Mike Irvin highlights at Miami...

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“4.5 speed”. All of y’all obsessed with 40 times and our greatest receiver and greatest ever, even according to Irvin, Rice, were not burners but workers who honed their craft. His will to be the best and work at it is what separates men like them. Blessed to see him play. Oklahoma’s record from 1985-1987, 33-3 all three losses coming from Da U.

Semper Canes!!!
 
“4.5 speed”. All of y’all obsessed with 40 times and our greatest receiver and greatest ever, even according to Irvin, Rice, were not burners but workers who honed their craft. His will to be the best and work at it is what separates men like them. Blessed to see him play. Oklahoma’s record from 1985-1987, 33-3 all three losses coming from Da U.

Semper Canes!!!
Those OU teams had Elite DBs...and all 3 yrs Irvin waxed them...including his Freshman yr....
 
To me, he was the the first “tough guy” wide receiver. At the time WR was very much a finesse position. Still is today. But Irvin was fearless and physical. He bullied DBs. He was going to body you and fight you for the ball. He could run but his game was more than just speed. All heart.
 
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Quite simply he's one of the best big game WRs in the history of football at ANY level. When you talk about things like competitive spirit, and inspiring your teammates to become better, few players in history could do that better than Mike. Furthermore his stats only tell part of the story, and don't fully quantify his overall impact on the game. Those Cowboys teams were so great, that most times they were blowing teams out, and didn't even throw the ball in the 2nd half. However when a big play needed to be made during a crucial time in the game, there was only one receiving target that Troy locked in on, and that was the Playmaker.

Low IQ fans like to focus on his off-field transgressions, which have nothing to do with him as the football player. Whenever it was time to step foot on the field, he never cheated the game, or the fans, and always gave 110%. Putting his love for this program & university aside, he should be appreciated more, because he was truly one of the last of the mohicans, and they don't make them like him anymore. The same goes for Sapp, Ray, & Ed as well
 
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this guy, Colton Denning, has a great YouTube channel, devoted to college football. Has put up compilations of various players(including Ed Reed and Andre Johnson at the U). Here's the one he did just recently on 'the Playmaker' at Miami. Irvin is one of the reasons I became a UM fanatic in the 80s. To me, it's him and Eddie Brown on my all-time Hurricanes team at WR. Nobody played with more unbridled passion and joy than 47...


 
What’s always been a mystery beyond my realm of understanding.
Here we have the greatest lineage of football heroes unmatched in CFB history. Like The playmaker and many others come by to give all there secrets of how they achieved greatness and very few ever to advantage of accessing greatness.

I can’t imagine player’s like that saying I , we’re here for you call us we’ll give you the book of success we’ll mentor you JUST ASK .

DEATH EARS maybe a drool of being board that’s it.

Brothers if I’m a player and a Hall of Famer at my position says I’m here for you , I’M ALL OVER HIM .

But they come talk offer help and locker room clears for XBOX at the dorm

GOCANES
 
“4.5 speed”. All of y’all obsessed with 40 times and our greatest receiver and greatest ever, even according to Irvin, Rice, were not burners but workers who honed their craft. His will to be the best and work at it is what separates men like them. Blessed to see him play. Oklahoma’s record from 1985-1987, 33-3 all three losses coming from Da U.

Semper Canes!!!
In the late 80's early 90's a 4.5 was pretty fast and a 4.4 was blazing.
 
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On the last highlight Irvin literally takes the ball out of the hands of the official so that he can celebrate. He’d probably be kicked out of the game doing that today.
 
CBS showed a replay of that touchdown (that made the score 19-17) from the ground level, and you can see the Miami sideline exploding with emotion with the ball nestling into Irvin's hands. I wish I could make that into a painting. The Playmaker absolutely willed the Canes to victory that afternoon in Tally. There's a story that as Miami was down 19-3, Irvin was blocking Deion Sanders hard, and Sander said to him, 'Hey, Mike no need, this game is over." And Irvin replied, 'Oh no, Hurricanes never quit. We're in this." or something to that effect.

Jimmy Johnson wrote in one of his books that Michael Irvin became a household name in every household that cared about football.

That game sealed my Hurricanes fandom. If I recall correctly, that FSU game was voted the best game of 1987 and in many ways decided the national title. Coming off that devastating Fiesta Bowl loss the year before, I really dont know what would been of the Hurricanes the rest of the decade, and the legacy of Johnson if they dont somehow win that game (and subsequently the national title)
I was at the 87 game at Doak (only my 2nd away game in Tally)
 
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That ref was not going to get that ball from Irvin on that last play.
Mike knew that was his last game as a Hurricanes and that was possibly his last TD.
 
Quite simply he's one of the best big game WRs in the history of football at ANY level. When you talk about things like competitive spirit, and inspiring your teammates to become better, few players in history could do that better than Mike. Furthermore his stats only tell part of the story, and don't fully quantify his overall impact on the game. Those Cowboys teams were so great, that most times they were blowing teams out, and didn't even throw the ball in the 2nd half. However when a big play needed to be made during a crucial time in the game, there was only one receiving target that Troy locked in on, and that was the Playmaker.

Low IQ fans like to focus on his off-field transgressions, which have nothing to do with him as the football player. Whenever it was time to step foot on the field, he never cheated the game, or the fans, and always gave 110%. Putting his love for this program & university aside, he should be appreciated more, because he was truly one of the last of the mohicans, and they don't make them like him anymore. The same goes for Sapp, Ray, & Ed as well

Ive read several books on the 90's Cowboys and the consensus is that Irvin was the tone-setter at practice on a daily basis, and one of the absolute team leaders. Someone said that Irvin was one of those guys that before big games, when everyone is nervous, guys would look at him and say, "****, Im glad he's on our team." His impact when far beyond stats in my view (and he played in an era when WR numbers werent artificially enhanced.)

BTW, 'the Bomb Squad' of Irvin, Brian Blades and Brett Perriman make an argument as being the greatest WR trio ever in college if you factor in their college success, but also they all had 1000 yard seasons in the NFL, and long runs in the league.
 
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I saw every one of those TD's during the Irvin years since they were my years at UM too, he was the man. I was thinking if he was the best ever at UM and I would probably have to fo with Andre Johnson, no offense to Michael but Johnson had the speed too. With that said, if I needed a catch of any kind I would trust no one more than Michael, that guy was magical and when we needed it at FSU after being down 19-3 at the half, Michael delivers a 73 yd TD with 2:30 left in the game, just unreal, I will never forget that moment in the stands!
 
I saw every one of those TD's during the Irvin years since they were my years at UM too, he was the man. I was thinking if he was the best ever at UM and I would probably have to fo with Andre Johnson, no offense to Michael but Johnson had the speed too. With that said, if I needed a catch of any kind I would trust no one more than Michael, that guy was magical and when we needed it at FSU after being down 19-3 at the half, Michael delivers a 73 yd TD with 2:30 left in the game, just unreal, I will never forget that moment in the stands!
Dre only had one Good yr (2001)...Irvin had 3 unbelievable yrs...not even in the same Hemisphere...Irvin is without question the best ever at UM....And then dominated at Dallas...
 
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