With Friday's deadline looming, Canes first baseman Yonder Alonso - the Reds' first-round pick - is still not signed.

Alonso has registered for classes and said he is prepared to return for his senior year at Miami unless the Reds improve their offer.

It is an obvious attempt by Alonso to get leverage with the Reds in the negotiations. Alonso will almost surely sign before the deadline. If he doesn't, it will be great for the Canes, who would return the best hitter in college baseball.

But if I am Alonso, I sign. As a senior, if he returned for his senior season, he would have no leverage at all and would also risk injury.

In Canes football news:

- Watch for freshman wide receiver Travis Benjamin, who ran a blistering-fast 4.26 in the 40. He thus earned the title of fastest Canes recruit and rivals veteran WR Sam Shields as the fastest player on the team. Besides straight-line speed, Benjamin has the moves and is being called "electrifying."

- Another blazing-fast freshman receiver is Davon Johnson, who ran a 4.32. The Canes are young at receiver but also incredibly talented.

- Same thing at cornerback, where freshman Brandon Harris ran a 4.47. He has a good shot at winning the starter CB spot opposite speedy sophomore DeMarcus Van Dyke. Few - if any - college teams have two young corners as good as those two.

- Another player to watch is freshman defensive end Marcus Robinson, who will be used as third-down pass-rusher. Robinson is scary-fast for a DE with a 4.56 timing. He is perfect for the situational-rusher role.

- The Canes are still waiting to get three recruits cleared academically - defensive lineman Jeremy Lewis, linebacker Brandon Marti and safety Joe Wylie. The biggest need is to get Lewis in camp, because the Canes are short of depth on the defensive line.

- The Canes lost offensive guard Chris Barney for 4 to 6 weeks with an unspecified injury.

Barney, a former Miami Northwestern star, is a fourth-year junior who has been a major disappointment so far, registering little playing time in his college career.

He was having his best camp until the injury, but the fact is that the Canes are set at guard with starters Orlando Franklin and Joey Figueroa and backups Harland Gunn and A.J. Trump.

The center is Xavier Shannon with Trump serving as a swing man. And the three-man tackle rotation is made up of Jason Fox on the left, Reggie Youngblood on the right and Chris Rutledge as the swing man.