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Jacory Harris was wide-eyed when he first arrived in the Miami locker room two years ago, uncertain what to truly expect at the college level.
He wasn't alone. Harris in the same boat as many other Hurricanes in 2008, a young guy with high expectations who was getting thrown quickly into the pressure-cooker of big-time college football as Miami began its rebuilding project after a disastrous 5-7 season.
Those days are gone.
''Can't sit up there and say 'we're young' anymore,'' said Harris, the quarterback who threw for 3,352 yards and 24 touchdowns a year ago in his first season as Miami's full-time starter. ''We're all juniors and seniors, basically. And we're ready to have some fun.''
Ah, fun will be a relative term over the coming 28 days for Miami, which opens training camp Thursday morning, exactly four weeks before the Sept. 2 season-opener against Florida A&M. A trip to Ohio State for a rematch of a past national championship game will loom the following weekend, but the Hurricanes are already insisting they're not looking too far down the road.
''The only thing I've got to concern myself about,'' Miami coach Randy Shannon said, ''is August.''
He says that for a number of reasons.
Shannon proudly points to the depth on the Miami roster now, especially since it wasn't that long ago when wide receiver Darnell Jenkins was playing quarterback out of necessity for the Hurricanes. Thanks in large part to the recruiting efforts, Miami has seen its win total improve by two in each of the past two seasons, from 5-7 in 2007, then 7-6 in 2008, followed by the 9-4 mark posted in 2009.
But to get to that next level - and perhaps finally play for an Atlantic Coast Conference title, something Miami has never managed in the league's two-division era - Shannon knows that depth can't be tested too much by injuries. And that's why he says all that matters to him right now is finding a way to exit training camp with a team that's both ready and healthy for the season.
''Injuries always are the key,'' Shannon said. ''If you can go through the season without any injuries, you're probably going to win the conference.''
That's always the spoken goal at Miami.
Only this year, those words seem to take on new meaning.
The baby faces that came into the program two years ago are gone. The ''No Excuses'' wristbands that the Hurricanes have broken out from time to time over recent years are back, a constant reminder that youth and inexperience should no longer stand between Miami and the top of the ACC. Players insist they worked out harder this summer than ever before, getting closer along the way.
When that first whistle blows around 8 a.m. Thursday, the tests begin.
''Me personally, I never felt that we were a young team,'' wide receiver LaRon Byrd said. ''Once you're at the college level, you should be able to compete, freshman, junior or senior, it doesn't matter. ... No excuses. What can you say now if we don't win? We've got to capitalize on all cylinders and got to get this thing rolling.''
Shannon's message to Miami during the offseason was simple: The last two seasons were merely part of a bigger process.
Rebuilding takes time, he said, and he challenged players to ''buy in'' to that way of thinking. So they did, fueled by both the disappointment of not finishing the season strongly a year ago and the hope that this year just might be the one where Miami reclaims its perch on the national stage.
''We were once young Hurricanes,'' safety Vaughn Telemaque said. ''Now we're growing up and we're kind of developed into our own players, our own type of personalities, the personalities that he recruited, the personalities that he made and molded and tried to make into a national championship team, an ACC championship team. And it's not a front. We're comfortable.''
