Miami Hurricanes Update and ACC Notes (4/21/12)

The Hurricanes have announced that they will be playing the Florida Atlantic University Owls in a three-game series beginning in 2013. The first game will be held at Sun Life Stadium on August 31 of that season. The Canes will travel an hour north for the 2014 match-up, and will host the 2015 game. The dates for the last two games will be announced at a later date.

Starting left guard Jermaine Johnson did not play in the annual spring game due to an injury. Golden said the injury isn’t major but there was no word given on what it is.

Al Golden handed out spring practice awards at halftime of the spring game for the second year in a row. This years winners were:

305 Walk-On Award, presented to the most improved non-scholarship player: Wide Receiver Garrett Kidd. Kidd red shirted in his freshman season in 2011.

Defensive Most Improved Player Award: Shayon Green. Green was hurt a lot of his sophomore year in 2011 but still managed to get in four games and had seven tackles.

Offensive Most Improved Player Award: Rashawn Scott. In his freshman year (2011) he played in six games before suffering a season ending injury, catching one ball. He is expected to be a major factor this year for the Hurricanes.

Special Teams Most Improved Player Award: Thomas Finnie. In 2011, his freshman season, he played in 11 games and had 14 tackles, 10 of them solo.

ESPN is reporting that seven Hurricanes are expected to be selected in this week’s NFL Draft, and that as many as nine players could go overall. The ‘Canes have always done very well in the draft. From 1994 to 2008, The U. had at least one player go in the first round each year.

In 2011k Vaughn Telemaque was the starting safety for Miami and collected 59 tackles and an interception in 12 games as a junior. But when spring practice ended, he was playing with the second team.

Recent Canes commit Standish Dobard is ranked the 8th best TE recruit and 208th overall according to Rivals.com. They give him a 4 out of 5 star rating. He has not signed yet but his commitment status is listed as “strong verbal”.

AROUND THE ACC: 

Maryland held its annual spring game Saturday, and the Red team topped the White team 67-53. Demetrius Hartsfield was the star of the day with 12 tackles including two for a loss and a sack. Head coach Randy Edsall thought the spring sessions went well for the Terps.

“Overall I thought we’ve had a really good spring. I thought they guys have done a really good job since January, getting started doing all the things we need to do to be better come August.” said Edsall. The quarterback they plan to have starting in the fall, junior C.J. Brown, went 17 of 33 for 199 yards while Justus Pickett was the leading rusher with 18 carries for 70 yards.

The Terrapins announced the season opener will be played at home on September 1, against William & Mary at 3 pm.

Georgia Tech held its annual spring game Friday night and the White team beat the Gold team 31-7. A crowd of 18,125 saw redshirt freshman Vad Lee  complete 9 of 17 passes for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns. Sophomore QB Synjyn Days led all rushers with 15 carries for 79 yards and a touchdown.

Head coach Paul Johnson was happy the spring ended with everyone healthy.

“I think we had a productive spring,” Johnson said. “I saw some positives. Overall, I think some guys made real progress. I’m happy we got out of the game tonight without any injuries.” The Yellow Jackets open the season September 3rd at Virginia Tech.

NC State held it’s annual spring game Saturday and the Black team defeated the White team 32-7. Carter-Finley Stadium was filled with 24,797 Wolfpack fans that saw an offense that was predominantly an air attack. Mike Glennon went 12 for 20 for 154 yards and Tyler Brosius went 15-27 for 184 yards. Tony Creecy was the best running back on the day with 16 carries for 45 yards. Bryan Underwood had 109 yards on 6 catches. Head coach Tom O’Brien didn’t like the way his quarterbacks were pressured.

“I thought we were competitive,” said O’Brien. “We didn’t do as good of a job protecting the quarterback today as we did a week ago.”

Virginia Tech’s annual game that was supposed to be played at Lane Stadium Saturday was cancelled because of bad weather. The game will not be made up.

BleacherReport.com has named Clemson’s Memorial Stadium as the best place to see a college football game in the nation. Better known as “Death Valley” the stadium seats over 80,000 fans and was built in 1942. In 2011, the Tigers posted a perfect 7-0 record there.

David Cutcliffe, Duke’s head coach, will be on different kind of field Thursday night when he throws out the first pitch at the Carolina Mudcats game. It’s the Mudcats annual College Night, where any fan wearing college gear gets a free general admission ticket.

Florida State has had a player chosen in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft for 24 years in a row. The Seminoles will look to keep the streak alive Thursday night. Offensive tackle Zebrie Sanders is projected to be chosen in the third round.

North Carolina has announced that they will be selling mini-season ticket plans this for the upcoming season. It is the first time the Tar Heels have made such an offer. Fans can choose any three games they want to attend. Tickets went on sale Saturday morning.

Wake Forest has released some new desktop wallpapers for your computer. Demon Deacon fans can download them for free from the schools website.

Ray Blanchette covers the Miami Hurricanes and the ACC for the Saturday Blitz. . He also writes for Outside The Redzone. Follow along at www.outsidetheredzone.com. Blanchette is the owner of Blanchette Sports Holdings. Follow along with them at www.blanchettesh.elementfx.com or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100003521034703&sk=wall or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/BlanchettSports