Somewhere in California Brad Kaaya is licking his chops and looking forward to his quest to wrestle the starting quarterback position away from redshirt freshman Kevin Olsen. Olsen was about as unimpressive that one could be in the University of Miami Spring game. He only led one scoring drive and was picked off twice.
The Defense beat the offense 61-60 before a sparce crowd at Sun Life Stadium Saturday night. The score was irrelevant, the lack of scoring was not.
In fact, the loudest cheers of the afternoon came when the team introduced their new uniforms for the next season. Neither Olsen nor Gary Crow, his backup, could mount a scoring drive against the defense in the first half. Crow started the game by misfiring on five of his first six pass attempts.
Miami coach Al Golden still gave the Canes high praise for the work that they did this spring. He said that they ran "vanilla" sets in the spring game and did not want to show too much. The team started out the day with 7-on-7 drills and then went to full scale 11-on-11 in the second half.
Dallas Crawford made the most pronounced play of the first half as he intercepted an Olsen offering as if he was playing center field and was making a routine catch. Olsen threw it right to him.
Malcolm Lewis, coming off of a season that saw him rehabilitate more than play, was impressive in the first half. He had two catches on the game's opening drive and Olsen looked comfortable calling his number. The two also connected for a long pass play in the second half.
Walter Tucker had some punishing runs between the tackles and looked as if he will be a key contributor this season. He scored the game's first touchdown in the second half on a three-yard burst.
A few early enrolllees got some game action. Freshman Kc McDermott got reps at left tackle and left guard. He is listed as the backup to Erick Flowers at left tackle on the depth chart. Freshman Juwon Young, a linebacker from Albany, GA picked off Crow in the second half.
At halftime Golden gave out three awards for the most improved players in spring practice. Crawford won the award for the defensive side of the ball, where as Standish Dobard won the award for the offense. Jermaine Grace was voted the most improved special teams player of the spring.