Kevin Steele after Sat. practice: DL will have 6+ players we consider starters
CaneSport spoke with Miami Hurricanes defensive coordinator Kevin Steele at Tuesday’s media day, and after the team’s Saturday practice the veteran coach got a chance to weigh in after seeing his unit perform for the first two days of fall camp.
A tell-it-like-it-is old-school coach, Steele’s take?
Well, as he says today it’s just day 2 of practice and a lot remains to be seen.
“What we need to do is work – we’ve had good focus to this point,” Steele said. “They’re working hard.”
Steele says off Day 2 it’s in shorts that all they can do is “Teach the form of tackling.”
“We’re getting the fundamentals of tackling leverage, footwork and arms,” Steele said.
Steele’s been a coach for 42 years and joked that “(Miami LB coach) Charlie Strong is young to me.”
“I started playing football in 1966, so I’ve had fall practice in August since 1966,” Steele said. “That’s a long time.”
As for this year’s team?
Well, the coach says adding new pieces in the portal and adding true freshmen this fall “is fun.”
“Portal guys, freshmen, it’s aways fun to start them at the baseline, move them up the ladder,” he said. “It’s enjoyable to see they worked hard in OTA’s in the summer. What they corrected/polished before Day 1 is very encouraging.”
Steele also stressed that he loves fall camp, and he’s excited about his defense.
Up front will be a key area on his side of the ball, and UM’s added five new transfers.
“We’re still find out who can do what and how we use them,” Steele said. “We do have more bodies in the rotation. … (Depth charts) is talked about outside of our world. In this day and age with hurry-up football you have to have multiple guys that are technically starters. So D line, that can be up to six, maybe more (that are considered starters). We’re working hard to get to that. We have the bodies and ability to get to that, we’re just not there yet.”
