Thursday, June 18, 2009

Player Spotlight

Allen Bailey, Miami, DT: On a wall inside the UM football offices are the team bests for each exercise by position. When you get to defensive linemen, almost all you see is one Bailey head shot after another. Some UM fans have taken to calling him "Freakzilla," thanks in part to his awesome athleticism but also to his Bunyanesque background that has created some legendary tales. Such as how he once killed an alligator with a shovel.
Bailey, who last season battled through a torn pectoral muscle while making the transition from linebacker to defensive line, had nine tackles for loss and five sacks. Now that he's healthy and more comfortable playing at defensive tackle, expectations around Coral Gables, Fla., are soaring. Some inside the program think the junior will restart Miami's streak of first-round draft picks. Lord knows he should test well at the NFL combine next year.
This spring, Bailey vertical jumped 39 inches despite weighing 288 pounds. He ran a 4.65 40 time. He power-cleaned 375. Longtime UM strength coach Andreu Swasey, who has trained the likes of Willis McGahee, Kellen Winslow II, Sean Taylor and others, gives Bailey perhaps the ultimate praise: "He is the freakiest of all the freaks since I've been here," Swasey says. "When he got here, he weighed 270, and I told the coaches, 'He's going to be 300, but it'll be a 300 like you've never seen before.'"

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Miami-FSU Game Tops ACC Early Season TV Schedule
The Hurricanes will play in two nationally televised games in the first three weeks.

Coral Gables, Fla. - - Miami will play in two nationally televised conference games in the first three weeks of the 2009 college football season, as announced by the Atlantic Coast Conference Thursday.

The return of the Miami-Florida State rivalry to ESPN's Labor Day Monday Night Football helps kick off the 2009 college football season as the Hurricanes will travel to Tallahassee to take on the Seminoles at Doak Campbell Stadium on Sept. 7 at 8 p.m. Miami and FSU played on Labor Day in 2004, 2005 and 2006 with FSU holding a 2-1 advantage during that time.

The Hurricanes will then host Georgia Tech on Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN in the home-opener at LandShark Stadium.

Miami's game with UCF on Oct. 17 has also been picked up by CBS College Sports, which is an affiliate of Conference USA. The Hurricanes will face the Knights at 7:30 p.m. at Bright House Networks Stadium.

After the first three weeks of the season (games through Sept. 19), game times and TV schedules will be announced weekly with ESPN/ABC and Raycom Sports making their choices with a 12-day advanced notice beginning on Monday, Sept. 14 (for games on Saturday, Sept. 26).
The ACC has 17 televised games in the first three weeks of the season, including five national exposures in a season-opening, seven-day span. The ACC begins 2009 with nationally televised contests on Thursday, Saturday and Monday of Labor Day weekend, led by the return of the Miami-Florida State rivalry to ESPN's Monday Night Football. NC State begins the weekend and the year by hosting South Carolina in a nationally-televised ESPN contest at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3 at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Virginia Tech then meets Alabama on Saturday, Sept. 5, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in the 2009 Chick-fil-A National Kickoff Game, which will be nationally televised on ABC at 8 p.m., followed by Maryland traveling to California for a 10 pm late-night national exposure on ESPN2. Miami and FSU wrap up the weekend with the Labor Day Monday night contest.