Canespace

Canespace LIVE Chat Starts Now!

Miami Hurricane fans please jump right in and post your questions NOW for the LIVE chat.

Tonight from 8 PM and 11 PM Canespace is hosting a LIVE chat that will include several reporters who cover University of Miami athletics to answer your questions LIVE in real time.

Some will show up early and hit in the lead off position and some will show up later and bat clean-up. In the end, hopefully it will all work out.

Leading off tonight's chat at 8 PM will be two new featured guests on Canespace: Brandon Odoi from www.caneinsider.com.

If you haven't checked out their web site yet then you should and you should do it NOW!

Their site lives up to it's name as they provide some really exclusive and insightful "insider" coverage of UM sports with a strong emphasis on football.

They provide an incredible amount of awesome daily content and do an outstanding job of covering everyone's favorite topic: recruiting.

In addition, others who may participate tonight are:

• Susan Miller-Degnan, Miami Herald
• Manny Navarro, Miami Herald (will join late)
• SaveUMFootball, Twitter Guru
• FloridaHSFootball.com

Also joining us for the first time will be representatives from the UM Athletic Department including SID Chris Freet and UM Hurricane Club Major Gifts Director Jesse Marks.

So Hurricane fans please jump right in and post your questions NOW for the LIVE chat.

Hey, What's All The Chatter In Here?

Tonight between 8 PM and 11 PM Canespace will host several reporters who cover Miami Hurricane athletics to answer your questions LIVE in real time.

Also joining us for the first time will be representatives from the UM Athletic Department including SID Chris Freet and UM Hurricane Club Major Gifts Director Jesse Marks.

Leading off tonight's chat at 8 PM will be two new featured guests on Canespace: Brandon Odoi and Jon Bastian from www.caneinsider.com.

If you haven't checked out their web site yet then you should and you should do it NOW!

Their site lives up to it's name as they provide some really exclsuive and insightful "insider" coverage of UM sports with a strong emphasis on football. They provide an incredible amount of awesome daily content and do an outstanding job of covering everyone's favorite topic: recruiting.

In addition others who have confirmed their participation are:

• Susan Miller-Degnan, Miami Herald
• Manny Navarro, Miami Herald (will join late)
• Chris Whittyngham, WVUM Sports Director
• SaveUMFootball, Twitter Guru
• FloridaHighSchoolSports.com

So Hurricane fans please jump right in and post your questions on the NEW BLOG that will be posted here tonight at 7:45 PM for the LIVE chat.

Just The Facts: NFL Average Salaries

So you are a high school athlete and you say that you want to be an NFL football player? Then you better sit down and take a hard look at these facts:

• According to the NFL Players Association, about 100,000 high school students play football.
• Of those high school players, 215 will go on to play for an NFL team.
• Therefore, only 0.2 percent of all high school football players will make it to the NFL.
• About 9,000 players make it to the college level.
• If a player makes it to college about 310 of them will actually make it to the NFL draft.
• The NFL roster cap is 53 players and there are 32 teams, so there are 1,696 players in the NFL each season.

The NFL Players Association indicates that the average football player's career is only three seasons long. Most players do not have guaranteed contracts, and may find themselves suddenly out of work because they were cut or because of injury. Around 400 NFL players end their NFL careers each year.

While the NFL's big-name stars may earn millions each year, average NFL players do not. In 2010, the minimum wage was $325,000 a season for rookies, going up to $395,000 in a player's second year and $470,000 in their third year.

Some first and second round draft picks may make more than this, but most players entering the NFL out of college do not. The average player salary, with both stars and rookies taken into consideration, was $1.1 million in 2010.

Most rookies starting their first year in the NFL earn a relatively small salary compared with stars of the draft and established veterans. Rookies selected in the later rounds of the draft or those who enter the NFL as undrafted free agents typically make the league minimum.

It is difficult to gauge the average starting football salary in the NFL because the monster contracts of the top rookie draft selections skew the overall numbers. In 2008, the average guaranteed salary for first-round picks was nearly $12 million, while for second-round picks that number dropped to around
$2 million and for third-rounders the average was just $650,000 in guaranteed compensation.

According to the NFL Players Association, the average NFL player makes $1.1 million annually. The NFL Players Association is the union that represents all NFL players.

The NFL has a salary cap that limits the total amount teams can spend on all of their players in a given year. The reason for the cap is to prevent one team from gaining an unfair playing advantage by spending the most on the more prized players.

Each rookie in the NFL earned at least a base salary of $325,000 in 2010, according to USA Today. The base salary does not include any bonuses or money earned from endorsements or other sources. Bonuses, including signing bonuses and performance bonuses, are paid separately.

A first-year player's salary is comprised of three things: base salary, prorated signing bonus and "likely to be earned" bonuses. Other incentives written into a player's contract do not go toward a team's rookie salary pool figure. Each team's rookie salary pool figure changes yearly and in 2010 the
St. Louis Rams had the highest total rookie salary pool at $7,596,000.

In the past two NFL drafts the top players chosen have set new records for the highest paid rookie players in the league. In 2010, the Rams signed quarterback Sam Bradford to a contract worth a total of $78 million over six seasons, including $50 million in guaranteed money. The previous year, the Detroit Lions signed quarterback Matthew Stafford to what was then the highest rookie contract --- a six-year deal worth $72 million.

By contrast QB Cam Newton, the first pick of the 2012 NFL draft, signed a four year contract for a measly $22 million under the new NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement that went into effect this past year.

Top rookie salaries are not the norm in the league; many players only make the base salary. In a final tally of 2009 salaries, USA Today reported that rookies at each position in the league only earned the minimum salary and did not get bonuses. These players are usually low-round draft choices --- rounds four through seven --- and play for teams with low rookie salary pool figures.

Five Star Follies: Part III

This is the third article in the on-going series of features evaluating the Rivals.com five-star recruits over the last five years...

The college football recruiting recruiting class of 2008 may go down as one of the best in recent time.

Unless of course you are a Miami Hurricanes fan.

Many of the National experts determined that in 2008 the University of Miami was to have landed the #1 recruiting class. But in the end it was simply not to be for various reasons and issues.

That was due to players like five-star DL Marcus Forston (seen above with OcalaCane and his wife) who's career was plagued by injury and five-star LB Aurthur Brown (seen below with Cat5 Cane) who could never break into the starting lineup and would later transfer to Kansas State.

What had looked so promising and good coming in to Coral Gables on National Signing Day in 2008 did not appear as successful or productive coming out on 2011. So goes the the game of love and war known as college football recruiting.

According to Rivals.com there were 30 five star players in the class of 2008. At least 10 of them would go on to be major impact players. Two of them were Hurricanes (DT Forston, LB Brown).

Yet both five star recruits for UM in 2008 were soon to be surpassed by another lesser-known and lower ranked player named Sean Spence (seen below with Aldarius Johnson, Brandon Harris and Blake Ayles).

Here are the 2008 five star impact players by rank, school and performance:

Rivals Class of 2008 Five Star Player Quick Facts:

• Total Players: 30
• Number of Impact players: 10
• Percentage of Impact Players: 30%
• Number of Players Who Transferred: 5
• Number of Injured Players: 5

The 10 impact players and their rankings from the 2008 class were:

• (1) QB; Terrelle Pryor, Ohio State
• (2) DE DeQuan Bowers, Clemson
• (4) WR Julio Jones, Alabama
• (5) CB Patrick Peterson, LSU
• (9) WR A.J Green, Georgia
• (11) OL Matt Kalil, USC
• (14) QB Blaine Gabbert, Missouri
• (15) OL Tyron Smith, USC
• (26) WR Jonathan Baldwin, Pitt
• (27) WR Michael Floyd, ND

The 5 players who transferred from their original LOI to another school:

• (6) RB Darrell Scott (from Colorado to USF)
• (19) RB Jermie Calhoun (from Oklahoma to FCS school Angelo State)
• (23) LB Authur Brown (From Miami to Kansas State)
• (25) QB Dayne Christ (Notre Dame to Kansas)
• (28) ATH Burton Scott (Alabama to South Alabama)

The 5 players who were impacted by major injuries:

• DT Marcus Forston, Miami
• OL Matt Patchan, Florida
• WR Deandre Brown, Southern Miss
• ATH Richard Samuel, Georgia
• OL Tyler Love, Alabama

In summary the 2008 class was above average in terms of impact players (10). The class was also average in the number of transfers (5) and in players who were impacted by major injury (5).

UM Baseball Ready To Rumble In 2012

The anticipation is building towards another exciting season of college baseball in Coral Gables that now seems just around the corner as the Mid-February opening day quickly approaches.

With the new year comes a new season of hope, change and opportunity for your Miami Hurricane baseball team.

Hope is found in the 'Canes outstanding pitching staff; change can be found in the coaching staff; and opportunity comes in the form of the many new players joining the team this season.

Apparently, several people who should know college baseball on a National level agree. The University of Miami hardballers landed at the No. 14 spot on the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper preseason Top 40.

The Hurricanes return 18 players from a season ago in which the Hurricanes finished 38-23 overall (19-10 ACC). Miami advanced to their NCAA-record 39th consecutive NCAA Regional as they traveled to the Gainesville [Fla.] Regional.

Among the returning players for the Hurricanes is the entire starting pitching staff that includes Bryan "B-Rad" Radziewski, Eric "Bob Marley and The" Whaley and Steven "Dallas" Ewing. Former starting pitcher E.J. Echinosa will move to the bullpen as the closer.

Head coach Jim Morris will begin his 19th year as head coach at UM as the Hurricanes open the season at Mark Light Field at Alex Rodriguez Park (ARP) against Rutgers for a three-game series beginning on Friday, February 17.

Gino DiMare rejoins the University of Miami baseball team after three years away from the program. He will serve as an assistant coach in charge of hitting, as well as assisting with recruiting. Overall, this will be the 13th year for DiMare as a member of the Hurricanes baseball staff.

Prior to his exit in 2008, DiMare served as the Canes recruiting coordinator and hitting coach over his final nine seasons. He held the title of assistant head coach during the 2008 season - a year the Canes won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship before advancing to the College World Series.

DiMare will serve as the assistant coach in charge of hitters and share responsibilities with pitching coach J.D. Arteaga in recruiting efforts.

Previously, DiMare helped recruit and coach players such as Yonder Alonso, Ryan Braun, Jon Jay, Gaby Sanchez (seen below M), Danny Valencia and Jemile Weeks - all of whom have reached the big leagues in recent years.

The Canes will host 16 of their first 18 games inside ARP to open the year, including a series with the preseason top-ranked Florida Gators beginning Friday, March 2.

Miami will play a total of 54 games in 2012, including 41 of those contests in the Sunshine State.

And just this past week Morris and the Hurricanes got some really good news regarding a potential star player who will join Miami for the 2012 season.

Susan Miller Degnan from the Miami Herald reported on Friday that the NCAA approved former Bethune-Cookman star catcher Peter O'Brien's appeal to compete for the Hurricanes during the 2012 season.

O'Brien, 6-5 and 225 pounds, is a senior, so he needed the OK to be able to finish out his career with the Canes without having to sit out the customary season. He was drafted this past summer in the third round -- 107th overall -- by the Colorado Rockies, but did not come to terms with the Rockies on a contract offer by the Aug. 15 deadline.

O'Brien is a big-time Major League prospect. He was never recruited by UM, and flourished with the Wildcats. He grew up in Miami Gardens and played at Braddock High.

His numbers last season at Bethune: .304 batting average with 14 home runs and 69 RBI. He was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2010, and was a freshman All-American from Louisville Slugger in 2009.

Canespace will be at ARP for the opener on 2/17, at Florida Gulf Coast (Fort Myers) on 2/22, in Miami on 3/6 at Miami Marlins Ball Park (exhibition game), on 3/14 at UCF (Orlando) and on 4/22 at FSU in Tallahassee.

We hope U are able to join us for some Hurricane hardball this season.

GO CANES!

Five Star Follies: Part II

Rivals.com recently released an article detailing the careers of the high school football recruits they designated as five star players over the last five years. Here is our continuing analysis of that data...

In the first part of our series of articles that examined the last five years of highly-rated, five star high school football players we painted the big picture for you as to their rates of success and failure over that period of time.

In case you missed it here is a quick recap of what our initial analysis found:

• Between 2007 and 2011 a small and select group of only 144 players received the five star rating from Rivals.com.
• The 2009 class was the largest with 33 players making the five star list. The 2010 and 2011 classes were the smallest with only 26 players on the list. In 2008 there were 30 players that received the five star label while in 2007 there were 29.
• Out of the 100,000 or so high school football players in the U.S. in any given year only 28 players earned the five star designation on average per year over the five year period.
• Out of the 144 players designated as five star studs only 36 players or about about 25% went on to become what we consider to be stars or impact players at the college level.
• Approximately 108 players or about 75% of the five star recruits over the five year period were just solid, decent or average players who did not have a major impact on their teams success.
• As of last count at least 19 players (13%) transferred from the original school they signed a LOI with on National Signing Day (will likely increase with the 2011 class in future years).
• We determined that about 18 players (13%) suffered major injuries that had a significant negative impact on their careers.

Today we will begin our look at the individual classes with a closer inspection of the 2007 class. We will look at the specific players who went on to be stars, the players who transferred to other schools and players who suffered major injuries that directly impacted their performance on the field.

Rivals Class of 2007 Five Star Player Quick Facts:

• Total Players: 29
• Number of Impact players: 8
• Percentage of Impact Players: 28%
• Number of Players Who Transferred: 3
• Number of Injured Players: 4

The impact players and their rankings from the 2007 class were:

• (1) QB Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame;
• (2) RB Joe McKnight, USC;
• (3) Safety Eric Berry, Tennessee;
• (4) QB Ryan Mallet, Michigan/Arkansas;
• (7) DT Marvin Austin, North Carolina;
• (24) WR Arrelious Benn, Illinois;
• (27) QB Tyrod Taylor, VT;
• (28) QB Cam Newton, UF/Auburn.

The players who transferred from their original LOI to another school:

• (4) QB Ryan Mallet (from Michigan to Arkansas)
• (9) Torrey Davis (from Florida to FCS school Jacksonville State)
• (28) QB Cam Newton (from Florida to Auburn)

The players who were impacted by major injuries:

• OT Josh Oglesby, Wisconsin
• OG James Wilson, Florida
• OL Trey Allen, Texas
• LB Chris Donald, Tennessee

In general the 2007 class was slightly above average in terms of impact players (8) which may have been a result of our being a bit generous (understatement?) with of some of our selections.

The class was actually below average in the number of transfers (3) and also below average in players who were impacted by injury (4) who were mostly offensive lineman.

Tomorrow we will look at the 30 player, star-studded 2008 class that had the most impact players of any of the five years between 2007 and 2011 according to our internal evaluations.

Miami Wins ACC Home Opener Against Clemson

Your Miami Hurricanes beat the Clemson Tigers at the BankUnited Center on a beautiful South Florida Winter evening in lovely Coral Gables on Wednesday night by the score of 76-73. 

It was the conference home opener for Miami, a team that really needed a big win after posting an 0-2 road record in the ACC early this season.

A balanced scoring attack propelled the 'Canes to victory over a stubborn and tenacious Clemson squad that trailed most of the game but refused to quit.

Malcolm "General" Grant led the Canes by scoring 16 points and made the game-clinching interception with less than 5 seconds left Wednesday to help the Hurricanes beat the Tigers.

But it was UM freshman Shane "Son Of A Barry" Larkin sank both ends of a one-and-one for the game's final points with 5.4 seconds to go to seal the deal for Miami.

Miami (10-6, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) won for the first time in six games against Clemson since February 2008. The Tigers (9-9, 1-3) are on the verge of falling below .500 for the first time this season.

The dependable Kenny Kadji added 14 points for the Hurricanes. Their point total was a season high against Clemson, who came into the contest ranked 19th in the nation in scoring defense at 58.6 points per game.

UM head coach Jim Larranaga had this to say about Miami's big home win:

UM players Trey McKinney-Jones and Malcolm Grant were interviewed after the game at the post game presser with the media and had these comments:

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Five Star Follies: Part I

The well known and frequently followed college recruiting service Rivals.com recently published an article in which they revealed the names of players that made the Rivals five star football recruiting lists over the last five years.

The story was written by the talented Steve Megargee, one of the National feature writers for Rivals who researched the football recruiting classes from 2007 to 2011 and gave a brief analysis of each players success or failure at the college level and in some cases also provided their NFLU draft status.

We thought it would be interesting to do a more in depth statistical analysis on his reporting so that we could try to get a "big picture" overview of just how good a predictor the five-star high school recruit designation was at predicting which players would be successful at the college level.

So we start off this series of five articles by framing the big picture around the lists of players that received the coveted five star label over the last five years. In the coming days we will examine each class more closely in our series of consecutive articles.

Here is what our initial summary analysis found:

• Between 2007 and 2011 a small and select group of only 144 players received the five star rating from Rivals.com.
• The 2009 class was the largest with 33 players making the five star list.
• The 2010 and 2011 classes were the smallest with only 26 players on the list.
• In 2008 there were 30 players that received the five star label while in 2007 there were 29.

So out of the 100,000 or so high school football players in the U.S. in any given year only around 28 players (144 / 5) earned the five star designation on average over the five year period.

Based on this fact alone one would assume that almost every player receiving the prestigious five star designation by one of the top recruiting services in the Country would be considered a "can't miss prospect" that was soon going to win national awards and National Championships, right?

And, as usual, you would assume wrong. In fact, you would be very, very wrong. Which is why it is usually foolish and at times even dangerous to make assumptions based on opinions instead of analyzing the facts.

Which is why we are here to debunk the myths and to provide you the facts. Here are some of the initial facts we found by studying the Rivals.com five star recruiting lists over five years (and we hope that you are sitting down as you read this!):

• Out of the 144 players designated as five star studs only 36 players or about about 25% went on to becomes what most people would consider to be stars or impact players at the college level.
• That means that approximately 108 players or about 75% of the five star recruits over the five year period were just solid, decent or average players who did not have a major impact on their teams success for various reasons.
• As of last count at least 19 players (13%) transferred from the original school they signed a LOI with on National Signing Day.
• From the list we determined that about 18 players (13%) suffered major injuries that had a significant negative impact on their careers.

So what that tells us is that only 1 out of every 4 five star recruits will go on to even bigger things in college or beyond that in the NFLU.

It also shows us that 2 out of every 10 five star players will either transfer to another school or suffer a serious injury that impacts their college career.

So before you go counting all of your five star recruits before or after National Signing Day you should be cautious not to go predicting their individual success or their team's potential accomplishments.

Simply put, counting on five star recruits to be difference makers has been shown to not be such a good predictor of a team's success after all.

Epic Fail!

You are a legitimate and certified five star high school football recruit.

Rivals, Scout and ESPN have reviewed your film, talked to your coaches and all have decided to rate you among the top 150 players (out of 100,000 HS players) in the entire United States of America.

Letters have been arriving daily from Alabama, USC, Notre Dame, Oregon, FSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio State, LSU, Miami and many other prominent national college football programs.

Head coaches from some of the most prestigious programs have visited your house and met with your parents and practically begged you to attend their institution of higher education.

You are almost certainly going to be an incredible success story and can't wait for the huge crowds to embrace you, the national awards to surround you and the National Championships to fall into your lap. In fact you have heard that the Heisman Trophy is desperately waiting to be yours!

Stop the media hype machine and ask yourself one simple question: "Why is it that so many five star players wind up as an epic fail?"

Well let me give you just some of the reasons that these talented players fail:

Academics: A, B, C, D...Uh, what comes after D? Some players never get accepted and others flame out quickly when it comes to the main reason they are in college in the first place: getting an advanced education. It usually goes like this: "Coach when you said I would actually have to go to class and study and pass a test I thought you were just kidding dawg! You see in high school the teachers, well you know, they just looked the other way and gave me the grade. And that kid I had take the SAT for me well he was cool with the $250 I gave him so I could make the millions later on."

Drugs: Puff, puff, pass. Too often too many college athletes get caught up in the sordid underworld of drug use. While alcohol, steroids, amphetamines, cocaine, pain killers and other prescription and over the counter drugs are often abused by young adults nothing takes the place of the king: marijuana. When you fall asleep in the drive through of a McDonald's not once but twice while waiting for your food then you know you got the buzz working for you. Or is it against you, I forget? Who cares, just...puff, puff, pass.

Sense of Entitlement: You were a total stud in high school. You rated five stars, fast cars, loose standards and faster and looser women and all that. You wore #1, you got preferential treatment everywhere you went in your home town. So you walk into the college head football coach's office after seeing the depth chart that was just released today and you say: "Uh, Coach there must be some mistake here, you see I am a starter at (Name your position). I wear #1, I am a five star stud and just what the hell is going on here?" The Head Coach says: "Son, sit down here and let's talk about your attitude and lack of commitment to the...as Johnny five star walks out, transfers and heads to Memphis or Marshall or some other school like that.

Coaching Changes: Bobby five star was recruited by Head Coach A to play position X in a spread offense or position Y a 4-3 defense. That all sounds well and good until Coach A gets fired in your second season and then Coach K comes in and decides that you should play position G in a pro-set offense or position Z in a 3-4 defense. Bobby five star realizes he is totally screwed, figuratively and literally and goes into a major sulk or just transfers.

Lost sense of Ego: When you were in high school in Louisiana you were the big man on campus (BMOC). Everybody knew you from the name on your jersey since you were in Pop Warner football. The high school chicks dug you, the guys wanted to be you and the adults all respected you. Then, you go to college. Nobody knows you. The chicks are like: "Who is this freaky guy with the crawfish?" and the fans are all saying: "Show me what you got home boy from the Bayou!"

Can you think of any other reasons why so many extremely talented, highly rated, five star athletes fail at the college level?

Why do so many five star recruits fail? Let us count the ways...

Star Wars: Return Of The Recruits

Every year right around this time a lot of college football fans all across the Country make a lot of fuss about the desperately sought after, much heralded and precious few "must have" recruits for their teams.

Many of these fans rely heavily if not solely on the "star ranking system" used by the major recruiting services that supposedly evaluates and separates the 100,000 or so high school football players into the well known various groupings of talent based on the number of stars a player receives.

Some fans become so obsessed with the four and five star recruits that can make ar break an entire recruiting class that they lose sleep, get into arguments and even throw major tantrums when a players chooses any other school than their own.

Seeing as how recruiting is literally the life-blood of any major football program it is not hard to understand how a few fans go so far (maybe too far?) as to take the recruiting process as a life and death situation.

This year is no different than any other as the recruiting process revs into high gear and the waiting, worrying, prognosticating and hand-wringing began in earnest in early January leading up to National Signing Day on the first Wednesday in February.

This year that day happens to fall on February 1, 2012. And as usual, the State's "Big Three" (FSU, UF and UM), are once again are ranked near the top of the heap when it comes to this years talent haul of high school players.

But can anyone fully trust and really have faith in these recuiting services and their star rankings? And just how accurate are they when evaluated over time? If you believe they are accurate then OK let's try a little test shall we?

Quick name the last four players who were five-star recruits for the University of Miami?

If you answered LB Arthur Brown, DL Marcus Forston, DB Ray Ray Armstrong and OL Seantrel Henderson then U are correct!

But at the last check, how did those recruits work out at The U?

Arthur Brown never started and then transferred, Forston was often injured an only average, the verdict on Armstrong is still out and the future of Henderson remains to be seen after his next season at UM.

Now try to name the positions that these five star recruits played and whether or not they made an impact on their college teams and/or were drafted by the NFLU:

• Terrance Toliver (LSU)
• Will Hill (UF)
• Gary Brown (FSU)
• Chris Davenport (LSU)
• Darrell Scott (CO)
• Matt Patchan (UF)

After you do that then let me know what % of high school five stars make the NFLU?