March 26, 2008

OXFORD, Ohio - The first of 15 spring practices for Miami University's football team commences Thursday afternoon at Yager Stadium, with Coach Shane Montgomery and his staff starting the process of indentifying replacements for five open starting positions.

Approximately 80 players, including 46 returning lettermen, will be participating in Thursday afternoon's initial practice, with another five or six seeing only limited time on the field.

Of the five positions that were regularly manned by 2007 seniors, three are on the offensive unit and two are defensive openings. Offensively, left tackle Charlie Norden, center Steve Meister and running backs Brandon Murphy, Austin Sykes and Cory Jones have all exhausted their eligibility. Defensively, end Craig Mester and cornerback Jerrid Gaines used up their eligibility last season.

One of the spring's biggest battles will be at quarterback where incumbent starter Daniel Raudabaugh (Jr., Coppell, TX) and talented red-shirt freshman Clay Belton (Dayton) return. Montgomery has some very specific goals for the QB candidates over the next month.

"We've got to become a lot more consistent in our overall play at quarterback," said Montgomery. "Daniel definitely did some good things last season, but he had his ups and downs. I think he'll be a lot better this spring because this is his third full year in our system. Clay Belton is coming in with a lot of potential. He's a very smart young man and is physically gifted. I think Clay will get better and better with the more reps he gets. Again, the biggest thing at quarterback is to be more consistent, to make sure that we learn our offense inside and out, and have a chance to make more plays."

Last year's RedHawk football team shared the Mid-American Conference's East Division title and played in the MAC Championship Game vs. Central Michigan. Miami had a 6-7 overall record.

2008 MIAMI UNIVERSITY SPRING FOOTBALL PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Thu. March 27   Practice # 1    3:30 p.m.
Sat. March 29   Practice #2     1 p.m.
Tue. April 1       Practice #3     4 p.m.
Thu. April 3       Practice #4     4 p.m.
Sat. April 5       Practice #5     10 a.m.
Tue. April 8      Practice #6      4 p.m.
Thu. April 10     Practice #7     4 p.m.
Sat. April 12     Practice #8     10 a.m.
Tue. April 15     Practice #9     4 p.m.
Thu. April 17     Practice #10    4 p.m.
Sat. April 19     Practice #11    10 a.m.
Sun. April 20     Practice #12    4 p.m.
Tue. April 22     Practice #13    4 p.m.
Thu. April 24     Practice #14    4 p.m.
Fri. April 25      SPRING GAME    8 p.m.

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