And as far as being ranked #11 is concerned, I don't think we are the #11 best defense in the country no matter what it says on paper. But for the last three games I think a combination of it clicking with players and alterations to the scheme and philosophy have made a world of difference and it has for those games played at an elite level.
Aggressive press coverage, safeties in the box, no more frog stances, players lined up over gaps instead of nose-to-nose, corner blitzes, and 4-3 sets may actually make this defense special. A good performance against FSU and staying Miami-aggressive and I will have one foot back on the bandwagon. Run the table after that and I think I'm sold.
Sold ... No way lol
I want to be sold now, but I'm still apprehensive about any potential bananas in a tailpipe.
I'm curious to see if the defense is coached to be scared like it was for 3.5 seasons. If the staff has the stones to be aggressive against Florida State, then at least mentally they have turned the corner and I don't think anybody can argue against that.
I've been disappointed by Al and company for 2.5 years. (I'm giving him a slight pass for 2011.) But I've never been so optimistic under his tenure that he's pulled his head out of the sand and opened his eyes to what a Miami defense is supposed to be and should look like. I'll never forgive Penn State-gate and he's really late to the party but better late then never. FSU will tell me what I need to know.
Right or wrong ill say it again i started my judging of al this year ..
He was left with ****... That ncaa bull**** that hung over the program for 2-3 years was and absolute joke never has this happened in cfb that a decision took so long ... Made it impossible to recruit... Thankfully during the witchunt the ncaa slipped up and we came out still with punishment but nothing like what i believed was going to be.... I will admit because of the situation it is so hard to judge golden while i have 100% confidence in his abilities as a recruiter ... And everything off the field he can leave a bit desired as a gameday coach... But then again we won with worse gameday coaches than him... All i can say is im ****** pumped!!
I can't buy the, "This is the first year," argument. He had little talent to work with but the talent he did have is contributing in large parts on Sundays with Olivier Vernon, Lamar Miller, and Travis Benjamin. Also, with as little talent he had, the performances should have been better and much more competitive and the biggest elephant in the room of the all is D'Onofrio and other defensive coaches should have been let go a long time ago and Al put friendship above football. I think he wanted to give him one year with above par talent, but he still coaches scared and choked against weaker teams like Georgia Tech. And talent aside, his actual gameday calls and moves have been below average to put it kindly. I wasn't expecting him to be spectacular right off the bat with the position the program was in, but he should have been better than he was and his personal growth was slow. That was frustrating to no end.
I also can't fully buy the, "The NCAA killed recruiting," argument. Other than the 2011 class which sucked because of Shannon, the cloud, and lack of time, his classes have been highly ranked at an average of 13 or so since 2012. NCAA couldn't have hurt too bad if you pull that level of talent. I know he took some reaches but when you're in a situation like he was in your evaluations need to be spot on to hit on the talent that recruiting services missed and I question a lot of his evaluations. I'm also curious to see how great of a recruiter he is because in 2012 he had Duke which did all the work itself, in 2013 he took a small class and only a few have made an impact, and in 2014 he brought some real blue-chippers but not enough for my taste and the jury is still out on them. I've been on record that as a whole his recruiting hasn't been bad and it hasn't been great and I do think that the NCAA scared away the studs to a certain degree like Thomas, Kirkland, Collins, Cook, Sony, and others. But in spite of all that, I think the talent level has been overall good enough to win more than he has but not much more.
I'm pretty vocal about how highly I think of Butch but I'm aware that he developed as a gameday coach as his career he wore on here. It's only three games but maybe Golden is showing signs of that too. His eye for talent will never be in the same stratosphere as Butch but I really don't think anybody is. Golden has shown he is assembling a group of recruiters and from what I've seen thus far Kehoe, Scott, Ice, Carroll, and maybe Coley can really develop talent and that should excite everybody. Recruiters that can also develop guys? Sign me up.
The changes made starting with the Cincinnati game show a potential that the staff may finally be able to adjust and change their stripes. A competitive performance against FSU and winning out the remainder of the schedule will have me believing in him once again. A ****ting of the bed for the remaining three games will have me firmly believing that he should be fired and coaching linebackers at Purdue or on the moon with no spacesuit. I'm pretty underwhelmed with the 2015 class overall thus far and, in the very likely even Golden comes back next year, that will be concerning if he is to take the next step in 2015. I'm glad you're so confident at this point. I wish I could be and the seeds have been planted for me to do so. I originally thought Florida was the biggest game of his Miami career. I stand corrected and believe this game against FSU will determine his future.
Win/be ultra competitive and we are genuinely, "trending up."
Get blown out and stumble the rest of the season with a so-so recruiting class and he'll be a lame duck waiting for Butch to ride in on a white horse and save the day.
