Canes' tight ends 'hungry' for recognition
Three Hurricanes players are eager to bring back the luster previous Miami players brought to the tight end position.
Posted on Thu, Aug. 07, 2008
BY SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN
DAVID ADAME / FOR THE MIAMI HERALD
UM's Chris Zellner (88) catches a pass during the first UM football practice of the season Saturday.
Long gone are the days of Kellen Winslow, Jeremy Shockey, Bubba Franks and Greg Olsen.
The formerly high-profile tight end position at the University of Miami went into hibernation last season.
Chris Zellner, Dedrick Epps and Richard Gordon would like to awaken the beast, and coaches say each of the three will get opportunities to bring back the luster.
''They have a year under their belt, and they understand what it takes to be a tight end -- the physical part of it, the run-blocking, the running routes,'' UM coach Randy Shannon said. ``These guys are hungry, and they're making catches left and right in practice.''
Last season, Zellner started nine of 12 games and led tight ends with 13 catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Epps played in 10 games and caught eight passes for 83 yards -- and his celebrated winning touchdown at Florida State. Gordon played in 12 games and had a lone catch for eight yards.
''I feel like my career has been pretty good and I've been a solid player,'' said Zellner, a 6-2, 241-pound fifth-year senior and the best blocker of the three. He is an exceptionally polite and affable young man who already has earned his degree in secondary education and geography. ``I'm not going to say I'm up there with Greg Olsen and Kellen Winslow, but they taught me a lot. We've had to get used to [different] offensive coordinators and new offenses. I'm confident we're going to get the ball a little bit more so that we can be more productive.''
UM tight ends coach Joe Pannunzio said Zellner ``has always been good. His issues have been that as the season wears on, he wears down because his body is just not big enough to take the pounding. Having three guys has helped him so that he doesn't have to take quite as many reps and there's not as much of a load on him.''
Pannunzio said Epps has ``a great ability after he catches the ball to make yards, [even if] he's running people over.''
Epps, a 6-4, 252-pound junior, said the tight ends worked hard with the new quarterbacks this summer.
''It's the small things that are important,'' he said. ``We're making sure we're getting the right depth in our routes, head fakes, just keeping the linebackers off of us. Our chemistry with the quarterbacks has gotten better.''
Epps said he would like to improve most on his blocking: ''The steps, the hand placement -- once I get that down, I'll be pretty solid.'' He said he has been helped by Zellner, who wants to be a teacher and high school football coach someday and embraced Epps from the start.
IN OTHER NEWS
• Projected starting linebacker Darryl Sharpton had a large bag of ice over his right knee and limped heavily after practice. Safety Anthony Reddick, who stood on the sideline without any pads, missed practice again.
• Freshman defensive lineman/linebacker Gavin Hardin of Jackson, Tenn., reported to camp, leaving linebacker Brandon Marti, defensive back Joe Wylie and defensive tackle Jeremy Lewis as the three freshmen waiting for NCAA Clearinghouse issues to be resolved.
• Shannon said UM's kickers practiced at Dolphin Stadium on Wednesday because the goalposts are up for the Dolphins preseason game against Tampa Bay, and it gave them an opportunity to kick off the infield dirt.
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