Miami started spring workouts yesterday without mangled starting quarterback Jacory Harris, but the day was just as notable for who was there as who wasn't: A.J. Highsmith, Stephen Morris, and Spencer Whipple, all happily reporting for duty at QB2-4.

After all, it was just August that saw the last of three backup QBs in six months head for lesser programs in search of a bigger role. First Robert Marve bailed in a ridiculous snit over his inability to throw interceptions at whimsy and retain his job at the same time, then Taylor Cook and Cannon Smith left 13 days before the first game after mistaking a letter of intent for a fast-food line to the first team unit.

Miami then spent a season with just Highsmith, a true freshman, on hand to relieve Jacory -- and if Highsmith hadn't only just arrived in Coral Gables, Harris might not have ended the season looking like a mummy rolled in athletic tape and scheduled for surgery.

So along with prematurely playing out next season through meaningless practice reports, Hurricanes fans have the satisfaction of knowing that someone -- any one of them -- will be that much closer to stepping in as a servicable replacement if the offensive line doesn't do its duty (again). Our money's on Highsmith, with a year of the playbook under his belt; Morris, an early enrollee from nearby Monsignor Pace, is a developable 17; Whipple, the offensive coordinator's son, has the smarts if not, perhaps, the tools -- he transferred in to run the scout team from the backup spot at Division II UMass.

It's got to be a huge relief for the 'Canes, even if at this point none of the three is the second coming of Jim Kelly. Able bodies at all spots are what the Hurricanes have been lacking most of all, something that Shannon has been working toward since taking over a program that sported punter Brian Monroe as a third-string wide receiver.

And how's it going? 

"They didn't do anything wrong," Shannon said, which in our interpretive experience means, "Better than nothing."

And amen to that.