D'Onofrio praises Tracy Howard, Vernon Davis, and Antonio Crawford

**arcane** · 08-06-2012, 10:00 PM

The following is from Eye on the U.

D'ONOFRIO HIGH ON FRESHMEN CBS

I spoke with defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio today, and asked him to tell me the freshmen players who have really "jumped out'' at him.
"Good question,'' he said. "We have so many of them, which is good, and I'm trying to evaluate them all right now.'' Then he went on to name cornerbacks Tracy Howard, Vernon Davis and Antonio Crawford.
"Those three right now have stood out to me,'' he said. "The safeties have done a good job in Deon Bush and Rayshawn Jenkins, but the three corners have stood out because of playmaking ability, competitiveness and commitment. They are guys that really like football.

Read more here: Eye on the U

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**JN Gerhart** · 08-07-2012, 09:12 AM

"The corners have stood out because of their playmaking ability, competitiveness & commitment."

Man that's good to hear. Little bit of a success sandwich.

**Cribby** · 08-07-2012, 10:41 AM

It's a damn shame our secondary will be vastly better just by adding FRESMEN and a Juco kid. That tells you everything you need to know about last years db's.

They'll take their bumps early but that will change after getting some games under their belt.

Looking forward to watching this group.

**canestiles** · 08-07-2012, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by Cribby

It's a damn shame our secondary will be vastly better just by adding FRESMEN and a Juco kid. That tells you everything you need to know about last years db's.

They'll take their bumps early but that will change after getting some games under their belt.

Looking forward to watching this group.

100% AGREE But let's be honest Jo-Jo was a good football player at safety but when I heard he was our best cover corner I was nervous then.. He covers well FOR A SAFETY. RODGERS III move to safety from corner spoke volumes Lee Chambers (who played safety in HS as a secondary position) is thrust into the mix along with a guy from WAKE who couldnt even play for them..

RECAP: 1-safety 1 running back 1- kid from way less talented program equals a Vanilla Secondary

WE lost a few kids who were DBs from 2010 class 1 was kicked off other kid from St.Thomas no longer on team light never clicked on. We didnt have enough DB's to play a nickel package.

We did an amazing job considering.. we were short and then Ray-Ray suspended pushes Jo Jo back to Safety

DEFENSIVE BACK IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE ONE OF THE EASIEST POSITIONS TO MAKE AN IMPACT ON COLLEGE AND PRO LEVEL. I AM EXCITED TO SEE OUR DEFENSE NOW THAT WE ARE APPROPRIATELY "STOCKED" WITH DBS.

**bigbluebazooka** · 08-07-2012, 10:53 AM

Also hearing good things about Malcolm Lewis and Lockhart. Also heard the DL had a good practice today.

**Ed La Fave** · 08-07-2012, 11:36 AM

JoJo didn't get anywhere near the credit he deserved. JoJo was focused, he worked hard, he was physical, he was a damn good college player, and the list just keeps going. At the end of the day JoJo was the complete opposite of the soft, entitled, lazy, childish players we've recently had at Miami that have essentially brought the program to it's knees. We needed more guys like JoJo and the fans didn't really seem to rally around him as much as they should have.

**Cribby** · 08-07-2012, 11:45 AM

Jojo is actually one of the guys I didn't kill last year. He was a solid player and a team guy playing cb.

**wilsky16** · 08-08-2012, 09:11 AM

The incompetence of the previous staff is well known but really comes to light when you really break down the roster. Last season we played with 2 corners! They were only average players. It's almost a miracle we even won six games.

**Ed La Fave** · 08-08-2012, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by wilsky16

The incompetence of the previous staff is well known but really comes to light when you really break down the roster. Last season we played with 2 corners! They were only average players. It's almost a miracle we even won six games.

I don't want to be depicted as somebody who thinks Shannon handled the CB situation correctly. He didn't, he let the best CBs in South Florida escape to UF and FSU.

However, Shannon isn't the reason we had so few corners. If I remember correctly, Golden kicked a lot of DBs off the team shortly after his arrival. So, please present your argument in a fair light.

...oh and by the way I know JoJo was a safety playing corner but that kid was anything but average.

**JN Gerhart** · 08-08-2012, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Ed La Fave

I don't want to be depicted as somebody who thinks Shannon handled the CB situation correctly. He didn't, he let the best CBs in South Florida escape to UF and FSU.

However, Shannon isn't the reason we had so few corners. If I remember correctly, Golden kicked a lot of DBs off the team shortly after his arrival. So, please present your argument in a fair light.

...oh and by the way I know JoJo was a safety playing corner but that kid was anything but average.

Ed.... Haha--you want to talk about a fair light? You tell me with a straight face when Jamal Reid was going to contribute a meaningful down. Guy was McGee with a bad attitude. I don't see a single contributor who left at that position. You want to discuss Storm & Nelson, fine.

We didnt have DBs, whether they were on the roster or not.