Dust Settles after the Exodus

Sooo....everyone better after drinking themselves into bed a good night's sleep?

I am. Smith was a fourth-stringer who was never going to see the field, and Cook's decision to concede the 2 spot when faced with competition 12 days before the season opener was a real dick move and his punishment will be rotting in D2 (but playing right away!) or somewhere where Whipple cannot shine upon him.

Here's what Randy Shannon had to say in a teleconference opening statement:

Two of our players asked for their releases today which were Cannon Smith and Taylor Cook to pursue other options for their career. It was kind of a rare situation. Two years ago when I recruited those guys with Jacory…because we felt those players could and help us get where we need to be at. They’re good quarterbacks, very competitive. Now they can pursue other options to try to further their career. I wish them all the best in what they’re trying to get done.

Was it a coincidence that on Monday you talked about the open No. 2 job and today Cook and Smith decided to transfer?

It was kind of strange to me. Everybody knew we had a scrimmage going on today and you make your decisions after this third scrimmage. Both guys came in and they felt like looking at the situation we had, they felt like it was better for them to pursue other options. We didn’t get into details about it, but I told them that being here at Miami is always going to be a very competitive place. They understand that, but they’re the same classification with Jacory. I don’t know if that made a difference but it’s kind of hard when you have three guys coming in at the same time.

And then there's this:

Cook's high school coach, Brad Dumont, said Cook stills respects Shannon, but did say Taylor had some concern when Highsmith began receiving so many reps in practice. Many back in Altair, Texas, Cook's hometown, were surprised a freshman could contend for the No. 2 job.

"In their [UM coach's] eyes, I guess it was possible," Dumont said. "But when it came to Taylor doing it (as a freshman), it wasn't possible."

That's because there were two Mr. Footballs there already, you idiots. They were both also already in play when Cook committed -- did he assume he'd be handed a job? If there's one thing I've learned after watching approximately 39856 hours of Fright Night Lights this weekend, it's that small-town Texas quarterbacks are delusional.

All Canes gets on it, invokes a legit excuse in probably its last year of eligibility:

Regarding those blaming Shannon, let's take a moment to address that claim. Harris is a true sophomore. Smith is a redshirt sophomore, Cook a redshirt freshman and Highsmith a highly-touted true freshman. Poor recruiting on the part of Larry Coker left Miami - and Shannon - in this lurch. Had Coker brought on a Pat Devlin, Derek Shaw, Daniel Stegall or Nick Fanuzzi, the lack of depth at quarterback wouldn't be where it's at today and there wouldn't be such a logjam with freshmen and sophomores at the position.

There's also one thing left to consider beyond Lt. Winslow's thoughts on depth (below): Jacory Harris is such a badass he's now scared off the preceeding Mr. Football, his eventual heir apparent, and a third backup.  Balls!