Sports

Programs making adjustments

• Miami and Florida State are shaking up some traditions in hopes of shaking off recent woes.

Scott Chancey

PINEHURST, N.C. – Miami and Florida State have their share of new coaches, most notably new head coach Randy Shannon at Miami and offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher at Florida State.

Those, however, aren’t the only changes the teams have made. Last names were taken off the back of Miami’s jerseys and the Hurricanes’ locker rooms are now situated where team’s units can easily interact with each other. And before Miami players can move off campus, they must be at least a junior with a 2.5 GPA. At Florida State, the Seminoles are doing things such as making a player dress out in the visitor’s locker room if he does not do things like put his helmet in his locker’s right place.

Little things, like those, are what the teams hope will translate into doing the little things right on the field. Both teams had their share of problems last year, finishing 7-6. That’s not what fans, especially in Florida when the Gators won the national title, have come to expect of those two teams that traditionally have been national powerhouses.

Running back Antone Smith, who rushed for 456 yards and five touchdowns last season, feels the changes are working.

“It’s making a difference as far as team unity,” he said. “Even during the spring, we couldn’t celebrate. I don’t celebrate anyway, though. I like to think of myself as very calm and collected.”

Miami, which had an onfield brawl last season against Florida International, realizes Shannon is trying to change everything for the better with the Hurricanes.

“He’s real big on discipline,” Hurricanes defensive end Calais Campbell said. “He’s all about making us more of a team.”

WHAT ABOUT D’VONTREY?

Lee County product D’Vontrey Richardson, who is on the football and baseball teams at Florida State, red-shirted last season on the football team. While playing baseball last season, Richardson hit .462 against left handed pitchers, the highest average on the team, among players with 15 or more at-bats (24 of 52) and also had five three-hit games.

Because of Richardson’s time on the baseball team, Smith said he didn’t have that much experience working with him at spring practice. But he DOES know one thing.

“He’s a hell of a baseball player, I’ll tell you that,” Smith said. “He’s still learning, but if there is one thing he does better than the other quarterbacks (Drew Weatherford, Xavier Lee), he checks down to the running backs a lot.”

AT LEAST HE’S HONEST

North Carolina’s Joe Dailey threw more interceptions (10) than he did touchdowns last season.

“I had a great completion percentage, it just wasn’t to the right guys,” Dailey laughed.

At Nebraska, where Dailey was for two years before transferring to North Carolina, he had 19 interceptions in 2004 compared to 17 touchdowns. He now is a wide receiver for first-year coach Butch Davis’ Tar Heels.

C’MON, WHICH IS IT?

Virginia Tech offensive tackle Duane Brown was asked a simple question, but he didn’t know how to answer it – which team does he think is going to win the Hokies’ division?

There are two divisions in the ACC, the Atlantic and Coastal, and Brown needed some help from teammate and defensive tackle Carlton Powell to figure out which division the Hokies are in.

“Coastal,” Powell said.

“Is that your final answer?” Brown responded with a laugh.

Actually, Coastal is the correct answer. The Hokies won the 2005 division crown and then lost to Atlantic Division champion Florida State in the conference championship game in Jacksonville.

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