April 6, 2007

Coral Gables - It'll be the Orange vs. the White in the annual spring game Saturday at the Orange Bowl. The annual CanesFest gets underway at 9 a.m., with the spring game beginning at 10 a.m.

The Hurricanes went through their final practice on Friday afternoon at the Greentree Athletic Fields in front of more than 100 former UM football players who returned for the yearly alumni dinner. In attendance were former stars such as Gino Torretta, Steve Walsh, Russell Maryland and coach Jimmy Johnson.

After the practice, head coach Randy Shannon planned to tell the team the breakdown of teams for the spring game. "We had to get the practice in first and do what needed to get done. Then we go to the next phase. (Playing Orange vs. White) is a more competitive situation, more of a game-like situation. Players can cheer for each other and get different guys to bang on during the game. They'll root for each other, point fingers. They don't know this, but whichever team wins gets to eat in the lunch line first after the game. They don't know that ... until they read it on the website, then they'll know."

As for the former players watching practice, Shannon said, "It was fun because a lot of these guys go a long way back. I was excited. Coach Johnson and I talked about old times. It was funny. He said, `Well, you wanted to get into this business, so you're into it now!' He has always been supportive of me, even when I first started coaching."

Gates for the spring game open at 9 a.m. Fans will be able to select-a-seat and get autographs from their favorite players. Sebastian the Ibis and cheerleaders will be on hand to entertain fans, who can also purchase the latest apparel and merchandise.

"I want the players to make this scrimmage be like Miami against Florida State," Shannon said. "It's 11 guys on offense and 11 guys on defense - play! And let's see who can win games. We have wanted to develop a team chemistry and tomorrow we're really going to see what happens."