Miami Hurricanes CB Al Blades has never lost his passion for football

Miami Hurricane CB Al Blades has lost significant parts of the last two seasons to injury, a difficult turn of events for a guy who was raised on impacting the game on the field.

In 2020 he played in eight games and made seven starts before getting sidelined due to a complication of COVID-19, namely the heart condition myocarditis. Then last season Blades saw action off the bench in three of the first four games before undergoing surgery for a sports hernia.

As fall practice is set to begin Friday for Miami, Blades is back feeling good again.

“Yeah, I’m great,” he told CaneSport. “I’m doing good. I’m ready to play ball.”

Blades, who has 14 career starts for Miami, remains at cornerback but also is expected to compete at the new Kevin Steele created STAR position that’s a hybrid SAM/CB. And he also is certain to be a fixture on all special teams because of the passion he brings to the table.

“I mean, I show a passion for football in general so when we love the game, it doesn’t matter where you are on the field,” Blades said. “Special teams is a part of the game. You have offense, defense, special teams. You have the sidelines, spirit, it doesn’t matter what it is.

“You see me on the field, I’m always into the game. So I’m in love with football in general. They tell me to go out and play receiver, I’ll play receiver. They tell me to go out and play quarterback, I’ll play quarterback. So it’s not about a passion for special teams, but a passion for football.”

Blades has a lot of competition for reps looking ahead to Miami training camp which begins Friday. Four corners are back that started games last year. Tyrique Stevenson emerged as a shutdown standout, and Marcus Clarke started four of the final six games while other corners with experience are Te’Cory Couch (started first six games last year) and DJ Ivey (started four games). In addition, Daryl Porter Jr. is coming in as a touted transfer this summer.

That’s a lot of guys competing for reps this fall and in spring practice Gil Frierson was getting the bulk of the first team reps.

But Blades is not rattled one bit.

“The competition. I mean, we’re not really worried about a competition,” Blades said. “We’re worried about bettering ourselves every day. You know, I mean, like getting back to that hard work grind every day, going out there and just pushing each other to the edge.

“We’re looking for five or six guys that are gonna contribute to winning championship. It’s never one guy. I mean, so we’re looking for a bunch of guys to go out there.”

Blades embraces a leadership role, but realizes he is not alone in that regard in the Miami defensive back room with players like Tyrique Stevenson and DJ Ivey around, each who has played a lot of ball.

“We have a lot of guys who are willing to step up and take a leadership role, willing to get in front of a group of guys, willing to pick guys up and down,” Blades said. “We have a room full of people who aren’t afraid to step up.

“I mean, everybody’s attacking it one day at a time really. We are all just working. That’s what it’s all about. The coaches came in and everybody just kind of hopped on board. We just kept working, adjusted. And now here we are, taking one day at a time.”