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Miami football team adds speed in recruits

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Miami University's head football coach Michael Haywood talks to a recruit signing his National Letter of Intent Wednesday Feb. 3, 2010, at Yager Stadium in Oxford.

Staff photo by Nick Daggy Miami University's head football coach Michael Haywood talks to a recruit signing his National Letter of Intent Wednesday Feb. 3, 2010, at Yager Stadium in Oxford.

9 soon-to-be RedHawks have been clocked with 4.5-seconds or faster 40-yard dash time.

By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 8:04 AM Thursday, February 4, 2010

OXFORD — Long before the 2009 football season ended Miami University head coach Michael Haywood talked about how much the RedHawks needed more speed.

He got that speed on Wednesday, Feb. 3, on national signing day.

Haywood announced the signing of 23 recruits to letters of intent, and at least nine of them have 4.5-second speed or better in the 40-yard dash.

“We realize we were a speed-deficient football team,” said Haywood, whose RedHawks finished 1-11 last fall and ranked 119th out of 120 teams in running the football. “The only way we could get that changed was through recruiting.”

The fastest newcomer appears to be running back Willie Culpepper, from San Antonio, one of seven recruits from Texas.

“He’s clocked 4.29 several times,” Haywood said. “So now we’ve increased our speed at tailback. Now we have the ability to get outside.”

Another burner is Orne Bey, who runs “a mid-to-high 4.4,” Haywood said. “But even more impressively, he benches more than 340 pounds. At 5-foot-8, 170 pounds, you think of him as a little guy. He’s just a compact dynamite. We’re going to use him as a running back/slot receiver.”

Other newcomers with 4.4 speed include defensive backs Trey Payne, Demetrius Quarles, Allen Veazie and Travis Williams. Wide receiver Nicholas Harwell, defensive back Dayonne Nunley and defensive end Mwanza Wamulumba have 4.5 speed.

“This guy may surprise you,” Haywood said of Wamulumba. “When you see his highlight tape, you realize he is a 4.5 guy running down backs and receivers.”

Miami signed quarterback Robert Partridge, one of four recruits from Ohio. He passed for 2,631 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior at Massillon Washington High School.

“We’ve got a good core of quarterbacks,” Haywood said, referring also to Zac Dysert, who had 2,869 yards of total offense last fall, and Kettering Alter’s Austin Boucher, who was redshirted in 2009. “We’re going to have good competition at that position.

“(Partridge) has the ability to set up in the pocket and when everything breaks down he has the athletic ability to escape and make some things happen,” the Miami coach said. “He’s like a back running the football.”

Haywood said Miami also upgraded its offensive line with a strong batch of recruits, including a pair of Greater Cincinnati players in Jeff Tanner of Moeller High and Tyler Grubbs, a second-team All-American from Highlands (Ky.) High.

Spring practice will begin March 20 and the annual spring game scrimmage is scheduled for April 10.