Category_5
Recruit
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2017
- Messages
- 32
Without searching the internet or otherwise cheating, can you name this former UM footballer?
Freshman All-American
22 career sacks
123 tackles (67 solo)
Only 27 games played
If his name doesn’t immediately come to mind, scroll down for the answer and some additional background on one of the finest to ever don the U.
###
Figured it out? If not, here are a few more hints before I reveal his name…
5.5 sacks in first career start
4 sacks against Nebraska in 1992 Orange Bowl
1991 National Champion
2015 UM Sports Hall of Fame Inductee
Jersey #98
###
A quarter century later, Rusty Medearis doesn’t get the respect I think he deserves. His sack per game ratio is a gaudy 0.815. He notched one more career sack than the great Hurricane DT that wore #98 before him, Jerome Brown, while playing in only 27 games. A cheap shot by an Arizona guard in 1992 ultimately brought his football career to a premature end. Unwilling to exit the game he loved not on his own terms, Medearis endured “13 hours of surgery and countless hours of grueling treatment and therapy” according to his Hall of Fame bio. Risking possible amputation if his knee was reinjured, he returned to his beloved Orange Bowl one final time as player on September 3, 1994. Following the next week’s game at Arizona State, Rusty hung up his cleats for good. The chronic pain and prospect of being permanently crippled forced him to give up any remaining hope of ever playing on Sundays, which he undoubtedly would have done.
I was a senior in high school during the Hurricanes perfect ‘91 season. My family had relocated four years prior, but my allegiance to the Canes only intensified after leaving Miami. The U became a badge of honor and Rusty Medearis was my favorite Hurricane. His incredible performance against Nebraska in a national championship game will remain part of Hurricane lore forever.
Rusty Medearis played his last football game ever on September 10, 1994. Perhaps not coincidentally, during the very next game, the Washington Huskies ended Miami’s nine-year home winning streak at 58 wins. Soon Dennis Erickson would depart Carol Gables leaving in his wake multiple NCAA violations that would result in heavy sanctions and the loss of 24 scholarships. Dark times for sure, but all was not lost; Butch Davis was waiting in the wings.
Go Canes!
Freshman All-American
22 career sacks
123 tackles (67 solo)
Only 27 games played
If his name doesn’t immediately come to mind, scroll down for the answer and some additional background on one of the finest to ever don the U.
###
Figured it out? If not, here are a few more hints before I reveal his name…
5.5 sacks in first career start
4 sacks against Nebraska in 1992 Orange Bowl
1991 National Champion
2015 UM Sports Hall of Fame Inductee
Jersey #98
###
A quarter century later, Rusty Medearis doesn’t get the respect I think he deserves. His sack per game ratio is a gaudy 0.815. He notched one more career sack than the great Hurricane DT that wore #98 before him, Jerome Brown, while playing in only 27 games. A cheap shot by an Arizona guard in 1992 ultimately brought his football career to a premature end. Unwilling to exit the game he loved not on his own terms, Medearis endured “13 hours of surgery and countless hours of grueling treatment and therapy” according to his Hall of Fame bio. Risking possible amputation if his knee was reinjured, he returned to his beloved Orange Bowl one final time as player on September 3, 1994. Following the next week’s game at Arizona State, Rusty hung up his cleats for good. The chronic pain and prospect of being permanently crippled forced him to give up any remaining hope of ever playing on Sundays, which he undoubtedly would have done.
I was a senior in high school during the Hurricanes perfect ‘91 season. My family had relocated four years prior, but my allegiance to the Canes only intensified after leaving Miami. The U became a badge of honor and Rusty Medearis was my favorite Hurricane. His incredible performance against Nebraska in a national championship game will remain part of Hurricane lore forever.
Rusty Medearis played his last football game ever on September 10, 1994. Perhaps not coincidentally, during the very next game, the Washington Huskies ended Miami’s nine-year home winning streak at 58 wins. Soon Dennis Erickson would depart Carol Gables leaving in his wake multiple NCAA violations that would result in heavy sanctions and the loss of 24 scholarships. Dark times for sure, but all was not lost; Butch Davis was waiting in the wings.
Go Canes!
Last edited:
