Golden Sends Shocking Message with UM Depth Chart
Miami to begin spring practice with roster shakeup
With spring football practice beginning Saturday morning, UM coach Al Golden released his preliminary depth chart this afternoon with motivating his players in mind. Among the 2010 starters who find themselves not listed on the first team heading into spring practice are Seantrel Henderson and Travis Benjamin.
Most notable, however, is the quarterback spot, where senior Spencer Whipple is listed ahead of returning starter Jacory Harris and Stephen Morris, who started 4 games after Harris was injured in an October loss to Virginia.
You may remember Whipple from his 2-interception performance in the second quarter of the Virginia game, when he took over the offense after Harris went out with a concussion. After being pulled for Stephen Morris in the second half, he did not see any action at quarterback for the remainder of 2010. Looks like someone noticed when we wrote "we don't know of anyone who thinks [Whipple] has a shot at starting."
Since being hired in December Golden has been telling the media that the players who perform the best in practice will be the ones starting on Saturdays in the fall. It looks like he is reiterating that message to a few of his players through the depth chart.
Benjamin is one of the most electric players on Miami's team, a threat both on offense and special teams. But he confounded fans last year with a barrage of dropped passes and incorrect routes, some of which resulted in interceptions. He is listed behind Kendal Tompkins on the depth chart, a receiver who could barely find the field in 2010.
Henderson managed to find himself in the starting lineup by the end of his true freshman season last year, but now finds himself behind incoming freshman Malcolm Bunche.
There is less shuffling on the defensive side, where returners Vaughn Telemaque, Sean Spence, Ramon Buchanan, and Marcus Forston remain on the first team. Micanor Regis and Olivier Vernon are the only starters demoted for the spring.
Of course, spring depth charts are only slightly less meaningful than recruiting rankings and preseason All-American lists, so it would be absurd to attach any weight to Golden's first depth chart. But if Golden succeeds at Miami, part of the mythology built around him will be his willingness to throw existing biases out the window when constructing a lineup, and that will doubtless be refreshing to Canes fans who watched a squad of formerly-touted recruits morph into a mediocre outfit in 2010.
David Hill is a Miami native who spent most of his childhood at the Orange Bowl.
