Ranking The ACC Coastal Division Teams: Miami

You can't accuse new Miami head coach Randy Shannon of attempting to downplay the expectations for his football team. Here is what Shannon has said about a Hurricane team that went 7-6 in 2006. "We're going to be a great team. We're going to dominate. We are going to be a team to be reckoned with...."

Shannon takes over for Larry Coker who went 60-15, won one national championship, and played for another. So much for winning and job security. Although new, Shannon has been a coach on the Canes football team for years.Shannon, 41, was the team's defensive coordinator for the last six seasons. In that time, he coached top 10 defenses in five of those six seasons. A native of Miami, a former Hurricanes player and graduate of the university, Shannon played on or was a coach for three of the school's five national championship teams. He played for the Hurricanes from 1985 to 1988 and had been an assistant coach for 13 seasons before being named the 20th head coach in school history.

Shannon has instituted strict rules for the team to counter the bad boy image of the team. No one can forget the ridiculous brawl on the field last year between Miami and FIU football players. Whether his rules will curtail such incidents is yet to be seen.

Like FSU, the Canes are not accustomed to the mediocre record that it compiled last year and they are on a mission to reclaim the glory that is a Cane tradition. They however have some new kids on the block in the Coastal Division that will have something to say about whether they can compete for the Coastal Division crown. Miami will be tested early when they take on Oklahoma at Oklahoma in their second game.

So what about the 2007 Miami Hurricanes? If you ask Nole fans, all we care about is if we can beat them. With that said, the Canes return Javaris James, who rushed for 802 yards — the second-best freshman total in program history. They also return four starting offensive linemen.

Miami has always had a tenacious and quick defense under Shannon and that should not change. The big question mark is who will start under center for the Canes.

Senior quarterback Kyle Wright has been hobbled by injuries and had limited practice time on Tuesday. Junior Kirby Freeman is competing for the starting job against Wright. Freeman did start the last four games in 2006 due to a thumb injury by Wright.

FSU It's Time Ranking Prediction: The Canes are probably a year away from competing for the ACC championship. I am predicting a ranking of #3 for the Canes in the ACC Coastal Division.