Can anything go right for the University of Miami football program? Over the course of the past year, many unfortunate events have occurred. The university had no choice but to fire the Hurricane’s coach, Larry Coker, following the most controversial season in Hurricane football history. The season featured a full-fledged brawl with cross-town rival Florida International University and the murder of one of the team’s leaders Bryan Pata. Pata was gunned down in the parking lot of his home near the University of Miami campus. The loss of Pata was tough on the players, but the season ended on a high note with a victory at the MPC Computer Bowl. In the off-season, The University of Miami announced that Randy Shannon, the former defensive coordinator, would be the new head coach. However, this season, like the last, was a disappointment. The Hurricanes began the season by announcing the highly controversial move to Dolphin Staduim. Plus, Randy Shannon became the first coach since Howard Schnellenberger in 1979 to not reach a bowl game in his inaugural season. In addition, the season featured embarrassing losses to ACC rivals University of North Carolina and North Carolina State. As the season came to a close, it was announced on Tuesday, November 27th, that former Hurricane All-American Sean Taylor had been murdered in his own home in a suburb just north of Miami. It does not seem that The University of Miami will be shedding its alter ego of ‘Thug U’ anytime soon.
Maybe this is the year that perennial basketball schools like Kentucky and Kansas succeed in football and perennial football teams like the Hurricanes and USC do well in basketball. Is it possible that this year will be the first year in the modern era that the University of Miami basketball team finishes higher in the ACC standings and in the national rankings than the Miami football team? During the first weeks of the very young NCAA basketball season, the Hurricane’s basketball team has already received more top twenty-five votes than the football team did all season long. To date, the basketball team has already won its first five games, including the O’Rielly Tip Off in Puerto Rico, which they won at the beginning of the season. In this tournament, the Hurricanes had to defeat some serious teams. Marist, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Providence, who they thrashed in the final, all made the March Madness tournament last fall. VCU even eliminated Duke in the first round. It would be great to see a Hurricanes basketball team, who was ranked last in the ACC to begin the season, go 14-0 before they face an ACC team and qualify for one of the postseason tournaments.
Before next football season begins, the University of Miami football team has a tremendous amount of work to do. The previous season was Kyle Wright’s last, which I am surprised to say is disappointing. I for one am impressed with the improvement Kyle made this season, and his ability to play without fear; he has no qualms about sacrificing his body whenever necessary. But, now that he is gone, it is imperative that the Hurricane football family focuses on the future of the quarter back position. Currently, the options for starting quarterback are Kirby Freeman and Robert Marve. Kirby has shown little to no pocket presence and absolutely no football IQ. The only successful series he has been a part of this season ended with Kirby on his ass and Epps in the end zone. But the competition for Freeman is Robert Marve. Marve, who is still practicing with the second unit of the football team, recently made it public that he is having some personal problems. Obviously, whichever quarterback shows more skill over the summer and has more knowledge of Patrick Nix’s system, will hopefully be awarded with the starting job. But, Patrick Nix is another part of the Hurricane’s problems. A friend of mine, Sean Flynn recently commented that Nix “saves his good plays that work for the good teams. That system doesn’t work. If [UM] would have ran some of the plays we ran against [Texas] A&M against UNC we probably would have won that game. Running back direct snaps work really well for this team.” I completely agree with this statement because the Hurricane’s football team presently has three potential NFL worthy running backs on the active roster.
Next year, the defense will continue to be solid, and hopefully even stronger that the previous year if Eric Moncur and Calais Cambpell decide to stick around for another season. As usual, the development of our young defensive recruits will continue to be strong and UM’s future second year players like DeMarcus Van Dyke and Calais’ little brother Jared, will continue to make strides in the right direction.
I am confident that the Hurricanes have turned the corner and are poised to enter the 2008 season with new found confidence and a desire to reach the ACC championship game. As for now, I am rooting for the Hurricanes basketball team to surprise a lot of people and ultimately receive a bid to enter the March Madness post-season tournament.
Maybe this is the year that perennial basketball schools like Kentucky and Kansas succeed in football and perennial football teams like the Hurricanes and USC do well in basketball. Is it possible that this year will be the first year in the modern era that the University of Miami basketball team finishes higher in the ACC standings and in the national rankings than the Miami football team? During the first weeks of the very young NCAA basketball season, the Hurricane’s basketball team has already received more top twenty-five votes than the football team did all season long. To date, the basketball team has already won its first five games, including the O’Rielly Tip Off in Puerto Rico, which they won at the beginning of the season. In this tournament, the Hurricanes had to defeat some serious teams. Marist, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Providence, who they thrashed in the final, all made the March Madness tournament last fall. VCU even eliminated Duke in the first round. It would be great to see a Hurricanes basketball team, who was ranked last in the ACC to begin the season, go 14-0 before they face an ACC team and qualify for one of the postseason tournaments.
Before next football season begins, the University of Miami football team has a tremendous amount of work to do. The previous season was Kyle Wright’s last, which I am surprised to say is disappointing. I for one am impressed with the improvement Kyle made this season, and his ability to play without fear; he has no qualms about sacrificing his body whenever necessary. But, now that he is gone, it is imperative that the Hurricane football family focuses on the future of the quarter back position. Currently, the options for starting quarterback are Kirby Freeman and Robert Marve. Kirby has shown little to no pocket presence and absolutely no football IQ. The only successful series he has been a part of this season ended with Kirby on his ass and Epps in the end zone. But the competition for Freeman is Robert Marve. Marve, who is still practicing with the second unit of the football team, recently made it public that he is having some personal problems. Obviously, whichever quarterback shows more skill over the summer and has more knowledge of Patrick Nix’s system, will hopefully be awarded with the starting job. But, Patrick Nix is another part of the Hurricane’s problems. A friend of mine, Sean Flynn recently commented that Nix “saves his good plays that work for the good teams. That system doesn’t work. If [UM] would have ran some of the plays we ran against [Texas] A&M against UNC we probably would have won that game. Running back direct snaps work really well for this team.” I completely agree with this statement because the Hurricane’s football team presently has three potential NFL worthy running backs on the active roster.
Next year, the defense will continue to be solid, and hopefully even stronger that the previous year if Eric Moncur and Calais Cambpell decide to stick around for another season. As usual, the development of our young defensive recruits will continue to be strong and UM’s future second year players like DeMarcus Van Dyke and Calais’ little brother Jared, will continue to make strides in the right direction.
I am confident that the Hurricanes have turned the corner and are poised to enter the 2008 season with new found confidence and a desire to reach the ACC championship game. As for now, I am rooting for the Hurricanes basketball team to surprise a lot of people and ultimately receive a bid to enter the March Madness post-season tournament.
