2011 and 2012. All you have to do is send a DVD and information about the athlete to: Larry Blustein, P.O. Box 3181, Hallandale Beach, Fl. 33009.

(miamiherald.com)

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) -- He was a star football player in college, a champion pro football coach, a baseball president, a man with a short temper and very long resume, never averse to tackling something new.

Nobody has ever done it quite like Lou Saban, who died early Sunday at his home in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., at age 87. He had heart problems for years and recently suffered a fall that required hospitalization, his wife, Joyce, said.

"He was an original," she said. "He was one of a kind."

There was a reason Saban was dubbed "Much Traveled Lou." In the first 33 years of a career that spanned five decades, Saban held 18 jobs, an average of 1.83 years per stop. Among those jobs was president of the New York Yankees from 1981-82 for his longtime friend, team owner George Steinbrenner.

"He has been my friend and mentor for over 50 years, and one of the people who helped shape my life," Steinbrenner, who was receivers coach under Saban at Northwestern University in 1955, said in a statement. "Lou was tough and disciplined, and he earned all the respect and recognition that came his way. He spent a lifetime leading, teaching and inspiring, and took great satisfaction in making the lives around him better. This is a tremendous loss to me personally."

Louis Henry Saban, a son of Yugoslav immigrants, was born in Brookfield, Ill., in 1921, was an underground construction worker during the building of the Chicago subways and a 1940 graduate of Lyons Township High School.

He became a star quarterback and linebacker at Indiana University and an all-league linebacker for the Cleveland Browns from 1946-49.

In 1950, Saban accepted the first of his many head coaching positions -- at Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland. Five years later, he took over at Northwestern for two years, then moved to Western Illinois University before embarking on an unmatched head coaching career.
It included stops with the Boston Patriots and Buffalo Bills of the old American Football League and Denver Broncos and Bills after the AFL merged with the NFL in 1970, along with college jobs at Miami, Army, Northwestern and Maryland.

"The entire Bills organization is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Lou Saban," the team said in a statement. "Talented, enthusiastic and colorful, Coach Saban's style of coaching left an indelible mark on the AFL and professional football."

Saban joined the Patriots in 1960 when the AFL started.

"As the Patriots' first head coach, Lou helped kick off a new era of football in Boston," Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft said in a statement. "This season, we will be celebrating the Patriots' 50th anniversary and reflecting back on that inaugural season. It should give us all cause to appreciate Lou's many contributions during the Patriots' formative years."

Saban left for the Bills in 1962, guiding them to AFL championships in 1964 and 1965, the only titles the Bills have ever won. He quit for a job with the Broncos because of difficulties with owner Ralph Wilson.

Six years later, at the urging of Steinbrenner, Wilson rehired Saban, and he again was successful, overseeing O.J. Simpson's record-breaking, 2,003-yard rushing season in 1973 and getting the Bills to the NFL playoffs the next season. Saban left again after some of his responsibilities were taken away.

"He was like a father to me," former Bills defensive back Booker Edgerson said. "He steered me in the right direction. He gave me advice. Some of it, I didn't like, but isn't that what a father does?"

Edgerson, who also played for Saban at Western Illinois and with the Broncos, said he last saw Saban in October at a Western Illinois banquet honoring the veteran coach.

"Lou Saban was a great teacher," Edgerson said. "He knew how to build football programs. He could have built any program -- football, baseball, basketball, whatever. Even though his patience was short-tempered, he allowed players to let out their anxieties and frustrations."

After quitting the Bills midseason in 1976, Saban spent two years as athletic director at Miami, where he recruited future Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly.

He earned his peripatetic nickname as he skipped from job to job, coaching Army in 1979 and then becoming athletic director at Miami. Among the entries on his resume -- AD at the University of Cincinnati -- for 19 days. Saban left that job at halftime of an early-season game against Ohio University.

Saban also coached at Central Florida in 1983-84 when it was a struggling Division II school and coached high schools in the late 1980s nd in the Arena Football League in 1994.

Saban spent most of the 1990s starting or rebuilding college programs at places like Peru State, Canton Tech and Alfred State, where he left before the team played its first game.
"I've coached at all levels, covered the gamut, and I've never really seen any difference," Saban said after being hired to coach Alfred in upstate New York in 1994. "My coaching techniques are pretty much the same, with some adjustments for what younger players can and can't do."

Saban spent five years at Canton Tech in northern New York, where the football stadium bears his name, before leaving after the 2000 season. In one of his last jobs, he coached Division III Chowan State in North Carolina, leaving in 2002 after the team went 0-10.

Despite all his travels, Saban was a loser in every major college head coaching job he had, and despite his achievements at Buffalo, he was a loser in the pros, too. His pro mark: 96-102-7.

(ap.com)

Former UM offensive line coach and Cane player Art Kehoe, who has had a part in all five national championships won by the Hurricanes, will be honored by his peers as part of festivities at the first annual Spring Game Alumni After Party March 28 at Miami Prime Grill in North Miami Beach.
Kehoe, 52, will be presented with the first Canes 4 Life Lifetime Dedication Award, which is being sponsored by CaneSport.com.

The event, which is being presented by the alumni group Canes 4 Life, CaneSport.com, 790 The Ticket and Miami Prime, will be held from 1-6 p.m. at Miami Prime, which is located at 16395 Biscayne Blvd. in North Miami Beach.

Admission is free, and there will be food and beverages, music, Canes Merchanise by All Canes, a Canes trading card show, autograph signings, kids zone and more.

A special edition of the CaneSport Live Radio Show will be broadcast live on-site from 4-6 p.m.

The goal is to make the event an annual celebration of the Hurricane family.

Among the players who have RSVP's to attend are Mike Adams (1975), OJ Anderson (1975), Jessie Armstead (1989), Andy Atrio (1995), Tolbert Bain (1984), Don Bailey (1979), Rudy Barber (1990), Tolbert Bain (1984), Robert Bass (1991) Coleman Bell (1990), Edgar Benes (1987), Donnell Bennett (1991), Kenny Berry (1987), Brian Blades (1984), Bennie Blades (1985), Dominic Brandy (1967), Melvin Bratton (1984), Kevin Brinkworth (1991), Nate Brooks (1995), Freeman Brown (1994), Hurlie Brown (1988), James Burgess (1993), Dinavin Bythwood (1992), Mark Caesar (1989), Lamont Cain (1994), Larry Cain (1973), Kenny Calhoun (1981), Carlos Callejas (1996), Marcus Carey (1990), Wesley Carroll (1989), Jermaine Chambers (1992), Bernard Clark (1986), Ryan Clement (1993), Tony Coley (1992), Ryan Collins (1991), Horace Copeland (1990), Frank Costa (1991), Mike Crissy (1993), Gerard Daphnis (1992), Marvin Davis (1992), Pat Del Vecchio (1996), Otis Fowler (1989), Corwin Francis (1991), Jammi German (1993), Chris Gibson (1992), Frank Glover (1974), Derrick Golden (1988), Yatil Green (1994), Casey Greer (1989), Derrick Ham (1995), Bobby Harden (1986), Kelvin Harris (1987), Terris Harris (1991), Jonathan Harris (1991), Derrick Harris (1991), Alonzo Highsmith (1986); J Ina (1992), Cliff Jackson (1993), Carlos Jones (1992), Chris T. Jones (1991), Chris C. Jones (1993), Trent Jones (1993), K.C. Jones (1992), Carlo Joseph (1995), Kenard Lang (1993), Larry Latrell (1991), Mike Lawson (1993), Earl Little (1992), Kenny Lopez (1990), Nick Luchey (1995), Zev Lumelski (1991), Larry Luttrell (1994), Rohan Marley (1991), Jason Marucci (1990), Russell Maryland (1986), Ryan McNeil (1989), Darius McCollum (1992), Damond Neely (1994), Chad Pegues (1995), Malcolm Pearson (1991), Booker Pickett (1992), Eugene Ridgley (1994), Pat Riley (1992), Nelson Rodriguez (1996), Omar Rolle (1995), Robert Sampson (1997), Eric Schnupp (1997), Leon Searcy (1988), Al Shipman (1992), Baraka Short (1991), Darrin Smith (1989), Michael Smith (1996), Roland Smith (1987), Darryl Spencer (1988), Duane Starks (1996), Brian Stinson (1998), Daniel Stubbs (1987), Alan Symonette (1991), A.C. Tellison (1991), Lamar Thomas (1989), Syii Tucker (1991), Chad Wilson (1991) and Marcus Wimberly (1992).

Kehoe has been absent from Miami football since he was terminated after the 2005 season as part of the fallout from the program's decline in the final years of Larry Coker's tenure. But as his final UM media guide bio stated, Kehoe is "The modern day Mr. Miami Football to many fans."

Kehoe first came to Miami in 1979 as a transfer from Laney Junior College in Oakland, Calif., and he started at guard for the Hurricanes for two seasons under Howard Schnellenberger. He was offensive captain both years. Little did he know then that he would be part of the program for five national titles.

And he was inducted into the University of Miami Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.

Kehoe was involved as a coach or player at Miami for part of four decades - from 1979 until 2005.

After Kehoe's playing days were over at Miami he was a student assistant football coach for one season, a graduate assistant for three seasons then in 1985 became the offensive line coach. From 1992-94, Kehoe also tutored tight ends in addition to his duties with the offensive line.

In 2002 he was rewarded with the title of assistant head coach while retaining his primary responsibilities as offensive line coach.

Kehoe worked with five different coaches - Howard Schenllenberger, Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson, Butch Davis and Larry Coker.

During his time as a football coach at UM, Kehoe was part of 21 bowl games. He has coached some of the greatest players to ever wear a Hurricane uniform - he has produced six players (Brett Romberg in 2002, Bryant McKinnie in 2001, Joaquin Gonzalez in 2000, Richard Mercier in 1999, K.C. Jones in 1996 and Leon Searcy in 1991) who received first-team All-America honors.

His offensive lines protected Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde, Steve Walsh, Craig Erickson, Gino Torretta and Ken Dorsey.

He recruited and coached 2002 Rimington Trophy winner Brett Romberg and recruited and coached 2001 Outland Trophy winner Bryant McKinnie.

Overall Kehoe coached 19 offensive linemen who went on to play professionally.

As amazing as some of Kehoe's accomplishments are, perhaps none is more noteworthy than the fact that in 2000 and 2001 the offensive line allowed, combined, only seven sacks. Those units are widely considered among the finest in recent college football history.

Kehoe's offensive lines played a key role in producing six of Miami's eight thousand-yard rushers.

Kehoe received his Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from Miami.

Russell Maryland, Miami (Fla.)-Defensive Tackle-1990 unanimous First Team All-America selection and Outland Trophy winner...Led Miami to four consecutive bowl berths and national championships in 1987 and 1989...Registered 45-3-0 record during career.

Gino Torretta, Miami (Fla.)-Quarterback-In 1992, he earned unanimous First Team All-America honors, won the Heisman Trophy, Davey O'Brien Award, Maxwell Award and was named Walter Camp Player of the Year...Led Miami to a the 1991 National Championship.

(ncaafootball.com)

Here are the top 10 college football factories, and some of their raw NFL placement numbers …

1. Miami

Draft picks since 1999: 65

First-round picks:: 27

Highlights: RB Clinton Portis, RB Edgerrin James, WR Reggie Wayne, WR Santana Moss, S Ed Reed, WR Andre Johnson, RB Willis McGahee, TE Jeremy Shockey, TE Kellen Winslow, DT Vince Wilfork, LB Jonathan Vilma, LB D.J. Williams, S Sean Taylor, RB Frank Gore

Lowlights: CB Mike Rumph, DE Jerome McDougle, DT Damione Lewis, DT William Joseph, DE Michael Boireau, WR Roscoe Parrish, WR Sinorice Moss

Skinny: The “elite” talent has waned recently, as Florida, Texas and USC have begun snatching away players Miami would have developed and sent to the NFL seven or eight years ago. However, the Hurricanes’ cache of players in the first half of this decade was unmatched. Miami’s 27 first-round picks in the past 10 years nearly match the total NFL draft picks that perennial football factories such as Auburn and Alabama produced in the same time span. The only question is whether Miami’s class from 1999-2008 is the greatest 10-year haul of talent in the history of college football.

“I don’t know how you would argue it,” Portis said. “The teams in [2000 and 2001] were basically NFL teams. You had Pro Bowlers rooming with other Pro Bowlers. Hell, some of the meeting rooms, if you took a picture, everyone in it would have been a first- or second-round pick. … You raised your game to stay on the field. You basically had to be an NFL [talent] if you were going to play.”

Click here for the rest of the rankings.

proCanes.com is continuing our “Tracking proCanes” feature with former starting quarterback and National Champion Steve Walsh. After graduating from Cretin-Derham Hall High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Steve Walsh attended the University of Miami. He posted a record of 23-1 in his two seasons as the team's starting quarterback and led the Hurricanes to the 1987 national championship. Walsh held the school record for career touchdown passes from 1988-2002 before being surpassed by Ken Dorsey. Walsh was selected by the Dallas Cowboys with the first pick in the 1989 NFL Supplemental Draft where he was reunited with his former UM head coach Jimmy Johnson. Walsh went on to have an 11-year NFL career, playing for the Cowboys, Saints, Chicago Bears, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Indianapolis Colts. Please read Read below as Steve talks to proCanes.com about how he was recruited out of high school, his days as a Hurricane, pro and more!

proCanes: So you're head coach at Cardinal Newman High School in Palm Beach, can you talk a little bit about how you became the head coach?  Were you always interested in coaching? 
Steve Walsh: I’ve always had a kind of secret passion to coach because it’s something I stayed involved in with the University of Miami and the various quarterbacks , mainly Kenny Dorsey. As I got out of the league and I knew enough of the coaches on the staff like Rob Chudzinski and Butch Davis and all those guys, I spent some time around Kenny as I explored coaching back in 2000.  I decided to enter the business world through a mortgage company called  Home Bank and decided to not pursue the coaching industry but it was something I always had a passion for and love and I continued to stay around some of the Miami qbs.  I then started to do radio broadcasting for FAU and over the last three years got involved in some sports through a weekly college football show called Tailgate Overtime as well as University of Miami football specials called Grilled Iron Gate. Over the last year the mortgage industry has gone through major transitions and the company shut down so I joined Country Wide and over the last year the coaching opportunity evolved. I went down to talk to Randy Shannon about coaching and possibly coming to the University of Miami and coaching.  In the end though, I just felt like it was easier for me to stay in West Palm Beach for my family and explore coaching at the high school level and see how much I do love it and then make a decision over the next five years and then decide if this is something I want to do for the rest of my life and at what level.  If this is something I do love, then I’ll explore coaching at the collegial level. 

pC: Did you have an opportunity at UM? 
SW: After I talked to Randy I think there would have been an opportunity in a graduate assistant position.  With some of his changes, would there have been another opportunity?  Maybe, maybe not.  I was exploring a graduate position with him. 

pC: You said you had a great relationship with Dorsey, do you have a relationship at all with Jacory Harris? 
SW: Not so much.  I saw [Harris and Robert Marve] before the season and talked to them on the sidelines a little bit but I wouldn’t say there is a strong relationship.  Nothing like what I had with Ken Dorsey. 

pC: Are you going to continue your stint with QAM for next season?
SW: No. That’s not going to be able to happen. 

pC: Going back to your Hurricane and NFL days what would you say was the hardest for your transition from UM to the NFL?
SW: Well I think when you go into a different system and different personnel there were a lot of challenges with the level of play.  It becomes that much better and more intense and when I didn’t feel comfortable in some of the offensive systems that we ran, that really didn’t take advantage of my skills, that was probably my challenge. You know the one system that I really felt comfortable in was in Chicago and that’s where my greatest success was. 

pC:What was the most uncomfortable system?
SW: St. Louis or New Orleans.

pC: So would you say that the Bears was your favorite stop?
SW: Yeah. My last year in the league in Indianapolis working with Peyton [Manning] and Tom Moore the Colts was really an unbelievable experience because they had a really unbelievable offensive system and Peyton and I had a relationship from my days with the New Orleans Saints so that was a real good relationship and him and I worked well together. That was a lot of fun and we were successful but certainly for me as a player personally, it was Chicago. 

pC: What was your favorite memories from the UM days?
SW: The comeback victory against Florida State, the comeback victory against Michigan.  Everybody remembers the Norte Dame loss. That’s something I‘d like to forget and then the National Championship against Oklahoma was a great memory of course. Those were just memories that every once in a while you think about a certain play or part of the game. The thing that people most talk to me about was the Michigan comeback. 

pC:How was it having Jimmy Johnson as your head coach?
SW: Jimmy was extremely passionate about being  a champion and being the best.  He would always say be the best and at the end of the day can you say you were the best? That doesn’t happen often in life.  That was what his passion and what he was about and that transcended to the players and we had that thought process and he was able to further it along with his passion. Jimmy was an incredible motivator and gifted speaker and really knew how to push the buttons of his players and that’s what I’ll take from Jimmy.   

pC: What do you think UM needs to do to become the best again?
SW: The playing field is so much more leveled than it was in my day.  You’re going into situations where if you don’t play really good you’re going to get beat and that’s the biggest thing they see about the ACC.  I think they thought they were just going to walk over the ACC and that’s really tough.  They just need to get the confidence back that they can be champions because everyone has talent on both sides of the ball and everyone has scholarships on both sides of the ball.  The difference maker is having the confidence and that confidence comes with success. It’s a fine line having that confidence and that creates success and having success creates confidence.  But when you get both of those things and you obviously mix in the talent there, that’s when you get the national championships.  There was a need for them to upgrade their talent and there is still a need for that but now they have to play with confidence, they have to have the coaches that are going to help instill and coach them on how to make the plays and then you have to go out there and do it. 

pC: So what was then the downfall the program? Do you think it was a lack of talent? Coaching?
SW: I think it’s a combination. When you bring in talent  it doesn’t matter how good they were in their highschool careers, they have to get better.   If they come in saying okay I’m at the University of Miami I’ve made it now, let’s walk over some teams, they’re going to lose.  They have to come in there with the hunger and passion to be the best like Jimmy preached and it doesn’t come easy.  You have to work hard at it and it’s not to say that they don’t work hard but when teams become champions it’s a combination of talent and hard work. 

pC: How did you come from Minnesota all the way down to Miami?
SW: Mark Trestman was the initial guy that was on me. Mark played college football with one of my highschool coaches. I was not getting recruited very heavily and he called Mark and said you want to take a look at this kid, he’s pretty talented and Mark came to take a look at me and immediately Miami started recruiting me. He mentioned me to Howard Schnellenberger at Louisville and Howard started recruiting me but I really didn’t have a lot of options.  Iowa State was always recruiting me but none of the Big Ten schools were really on me. Miami, Louisville, Iowa State, Northwestern were my choices, but it was pretty easy choice at that point. 

pC: Were you a Hurricane fan beforehand? 
SW: Oh no, I had no clue. The only Miami Hurricane game I remember watching was the Boston College game and I just thought that was an unbelievable game on both sides. I was a Kosar fan but it was an unbelievable game Boston College pulled out. I just left the game thinking I’d love to be part of a college that treated the ball like that. 

pC:I say a word and you tell me the first thing that pops in your head:
Randy Shannon: Intelligent
Larry Coker:  [Pause] Solid guy.
Orange Bowl:  A great place to play.
Dolphin Stadium:  Unbelievable facility.
Jimmy Johnson:  Motivational
The Fiesta Bowl:  Forgettable
Nortre Dame:  Intense Rivalry
 
pC: Do you wish that rivalry came back?
SW: I do.  I think both schools need it actually. 

pC:Which school do you think is in better shape?
SW: They [Notre Dame] are just financially. They’ve always been in a better position than Miami.   But as far as quality of the team I would say Miami. 

pC: What do you think of the move to Dolphin Stadium?
SW: I think it needed to happen.  You know Miami could not support what the facility needed done from a long term revenue standpoint for the University.  So I think it’s fine.  As a player, you had that commonality of that field that drew everybody back full circle but bottom line is the facilities are a weak link on campus and from a game day standpoint you’re not going to play in a better stadium than Dolphin Stadium so I think they solved that with one move.  Financially it was a smart move. Though financially it’s been very successful it’s just the field isn’t the same but I guess what are you going to do. 

We at proCanes.com would like to thank Steve Walsh for giving us his time to be our second interviewee for our new feature: "Tracking proCanes."

Kevin Brinkworth, Class '96 reached out to Procanes last week regarding a UM Documentary he started producing in 2006 which focused on the Miami Hurricanes’ last season at the Orange Bowl. Brinkworth attended every home game during the 2007 season, capturing more than 15 hours of footage with a high-speed camera. He roamed the UM sideline, filming strategy sessions and coaches’ chalkboard talks. He went up to the press box, where he had an “unbelievable” interview with Ted Hendricks, ’72, a three-time All-American linebacker and defensive end for UM who played 15 seasons in the NFL. Before each game, Brinkworth taped interviews with Hurricane greats who came back to their former turf: Russell Maryland, A.B. ’90; Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson; quarterback Gino Torretta and more.

Brinkworth subsequently partnered up with UM Alumni Billy Corben and Rakontur (Producer's of Cocaine Cowboys) to complete a 2 hour Documentary on UM Football which is being funded by ESPN. The documentary is part of ESPN’s 30th Anniversary Programming called "30 in 30" and will air next year on ESPN after the Heisman Trophy presentation.

Producing this documentary has been a dream of Brinkworth's for the last five years, as he's been a Canes fan since birth. Thus far they have interviewed; Melvin Bratton, Howard Schnellenberger, Larry Coker, Jon Vilma, Willis McGahee, Jeremy Shockey, Bennie Blades, John Routh (The Ibis), Don Bailey Jr, Art Kehoe, Sam Jankovich, Luther Campbell, Jessie Armstead, Drew Rosenhaus, Robert Bailey, Jerry Rushin & James T (99 Jamz). Brinkworth also has over 50 live "sideline" interviews from '91-'96, including Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, Michael Irvin, Jim Kelly and much more. Many awesome pictures from the current interviews that have already been taped including Jeremy Shockey, Willis McGahee, Jonathan Vilma and more are here: http://www.rakontur.com/category/the-u/

Please see the press release below about Brinkworth's partnership with Rakontur and ESPN. We will be talking to Brinkworth in the coming weeks for our "Tracking proCanes" feature and look forward to hearing more about this project and his days as a 'Cane.

Rakontur signs deal with UM’s Brinkworth to license footage for upcoming ESPN documentary “The U”

Rakontur the producers of Cocaine Cowboys I & II executed an agreement with former University of Miami player Kevin Brinkworth to license 40 hours of former player interviews and footage of the program dating back to 1991. ESPN commissioned the documentary and will air it part of a series called “30 for 30,” covering sports events of the past 30 years, which celebrates ESPN's 30th anniversary in 2009. No air date has been set, but the project expects to be complete by the 2009 season opener.

Corben stated, “It’s not going to be a highlight film. It’s going to be an account supported by  former players and administration recaps of how the University of Miami changed the sport in both positive and negative ways, how the small, private Southern school whose football program was on the verge of extinction in the mid-1970s changed the face of college football on and off the field forever.”

Spellman and Corben have interviewed 15 people, including Howard Schnellenberger, Larry Coker, Melvin Bratton, Luther Campbell, Robert Bailey, Drew Rosenhaus, Jeremy Shockey and Art Kehoe. Brinkworth’s footage adds another 25 of some interviews, including memoirs from Dwayne ‘The Rock” Johnson and Michael Irvin. “They’re personal accounts from my friends, my teammates. They opened up to me because I was there too,” stated Brinkworth.

Corben is had been bogged down by sscheduling a tour for the coffee-table book they're now doing with MTV Books and Cocaine Cowboys II just celebrated a well received premier. “Brinkworth is real, he was there and they former players open up to him. He has a very unique style,” Corben stated. Brinkworth has been a part of the UM program since graduation and was coached by Randy Shannon in his very first year as a Miami graduate assistant.

''I don't think anyone will come away saying we did anyone wrong,'' said director Alfred Spellman, who, along with producer Billy Corben, and Brinkworth all attended UM. ``It will be very objective and very fair. We don't come in with an agenda. We will explore why the program was under a microscope, but not in a judgmental way. We are UM fans, what do you expect?”

Former Heisman Trophy winner and University of Miami quarterback Gino Torretta will host an exciting weekend of poker, golf and festivities on March 7-9 to raise money for his foundation, The Torretta Foundation, which benefits ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis a.k.a. Lou Gehrig’s Disease) Research, the Hard Rock said in a press release.

At 4:30 p.m. Saturday is an invitation-only meet-and-greet for casino players attending the weekend festivities.

Later that evening, Passion Nightclub in Seminole Paradise will host live performances by Steve Azar, Keith Burns, and the USO Liberty Bells. There will be a silent auction and Torretta will also host a live auction. Tickets cost $100.

At 2 p.m. March 8, Torretta will host a charity poker tournament in the Poker Room at Seminole Paradise. The buy-in for the Texas Hold’em Charity Tournament is $1,100. First prize of up to $30,000 (based on 100 entries) will be awarded to the winner with the rest of the proceeds benefiting The Torretta Foundation.

There will be a super satellite tournament at 7:30 p.m. March 6. Buy-in is $150.

The fundraiser wraps up with a celebrity golf tournament at Jacaranda Golf Club in Plantation on on Monday. Registration starts at 9 a.m. with a shotgun start at 11 a.m. Bacardi drinks, a buffet and gift bags are included. Foursomes can be purchased for $6,000 and individual play cost $1,500.

Past celebrity guests include Mike Rozier, Johnny Rodgers, Keith Byars, Steve Walsh, Kijana Carter, Jim McMahon, John Friesz, Mike Eruzione, Keith Burns, Steve Azar, Ken Dorsey, Pam Fletcher, Steve Lundquist, John Congemi, Chris Wienke, Ty Detmer, Kelly Pavlick, Rich Waltz, Tom Hutton, Craig Erickson, Jeff Cross, Brad Culpepper, Lamar Thomas, George Rogers, Reggie Givens, Troy Drayton, Walter Briggs, Bennie Blades, Shaun Hill, O.J. McDuffie, Bernie Kosar and Darryl Williams, according to the casino.

To participate, contact Kevin Pickard at 954-985-5701 ext. 10613 or kevinpickard@semtribe.com

(sun-sentinel.com)

CORAL GABLES - Miami safety Anthony Reddick spent Friday morning showing two dozen scouts from around the NFL how he could run.

Run left. Run right. Run straight ahead.

Maybe even run away from his past, too.

Reddick's time with the Hurricanes will be best remembered by things he wishes people would forget. The St. Thomas Aquinas alum blew out the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in 2005 and played in only one game. Blew out the ACL in his left knee playing pickup basketball in the spring of 2007 season and missed that entire season, too.

And most notably, there was the unforgettable scene of him running across the field, wielding his helmet high and swinging it wildly during the infamous on-field brawl between Miami and Florida International in 2006, drawing a four-game suspension.

"I learned from all those things," Reddick said, "Made me a better person, a better man."

That's the message he has for the 17 teams who sent staff to the Hurricanes' practice field Friday for the annual pro day, where departing Miami players get poked, prodded, tested and measured by scouts evaluating talent ahead of the NFL draft.

In past years, pro day has been a circus at Miami. Not anymore; Friday's session was relatively low-key, and even the players running around under the hot South Florida sun realize that the Hurricanes' record streak of 14 straight years with a first-round draft pick will end.

"It's disappointing to be a part of that," said linebacker Glenn Cook, another of the Miami players who worked out Friday. "But it doesn't take away from our school, our program."

Reddick didn't mind, either. All he wants is to catch the eye of some team -- and convince those people that he deserves a shot at the NFL.

He was an All-American at the South Florida superpower high school St. Thomas Aquinas, and was wooed by Ohio State, Florida State and Georgia before signing with Miami. As a true freshman in 2004, Reddick played in 11 games, and by year's end was one of only three true freshmen in the starting lineup. He blocked punts, made interceptions, defended passes, whatever the Hurricanes needed.

"Anthony could do a little of everything," former Miami coach Larry Coker said after that season.

Reddick was Miami's starting strong safety for the 2005 season-opener at Florida State, got hurt in that game, and the downward spiral began.

The fight against FIU -- the one where 18 Golden Panthers and 13 Hurricanes drew suspensions for their actions -- was rock bottom.

"The person that everyone saw ... it's truly not me and that wasn't a good reflection of my character," Reddick said days later, looking into a horde of television cameras as he walked onto the same practice field Friday's pro day took place upon to make a public apology.

After getting hurt in that 2005 opener, Reddick had to wait three full years before starting another game for the Hurricanes, but redeemed himself with 75 tackles this season, playing in all 13 Miami games.

The brawl, the knee surgeries, everything negative was finally behind him.

He worked his way into Miami's good graces again, and knows he'll still likely have to answer for those actions when interviewed by NFL clubs.

"I put myself in those situations, especially the NFL fight. The injuries, I can't do anything about those, but I'll tell them the truth about what happened," Reddick said. "I made a mistake. What I did was wrong. There's nothing else about it. I'm not going to let it bring me down at all. I'm sorry for it, I owned up to it and I moved on with my life."

Reddick has nothing to hide, and that includes how his knees are feeling. He insists he's never been stronger, even making a facetious offer to jump from a two-story-high balcony after all the scouts trudged off the pro day field.

He's not listed highly on any draft boards. He isn't listed at all on many of them.

Somehow, someway, he just wants a shot to get inside an NFL camp this summer. If that happens, Reddick insists he'll take care of the rest.

"All I need is an opportunity," Reddick said. "I'm a football player. I know I am. I'm a great one at that. Opportunity is all I need, and I'll go from there."

(sun-sentinel.com)

The NFL coaches were missing Friday at Greentree Field. But the dreams of the University of Miami football players working out in front of several scouts were no different from their famous predecessors.

''Either I'm going to play at the next level or I have to take up another trade,'' said linebacker Glenn Cook, one of 17 Hurricanes seniors from last season's team to take part in UM Timing Day, a day-long combine that for years had drawn every NFL head coach. ``This is an important step to the rest of our lives.''

For the past 14 years, NFL teams have drafted at least one UM player in the first round, a record streak. But this year, only cornerback Bruce Johnson is expected to be drafted, and even that is not a lock. So for the players grinding it out Friday in front of scouts from 17 of 32 NFL teams, this day might have been their only shot to turn heads.

''They always say that we're the best group in the country, and I think we held that up [Friday],'' said Cook, who noted he ran a 5.46 in the 40-yard dash. ``You always hear that one moment can change your [future] for the bad or the good. You do one thing and it may mess up the rest of your life or it may set you up for the best. It's something we should be used to, taking advantage of each moment.''

ADKINS SEIZES MOMENT
On Friday, linebacker Spencer Adkins took advantage of that moment, according to Cook and other players. Adkins played as a reserve in the middle and as a pass rusher in third-down situations, totaling 20 tackles and four sacks in 2008.

A muscular 5-11 and 230 pounds, Adkins said he was timed in the 40 in 4.43 seconds. His vertical leap was 36 inches. His shuttle-run time was 4.25 and he had 30 bench-press repetitions at 225 pounds.

''I obviously needed to show good things or my chances would be minimum,'' said Adkins, who is from Naples. ``I look throughout the league nowadays and there are a lot of dudes who didn't get drafted and are Pro Bowlers. That's the motivation I have.

'There were a couple questions about if I liked the inside or rushing off the edge. I told them, `It doesn't matter. Whatever you want me to do I'll be able to do.' I think [Friday] opened up a lot of eyes.''

ONE-SHOT DEAL
Adkins was asked if he felt it was fair that so much is put into one day's work.

''For somebody who is about to get paid a lot of money and has to do a lot of things in pressure situations, I think it is fair,'' he said.

For a couple of Canes, it must have felt extremely unfair.

Receiver Kayne Farquharson and offensive tackle Chris Rutledge sustained injuries doing drills -- Farquharson tweaked his knee during the broad jump and Rutledge injured his leg while running the 40. Both fought through the pain and completed their workouts.

Johnson, the only Cane invited to the NFL combine in Indianapolis, said he bettered his time in the 40 from 4.47 to 4.4, and increased his vertical jump from 34 to 38 ?inches. Johnson is projected to be drafted from the fourth round down.

''I wanted to show them that I could do it here and [in Indianapolis],'' Johnson said, ``that I could be consistent. I feel I performed real well.''

Safety Anthony Reddick, who turned down an opportunity to apply for a sixth-year medical redshirt after numerous knee surgeries, said his main concern was to prove his knees were fine.

''I'm satisfied,'' said Reddick, who said he was told by scouts he ran ''a really low 4.5'' in the 40. ``I wasn't nervous. Nothing to be nervous about. I've been doing this my whole life.''

(miamiherald.com)

Stay tuned for an in-depth analysis of each of the proCanes free agents and where they might end up later in the week.

2009 UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

Phillip Buchanon CB 5-11 186 7th Season Buccaneers

Vernon Carey OT 6-5 350 5th Season Dolphins

Bubba Franks TE 6-6 265 9th Season NY Jets

William Joseph DT 6-5 308 6th Season Raiders

Ray Lewis LB 6-1 250 13th Season Ravens

Darrell McClover LB 6-1 226 5th Season Bears

Jerome McDougle DE 6-2 2646th Season NY Giants

Brett Romberg C 6-2 298 5th Season Rams

Jonathan Vilma LB 6-1230 5th Season Saints

Nate Webster LB 6-0 232 9th Season Broncos

2009 RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

Rashad Butler OT 6-4 309 3rd Season Texans

2009 EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS FREE AGENTS

Orien Harris DL6-3 300 1st Season Bengals

RELEASED

Ken Dorsey QB 6-4 215 6th Season Browns

Najeh Davenport RB 6-1 247 7th Season Colts

Bruce Johnson was the sole Miami Hurricane Invited to the 2009 NFL Combine, a place where in the recent past Miami Hurricanes have outnumbered every other school. He will be in Group 10 wearing number DB26.

Good luck to Bruce. We're sure he will be getting some advice from his cousin, former first round pick and current DB of the Seattle Seahawks Kelly Jennings.

TAMPA — This state has its share of big-time football programs, with the University of Florida and Florida State leading the way in more recent years.

But when it comes to the NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals, one school leads the way: the "U."

That's the University of Miami, the home of five national championships since 1983, two Heisman trophy winners and Cardinals players Edgerrin James, Antrel Rolle and Calais Campbell. (Although Florida State graduates Anquan Boldin and Darnell Dockett may disagree).

"I got text (messages) from Edge and Antrel right after I was drafted by the Cardinals," Campbell said. "It's a big brother-type thing."

As the Cardinals prepare for Sunday's Super Bowl at 6 p.m. at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium, these three players will be focused on the red and white -- but they still bleed orange and green.

"I'm always helping recruit (to Miami)," said James, an Immokalee native. "We're the ones that set the trend for everyone else (in Florida)."

James' commitment to Miami might be the most visible of the three Cardinals players -- the 30-year-old star running back made a $250, 000 donation to his alma mater in 2000, the largest amount of money ever donated to Miami by a former Hurricanes athlete, and the team meeting room is named after him. He was selected to the school's Ring of Honor in September.

But Rolle and Campbell also add to the South Florida feel on this Southwestern NFL team.

"It was like no other, man," Rolle said, reminiscing about his Miami team's national championship in 2001. "I've never been part of an organization where I didn't work for myself, I worked for the guy next to me. It was a team of brothers."

Of the three Cardinals from UM, Rolle best represents the program's glory years -- he was at Miami from 2001-04, when the Hurricanes advanced to the national championship twice and played in the Orange Bowl and the Peach Bowl his other two seasons.

A Miami-area native himself, Rolle attended South Dade High School, where he was an all-American, before choosing the hometown Hurricanes. The then-cornerback was an All-American in college, too, and a first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference player as a senior. The Cardinals then chose Rolle eighth overall in the 2005 NFL Draft, and he has been a regular in Arizona's defensive backfield since, picking up five interceptions in 2007 and 77 tackles in 2008.

As for James, his future at Miami looked bright after the Hurricanes won the 1994 National Championship in James' junior year of high school. But Miami received NCAA sanctions in 1995 before James arrived, and his sophomore year the Hurricanes were 5-6, including an embarrassing 47-0 loss to Florida State. Still, James rushed for 1,098 yards on just 184 attempts.

James left Miami after his junior year as the only player in school history to post back-to-back seasons of 1,000 yards rushing or better. The program had started to rebound, with a 9-3 record in 1998 including a 49-45 win against then-No. 2 UCLA.

Despite Miami's recent problems, James' support for the Hurricanes hasn't wavered, even given his sanction-ridden experience there.

"You have to understand why the program is that way," said James, addressing the Hurricanes' 5-7 season in 2007 and 7-6 campaign in 2008. "We've had guys that are consistently good enough to leave. ... No other school could come back right away after losing that many players."

Campbell was part of that exodus from Miami. The rookie defensive end left the Hurricanes after his junior season and was picked up by the Cardinals in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft.

"He's the baby of the group," Rolle joked. "But you've got to look out for him."

Campbell, 6-foot-8 and 282 pounds, was a first-team All-American for the Hurricanes after a streak of seven straight games with a sack as a sophomore. He was highly recruited by several big-time football schools after earning a Colorado high school record of 58 sacks in his four seasons.

"I had an opportunity to go a lot of places," Campbell said. "But I still had a good time at UM. To me, it still taught me what I needed to know ... They just need to get back that, well, swagger is what we called it when I was there."

(naplesnews.com)

Scoring a touchdown is an exciting accomplishment. It inspires end zone dances, slum dunks over goal posts, leaps into the bleachers and any number of other creative and often outrageous acts.

A touchdown scored in the Super Bowl – football's biggest stage – likely multiplies the excitement at least tenfold. Consider that of all the men to play football, only 161 have reached the end zone in the Super Bowl.

Three of them have come from Wyoming, a program with a decent history but certainly not a national power. Yet Wyoming has had as many alums score Super Bowl touchdowns as Florida State, Georgia, Penn State, UCLA and USC and more than Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Texas and Oklahoma.

These days, the Big Ten is criticized as a struggling conference, but 25 players from current Big Ten schools have scored touchdowns – more than any other conference.

Following is a list of college football programs that produced players who have scored Super Bowl touchdowns; we also provide the answers to Wednesday's trivia questions.

Trivia answers

1. What university has produced the most players who have scored Super Bowl touchdowns? Miami has had eight players; Notre Dame is second with six.

Miami (8) Bill Miller, Oakland (scored 2) Pete Banaszak, Oakland Ottis Anderson, New York Giants (2) Michael Irvin, Dallas (2) Jimmie Jones, Dallas Duane Starks, Baltimore Ravens Devin Hester, Chicago Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis

Thanks to 305to917 for sending us the link to this story to post!

(rivals.com)

TAMPA -- During the tough times, when it looked as if all they were doing in Arizona was wandering the desert, Edgerrin James, Antrel Rolle and Calais Campbell could find direction in their brotherhood.

The tie that binds them is the fact they all played at the University of Miami. And they argue that is every bit as important as one out of similar DNA.

''It really is a brotherhood,'' Rolle insisted Tuesday as the Cardinals continued preparations for Super Bowl XLIII against Pittsburgh. ``No matter what, it can never be broken. Nobody should even try.''

If you think there is nothing extraordinary about the bond between players at ''The U,'' examine the relationship the three Cardinals players share. They come from different Miami classes and teams that reached different levels of success.

But when they were united on the same Arizona roster, they connected. It was natural. It was expected.

''We have a special relationship,'' James said. ``It's a bond that has been going on for years with players from that school. It's something that no other team and no other school can duplicate.

``It's something that's super special. It's really hard to explain, but you talk to anybody from the University of Miami, they know what it's about.''
It's about men who wouldn't otherwise be friends becoming each other's support system.

When Campbell, 22 and still a rookie, was selected by Arizona in the second round of last April's NFL Draft, the first call he took was from the Cardinals. The second and third calls he took were from James, 30, and Rolle, 26.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB
''As soon as I got drafted by the team, they called me and welcomed me to the team,'' Campbell said. ``There's just that connection you have that comes from work ethic and knowing what you have to do to get where you want to be. We had that and learned that at UM and it carries over.

``So when I got to Arizona, these guys helped me with getting a house and showed me what people to talk to. They helped with simple decisions like places to eat. They took care of me like a little brother. They looked out for me.''

That apparently applies in times of trouble as well as triumph. And this trio has tasted both this season.

After being drafted as a cornerback in 2005 and enjoying only modest success his first two seasons, Rolle lost his starting job in 2007. James was the teammate who encouraged Rolle.

''Since I first stepped into this league, he's been that guy in my ear telling me the right things to do,'' Rolle said. ``He pulls you to the side and talks to you, he's not a spotlight person. He doesn't tell you what you want to hear, but he does tell you what you need to hear.''

Rolle handled the demotion by moving to safety, where he has become a ball-hawking, touchdown return waiting to happen.

Rolle has nine interceptions in his career and has returned four for touchdowns. He also had a fumble return for a touchdown during the playoffs.
James also has a playoff touchdown to go with his 203 yards on 52 carries. He is again a starter and a key to bringing balance to a pass-first Arizona offense.

But midway through the season, James was practically erased from the offense -- with 27 carries in 10 games between Oct. 5 and Dec. 21. He was benched in favor of rookie Tim Hightower.

It was a difficult time for the NFL's leading active rusher.

''You want to play,'' James said. ``This year I worked extremely hard in the offseason, and I had a chance to pass some of the greatest rushers of all time. You want to build on the previous year, and the previous year I had 1,200 yards, and that was a new system. In training camp we were doing certain things that looked like it was going to be promising, and then we were going in a different direction.''

It was a time in which James could lean on Rolle and Campbell.

''I was in the same situation as him last year,'' Rolle said. ``I got pulled from my starting job last year and every day there was a conversation with him. He'd say, `Antrel, keep balling, keep working, keep doing what you do. They're going to have to play you, they're going to have to put you on the field.'

LEARNING TO BE A PRO
'And so when the same thing happened to him, I told him, `Edge, you know who you are. I mean, the whole world knows who you are and it's going to come back. Trust me, it's going to come.' For whatever reason, the coaches thought he wasn't getting the job done. But he never let them keep him down.''

The professionalism James and Rolle showed this season didn't go unnoticed by Campbell.

He didn't start any games and had only 25 tackles on defense and 16 more on special teams, but Campbell learned by watching Rolle and James.

''The way Edgerrin carried himself and the way he came back was a great story,'' Campbell said. ``I learned all it takes is one opportunity to be at the top again. You can never get down on yourself. If something bad happens, you let it go into yesterday and think there's always tomorrow and try to better yourself.

``It was a good lesson to learn from a guy I think of as an older brother.''

(miamiherald.com)

When spring football practice begins this year, Northeast will have a former NFL talent guiding the program.

Northeast athletic director Dave Phillips confirmed on Friday that Donnell Bennett has been hired as the school's new coach.

Bennett, a Fort Lauderdale native, was a second-round draft choice of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1994. He was a running back at the University of Miami and played at Cardinal Gibbons.

Bennett has been an assistant coach at Gibbons, and Phillips said this would be his first high school head coaching position.

"We're extremely excited and feel so fortunate to have him," Phillips said. "It's good for not just our student-athletes, but all the students at our school. He's a role model who has succeeded at every level."

Bennett replaces former coach Adam Ratkevich who stepped down after eight seasons with the Hurricanes. Northeast was 6-4 last season.

(sun-sentinel.com)

ESPN 760 in West Palm Beach is reporting Steve Walsh has accepted the Cardinal Newman head-coaching job left vacant Monday when Don Dicus resigned.

Walsh went 23-1 in two seasons as the starting quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes and led them to the 1987 national championship. He spent 11 seasons in the NFL.

Cardinal Newman athletic director Alan Botkin did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment, and neither did Walsh.

If Walsh takes the position, he will join fellow ex-‘Canes Kenny Berry (head coach at Berean Christian) and Lamar Thomas (assistant coach at Boynton Beach).

(palmbeachpost.com)

Kelly, who never could get the Bills over the Super Bowl hump in his Hall of Fame career, has a new mission these days -- to get every state to test for 54 potentially fatal diseases that could be diagnosed at birth. Only one state, Minnesota, tests for that many today.

He's on this mission because of the death of his son, Hunter, in 2005, from a rare brain disease called Krabbe Leukodystrophy. The disease (leukodystrophies afflict one of every 100,000 American births) could have been diagnosed at birth, but New York State did not test for the illness when Hunter was born in 1997.

"The tragedy for Hunter, and for so many children born with fatal illnesses, is that they're simply born in the wrong state,'' Kelly said the other night. "If you don't think that's something that just tears at your heart every day ...''

I've known Kelly for a long time, and I've always found him to be one of the biggest life-of-the-party guys I've covered. He was a prolific pre-curfew beer man in his Bills training-camp years, when the Buffalo players were as tight as a team could be. But when I saw him the other day, I saw he'd changed. There was a grimness to a once-carefree guy, with more lines on his face than I remembered. The grimness is not from giving up; it's a grim determination.

He's already seen governors of three states -- New York, Pennsylvania and Kansas -- and gotten each to increase dramatically the number of diseases tested for at birth. When babies are born, their heels are pricked and a blood sample taken to test for diseases. With Kelly's lobbying, New York has increased from 11 to 44 diseases tested for, Pennsylvania from 11 to 29, and Kansas from four to 29.

Parents can buy a kit to screen their children for the maximum number of diseases for less than $100, but Kelly, and his foundation, want the tests to be done for every child as a matter of course. Considering that the costs of caring for children with one of many known leukodystrophies can run from between $500,000 and $1 million per year, it seems like early-testing money would be well spent.

"I never won a Super Bowl,'' said Kelly, "and for a long time that really bothered me, obviously. But this is real. This is life. My Super Bowl victory will be to get every state to adopt universal newborn screening so we can save lives that are now being lost needlessly. When that day comes, that victory will be 10 times better than any Super Bowl.''

Because New York now tests for Krabbe, Kelly met a perfectly healthy boy, now a year and half old, who was diagnosed at birth and successfully treated. "Little Elmer,'' he said with a grin. Now his goal is to meet a lot more Elmers. If you'd like to help, or learn more about Kelly's mission, you can go to www.huntershope.org.

Miami is unranked this week in college football. The Hurricanes haven't been to a bowl since 2006. They haven't finished a season in the national polls since 2005. The Hurricanes haven't won a national title since 2001.

But Miami remains the first stop for NFL talent evaluators looking to build championship teams. The Hurricanes placed 44 players on NFL rosters in September, tops in the league by a wide margin. Florida State was next with 37.

Miami safety Kenny Phillips was a first-round draft pick by the Super Bowl champion New York Giants last April. It marked the 14th consecutive draft that a Hurricane has been taken in the first round. The next-longest current streak is five consecutive drafts by LSU.

Miami has had 26 players selected in the first round this decade. Ohio State is next with 14 first-rounders. There are Hurricanes on 22 of the NFL's 32 rosters. Fourteen Hurricanes have been to the Pro Bowl, including six last season.

Of the 44 Hurricanes on NFL rosters, 22 started last weekend. That group includes four halfbacks (Frank Gore of San Francisco, Edgerrin James of Arizona, Willis McGahee of Baltimore and Clinton Portis of Washington) and four middle linebackers (Jon Beason of Carolina, Ray Lewis of Baltimore, Jonathan Vilma of New Orleans and Nate Webster of Denver).

Four Hurricanes play for the Giants. Four also play for the Texans. Surprisingly, none play for the Cowboys, who once used first-round draft picks on Michael Irvin and Russell Maryland. Both won Super Bowl rings with the Cowboys, as did fellow Hurricanes Bernie Kosar, Jimmie Jones, Darrin Smith and Kevin Williams.

In fact, the Cowboys have not drafted a Hurricane since selecting Smith in the second-round in 1993. The Cowboys also haven't won a playoff game since Smith left in free agency after the 1996 season.

Here are some other roster/school tidbits:

Ten schools have 30-plus players on NFL rosters, and three are from the state of Florida - Miami (44), Florida State (37) and Florida (30).
Cal (27) has more players on NFL rosters than traditional powers Alabama (18), Arkansas (16), Oklahoma (18) and Penn State (22).
Fresno State (17) has more players on NFL rosters than Ole Miss, Pitt, Syracuse or Washington - all with 14.

Hawaii (15) has more players on NFL rosters than Clemson (13).

Here's a list of all the schools of the top schools with NFL opening-day rosters in 2008:
Miami (Fla.); 44
Florida State; 37
Georgia; 36
Michigan; 36
Ohio State; 36
LSU; 35
Tennessee; 34
Texas; 34
Southern Cal; 32
Florida; 30
Notre Dame; 28
Auburn; 27
Cal; 27
Virginia Tech; 25
Nebraska; 24
Maryland; 23
Boston College; 22

(sportsline.com)

Cortez Kennedy had to catch his breath when he received the news. That is how humbled he was to learn he was one of five University of Miami greats selected for the UM Football Ring of Honor.

''I couldn't believe it,'' Kennedy, 40, a former defensive tackle, said by phone from his Orlando home. 'I'm in the Seattle Seahawks' Ring of Honor, and this has even more meaning to me. Just think of all the UM greatness that came before and after me.''

After a nine-year hiatus, UM's Ring of Honor has been revived -- and strengthened.

The five UM greats who were announced Thursday to become the newest members of the Ring of Honor during halftime of a Thursday night game against Virginia Tech on Nov. 13 are:

• Kennedy.
• Running back Edgerrin James.
• Quarterback Jim Kelly.
• Center Jim Otto.
• Quarterback Gino Torretta.

''It's great when you're considered one of the best your school has ever had,'' said Torretta, 38, who lives in Coral Gables with his wife and their 3-year-old daughter. He is the CEO of Touchdown Radio, a company that syndicates a college football game every week for national radio. He led the Hurricanes to the 1991 national title and won the Heisman Trophy in '92.

''It's a tremendous honor and brings back lots of great memories,'' Torretta said. ``When I signed my scholarship, I just wanted an opportunity to win a national championship. You never know if things are going to work out for you individually. Obviously, my teams had a lot of success.''

`SUPER BIG-TIME'
James, 30, is the youngest in the class. James, a cousin of UM tailback Javarris James, played from 1996-98 and was a first-team All-American before being taken fourth overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1999 NFL Draft. He now plays for the Arizona Cardinals.

''This is one of my biggest accomplishments,'' James said by phone Thursday night. ``To stand out among the greatest players at the University of Miami, that's super big-time. That is where I started. That is my family.''

James said his mother, Julie, will attend the ceremony in his place because he will be in the middle of his season and on a West Coast swing.

''She's super nervous and excited,'' he said.

The Ring of Honor began in 1997 to recognize the outstanding UM players through the decades. UM athletic director Kirby Hocutt said an anonymous committee of ''eight individuals with a long-standing history with [UM] and its football program and athletic department'' worked with himself and coach Randy Shannon to determine the honorees. Criteria for selection included athletic achievements at UM and on the pro level, commitment and loyalty to the continued success of the program and a personal commitment to courage, fortitude, honesty and integrity, according to a statement from the university.

''This was the appropriate time to do it,'' Hocutt said Thursday afternoon. ``[UM] has a tradition of excellence in the sport of football that is unmatched anywhere in the country. This is a way for us to recognize and embrace that tradition.''

Hocutt said he expects more names to be added before another nine years pass.

''We won't have an induction every year, but it's a process we hope to continue in the years to come,'' he said.

This will be the third class to be inducted. The first class was made up of quarterback George Mira (1961-63), halfback Jim Dooley (1949-51), defensive end Ted Hendricks (1966-68) and quarterback Vinny Testaverde (1982-86). The second class in 1999 had fullback Don Bosseler (1953-56), running back Ottis Anderson (1975-78), quarterback Bernie Kosar (1982-84) and defensive back Burgess Owens (1970-72).

TWO HALL OF FAMERS
Kelly and Otto had equally illustrious careers. Kelly, who starred at UM from 1979-82, went on to a great career with the Buffalo Bills and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

Otto, a 12-time Pro Bowl selection with the Oakland Raiders, played center for UM from 1957-59 and was inducted into the 1980 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He now works in the front office of the Raiders.

The five will have their names unveiled on the Ring of Honor banner that will be displayed at UM home football games, beginning with Virginia Tech.

''I can't believe I'm in that top category,'' said Kennedy, a single father who is raising his 13-year-old daughter and works with Seahawks linemen during training camp. Kennedy was the MVP of the Hurricanes' 1989 national championship team.

''I respect every player that came through the U, because we sacrificed so much on and off the field,'' he said. ``It was hard for me to even tell some of the former players I was selected, because so many of them deserve to be in that ring.''

Shannon, a friend and former teammate of Kennedy's, said in the statement it was difficult to make the decision because of all the great players from which to choose.

''A tremendous group has been selected for this next induction,'' Shannon said. ``They truly understand what it means to be a Miami Hurricane.''

(miamiherald.com)

Though the University of Miami football team has seen better days, the program still rules the NFL.

The NFL announced Wednesday that The U has the most players in the league, for the third consecutive season. Miami has 44 players on NFL rosters, following 42 in 2006 and 46 in 2007.

And Florida colleges continue to dominate the NFL landscape. Florida State is second on the list with 37 players, and Florida is 10th with 30.
The top 10 most-represented schools in the league:
1. Miami — 44
2. Florida State — 37
3. Georgia — 36
4. Michigan — 36
5. Ohio State — 36
6. LSU — 35
7. Tennessee — 34
8. Texas — 34
9. USC — 32
10. Florida — 30

The league also breaks it down by position.

Not surprisingly, Miami has the most tight ends in the NFL (four) and linebackers (nine).

Florida State has the most running backs (five), offensive tackles (five) and defensive tackles (five).

What is a bit surprising is that Ohio State produces the most skill players. The Buckeyes have the most receivers (six, tied with LSU) and defensive backs (nine).

Michigan and USC have the most quarterbacks in the league (four apiece).

Georgia leads in defensive ends (nine), tied with Miami in tight ends (four) and tied in kickers (two).

And little Louisiana Tech, whose team hasn’t exactly been nationally relevant since the days of Terry Bradshaw and Fred Dean, also appears on this list. The Bulldogs are tied for the most kickers in the NFL, with two.

(palmbeachpost.com)

Check out Version 1.1 of the 2008 proCanes NFL Roster. This Roster will be updated whenever neccessary so you can keep up with your favorite 'Canes and which teams they are playing on. Click here to check out the roster or above on proCanes Stats/Rosters.

Check out Version 1.0 of the 2008 proCanes NFL Roster. This Roster will be updated whenever neccessary so you can keep up with your favorite 'Canes and which teams they are playing on. Click here to check out the roster or above on proCanes Stats/Rosters.

FORMER PLAYERS, HISTORIC RIVALS ANNOUNCE NEW CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
Letterwinners from 3 of college football’s legendary rivals form a unique partnership through the Make a Play Foundation, a new charitable organization that will impact children across Florida

MIAMI, Fla – August 21, 2008  – Legendary former football players of Florida, Florida State and Miami have developed programs and initiatives designed to create opportunities for children in their hometowns by providing academic and recreational grants through a new charitable organization, the Make a Play Foundation. The 501(c)(3) organization is a unique partnership between former players of three of college football’s most storied rivals and will partner with established community organizations and individual player foundations to provide grants promoting leadership, accountability and confidence in children around the state of Florida.

“There are so many kids out there that don’t have goals or expectations of themselves because they don’t have access or the opportunity for bigger things,” co-founder Terry Jackson said. “Anything we can do to help get them involved in something that interests them, whether it’s sports, music, art or education, it’s worth it.”

The organization’s goal is to use a collective voice to help promote growth and change for children in their hometowns, building on what several individual players have already done by devoting their time, leadership and financial support to a range of causes. The Make a Play Foundation’s vision is to provide academic or recreational grants designed to fund educational field trips, improve or build community playgrounds and athletic fields, provide college scholarships, develop leadership programs, reward academic improvements or success, purchase athletic equipment and uniforms, support musical programs, provide computers and technology to local community centers and fund additional family-based programs.

Founding members of the Player Panel include Neal Anderson (UF), James Bates (UF), Lomas Brown (UF), Warrick Dunn (FSU), Earnest Graham (UF), Jacquez Green (UF), Terry Jackson (UF), Willie Jackson, Jr. (UF), Marvin Jones (FSU), Nick Maddox (FSU), Shane Matthews (UF), Santana Moss (Miami), Sinorice Moss (Miami), Burgess Owens (Miami), Errict Rhett (UF), Leon Searcy (Miami), Max Starks (UF), Fred Weary (UF) and Lawrence Wright (UF).

“So many players are out there doing things on the local level, this just provides a network between us to do bigger things, help us expand and build,” Jackson said. “We’ve always supported each other’s community projects, this just gives us the opportunity to pull together and bring fans into the competition and have a little fun with it.”

One hundred percent of individual fan donations will go towards youth and family grants thanks to the generosity of corporate partners and members of the Player Panel who will underwrite the foundation’s operating expenses.

Programs will focus on having a local presence as resources raised in each specific area will be invested back into those communities through hometown grants. Players and fans will also have the opportunity to directly support children and families in their communities through an option to specify that financial donations are designated for children in one of seven areas: the Panhandle; North Central Florida; Jacksonville; Tampa-St.Pete; Orlando and the East Coast; Southwest Florida and Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Along with providing opportunities and access to at-risk youth, the Make a Play Foundation will also focus the energy and spirit of the three rivalry weeks by launching state-wide fan competitions. The week leading up to each rivalry game promises to bring fans into the battle, making them an active player in some of the most intense rivalries in all of sports. The foundation will partner with a different national or regional charity and dedicate service hours and donations to the adopted organization during the head-to-head competition weeks. The 2008 college football schedule includes games at all three universities: Florida hosts Miami in Gainesville on September 6th, Miami will host Florida State at Dolphin Stadium on October 4th and Florida will travel to Tallahassee to face Florida State on November 29th.

The Make a Play Foundation was established and provided Publix and Wal-Mart gift cards to 250 families in Miami, Tallahassee and Gainesville to purchase holiday meals last December. The cards were distributed through three organizations: the Refuge House of North Florida, Peaceful Paths Domestic Abuse Network of North Central Florida and the CBS4 Neighbors4Neighbors Holiday Adopt-a-Family program in South Florida. The Refuge House of North Florida and the Peaceful Paths Domestic Abuse Network are two organizations that focus on assisting families and victims of domestic violence while the CBS4 Neighbors4Neighbors organization assists South Florida families in crisis for a variety of different issues.

The foundation will expand to include alumni of all Florida colleges and universities to develop the power to promote change for children and families around the state.  For more information on the Make a Play Foundation and partnering player foundations, please visit the official Web site at www.makeaplayfoundation.org.

ABOUT THE FOUNDATION:
The Make a Play Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that represents a unique partnership of former players of three of college football’s legendary rivals – Florida, Florida State and Miami- and will partner with established community organizations and individual player foundations to create opportunities for underprivileged children through academic and recreational grants, designed to promote confidence and leadership. The organization’s goal is to use a collective voice to help promote growth and change for children in former players’ hometowns.

We at proCanes.com view Luke Campbell as an Honorary 'Cane. He has contributed a lot to the Miami program and still does. Congrats to you and your bride Luke!

Luke Campbell, former frontman of 2 Live Crew, heard wedding bells instead of beatboxing on Saturday as he and Kristin Thompson tied the knot in Dallas, Texas.

"I waited 47 years to find a special woman and have found that in Kristin," Campbell tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I never knew that I could feel love on another level like this until I met her, and I am now honored to call her my wife."

The stars of the upcoming VH1 reality series Luke's Parental Advisory tied the knot in front of 300 guests at Saint Luke Community Methodist Church, followed by a reception at the Opus Grand Ballroom at Hotel Palomar. Thompson, 27, who serves as general counsel for Campell's company Luke Entertainment, wore a wedding gown by Monique Lhuillier.

Doug E. Fresh deejayed and performed, keeping guests, including Arizona Cardinal Edgerrin James, on the dance floor until the early morning. Soul singer Betty Wright serenaded the happy couple. Their first dance was to Brian McKnight's "Back At One."

Campbell and Thompson met at Jerry's Deli in Miami Beach two years ago. He proposed to her on Halloween last year. This is the first marriage for both. Campbell has two children from a previous relationship.

Luke's Parental Advisory premieres Aug. 4 at 10:30 p.m. EST. The wedding will be featured on the season finale in September.

(people.com)

CAROL CITY
Rudy Barber - 1989
S - Kenny Phillips - 2005
QB - Ethenic Sands - 1998

COLUMBUS
RB - Danyell Ferguson - 1992
RB - Alonzo Highsmith - 1983

CORAL GABLES
RB - Frank Gore - 2001
LB Jon Vilma - 1999

EDISON
DL - William Joseph - 1998
GULLIVER
S - Sean Taylor - 2001

HIALEAH DE - Ted Hendricks - 1965

HOMESTEAD
LB - Micheal Barrow - 1988

KILLIAN
WR - Randal Hill - 1987

MIAMI HIGH
WR - Andre Johnson - 1999

NORLAND
LB - Darren Smith - 1988

NORTHWESTERN
RB Melvin Bratton - 1982
OL Vernon Carey - 1999
QB - Jacory Harris - 2008
WR - Aldarius Johnson - 2008
WR - Brett Perriman - 1984
LB - Sean Spence - 2008
LB - Nate Webster - 1996
NORTH MIAMI DB - Earl Little - 1992

SOUTH DADE
DB - Antrel Rolle - 2001
REMEMBER: Nominations should be based on high school performance and not what the athlete did after high school!

(miamiherald.com)

For 13 years, the University of Miami has had at least one player drafted in the first round. To put that in perspective, the last time a Hurricanes' player wasn't taken in the first round — in 1994 — gas was $1.03 per gallon.

Depending on who you talk to, Miami's streak of first-round picks will continue with safety Kenny Phillips and perhaps defensive end Calais Campbell — or it'll end.

Two months ago, Phillips and Campbell were first-round locks. Now they're not, according to various mock drafts.

Phillips is projected to go as high as 19th in the draft by The Sports Xchange and CBS Sportsline's Clark Judge.

The Sports Xchange also has Campbell being taken 21st, but ESPN's Mel Kiper and Sports Illustrated's Peter King have neither player going in the first round.

"I originally had Kenny Phillips and Calais Campbell in," Kiper said. "The Arkansas State state kid (Tyrell Johnson) has moved up and Phillips is not coming off a great year.

"Calais has a better chance to be picked late in the first round. ... Like Kenny Phillips, it was not his best year."

Gary Wichard, Campbell's agent, laughs at all the conjecture.

"I've won too many bets with Mel Kiper," he said. "None of those guys have a pick on Saturday, which is a good thing.

"There's no way Calais won't be picked in the first round. He's a 6-foot-7, 280-pound freak. I don't care if he was down a little bit. He's a great kid, he'll graduate and he's nothing but hard work and a good attitude. And how many guys in the draft can do what he can do? He'll be fine."
Phillips, who's represented by Drew and Jason Rosenhaus, said they've told him to ignore all the talk but that it's hard.

"It's in the paper, on TV, shows you like to watch," Phillips said. "They're always saying something and it's a negative. It's someone's opinion, not a general manager or coach. People saying that have nothing to do with the draft. They get paid to do it, which I understand. But there's nothing I can do about it."

It's tougher for family members, Phillips said.

"No one likes to hear talk about their son or children," he said. "It's those people's opinions, but it's not things a mother who loves her son likes to hear."

Phillips remains confident he'll be chosen in the first round.

"You never know what will happen," he said. "If I fall into the second round, that's fine; people are dying to go in the second round. But you pray to go in the first round or as high as possible."

While Kiper isn't high on Campbell's or Phillips' first-round chances, he continues to move Tavares Gooden up. He ranked Gooden No. 2 among outside linebackers.

"He had a heckuva a year," Kiper said. "He put it together at the right time."

The 6-foot-1, 234-pound Gooden, who played all three linebacker positions, had 100 tackles (three for losses), three fumble recoveries, three pass breakups and an interception this past season. He has nearly a 40-inch vertical jump and ran a 4.65 time in the 40-yard dash.

"I don't think the real me has come out yet," Gooden said. "I played so many different positions. ... When I worked at something for a couple of years, I get the feel for it and get better at it. I can't wait to show skills at the next level."

Quarterback Kyle Wright, wide receivers Lance Leggett and Darnell Jenkins, offensive linemen Derrick Morse of Estero High, John Rochford and Andrew Bain and defensive lineman Vegas Franklin look like free agents.

Wright never matched his high school hype and was slowed by a series of offensive coordinators.

"I'm very anxious for a new start, to start a new chapter and not look back," Wright said. "Here's what a lot of teams stress. It's hard to get any continuity in the offseason. I never had the same coordinator twice in the summer. I'm definitely looking forward to get in a system team-wise and having people around me work on things I really didn't get here."

(news-press.com)

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Former University of Miami coach Larry Coker on Wednesday paid a visit to some old Hurricanes at Bears training camp.
Someone should have considered giving him the key to training camp.

Coker had a hand in the development of both Devin Hester and Greg Olsen, the two matinee idols in Bears camp. Whenever either player touches the football, it sounds like John, Paul, George and Ringo have taken the stage -- shrieking replaces applause.

The two new parts to the Bears' offense will attempt to show they can do more than practice when preseason opens Saturday night at 7 in Houston against the Texans.

Former University of Miami coach Larry Coker visited practice and saw familiar faces with five ex-Hurricanes on the roster: receiver Devin Hester, tight end Greg Olsen, linebacker Darrell McClover, guard Tyler McMeans and newly added fullback Quadtrine Hill. Coker, who wasn't too enthusiastic about Hester's early departure from school, said he felt all along the All-Pro returner was best suited as a receiver.

''That's a smart move,'' Coker said. ''It's a move that we wanted to do, too. The more he has the ball under his arm, the more explosive and exciting and the more plays he is going to make. It seems like he's bought into it. That's the key. If he buys into it, he'll be good at it.''

(suntimes.com)

Overrated safeties

Ed Reed Reed's metrics were terrible last year. His 14.9 combined YPA was the fifth-worst in the league among coverage safeties. He gave up the third-highest number of total yards. He had the fourth-most bomb passes thrown his way and the third-worst YPA at that depth level.

I know there are those who will say that the game broadcast tapes don't show everything that Reed does and that these numbers are anomalies, but let me throw this out in my defense. Carson Palmer said that Reed often doesn't play his coverage and thinks he knows what's coming. Palmer also commented that Reed can get frustrated when the offense is getting some things going and will try to come up and make a play and lose his responsibilities because of it. Palmer was able to exploit Reed's impatience in Week 13, when he connected on a flea-flicker pass to T.J. Houshmandzadeh for a 40-yard touchdown.

The metrics show that Palmer isn't the only quarterback who knows Reed's coverage weaknesses. That is why I believe Reed is the most overrated safety in the league.

Sean Taylor Taylor made the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement, but the metrics make it clear he didn't earn the spot. He ranked 20th in both deep assist YPA and deep assist success percentage. He did even worse when in direct coverage, as his 10.7 YPA in those situations was the seventh worst in the NFL last year. He also gave up the second-most total yards of any coverage safety. Taylor did do a lot more to support the run last year than he did in years past, but even taking that into account, he really wasn't a Pro Bowl-level coverage safety last year.

(espninsider.com)

CORAL GABLES -- South Beach can be a humbling experience for any football star with an ego.

Not South Beach, the Miami Beach hotspot famous for its parties and beautiful people. We're talking about "South Beach," the sand pits, a workout area located at the back of the University of Miami's football fields.

On any given weekday during the offseason, that's where the center of the NFL universe can be found. A number of the league's biggest stars, such as Ed Reed, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, Frank Gore and Jonathan Vilma, spend the majority of their offseason pushing their former college teammates — and sometimes division rivals — to their limits.

Over the weekend proCanes.com went to Fort Myers to catch a game between the Florida Firecats and Alabama Steeldogs. The Florida Firecats feature three 'Canes, Magic Benton, Brad Kunz and Ethenic Sands pictured below. Pictures from the game were also taken and will be posted shortly, stay tuned. Also stay tuned to exclusive interviews with all three players.

Click on the picture to enlarge the article to read. Enjoy!

As long as Rex Grossman is under center, the Bears' offense is never going to strike fear in the hearts of opposing defensive coordinators. But John Clayton made an interesting point on ESPN today: Has any team added more speed to its offense in the off-season than the Bears?

Think about it. Chicago has moved kick returning superstar Devin Hester to offense, where he'll play some wide receiver and some running back, and the Bears drafted Greg Olsen in the first round, and in terms of straight-line speed, Olsen is probably the second-fastest tight end in the league. (San Francisco's Vernon Davis is a bit faster.)

Hester and Olsen (who were teammates in college at Miami) won't make a huge impact on the offense, but the mere threat of a few extra big plays has to put smiles on the faces of Bears fans. It's been a long time since anything on offense has done that.

(aolsportsblog.com)

Kareem Brown pulled a folding chair featuring the Patriots' logo up to a pack of reporters surrounding Brandon Meriweather, climbed on top of it and commandeered a writer's pad and pen.

"Are you thankful Kareem's your roommate?" the 6-foot-4-inch, 240 pound rookie defensive lineman asked Meriweather to the amusement of the real press.

"I kind of wish I didn't have a roommate anymore but since I've known you eight years I might as well," Meriweather, the 24th overall pick at last month's draft, said.

There was no doubt on Saturday, the opening day of Patriots rookie mini camp, that the Pats' top two draft picks are playful. There are however, two much more important pending questions for the former University of Miami stars who participated in an in-game brawl against Florida International last season.

A day after the NFL Draft concluded, at least four University of Miami players had plans to participate in minicamps.

Punter Brian Monroe signed a two-year, undrafted free agent contract, including a signing bonus, with the San Diego Chargers. He leaves for the weekend minicamp Thursday.

''He's going to compete to win a spot,'' agent Martin Magid said by phone from Philadelphia. ``They may have him do some kickoff and extra-point holding. He's a great athlete.

``We had about three or four teams that were calling for him, but San Diego looked like the best opportunity.''

• With Greg Olsen and potentially Jon Beason and/or Brandon Meriweather, the University of Miami figures to extend its first-round draft streak to 13 years. But this group should have been better, ESPN's Mel Kiper asserts.

''At one point, I thought you could have maybe five [first-round picks] out of this class,'' Kiper said. ``But instead, you have one one, a couple twos, and a lot of second-day guys. The only one that really materialized into being as good as we thought he'd be is Greg Olsen, and that happened late in the process. Brandon Meriweather, you would have thought, would have been a one, but we now have [as a second-rounder]. And Jon Beason the same thing.''

But Kiper might be underestimating this group. NFL Network's Mike Mayock and ESPN's Todd McShay project three Canes for the first round.
Beason, whom Kiper has going 38th, has received strong feedback from several teams picking in the mid-to-late first round, including Cincinnati (18th). The Steelers, who select 15th, told an involved official they're considering Beason, FSU linebacker Lawrence Timmons and Pitt cornerback Derrelle Revis. (The Steelers' Mike Tomlin was the only NFL head coach at FSU's pro day, which fueled Timmons rumors.)

CORAL GABLES ?Similar to the way Band-Aid and Kleenex have brand recognition, NFL coaches, scouts and executives admit they also bank on familiarity in scouting college talent.

There has been no bigger talent supplier to the NFL this decade than the Miami Hurricanes, and some analysts believe part of UM's draft success, which will likely include a record 13 consecutive years with a first-round pick Saturday, has a lot to do with brand familiarity.

After all, what talent evaluator wants to be pegged as the guy who passed on the next Frank Gore, Jonathan Vilma, Ed Reed or Jeremy Shockey.

Round 1:

14. Carolina (8-8)
Projected pick: Greg Olsen, TE, Miami
Needs: TE, S, ILB, DE, OT, WR, OLB, DE
The Panthers could use this pick to address needs at safety (Reggie Nelson and Michael Griffin) or linebacker (Lawrence Timmons and Paul Posluszny), but Olsen is the best fit if Willis is off the board. Olsen is the only first-round talent in this year's tight end class and has the speed to take pressure off WRs Steve Smith and Keyshawn Johnson.

31. Chicago (13-3)
Projected pick: Jon Beason, OLB, Miami
Needs: DT, OLB, WR, TE, RB, OT, QB, S, G
The Bears need to address the outside linebacker position early, even if they fail to trade disgruntled starter Lance Briggs before draft weekend. Beason is a fringe first-rounder with the size, quickness and tackling skills to emerge as a quality starter in the NFL. Durability concerns and lack of ideal range in coverage keep him from competing with Willis, Timmons and Posluszny higher on the board.

Round 2:

45. Carolina: Brandon Meriweather, S, Miami

Round 4:

111. Buffalo: Kareem Brown, DE, Miami

125. New Orleans (from Philadelphia): Baraka Atkins, DE, Miami

Round 6:

198. Denver: Tyrone Moss, RB, Miami (Fla.)

1st Round:
14. Carolina Panthers Greg Olsen TE Miami

2nd Round:
38. Arizona Cardinals Jon Beason LB Miami

45. Carolina Panthers Brandon Meriweather S Miami

In the late 1980s, Mark Stoops lettered three times as a strong safety at Iowa. He finished his career with more than 100 tackles.

Today?

“I don’t think I’d be recruiting myself to play here,” Stoops, the defensive coordinator at the University of Arizona, said with a laugh.

The concept of a safety has changed over the past decade. No longer are they big corners who can’t cover. No more are they a playing piece that teams look to add late in the draft, or through cheap, free agent signings.

Once a sideshow to the prime-time position in the defensive secondary, cornerback, the profile of safeties is rising. So is the perception of their value on a football team. Accordingly, the value the NFL places on the spot has changed.

Estero, FL- The Florida Firecats have released their 22 man roster. The Firecats have 12 players retuning from last years team that posted a 13-3 record in the regular season and won the South Division for the 3rd straight year including 3 Miami Hurricanes.

Magic Benton               WR                  6-0                   200                   Miami

Ethenic Sands               WR                  6-0                   185                   Miami

Brad Kunz                    OL                   6-7                   315                   Miami

(floridafirecats press release, floridafirecats.com)

14. Carolina - Greg Olsen, TE, Miami (Fla.): Several months ago, I had Olsen going to the Bears near the end of the first round. After a sensational effort at the combine workout, he's soared up the draft board to the point that Carolina and Green Bay have to be interested. The Panthers need a TE of Olsen's caliber.

18. Cincinnati - Jon Beason, LB, Miami (Fla.): Beason didn't run as well as expected (4.74) at the combine workout, but his film evaluation grades, especially from 2005, figure to win out, placing him ultimately in the mid-to-late first round area. Marvin Lewis also knows firsthand what it means to have a former Miami Hurricane setting the tone on your defense.

(espn.com)

In preparation for the NFL Draft (April 28-29), the Patriots coaching staff, including head coach Bill Belichick, worked out three players from the University of Miami today. The evaluation took place in southern Florida, as Belichick & Co. were in town as part of a yearly visit to spring training. The private workout included linebacker Jon Beason, defensive lineman Kareem Brown and safety Brandon Meriweather. Beason and Meriweather could each be first-round picks, while Brown should be selected sometime during the first day. It's unclear how serious the Pats would be about selecting Beason because Miami runs a base 4-3 defense and the coaching staff likes their players to be a bit more versatile. However, you can't blame them for doing their homework.

(bostonsportsrumors.blogspot.com)

CORAL GABLES - The University of Miami's 13-year run of having at least one first-round draft choice appears to be safe.

And based on how some of the Miami players looked at Saturday's Pro Day at the Hurricanes' practice facility, they're intent on helping the school's overall draft.

"Oh yeah, I want to carry on the tradition," Miami tight end Greg Olsen said. "It's a helluva run, no one is close. That's why the program has been what it is the last 12 years."

The Hurricanes could have more than one first-rounder. Three different mock drafts had either Olsen, linebacker Jon Beason or safety Brandon Meriweather going among the first 32 picks.

The last place you would expect to see a University of Miami football player this season was in a championship game. But Devin Hester and Reggie Wayne -- still Hurricanes at heart -- brought back the luster to Coral Gables on football's biggest stage Sunday.

Hester and Wayne, no strangers to a Miami end zone, scored the first and second touchdowns, respectively, of Super Bowl XLI.

Wayne's Colts defeated Hester's Bears 29-17 at Dolphin Stadium.

Two potential new proCanes, Kareem Brown and Brandon Merriweather are participating in the Senior Bowl this week. Below is a list of the NFL Network's coverage of the Senior Bowl where hopefully we can get a glimpse of Brown and Merriweather.

Tuesday, Jan. 23
10:30 a.m. - Day 2 Morning Practice (90 minutes)
5 p.m. - Day 2 Afternoon Practice (2 hours)
9:30 p.m. - Path to the Draft: Day 2 Recap (30 minutes)

Wednesday, Jan. 24
10:30 a.m. - Day 3 Morning Practice (90 minutes)
5 p.m. - Day 3 Afternoon Practice (2 hours)
9:30 p.m. - Path to the Draft: Day 3 Recap (30 minutes)

Thursday, Jan. 25
10:30 a.m. - Day 4 Morning Practice (90 minutes)
5 p.m. - Day 4 Afternoon Practice (2 hours)
8 p.m. - Path to the Draft: Day 4 Recap (30 minutes)

Saturday, Jan. 27
3 p.m. - NFL Total Access pregame show (1 hour)
4 p.m. - 2007 Under Armour Senior Bowl, Live (3 hours)
7 p.m. - NFL Total Access postgame show (1 hour)

Reggie Wayne with a TD catch helped the Colts advance to the second round of the playoffs while Kelly Jennings with his first playoff start forced a key fumble that resulted in a safety and helped the Seahawks advance to the second round of the playoffs.

Ed Reed
Ray Lewis
Reggie Wayne
Vince Wilfork
Jonathan Vilma
Devin Hester
Darrell McClover
Jerome McDougle
Kelly Jennings
Jeremy Shockey
Sinorice Moss
William Joseph
Jeff Feagles

Here is what some former players under Butch Davis had to say about the new Carolina football coach:

"He is above and beyond a players' coach. He's a family coach. ... I'd keep an eye out on their program for years to come because the man is special." -- Reggie Wayne, wide receiver, Indianapolis Colts

"He runs a program like no other. When guys come in as 19-year-olds or whatever the case may be, he molds them into men as players and as people."-- Santana Moss, wide receiver, Washington Redskins

"Coach Davis is really good with players. I think he will build a really nice program there."-- Edgerrin James, running back, Arizona Cardinals

PHILADELPHIA -- Joe Gibbs loves players from the University of Miami.

One of his first moves upon returning to the Redskins in 2004 was trading franchise cornerback Champ Bailey for ex-Hurricanes running back Clinton Portis.

Seven weeks later, Gibbs chose Hurricanes safety Sean Taylor fifth overall in the draft.

The Redskins' renaissance began last season with the acquisition of former Hurricane Santana Moss from the Jets for disgruntled fellow receiver Laveranues Coles.

Click on the pictures to enlarge the article to read. Enjoy!