Canespace: Cassano Wins The Lotto

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Cassano Wins The Lotto

Everyone is familiar with the phrase: "It is better to be lucky than good."

And when it comes to being lucky, Mike Cassano is your man.

Now that's not to say Cassano is not a good coach, but when it comes to being in the right place at the right time, Miami's new running backs coach could not be any luckier. And he didn't have to drive very far to get there either!

You see Cassano was working across town in the 305 as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at FIU for former UM player and coach Mario Cristobal when he got the call from Randy Shannon at Miami to join the Hurricanes staff.

Fortunately for Cassano he fell into a perfect situation at UM with the Hurricanes once again on the rise to National prominence and also currently in possession of a boatload of talent for him to coach.

Just take a look (and try not to salivate) at the talent he has to work with:

Graig Cooper*
Damien Berry
Lee Chambers
Mike James
Lamar Miller
Storm Johnson
Eduardo Clements
Darion Hall

* - Returning from knee injury in the Champs Sports Bowl.

With Javaris James graduating last year and Graig Cooper returning from injury the running back position may be the most wide open and competitive of any on the team. Here are some of the players expected to fight for carries in the crowded backfield at Miami:

Damien Berry came on strong late last year to the delight of many Hurricane fans who called for him to play at games and on the Internet message boards, chat rooms and blogs. The big, bruising converted safety was dominant at times and his tough, straight-forward, punishing running style was a refreshing change of pace in the UM backfield.

Mike James played early and often as a true freshman in 2009. The Central Florida (Davenport HS) product saw quality playing time at RB and returning kickoffs for the Hurricanes last season. James is effective at picking up the blitz and at catching the ball out of the backfield. Always solid and stout in stature, he has bulked even more during this off-season and looks to make even more of an impact in 2010. James is another powerful, yet shifty runner who is able to gets yards after contact.

Lamar Miller is the type of speedy, elusive back not seen at "The U" since Clinton Portis and Willis McGahee left town to play in the NFLU. Speed kills and Miller has speed to burn as he proved on the track as part of the UM 4 X 100 relay team, on the field as a red-shirt freshman on the scout team in 2009 and during Spring practice this year. Miller (seen below in 2008 representing Miami Killian HS at the FSHAA track meet) will likely return kickoffs this year and look to get his opportunities on specially designed plays to get him the ball in space to let him work his fleet-footed magic.

Lee Chambers is a senior RB who is expected to get more playing time this season if Cooper is not 100% ready after undergoing extensive knee surgery for the injury he suffered in the Champs Bowl in December. Chambers has paid his dues and has shown some flashes of talent while at Miami but he may get passed by a few of the talented freshman and sophomores now roaming like hungry young lions all around the practice field in Coral Gables.

Storm Johnson: The name says it all right? A Miami Hurricane player with the name "Storm"? Even Hollywood would have a hard time topping that one! Johnson plans to storm right through the stacked and talented field of running backs now at UM and earn some serious playing time as a true freshman. Storm may be the most talented of all backs and is certainly was as highly recruited as any on the UM roster. Many predicted he is too good to keep on the bench and will play for The U in 2010. Some UM fans have even selected him as their Legend of the Fall for this season and have come up with this cute little slogan: "Fear The Storm!"

If you asked Eduardo Clements who should be the starting running back at Miami in 2010 he would without hesitation say: "Eduardo Clements". Thought to be a good candidate to red-shirt this year, Clements was recently quoted by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald as saying: "Red-shirting me would be a waste of time. I can line up at running back or wide receiver."

Uh, Eduardo we like your attitude and 305 swag but in case you haven't been paying attention wide receiver and running back are the two deepest positions on the team. If Clements plays at UM in 2010 he will have done it the old fashioned way: He will have earned it.

Posted at 09:31 PM | Permalink

Comments

Sebastian or Sarasota...U guys wanna go to the Rays game on Sunday 8/15? I have TWO extra. Let me know...

Posted by: SOUP | July 29, 2010 at 12:00 AM

The thing I am keeping an eye on is how well conditioned we'll look against FAMU. That right there is the beginnig of TROPICAL DEPRESSION that will form into a FULL BLOWN CAT 5 HURRICANE BY SEASONS end. THE DEPTH IMO will be the first thing people notice once we start playing with game experience.Teams will try and cheat to hurry up their offense to keep us from rotating but the only problem with that is they'll be off balance with us constantly attacking. UNTIL WE KNOCK TEAMS OUT THE BIAS MEDIA WILL CONTINUE TO PUT TEAMS LIKE ALA, FL, AND TEX ON TOP.....THESE TEAMS TOOK OUR SPOT TEMPORARY NOW WE ARE ABOUT TO SHOW THESE TEAMS THE BLUEPRINT OF A REAL DYNASTY. I have not seen a team yet that can compare to our 2001 team. We took our lumps since then but like all things U WON'T STAY ON THE BOTTOM FOREVER...This team is hungry as well as the coaches and fans for a NC.... I believe they are giving it 100 percent on everything they do now on the field, and that is a recipe for success.

Posted by: Mr Troutman | July 28, 2010 at 08:10 PM

>>>>>>

THERE IT IS BABY!!!!

Trout, once we roll through the so-called "Shoe", then Pitt, then Clemson, EVERYONE will be one of two things....on the bandwagon OR scared out of their diapers.

Jimbo will be thinking. Butch will be thinking. Beamer will be thinking.....

"DAMN, THEY'RE BACK".

As long as Petri brings the DL up to its potential and FORCES Figs and Franklin to ball to their potential, we'll be ready for anyone. N-E-ONE!

Posted by: Captain Optimist aka Cavaleer | July 29, 2010 at 12:08 AM

NEW BLOG IS UP!

Posted by: SOUP | July 29, 2010 at 12:12 AM

Running the ball for a running back is instinctual. There are somethings that just can't be taught like vision and cutting back. What a good running backs coach will do is accentuate what the RB does best, play up to his strengths. Edge was a very different back than Portis. James Jackson was a different back than Najeh. Sol didn't try to make them a cookie cutter RB (like the RB and OL coach in Denver tries to do.) But the one thing those guys did and did well was blitz pickup, catching the ball out of the backfield and blocking, running with patience and not tip toeing or dancing in the backfield. Setting up blockers on the line or down field is coached, especially if the back has a lot of speed. (A good coach will slow the back down so he can set the blocks up), and protecting the football. That is taught by the RB coach, or focused on by the rb coach if the back wants playing time. When each of those guys went to the pro's they were NFL ready because of all of the other things they can do besides running the football. They were three down backs because of being coached by coach Sol. Running is instinctual, but to be an effective all around back, they have to be coached to do all of the other things other than run the ball.

Posted by: canesluvr | July 28, 2010 at 09:32 PM

>>>>>>

There it is.

Solar, I'm not so sure the line is so clearly drawn between where the teaching starts and where the natural talent blooms. If McGahee doesn't spend the off-season pulling trucks and buses because Portis challenged him every day in practice, I don't know he becomes what he became.

The teaching is significant. The question is how to evaluate the quality of the teacher.

Posted by: Captain Optimist aka Cavaleer | July 29, 2010 at 12:20 AM