MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It may be hard to believe, but the first week of the college football season has arrived and for the University of Miami Hurricanes, that means a trip to Chestnut Hill to play the Boston College Eagles this Saturday.
Miami will be entering the post-Jacory Harris era at quarterback and looks to bring a very young team to Massachusetts. The Hurricanes will only have two seniors starting on offense and three seniors on defense in the Boston College game Saturday afternoon.
The Canes will start Stephen Morris at quarterback, who has started before, primarily in 2010. For his career, Morris has thrown for 1,523 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. He’s looking to take full control of the roster after winning the QB battle over backup Ryan Williams in fall camp.
The Canes will send senior tailback Mike James out as arguably the team’s most reliable offensive weapon. James has played sparingly the last few years, especially last season as he carried the ball just 72 times for 275 yards, but did get into the end zone 7 times last season.
James will be running behind a young offensive line that will have a freshman starting at right tackle, along with a trio of sophomores at left tackle, center and guard. The line could get a big boost, literally and figuratively, if Seantrel Henderson can get back into shape after a rough offseason.
Defensively, the Canes return players across the defensive line and have returning starter Ramon Buchanan at one of the linebacker spots. Brandon McGee returns to man one cornerback position and junior Ladarius Gunter will be on the opposite boundary at the other cornerback spot.
Miami is expected to struggle coming into this season with such a young team. Some fans have pegged the team to finish with a 6-6 or 7-5 regular season record in 2012. Miami is running as roughly a two point favorite heading into Saturday afternoon’s game against BC.
The Hurricanes kick off their 2012 season Saturday at Boston College with a kickoff set for 3:30 p.m.
