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Randy Shannon addresses the ACC media
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Coach Randy Shannon addressed the ACC media late Tuesday. And he spoke about several key topics:

* Of the potential he sees for this year's team, Shannon said, "The thing we have is a lot of depth. We have a lot of depth on this football team. We had some growth over the last couple of years playing together. And the chemistry is really big - being with coach (John) Lovett and (Mark) Whipple coming back, and knowing the players, and players knowing them and what to expect out of the coaches is really, really tremendous with the things we're trying to accomplish with this football team."

* Shannon says quarterback Jacory Harris' hand is "great. He's been doing fine, has been throwing the football a month, month and a half, has done a lot of work with the receivers. He's grown, has seen a lot of different things and understands the things it takes to win.

"He's very valuable to us, knows it. Jacory knows he has players surrounding him that are very valuable to his growth. jacory doesn't have to be the guy to do everything. He just has to be part of the puzzle."

* Miami hopes to have Graig Cooper back for the first game coming off a torn ACL. Shannon said of Cooper's progress that "Graig' been doing everything, the box jumps, squat, cutting drills, everything possible to get himself right. The unknown factor is when he puts on the extra 40 pounds, the helmet, pads, how the knee responds. We have to make sure we take it slow with him in the process of getting back. "

* Of Damien Berry, Shannon said, "We feel great about Damien and the other running backs. Mike James is now playing tailback, we have a young freshman Lamar Miller, also people forget about Lee Chambers. A couple of years ago he was our leading rusher in the bowl game. Also we have three young kids coming in that can really contribute and help us out also.

* Shannon said the team has decided to move Joel Figueroa to right tackle, with Orlando Franklin at left tackle. Last year Figueroa played guard, and Franklin didn't being playing left tackle until late last season.

"The best thing that happened to us is we had Figueroa and Orlando out for the spring, so we developed some young guys," Shannon said. "Jermaine Johnson and Ben Jones (worked at) tackle, and Jared Wheeler really picked it up inside. So when you look at the team, we moved Orlando and Joel to offensive tackle. We have Brandon Washington and Harland Gunn who played a lot last year in addition to Wheeler, so we have three guards. Now we have guys who will get experience against (Adewale) Ojomo and Marcus Robinson for the upcoming season. It'll make us have the best five guys on the field."

* Shannon's biggest concern?

"The depth at linebacker and tight end," he said. "We have numbers, but it's like seniors and then it's freshmen. And that's always a problem. I've been through that the last two to three years with this football team. Everywhere else we've developed a lot of talent and depth on this team. Linebacker, it's Sean Spence, Colin McCarthy and Kylan Robinson - a junior and two seniors. The next guys are true sophomores and true freshmen. The tight ends are Richard Gordon, a senior, Billy Sanders is a redshirt freshman and it's freshmen after that. But you have 29 days to get them ready and developed."

* Of his defense, Shannon said, "I'm excited about the whole team, but especially the defense. We have a lot of guys coming back, they take a lot of pride in what they do and they're going to be competitive.

"I'm very comfortable (with them). The other day we were talking, I said listen, the offense will sell the tickets, the fans will love them. You guys are defensive players, they don't love you. The only thing they want is for you to get off the field. The way for us to be successful is we have to be great on defense, and no matter what the offense does our job is to go out there and stop people."

The team's leaders on defense?

"Colin McCarthy and Allen Bailey and probably Brandon Harris," Shannon said. "Those three are going to lead us as far as communicating and talking. Colin is the one that's been more vocal. Allen is more of a quiet guy, will grab a guy and say `Get this right.' Brandon will be the celebrating type guy, enthusiastic all the time. You have one vocal, one that will get into it and a quiet guy."

* Shannon also spoke about Matt Bosher.

"He's a difference maker because he can change the field position," Shannon said. "That's what you want. Matt is Matt. He won't let you down."

Knowing he has Bosher doing punts and kicks, Shannon said, "Matt put a lot of pressure on himself, has done a tremendous job."

* Miami faces a difficult schedule.

"We have some games at home - Virginia, South Florida," Shannon said. "The grind is when you go to Georgia Tech, that's the grind late in the season. You have to understand where your breaks are at. "

* Of the upcoming season, Shannon said, 'I'm very excited. Going into my fourth season it's been a time of change, getting guys to understand changing the demeanor, culture of the program, but also making everyone understand where we've been and where we're headed. It's been exciting to see the change."

* Of taking the program back into the national picture after UM took a dip, Shannon said, "I'm really excited. I'm a graduate from UM, an alumnus, born and raised in Miami. It takes lot of pride for me. The way you can get young men out in the community has been really helpful to me and exciting how people really gravitate to these young men."

* Of the atmosphere surrounding his team coming off a nine-win season, Shannon said, "It's great for us. We're really excited about the opportunity to keep looking forward on this football team. We've done a lot of great things in the time I've been coach. We keep improving every year. The things we've done off the field are tremendous, and also academically, to be in the top 10 APR, move up to seventh, last year to get 100 percent graduation rate, it shows how much these guys have really put into this program, doing all the things we need to get done. "
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