Building Champions Tour Visits Orlando

On Thursday, May 9th I had the fortunate opportunity to attend the exciting Hurricane Club Spring Tour event in Orlando.

The Building Champions tour has been moving full speed ahead in reaching out to University of Miami fans all across Florida by following a whirlwind travel schedule that finally ended on Thursday, May 16 in New York City.

The Orlando event was held at one of the most unique and inviting (and hard to find) locations imaginable: the Panama Jack showroom and display warehouse near downtown. This is the second straight year the event was held at this location as a result of an on-going relationship between UM Athletic Director Blake James and Panama Jack CEO and founder Jack Katz.

Katz started the Panama Jack company in 1974 in Panama City, Florida out of a single tiki hut near the beach selling sun tan lotion. Today the company is a global empire and sells everything from lotions to clothing to furniture to bicycles to sunglasses and various other "tropical lifestyle products".

The casual, intimate event was attended by approximately 180 hard core 'Canes fans from all over Central Florida. We met several of the fans and even some old-time Canespacers who wanted to share in the friendly meet and greet with Head Coach Al Golden and UM AD Blake James.

Golden was very relaxed and approachable as he held court and took time to take photos with fans and sign autographs for the UM faithful in attendance. If you have ever met Golden in person then you know that he has this certain "presence" about him, a certain confidence, character and charisma that he exudes with incredible ease.

The always present Joe Zagacki was on hand as part of the tour swing from Tampa to Orlando and then on to Jacksonville. James took to the stage first as Zagacki welcomed the crowd and got the show underway.

I had the chance to ask James one of the first questions from the audience:

Canespace: "Hurricane football was built on Swagger and the belief that we would play anyone, anywhere, anytime. However, as an athletic director you have to be much more planful and strategic in developing future schedules both in working with the ACC and in scheduling out of conference games. Tell us what goes into developing schedules and what factors you consider?"

James: "Well to be honest I wish you would have asked me that question after we have our ACC meetings next week. After all of the conference schools get together, including our new members like Pittsburgh and Syracuse that are joining the ACC, we will all have a lot better idea of what the conference scheduling format will look like going forward."

"In terms of out of conference games you have to consider strength of schedule and how that will impact the rankings and the opportunity to play for a national championship. And make no mistake about it, that is our goal at Miami. However, some things are beyond your control and not as predictable as you might think. For example, when Miami scheduled Kansas State several years ago I am pretty sure that nobody expected them to be a top 5 team for most of the 2012 season."

"The bottom line is that we want to win our conference first and also schedule teams outside the ACC that support our strength of schedule and can potentially lead to us winning a national championship. We will schedule any team that we feel will help us achieve that goal."

Golden took to the stage to resounding applause from the crowd after a very heartfelt and supportive introduction from Zagacki. Joe Z mentioned the UM slogan on the posters that were on each side of the stage that read: "Stand With The U". He stated "If there is one person who exemplifies that slogan more than anyone else it is UM head coach Al Golden. In spite of difficult circumstances almost from the day he arrived on campus, Al has stood by Miami and has never wavered in his commitment to UM."

Golden took the time to answer several questions from the fans in great detail. He has a very relaxed and effective way of communicating to his audience and the ability to break down information in a comfortable, conversational style that is easy for even the casual fan to grasp and understand.

Fan: "Tell us what we can expect on offense this season with the addition of new Offensive Coordinator James Coley from FSU?"

Golden: "Well, as you mentioned Coley comes to Miami from Florida State to replace Jedd Fisch. We feel fortunate to have him because we believe he is not only an excellent coach but also a great recruiter. The one thing the immediately impressed me about James is that rather than try to implement an entirely new offense and terminology in a short time period he took on the task of learning our offensive terminology and translating his offensive scheme into what we were already doing. He picked it up so quick and that is going to make the transition much easier for our players especially for the upcoming season."

"As far as the offense goes at Quarterback we have Stephen Morris returning as our starter for his Senior season. Last year Morris set all kind of passing records for Miami and in the ACC as well. He led the conference in several categories and also broke many of the UM records as a Junior. We would have liked to have been able to red-shirt Stephen when he was a Freshman but due to the suspensions we had he had to play right away. Can you imagine if Morris was going into this season as a red-shirt Junior? We would like to be able to redshirt many of the players coming in but due to the issues we had and the lack of depth at certain positions we have had to play them right away which is not the ideal situation. We expect Stephen to pick up where he left off last season and have an excellent year for us again in 2013."

"And at running back we have this kid you might have heard of, what's his name again? [Golden, playing the crowd like a piano, gives a dramatic pause as the crowd immediately screamed out in unison: DUKE!] Yeah Duke Johnson! Duke is obviously a really special player for us. Everyone likes to mention explosive plays like his long TD runs from scrimmage, I think he had like five that were over 50 yards last year, or his kickoff returns for touchdowns, but there was one play last season that told me he was a very special player."

"I think it may have been the NCST game where it was fourth down and we needed like two yards for a first down. I decided to go for it and we called a play for Duke to run to the right outside the tackle and they had the perfect defense called for that play. There were like three defenders in position to make a play against Duke, it was like three against one. Duke lowered his pads, found a small crease and somehow powered his way through to get the first down. That was the play that I remember most and was the play that told me that he is a special player."

"At wide receiver people forget that we had a lot of injuries at that position last season. We were playing without Malcolm Lewis, Robert Lockhart, Allen Hurns and Rasahwn Scott for most of or at least a significant part of last season. Everybody is back healthy now and that is going to make a big difference for us. We have good depth so there is going to be some excellent competition at the WR spot going into Fall practice and the 2013 season."

"At offensive line is another area where we feel we have developed excellent depth and the two deep (depth chart) is really as solid a group as I have been around. Coach Kehoe will have those guys ready to go come Fall. They know how important it is to keep the defense off of Stephen, to give him time to execute the play call and to keep him upright and healthy. That could be the key to our season."

Comments

[1miamifan]

1st

[Terrance Sullivan]

Nice article Soup.

[2002nemo]

Me three ?

[CaneRock]

GREAT! article SOUP!

[CaneRock]

"I think it may have been the NCST game where it was fourth down and we needed like two yards for a first down."

It was actually the BC game, but it was a TOUGHASS! run nonetheless, and Nerlens Noel's brother yanked Duke's facemask LMAO!

[Account Deleted]

Top 10 Again!!

[TonyCane]

Dwayne Johnson!

[tjl]

Don Draper

[BEERicane]

Dwayne Johnson's knees!

[CaneRock]

"At wide receiver people forget that we had a lot of injuries at that position last season. We were playing without Malcolm Lewis, Robert Lockhart, Allen Hurns and Rasahwn Scott for most of or at least a significant part of last season. Everybody is back healthy now and that is going to make a big difference for us. We have good depth so there is going to be some excellent competition at the WR spot going into Fall practice and the 2013 season."

Hell yeah!
We should have THEE deepest, or at least one of the deepest WR corps in the ACC. Especially when you add Coley to that mix.
And here I was last year, thinking we lacked depth there LMAO!

[CGNC]

TGIF party people! Nice article 86

[SOUP]

Boosted by another impressive early surge from the team's offense, the Miami Hurricanes clinched their series with visiting Georgia Tech Friday night, capturing game two of the weekend set by a final score of 11-7.

The recipe for the Hurricanes (35-20, 14-15 ACC) was much of the same as game one: hit early and hit often. A night after connecting for seven runs off ace Buck Farmer, the Hurricanes tagged Yellow Jackets' starter Dusty Isaacs for eight runs in just 1.1 innings of work. Freshman David Thompson, who reached base for the 21st consecutive game, chased the junior righthander out of the game with a three-run homerun in the second inning.

Sporting a seven-run lead by the third, the Hurricanes never looked back, and, aided by another strong pitching performance from sophomore lefthander Chris Diaz, cruised to their eighth straight home victory.

Miami opened the game with four runs in the bottom of the first. Keyed by RBI singles from Thompson and freshman Roger Gonzalez in the frame, the Hurricanes added runs on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Garrett Kennedy and a two-base wild pitch charged to Isaacs that plated Thompson from second base.

The Hurricanes tacked on four more in the second inning, as the freshman's three-run blast belted over the wall in left beckoned Tech skipper Danny Hall from the dugout to end Isaacs' night after just four outs. The homerun was the team-leading sixth of the season for Thompson, who registered a career-high five RBI's by night's end.

Junior Alex Hernandez extend his personal hitting streak to eight consecutive games earlier in the frame, driving in junior Tyler Palmer with an RBI single off Isaacs to make it 5-0 in favor of the Hurricanes.

The hosts looked poised to strike for more off the new Jackets' pitcher Joe Wiseman, as a single from junior Brad Fieger and a double from sophomore gave the Hurricanes runners on second and third with just one out. The righthander did well to limit the damage, however, inducing a groundout from Gonzalez and a strikeout of freshman Brandon Lopez to end the threat.

[SOUP]

Barton Simmons ‏@bartonsimmons 23m

My top performers today at the #elite11 off the top of my head: Morgan Mahalak, KJ Carta-Samuels, Brad Kaaya.

[SOUP]

Just spent 30 minutes talking to Harry Miller. Very interesting!

[Harry Miller]

Next week the new rankings for the class of 2015 comes out. Ricky town will be the number one QB and the number three player over all .
Rick town says kaaya is really a good QB and a very good humble kid with a really nice family. Says he loves Miami and the coaches. He looked real good at the Elete eleven. If Rick says he looked real good you can bet your ass on it. This kid can play.
We talked a lot about Ricky coming to Miami and winning a NC. He is not sure where Ricky will go, but we are right there at the top. The key is we need to win and be in a position to win it all.

[laquinton]

Great article soup. Loved it

[LB]

"Just spent 30 minutes talking to Harry Miller. Very interesting!"

#TownCane

[UMike]

Larkin might of made himself a lottery pick. He was all over ESPN last night. Not only first in vert, but the fastest guy too.

[UMike]

Ice Harris Rivals Summary..

Says they're trying to keep Patton going with fundamentals to go along with track speed.

Miami coaches doing a great job. That relationship is developing every day. Hurricane coaches do a great job in communicating and are doing everything they need to do in recruiting BTW.

They support chad and his music. Gives him a life after football. He's missed a lot but works hard when he's there.

Says Miami is at the top for Chad but everyone is in the picture. Will sit with all players and their families after spring to put recruiting into perspective.

Miami has a shot with treon depending on position. They are making lists of "db schools" and "qb schools". Will look into more after spring.

No lingering effects from last year. "Miami all good at Booker T."

[SOUP]

UMike...I saw that on Larkin also. ESPN was REALLY talking him up after his test results at the NBA combine. #LotteryPick

[SOUP]

TIP OF THE DAY: Don't bet against ORB in the Preakness today.

[SOUP]

Jesse Marks ‏@Jessehmarks 10m

@86Cane @ChrisYandle Thanks Tom! Great seeing you.

[Clwtrdan]

I, for one, and sick and pissed off about constantly hearing and reading on and on about this NCAA crap. I can't wait for it to be over. And if I feel this way, how do you think the players feel after playing the last 2 years without post season play? I'm hoping our team comes out and uses this as a motivation to take it out on someone else-everybody we play every play. Time to bust some chops.

[CGNC]

TIP OF THE DAY: Don't bet against ORB in the Preakness today.

Posted by: SOUP | May 18, 2013 at 11:33 AM

86, I will be happy if the race is clean with no injuries and horses that have to be put down #Barbaro #EightBells

[roachcane77]

From hurricanesports.com

URBANA, Ill. -For the fifth consecutive season, the University of Miami women’s tennis team will be playing in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals after its 4-3 win over Northwestern Friday night at Illinois’ Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex.

With the score tied at three games apiece, Miami junior Melissa Bolivar was competing in a third set match with the Wildcats’ Nida Hamilton. The final set was tied 4-4, before the Barranquilla, Colombia native closed out her opponent by winning the final two games.

The win sends Miami to the Elite Eight for the fifth straight season, a feat that no other women’s tennis team has achieved. The Canes have an off day on Saturday before facing No. 3 Texas A&M at 5 p.m. EST on Sunday.

[roachcane77]

Congrats to our Hurricane Women's Tennis Team.

Defeated Northwestern 4-3 to make the National Elite 8 for the 5th straight year!

Let's Go Canes!

[Montreal-Cane]

GT destroying Jim Morris and the Hurricanes in the 7th 9-0 Radz not very sharp today.
Canes will finish 14-16 in the ACC.

GT has his DH pitching...Lol....

[Montreal-Cane]

Congrats to our Hurricane Women's Tennis Team going to the elite 8...

[Hassan]

Cali Elite 11

2. Brad Kaaya, West Hills (Calif.) Chaminade

There may not have been a more consistent and steady performer at Friday’s event than Kaaya. Committed to Miami, the Hurricanes look like they’re getting a steal out of southern California. Kaaya has a great frame, standing all of 6-4, he was accurate on every level on Firday be it in the quick game, intermediate and vertical routes. Athletically Kaaya showed the ability to compose his feet outside of the pocket and under duress as well

The young guns

1a. Ricky Town, Ventura (Calif.) St. Bonaventure – Town was as comfortable as anyone at the event on Friday delivering the football in uncommon scenarios. He also showed good zip on the football and good command throughout.

1b. Josh Rosen, Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco – Get used to seeing Rosen and Town together at the top of quarterback lists. It should be a battle over the next two years with both quarterbacks displaying elite ability. Rosen just shows incredible precision, with each throw looking like the last and the last one was always a good one.

[Brevardcane]

We want 1a!!

[Terrance Sullivan]

Congrats Hurricane Women's Tennis Team. Go Canes.

[CoCane]

Crickets churping...

[86Cane]

Back from EPCOT with Mrs. 86.

What did I miss?

[86Cane]

ORB got toasted in the Preakness, came in fourth. Shows what I know about horse racing. LOL

[SOUP]

Brad Kaaya ‏@TrinidadBrad 17 May

Earned the golden gun award at the #Elite11 camp pic.twitter.com/ddU8QphK7J

[SOUP]

ACC Baseball Tourney:

Pool A
No. 1 UNC,No. 4 NC State,No. 5 Clemson,No. 8 Miami

Pool B
No. 2 FSU,No. 3 UVA,No. 6 Virginia Tech,No. 7 Georgia Tech

[CaneRock]

Shane Larkin gave a shoutout to the strength coach. Said He came to UM with a 40 inch vert, and tested out with a 44 inch vert at combine.

PS: 40 inches ain't nothin' to sneeze at either LMAO!

[UMike]

ESPN also showed a stat that Larkin was the top player in the nation at creating points off the pick and roll.

[CaneRock]

ESPN also showed a stat that Larkin was the top player in the nation at creating points off the pick and roll.

Posted by: UMike | May 19, 2013 at 02:16 PM

And that's a great skill to have for the NBA.

[SOUP]

I love people on Twitter who post "breaking news" that already broke like 8 hours ago!

[Clwtrdan]

PEP TALK TIME!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzX0BB0Ul7A

[SOUP]

Buffalo Bills quarterback EJ Manuel said Sunday in a radio interview from the NFLPA Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles that he is quickly picking up the team's offense, which he said is less complex than the system he used at Florida State.

"The funny thing is it's easier to learn than the offense I had at Florida State," he told SiriusXM NFL Radio. "It's a true West Coast-type progression offense. That's really what I wanted when I was coming through the pre-draft process. I wanted something that I could just go in and say 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, check it down and run it. That's it, it's that simple. I love it."

He said he spent extensive time during the Bills' rookie minicamp and organized team activities working with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.

"I've done great. The learning curve for me is a lot shorter simply because of what I had at Florida State. [The Seminoles' offense is] more complex and a little bit harder to catch on and learn. This offense is very simple. I've done a great job with it," he said in the interview.

[SOUP]

Nathaniel Hackett re-joins the Bills’ coaching staff after spending the previous three years at Syracuse working with head coach Doug Marrone. He was the Orange’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks/tight ends coach from 2011-12 after one season as the school’s quarterbacks/passing game/tight ends coach.

The Orange offense set multiple school records in 2012 including yards per game (476.0), passing yards (3,757), touchdown passes (26), completions (295) and first downs (328). In 2012, Syracuse’s offense featured a 3,000 yard passer, 1,000 yard rusher and 1,000 yard receiver for the first time in a single-season in school history while generating 500 yards of offense or better in seven games.

Hackett helped guide QB Ryan Nassib to produce single-season and career records at Syracuse. Nassib stands as the Orange’s all-time leader in passing yards (9,190), completions (791) and attempts (1,312) and is second in touchdown passes (70). WR Alec Lemon caught a team-best 72 catches and led the BIG EAST in receiving yards (1,070) in 2012 while posting seven touchdown catches en route to becoming the school’s all-time leader in receptions (201) and finishing second in career receiving yards (2,596). In 2011, TE Nick Provo set a school record at his respective position with 51 catches, totaling 92 in his career.

In each of Hackett’s three years at Syracuse, the Orange offense bolstered a different running back that eclipsed the 1,000 yard barrier.

Before his three-year stint at Syracuse, Hackett spent four seasons in the NFL as an offensive quality control coach with the Buffalo Bills (2008-09) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2006-07).