Afternoon Kickoff 8/26 (Footblog)

Afternoon Kickoff 8/26

With sophomore Jacory Harris entrenched as Miami's starting quarterback, the top two backups have decided to head out of town.

From the Jorge Milian in the Palm Beach Post:

"It was kind of strange to me," coach Randy Shannon said of meeting with the two quarterbacks. "Both guys came in and they felt like, looking at the situation we had, they felt like it was better for them to pursue other options."

Redshirt freshmen Taylor Cook and Cannon Smith will both transfer, making it three Hurricanes' quarterbacks to leave since the end of last season. Former starter Robert Marve previously bolted for Purdue.

With the losses of Cook and Smith, Miami is left with just two scholarship quarterbacks -- similar to the situation Penn State was in before Matt McGloin earned a scholarship.

Harris started just twice but split time with Marve, throwing for 1,115 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

But now, what was already a mediocre offense will be in huge trouble if Harris goes down. His backup will be true freshman A.J. Highsmith -- the son of former Canes' running back Alonzo Highsmith. The younger Highsmith was rated a three-star prospect and the No. 47 quarterback in the country by Scout.com.

It's certainly not a promising end to the preseason for a Miami team that opens with Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma in its first four games.

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Quick Hits:
-The SEC will continue to review its absurd new media policy after several organizations, including the Associated Press and Gannett, have refused to comply with the new guidelines.

-Quarterback Aaron Corp has made a full return to USC practice after breaking a bone in his leg.
From Gary Klein in the Los Angeles Times:

"I can do everything right now that playing quarterback at USC [requires] me to do," said Corp, who was No. 1 on the depth chart entering training camp. "I feel good and it's only going to get better."

The return of Corp simply means the return of the close quarterback competition with highly regarded true freshman Matt Barkley.

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Video of the Day:
Adam Taliaferro leads Penn State out of the tunnel before the 2001 Miami game:

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-Matt Brown

Posted by Web Administrator on August 26, 2009 1:52 PM | Permalink

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on August 26, 2009 1:52 PM.

The previous post in this blog was Counting down the Big Ten: No. 7 Northwestern.

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Matt Fortuna is a junior majoring in journalism and a football reporter for the Collegian. He has previously covered the men's tennis, soccer and basketball teams. A traditionalist, he would like nothing more than to see Joe Paterno throw it back to his Brooklyn days and install the single-wing offense this season.

Nate Mink is a junior majoring in journalism and a football reporter for the Daily Collegian and a 5-foot-10 sesquipedalian from Allentown who has tried to grow facial hair for 20 years. Sadly, he has been unsuccessful thus far. He is anxious to get a new driver's license in September and hopes the bartenders at Zanzibar in Ann Arbor believe he's 21.

Wayne Staats is a senior majoring in journalism and history and is a football reporter for the Collegian. He previously covered the baseball and women's basketball teams. He never made it far playing competitive football, unless Nerf football in grade school counts.

Matt Brown is a senior majoring in journalism and is the Collegian's football editor. He previously covered the Penn State men's basketball, baseball and women's soccer teams. While a fan of most sports, he thinks the 14 Saturdays of the college football season are the best 14 days of the year and all 34 bowl games are worth watching.