reg
Sophomore
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2014
- Messages
- 3,842
When was the last time you felt this good about our football program?.........Not just the direction of the program, but also the current state of the program. Lets see, we have a president that is passionate about football, an AD that knows how to raise funds and make good hires, a head coach that is not an experiment (i.e. Coker, Shannon, Golden), a staff that knows how to recruit and wait for it….DEVELOP players, and a alumni/community that is putting up the dough for us to build state of the art facilities. We put up 4 million a year for a HC and are paying assistants real money for a change. Let that sink in for a minute. We are about to break ground on a $34m IPF that is about 95% already paid for. Really let that sink in for a second.
All that is mentioned above, are great reasons to feel great about the current state of our program. However, that is not even what has me pumped as *** right now. What has me stoked is the shift in mindset that exist amongst the administration, coaches, players, fans, and even our enemies. UF knows it (see gaytor tears @ gator bait). FSU knows it (see Nole tears @ Warchant). I woke up this morning actually EXPECTING to read something new on CIS that was either going to be good news or great news. It’s not just because of the momentum that exist within the program right now, because this is bigger than momentum. This is about the core foundation that has been established with this new staff.
For the past several years, Miami has been considered a sleeping giant. When Richt became the head coach, I started to think of us more as the pitbull in your new neighbors backyard fence. At first there is just talk amongst the neighbors (UF, FSU, media) about the pitbull, simply for awareness purposes. Then as the dog begins to grow, the talk moves from chatter to, “what are we going to do about this pitbull, you know those dogs are the most dangerous of them all.” Meanwhile the pit is not bothering anyone, it’s just barking every now and then to make sure that his presence is felt. One day members of the neighborhood are just going about their regular routine, walking there pets, jogging for exercise, or just driving by, and they notice that the gate to the backyard of the new neighbor, where the pitbull is normally at, is wide open! Everyone instantly goes into panic mode! See, the pitbull is not the largest dog (think school size) compared to other dogs. However, it’s the dog that no one wants to *** with because of its reputation, natural killer instinct, and most importantly, it’s proven history as a dominant force.
Richt and staff seem to have put a focus more on the type of mindset (pitbull) that they want to recruit more so than the type of skill set (big dog, fast dog) that they want to recruit. I mean, it goes without saying that if a player is not Miami caliber as it relates to skill sets, they will not get a look from this staff. Back in the day, we built our program off a bunch of very talented inner-city kids with chips on their shoulders. They had that Miami edge to them. That type of mindset will always be a part of our culture. However, Richt is not just recruiting players with chips on their shoulders, he is building his program with players that know they are killers. They know they are the dominant forces. Look at Michael Pickney (Golden guy but Richt made him a top priority when he took over). Every interview that Michael does, you get the feeling that he is going to bite off the reporters head. He does not answer questions like he is trying to prove that he belongs at Miami, he answers questions like he is Miami. Take DJ Johnson for instance. That guy literally called coach Kool and basically said, “I am the #1 defensive end in the country, why aren’t you recruiting me?” Of course I am paraphrasing DJ, but that’s pretty much what happened. Jeff Thomas lines up with the intent to destroy the person in front of him on every route. Dugans mentioned in an interview that he liked Thomas’ killer instinct more than his speed and elusiveness. Lorenzo, just showed the world that he is not to be ***’d with when he showed the text exchange between him and the RB coach from USC. All of the players that I mentioned are not just good players with chips on their shoulders who will prove that they are just as good as everyone else. These are elite players that know they are elite and shows it every time they step foot on the field. Those type of players don’t just turn programs around, they build dynasties.
If your are like me, you can feel the change of mindset in our program. Diaz mentioned it when he talked about the bowl game against West Virginia. He said that for the first time, he could see it in the players eyes before the game, that they knew they were going to dominate. They knew that it had nothing to do with how good or how bad West Virginia was going to play but regardless, they were going to beat the sh#t out of them. We have been coming close to beating FSU because we have only been BELIEVING that we are just as good as them. With this new mindset, players are beginning to KNOW who they are , and what school they are representing. The U is like no other. That is why I am not worried, like I have been in the past, about players decommitting. Saban use to have his pick of the litter when it came to south florida. Now that lil bitc# can show up in his helicopter and still can pull from us. When Richt first got the job at The U, he was asked how was he going to bring Swag back to The U. His answer was savage. He said that Swag is knowing that you are going to dominate the man that is lined up in front of you. That is the epitime of how competitive Richt is at his core. The difference is, Richt’s mindset is now starting to trickle down to his players and we as fans can feel it. We are familiar with it. We’ve seen it. It’s who we are. We are about to take our rightful place back at the top of College football, and I must admit, it feels good to feel this ***** good again!!!
All that is mentioned above, are great reasons to feel great about the current state of our program. However, that is not even what has me pumped as *** right now. What has me stoked is the shift in mindset that exist amongst the administration, coaches, players, fans, and even our enemies. UF knows it (see gaytor tears @ gator bait). FSU knows it (see Nole tears @ Warchant). I woke up this morning actually EXPECTING to read something new on CIS that was either going to be good news or great news. It’s not just because of the momentum that exist within the program right now, because this is bigger than momentum. This is about the core foundation that has been established with this new staff.
For the past several years, Miami has been considered a sleeping giant. When Richt became the head coach, I started to think of us more as the pitbull in your new neighbors backyard fence. At first there is just talk amongst the neighbors (UF, FSU, media) about the pitbull, simply for awareness purposes. Then as the dog begins to grow, the talk moves from chatter to, “what are we going to do about this pitbull, you know those dogs are the most dangerous of them all.” Meanwhile the pit is not bothering anyone, it’s just barking every now and then to make sure that his presence is felt. One day members of the neighborhood are just going about their regular routine, walking there pets, jogging for exercise, or just driving by, and they notice that the gate to the backyard of the new neighbor, where the pitbull is normally at, is wide open! Everyone instantly goes into panic mode! See, the pitbull is not the largest dog (think school size) compared to other dogs. However, it’s the dog that no one wants to *** with because of its reputation, natural killer instinct, and most importantly, it’s proven history as a dominant force.
Richt and staff seem to have put a focus more on the type of mindset (pitbull) that they want to recruit more so than the type of skill set (big dog, fast dog) that they want to recruit. I mean, it goes without saying that if a player is not Miami caliber as it relates to skill sets, they will not get a look from this staff. Back in the day, we built our program off a bunch of very talented inner-city kids with chips on their shoulders. They had that Miami edge to them. That type of mindset will always be a part of our culture. However, Richt is not just recruiting players with chips on their shoulders, he is building his program with players that know they are killers. They know they are the dominant forces. Look at Michael Pickney (Golden guy but Richt made him a top priority when he took over). Every interview that Michael does, you get the feeling that he is going to bite off the reporters head. He does not answer questions like he is trying to prove that he belongs at Miami, he answers questions like he is Miami. Take DJ Johnson for instance. That guy literally called coach Kool and basically said, “I am the #1 defensive end in the country, why aren’t you recruiting me?” Of course I am paraphrasing DJ, but that’s pretty much what happened. Jeff Thomas lines up with the intent to destroy the person in front of him on every route. Dugans mentioned in an interview that he liked Thomas’ killer instinct more than his speed and elusiveness. Lorenzo, just showed the world that he is not to be ***’d with when he showed the text exchange between him and the RB coach from USC. All of the players that I mentioned are not just good players with chips on their shoulders who will prove that they are just as good as everyone else. These are elite players that know they are elite and shows it every time they step foot on the field. Those type of players don’t just turn programs around, they build dynasties.
If your are like me, you can feel the change of mindset in our program. Diaz mentioned it when he talked about the bowl game against West Virginia. He said that for the first time, he could see it in the players eyes before the game, that they knew they were going to dominate. They knew that it had nothing to do with how good or how bad West Virginia was going to play but regardless, they were going to beat the sh#t out of them. We have been coming close to beating FSU because we have only been BELIEVING that we are just as good as them. With this new mindset, players are beginning to KNOW who they are , and what school they are representing. The U is like no other. That is why I am not worried, like I have been in the past, about players decommitting. Saban use to have his pick of the litter when it came to south florida. Now that lil bitc# can show up in his helicopter and still can pull from us. When Richt first got the job at The U, he was asked how was he going to bring Swag back to The U. His answer was savage. He said that Swag is knowing that you are going to dominate the man that is lined up in front of you. That is the epitime of how competitive Richt is at his core. The difference is, Richt’s mindset is now starting to trickle down to his players and we as fans can feel it. We are familiar with it. We’ve seen it. It’s who we are. We are about to take our rightful place back at the top of College football, and I must admit, it feels good to feel this ***** good again!!!