Reggie Sutton

I graduated from CGHS in '83, and played FB as a LB there as well. Pretty sure Reggie was at Killian. We had a pretty good season, went 8-2, lost to Southridge 3-0, then got smoked by Killian 33-0. Beat Palmetto 10-7 (with Kelly Ziegler - TN and George Mira Jr) and South Miami.

IMO, that '83 class was the beginning of the dynasty - Moss, Highsmith, Sutton, etc. Reggie was a flat out stud. Was proud to play with and against those guys.
This post is bringing out all of the old timers which is invigorating. I disagree on a small point keeper. The start of the dynasty I believe was Lou Sabans last class of which CMR was one of the centerpieces and the next class Schnellenbergers first. Chicallo,Jim Burt, Marion, Jefferson, Lester Williams, Bob Nelson (Just as good as Williams), Kelly, Speedy Neale, Mark Brodsky, Danny Miller, Mark Rush and others. Remember we had a couple of really good years before our first championship year. I met Sutton at DBJ's carpet store when he was recovering from one if his bad times. He was a very good db but I'm not going to label him the best player on the team. There were a ton of them.
 
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Eddie Brown Was apart of the greatest quested of wr's to ever be on a team at one time. Eddie Brown, Michael Irvin, Brain Blades and Brett Perryman. All 4 had at least 1 1000 years receiving season and played in at least 1 pro bowl. Unmatched quartet.

Fred Marion continued a Hurricane safety lineage started by Burgess Owens that is only matched By USC in terms of talent put into the NFL. Daryl Williams is another Hurricane S that get's over looked but was a great player.

Miami's DT bloodline is unmatched in all of cfb by a wide margin.

Burgess Owens was a corner at Miami and defensive MVP in the Senior Bowl who later in NFL career moved to safety. Chuck Foreman and Mike Barnes were also on that 3 win team that goes unnoticed. Howards eye for talent was incredible as before 83 season he moved Reggie from WR to DB, Eddie Brown from DB to WR and Alonzo Highsmith from DL/LB to RB all 3 moves were instrumental in our first NC.
 
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Eddie Brown Was apart of the greatest quested of wr's to ever be on a team at one time. Eddie Brown, Michael Irvin, Brain Blades and Brett Perryman. All 4 had at least 1 1000 years receiving season and played in at least 1 pro bowl. Unmatched quartet.

Fred Marion continued a Hurricane safety lineage started by Burgess Owens that is only matched By USC in terms of talent put into the NFL. Daryl Williams is another Hurricane S that get's over looked but was a great player.

Miami's DT bloodline is unmatched in all of cfb by a wide margin.

Burgess Owens was a corner at Miami and defensive MVP in the Senior Bowl who later in NFL career moved to safety. Chuck Foreman and Mike Barnes were also on that 3 win team that goes unnoticed. Howards eye for talent was incredible as before 83 season he moved Reggie from WR to DB, Eddie Brown from DB to WR and Alonzo Highsmith from DL/LB to RB all 3 moves were instrumental in our first NC.

Correct. Burgess Owens was moved to SS his first year with the jets then later switched to FS
 
Eddie Brown Was apart of the greatest quested of wr's to ever be on a team at one time. Eddie Brown, Michael Irvin, Brain Blades and Brett Perryman. All 4 had at least 1 1000 years receiving season and played in at least 1 pro bowl. Unmatched quartet.

Fred Marion continued a Hurricane safety lineage started by Burgess Owens that is only matched By USC in terms of talent put into the NFL. Daryl Williams is another Hurricane S that get's over looked but was a great player.

Miami's DT bloodline is unmatched in all of cfb by a wide margin.

Burgess Owens was a corner at Miami and defensive MVP in the Senior Bowl who later in NFL career moved to safety. Chuck Foreman and Mike Barnes were also on that 3 win team that goes unnoticed. Howards eye for talent was incredible as before 83 season he moved Reggie from WR to DB, Eddie Brown from DB to WR and Alonzo Highsmith from DL/LB to RB all 3 moves were instrumental in our first NC.

Correct. Burgess Owens was moved to SS his first year with the jets then later switched to FS

Know what Burgess is doing now?

Burgess Owens book.jpg
 
I graduated from CGHS in '83, and played FB as a LB there as well. Pretty sure Reggie was at Killian. We had a pretty good season, went 8-2, lost to Southridge 3-0, then got smoked by Killian 33-0. Beat Palmetto 10-7 (with Kelly Ziegler - TN and George Mira Jr) and South Miami.

IMO, that '83 class was the beginning of the dynasty - Moss, Highsmith, Sutton, etc. Reggie was a flat out stud. Was proud to play with and against those guys.
This post is bringing out all of the old timers which is invigorating. I disagree on a small point keeper. The start of the dynasty I believe was Lou Sabans last class of which CMR was one of the centerpieces and the next class Schnellenbergers first. Chicallo,Jim Burt, Marion, Jefferson, Lester Williams, Bob Nelson (Just as good as Williams), Kelly, Speedy Neale, Mark Brodsky, Danny Miller, Mark Rush and others. Remember we had a couple of really good years before our first championship year. I met Sutton at DBJ's carpet store when he was recovering from one if his bad times. He was a very good db but I'm not going to label him the best player on the team. There were a ton of them.

It was Larry Brodsky, not Mark. He was the Jerusalem Cowboy, ****** kid who liked country and western.

We had some slow receivers back then, Rodrigue and Brodsky. Until Rocky Belk came along.
 
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I graduated from CGHS in '83, and played FB as a LB there as well. Pretty sure Reggie was at Killian. We had a pretty good season, went 8-2, lost to Southridge 3-0, then got smoked by Killian 33-0. Beat Palmetto 10-7 (with Kelly Ziegler - TN and George Mira Jr) and South Miami.

IMO, that '83 class was the beginning of the dynasty - Moss, Highsmith, Sutton, etc. Reggie was a flat out stud. Was proud to play with and against those guys.
This post is bringing out all of the old timers which is invigorating. I disagree on a small point keeper. The start of the dynasty I believe was Lou Sabans last class of which CMR was one of the centerpieces and the next class Schnellenbergers first. Chicallo,Jim Burt, Marion, Jefferson, Lester Williams, Bob Nelson (Just as good as Williams), Kelly, Speedy Neale, Mark Brodsky, Danny Miller, Mark Rush and others. Remember we had a couple of really good years before our first championship year. I met Sutton at DBJ's carpet store when he was recovering from one if his bad times. He was a very good db but I'm not going to label him the best player on the team. There were a ton of them.

It was Larry Brodsky, not Mark. He was the Jerusalem Cowboy, ****** kid who liked country and western.

We had some slow receivers back then, Rodrigue and Brodsky. Until Rocky Belk came along.
You are correct my friend. It is Larry. Joe his father was a hero in my downtown neighborhood when he was a fullback at Miami Jackson. Of course later he was on the Um staff and followed Jimmy to Dallas.
 
Eddie Brown Was apart of the greatest quested of wr's to ever be on a team at one time. Eddie Brown, Michael Irvin, Brain Blades and Brett Perryman. All 4 had at least 1 1000 years receiving season and played in at least 1 pro bowl. Unmatched quartet.

Fred Marion continued a Hurricane safety lineage started by Burgess Owens that is only matched By USC in terms of talent put into the NFL. Daryl Williams is another Hurricane S that get's over looked but was a great player.

Miami's DT bloodline is unmatched in all of cfb by a wide margin.

Burgess Owens was a corner at Miami and defensive MVP in the Senior Bowl who later in NFL career moved to safety. Chuck Foreman and Mike Barnes were also on that 3 win team that goes unnoticed. Howards eye for talent was incredible as before 83 season he moved Reggie from WR to DB, Eddie Brown from DB to WR and Alonzo Highsmith from DL/LB to RB all 3 moves were instrumental in our first NC.

Correct. Burgess Owens was moved to SS his first year with the jets then later switched to FS

Know what Burgess is doing now?

View attachment 43512

Interesting.
 
Remember warming up for Palmetto pregame & Sutton was on his knees at the 50 yd line throwing spirals into the end zone. Crazy...
 
Reggie was Class of '82 at Killian. He played QB as a Senior on a team that lost to Vero Beach in the State Semis, a team Killian would've beaten 8 times out of 10. It just wasn't their night. I played LB at Sunset and they smoked us 47-0. Sounds pretty bad until you consider that they won their first two playoff games that year 35-0 against Hialeah and Jackson. Although they were beaten in the regular season by Columbus that year, that team was on a different level. Tons of team speed and Reggie was a wizard at running the option. Hard to believe he wasn't even a starter as a Junior but their QB that year, Michael Frederick had a way better arm and was good enough to get a scholly to Kansas.

The '83 Championship squad was packed with Dade County kids which made that Championship even sweeter. On Offense you had Eddie Brown from Miami High, Dave Heffernan from Columbus, Juan Commendeiro from South Miami, Alonzo Highsmith from Columbus and my old team mate Paul Bertucelli from Sunset in the starting lineup. On Defense, guys like Fred Robinson from Jackson, John McVeigh from Columbus, Julio Cortes from Columbus, Kenny Sisk from Southwest, Jack Fernandez from Miami Springs, Rod Bellinger from Gables and Reggie Sutton from Killian all starting or playing huge roles in the Championship game.

The team was already pretty **** good before the '83 class (great as they were) got there. The role that Lou Saban's recruits played in putting The U on the map was completely glossed over in Billy Corben's film. Watching it, you would think we were playing with bums before Schnellenberger got there. Schnells had his early success due in huge part to Saban's recruits and went 8-4 in 1980, 9-2 in 1981 and 7-4 in 1982 with Jim Kelly being lost for the season in the opener. Saban did a tremendous job as a recruiter and was responsible for making the moves that allowed our program to lock down Dade County in the ensuing years.
 
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Reggie was Class of '82 at Killian. He played QB as a Senior on a team that lost to Vero Beach in the State Semis, a team Killian would've beaten 8 times out of 10. It just wasn't their night. I played LB at Sunset and they smoked us 47-0. Sounds pretty bad until you consider that they won their first two playoff games that year 35-0 against Hialeah and Jackson. Although they were beaten in the regular season by Columbus that year, that team was on a different level. Tons of team speed and Reggie was a wizard at running the option. Hard to believe he wasn't even a starter as a Junior but their QB that year, Michael Frederick had a way better arm and was good enough to get a scholly to Kansas.

The '83 Championship squad was packed with Dade County kids which made that Championship even sweeter. On Offense you had Eddie Brown from Miami High, Dave Heffernan from Columbus, Juan Commendeiro from South Miami, Alonzo Highsmith from Columbus and my old team mate Paul Bertucelli from Sunset in the starting lineup. On Defense, guys like Fred Robinson from Jackson, John McVeigh from Columbus, Julio Cortes from Columbus, Kenny Sisk from Southwest, Jack Fernandez from Miami Springs, Rod Bellinger from Gables and Reggie Sutton from Killian all starting or playing huge roles in the Championship game.

The team was already pretty **** good before the '83 class (great as they were) got there. The role that Lou Saban's recruits played in putting The U on the map was completely glossed over in Billy Corben's film. Watching it, you would think we were playing with bums before Schnellenberger got there. Schnells had his early success due in huge part to Saban's recruits and went 8-4 in 1980, 9-2 in 1981 and 7-4 in 1982 with Jim Kelly being lost for the season in the opener. Saban did a tremendous job as a recruiter and was responsible for making the moves that allowed our program to lock down Dade County in the ensuing years.

Such great memories! Those ragamuffins from Dade that nobody else wanted came out of nowhere. I've been following UM football since maybe before many of your parents were born. Over the years, I lived up north, out west, didn't get to go to a UM game since maybe 1964, when Bob Biletnikoff was our QB and went to Gainesville to see us lose to the Gators. The year after Mira, Sr., The Matador, one of the greatest Canes ever, and the start of the career for guys like Pete Banaszak, Russ Smith, and some others.

I'd hardly seen UM between the late '60's and maybe the 1981 team. Even on TV. I started seeing us again, occasionally, on TV in about '80 or '81. I couldn't believe how things seemed so different. I just remember a bunch of nasty guys at UM. I remember that kid from up here, Kevin Flanagan, from Woodbridge, VA, who was just a nasty hitter. In the few times I'd seen the Canes on TV since about '68, I just remember a bunch of teams that were just sadly, losing. We had some good individual players, but we were always outclassed. I almost never saw UM for about a decade and then all of a sudden these really tough teams starting about '80.

When I say nobody else wanted our kids, it was really true. I had a long talk back around '85 or so with the staff guy who ran the Hurricane Club. We were having a combination Hurricane Club and alumni reception in Washington, DC. We were going to informally honor Vinnie and Eddie Brown (Eddie didn' show). Both were to get some awards from the NFLPA later that night. I was trying to follow recruiting and the couldn't understand why UM was getting almost nobody on the national lists from the recruiting gurus of the time (Emfinger, Lemming, others). This guy from the Hurricane Club was telling me, "Listen, we take kids nobody else wants. Look at Jerome Brown. He was a bad kid. Nobody else wanted him." Although he was a Parade A-A. That might have been an exaggeration, but there was probably some truth to it, as well. He was just a Miami type kid.

I do think that might have been the same winter or spring we were trying to recruit Jeff George, but the HC guy was telling me about this prospect from Edison, another QB. I can't even remember his name. Had a fantastic arm, but not a hard worker. Ahh, I remember, Greg Jones. Ended up transferring to W.Va. I think he backed up Major Harris. Had another guy from Edison, also ended up transferring there--I think it was Basil Proctor. You guys don't remember, we had a lot of busts in Jimmy's first two classes. Only about a third of each class were significant contributors. You'd be amazed if I could pull out the recruiting classes from '85 and '86. So many kids who did nothing. We did get some gems, though. Like Steve Walsh, Leon Searcy, Russ Maryland, a bunch of others.

I could go on and on.

You guys have to remember--we didn't build the late '80's teams with a lot of blue chips. We took kids that nobody appreciated, no name kids that Butch and Jimmy properly evaluated as to potential and mentality. We developed them. We didn't a lot of the big name recruits. We really didn't. We got the south Florida kids that were underappreciated. They might have been blue-chips in our own evaluations but not nationally. We also looked for a particular kind of athlete I think. Kids that could really run.

I remember seeing Oklahoma State in a minor bowl in December 1983, and had I known that I was watching our future coach I would have paid much closer attention. I just remember that even then, JJ had a kid from Merritt Island, I think. He was going into Florida and probably Texas looking for speed.

I just don't think any observers, particularly not journalists and recruiting gurus, appreciated what kind of football culture existed in Florida, particularly south Florida. Our kids had nothing, often they were among the poorest, and they had to overcome the most.

Heck, when we won the NC again in '87, one of my friends went over to the stand outside the White House where the team was going to visit Reagan. It was cold, but some of the kids did not even have jackets or coats. They probably had never been in cold weather, didn't know what to expect, and didn't have much money for clothes, especially heavy coats and jackets which are expensive. (Heck, I don't even know if you can shop for that stuff down there....I remember a friend of mine who did have money who was going out to Burdines to look for a heavy jacket for a road game one year. I have more heavy coats and jackets than I know what to do with.)

I also remember stories of how poor the players were when it came to eating. There was a story about Bruce Fleming, one of our LBs from that era, a tough kid from western Pennsylvania, who, according to the newspaper, was eating cereal for dinner over the weekend. He lived in an apartment with some other players, and I guess they didn't have a card at the cafeteria on campus where they would eat during the week. I guess there wasn't much meal money given to players then and maybe no training table. It sounds like we really had a spartan regime in the early to mid-80's, including the weightroom.

I suspect a lot has changed. We're doing so much better money-wise. But back then we were so strapped that President Foote was taking the bowl money for the general fund and that supposedly ****ed off Schnelly, or so the story went. And that's why he left.

Those guys, Saban, Schnellenberger, and even JJ did more with less. Back then the boosters could help with recruiting but I don't know much about money. A friend of mine used to go to breakfasts with recruits, write letters to recruits, but he told me he was never once asked for money for a recruit. Maybe there was a trusted inner circle who did that, if it was done at all.

EDIT: Thinking about Saban's recruiting Back in the mid-80's, I had to call a bank down in Coral Gables, and I ended up talking to a manager, her last name was Greaves. I asked if her husband was Gary Greaves. Yes, I remembered him from the UM teams of the late '50's. (We had some good teams in the '50's, mostly poor working class white kids from rust belt, mainly Pennsylvania, upstate NY, Ohio, etc.) She was an avid UM fan. Back then, before Jimmy's teams started winning, a lot of older UM fans were lamenting the loss of Howard. They did not like or trust Jimmy. They all thought the world ended when Howard left.

Well, Mrs. Greaves and I had a great talk. She was telling me that Howard was a great recruiter, but Saban was the best. She said that if he had stayed, we would have won a NC even sooner. She said that there was never a kid who, if he wanted him, couldn't get him.

Well, everyone hears the story about how Jim Kelly didn't go to PSU because paterno wanted him for LB. About thirty years ago, one of my then neignbors told me the real story. Somebody had to take the SAT or ACT for him so he could get into UM. The guy I was talking to was from East Brady, Kelly's home town. This is the first time I've even said anything about this to anybody and I guess it might be true. I don't like spreading lies if not true but what the heck. Is he going to sue me for libel? I hope not. It was probably not that unusual. I heard one of my cousins had somebody else take the SAT for him so he could get into the Wharton School of Finance. So it happens at a much different level, too, I guess. (I haven't seen that cousin in 40 years, if that). When I took those tests, in the mid-60's, I never heard of anybody cheating.
 
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I graduated from CGHS in '83, and played FB as a LB there as well. Pretty sure Reggie was at Killian. We had a pretty good season, went 8-2, lost to Southridge 3-0, then got smoked by Killian 33-0. Beat Palmetto 10-7 (with Kelly Ziegler - TN and George Mira Jr) and South Miami.

IMO, that '83 class was the beginning of the dynasty - Moss, Highsmith, Sutton, etc. Reggie was a flat out stud. Was proud to play with and against those guys.

Reggie was an option QB at Killian. He played on a great Killian team that was upset by Vero Beach in the state semis in 1981. Killian was stopped on the goal line late in the game. This was a big upset. Killian was loaded. Reggie was a great athlete. Switched to corner as a Freshman in Miami and was a huge part of 1983 National Champ team. Still remember dragging Mike Rosier down to the ground by his facemark while Rosier was trying to stiff arm him. Reggie was a tough dude. Part of the unknown great athletes back in the day that built Miami.
 
Reggie was Class of '82 at Killian. He played QB as a Senior on a team that lost to Vero Beach in the State Semis, a team Killian would've beaten 8 times out of 10. It just wasn't their night. I played LB at Sunset and they smoked us 47-0. Sounds pretty bad until you consider that they won their first two playoff games that year 35-0 against Hialeah and Jackson. Although they were beaten in the regular season by Columbus that year, that team was on a different level. Tons of team speed and Reggie was a wizard at running the option. Hard to believe he wasn't even a starter as a Junior but their QB that year, Michael Frederick had a way better arm and was good enough to get a scholly to Kansas.

The '83 Championship squad was packed with Dade County kids which made that Championship even sweeter. On Offense you had Eddie Brown from Miami High, Dave Heffernan from Columbus, Juan Commendeiro from South Miami, Alonzo Highsmith from Columbus and my old team mate Paul Bertucelli from Sunset in the starting lineup. On Defense, guys like Fred Robinson from Jackson, John McVeigh from Columbus, Julio Cortes from Columbus, Kenny Sisk from Southwest, Jack Fernandez from Miami Springs, Rod Bellinger from Gables and Reggie Sutton from Killian all starting or playing huge roles in the Championship game.

The team was already pretty **** good before the '83 class (great as they were) got there. The role that Lou Saban's recruits played in putting The U on the map was completely glossed over in Billy Corben's film. Watching it, you would think we were playing with bums before Schnellenberger got there. Schnells had his early success due in huge part to Saban's recruits and went 8-4 in 1980, 9-2 in 1981 and 7-4 in 1982 with Jim Kelly being lost for the season in the opener. Saban did a tremendous job as a recruiter and was responsible for making the moves that allowed our program to lock down Dade County in the ensuing years.

Not many people remember who Mike Frederick was! Killian was loaded in the early to mid 80's. All those great unknown athletes built Miami.
 
Killian WAS loaded as **** during my three years in high school (79-81 seasons). In that time, the south side of the country was where it was at. In addition to Killian, South Miami was stacked, The Ridge went to the final in 79', Columbus had tons of D-1 guys and went to the final in 80' and schools like Gables and Palmetto were definitely no slouches. **** even my Sunset team had two guys make the NFL (Fuad Reveiz and Alan Veingrad) and the starting Left Tackle on the Canes 83' National Champs (Paul Bertucelli). It was a glorious time to be involved in Dade County High School Football!
 
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Killian WAS loaded as **** during my three years in high school (79-81 seasons). In that time, the south side of the country was where it was at. In addition to Killian, South Miami was stacked, The Ridge went to the final in 79', Columbus had tons of D-1 guys and went to the final in 80' and schools like Gables and Palmetto were definitely no slouches. **** even my Sunset team had two guys make the NFL (Fuad Reveiz and Alan Veingrad) and the starting Left Tackle on the Canes 83' National Champs (Paul Bertucelli). It was a glorious time to be involved in Dade County High School Football!

No doubt bro. Good times for sure. I'm a Killian grad (86). We beat the Ridge in 85 when they were #1 in the state. The south part of the county was loaded. The north started to take off with good coaching. Never forget that Northwestern team with Bratton and Perriman.

Of course, the real old timers can chime in on Gables in the 60's and 70's.
 
Killian WAS loaded as **** during my three years in high school (79-81 seasons). In that time, the south side of the country was where it was at. In addition to Killian, South Miami was stacked, The Ridge went to the final in 79', Columbus had tons of D-1 guys and went to the final in 80' and schools like Gables and Palmetto were definitely no slouches. **** even my Sunset team had two guys make the NFL (Fuad Reveiz and Alan Veingrad) and the starting Left Tackle on the Canes 83' National Champs (Paul Bertucelli). It was a glorious time to be involved in Dade County High School Football!

No doubt bro. Good times for sure. I'm a Killian grad (86). We beat the Ridge in 85 when they were #1 in the state. The south part of the county was loaded. The north started to take off with good coaching. Never forget that Northwestern team with Bratton and Perriman.

Of course, the real old timers can chime in on Gables in the 60's and 70's.

Craig Curry and Larry Rentz as their QBs
 
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Reggie was Class of '82 at Killian. He played QB as a Senior on a team that lost to Vero Beach in the State Semis, a team Killian would've beaten 8 times out of 10. It just wasn't their night. I played LB at Sunset and they smoked us 47-0. Sounds pretty bad until you consider that they won their first two playoff games that year 35-0 against Hialeah and Jackson. Although they were beaten in the regular season by Columbus that year, that team was on a different level. Tons of team speed and Reggie was a wizard at running the option. Hard to believe he wasn't even a starter as a Junior but their QB that year, Michael Frederick had a way better arm and was good enough to get a scholly to Kansas.

The '83 Championship squad was packed with Dade County kids which made that Championship even sweeter. On Offense you had Eddie Brown from Miami High, Dave Heffernan from Columbus, Juan Commendeiro from South Miami, Alonzo Highsmith from Columbus and my old team mate Paul Bertucelli from Sunset in the starting lineup. On Defense, guys like Fred Robinson from Jackson, John McVeigh from Columbus, Julio Cortes from Columbus, Kenny Sisk from Southwest, Jack Fernandez from Miami Springs, Rod Bellinger from Gables and Reggie Sutton from Killian all starting or playing huge roles in the Championship game.

The team was already pretty **** good before the '83 class (great as they were) got there. The role that Lou Saban's recruits played in putting The U on the map was completely glossed over in Billy Corben's film. Watching it, you would think we were playing with bums before Schnellenberger got there. Schnells had his early success due in huge part to Saban's recruits and went 8-4 in 1980, 9-2 in 1981 and 7-4 in 1982 with Jim Kelly being lost for the season in the opener. Saban did a tremendous job as a recruiter and was responsible for making the moves that allowed our program to lock down Dade County in the ensuing years.

Such great memories! Those ragamuffins from Dade that nobody else wanted came out of nowhere. I've been following UM football since maybe before many of your parents were born. Over the years, I lived up north, out west, didn't get to go to a UM game since maybe 1964, when Bob Biletnikoff was our QB and went to Gainesville to see us lose to the Gators. The year after Mira, Sr., The Matador, one of the greatest Canes ever, and the start of the career for guys like Pete Banaszak, Russ Smith, and some others.

I'd hardly seen UM between the late '60's and maybe the 1981 team. Even on TV. I started seeing us again, occasionally, on TV in about '80 or '81. I couldn't believe how things seemed so different. I just remember a bunch of nasty guys at UM. I remember that kid from up here, Kevin Flanagan, from Woodbridge, VA, who was just a nasty hitter. In the few times I'd seen the Canes on TV since about '68, I just remember a bunch of teams that were just sadly, losing. We had some good individual players, but we were always outclassed. I almost never saw UM for about a decade and then all of a sudden these really tough teams starting about '80.

When I say nobody else wanted our kids, it was really true. I had a long talk back around '85 or so with the staff guy who ran the Hurricane Club. We were having a combination Hurricane Club and alumni reception in Washington, DC. We were going to informally honor Vinnie and Eddie Brown (Eddie didn' show). Both were to get some awards from the NFLPA later that night. I was trying to follow recruiting and the couldn't understand why UM was getting almost nobody on the national lists from the recruiting gurus of the time (Emfinger, Lemming, others). This guy from the Hurricane Club was telling me, "Listen, we take kids nobody else wants. Look at Jerome Brown. He was a bad kid. Nobody else wanted him." Although he was a Parade A-A. That might have been an exaggeration, but there was probably some truth to it, as well. He was just a Miami type kid.

I do think that might have been the same winter or spring we were trying to recruit Jeff George, but the HC guy was telling me about this prospect from Edison, another QB. I can't even remember his name. Had a fantastic arm, but not a hard worker. Ahh, I remember, Greg Jones. Ended up transferring to W.Va. I think he backed up Major Harris. Had another guy from Edison, also ended up transferring there--I think it was Basil Proctor. You guys don't remember, we had a lot of busts in Jimmy's first two classes. Only about a third of each class were significant contributors. You'd be amazed if I could pull out the recruiting classes from '85 and '86. So many kids who did nothing. We did get some gems, though. Like Steve Walsh, Leon Searcy, Russ Maryland, a bunch of others.

I could go on and on.

You guys have to remember--we didn't build the late '80's teams with a lot of blue chips. We took kids that nobody appreciated, no name kids that Butch and Jimmy properly evaluated as to potential and mentality. We developed them. We didn't a lot of the big name recruits. We really didn't. We got the south Florida kids that were underappreciated. They might have been blue-chips in our own evaluations but not nationally. We also looked for a particular kind of athlete I think. Kids that could really run.

I remember seeing Oklahoma State in a minor bowl in December 1983, and had I known that I was watching our future coach I would have paid much closer attention. I just remember that even then, JJ had a kid from Merritt Island, I think. He was going into Florida and probably Texas looking for speed.

I just don't think any observers, particularly not journalists and recruiting gurus, appreciated what kind of football culture existed in Florida, particularly south Florida. Our kids had nothing, often they were among the poorest, and they had to overcome the most.

Heck, when we won the NC again in '87, one of my friends went over to the stand outside the White House where the team was going to visit Reagan. It was cold, but some of the kids did not even have jackets or coats. They probably had never been in cold weather, didn't know what to expect, and didn't have much money for clothes, especially heavy coats and jackets which are expensive. (Heck, I don't even know if you can shop for that stuff down there....I remember a friend of mine who did have money who was going out to Burdines to look for a heavy jacket for a road game one year. I have more heavy coats and jackets than I know what to do with.)

I also remember stories of how poor the players were when it came to eating. There was a story about Bruce Fleming, one of our LBs from that era, a tough kid from western Pennsylvania, who, according to the newspaper, was eating cereal for dinner over the weekend. He lived in an apartment with some other players, and I guess they didn't have a card at the cafeteria on campus where they would eat during the week. I guess there wasn't much meal money given to players then and maybe no training table. It sounds like we really had a spartan regime in the early to mid-80's, including the weightroom.

I suspect a lot has changed. We're doing so much better money-wise. But back then we were so strapped that President Foote was taking the bowl money for the general fund and that supposedly ****ed off Schnelly, or so the story went. And that's why he left.

Those guys, Saban, Schnellenberger, and even JJ did more with less. Back then the boosters could help with recruiting but I don't know much about money. A friend of mine used to go to breakfasts with recruits, write letters to recruits, but he told me he was never once asked for money for a recruit. Maybe there was a trusted inner circle who did that, if it was done at all.

EDIT: Thinking about Saban's recruiting Back in the mid-80's, I had to call a bank down in Coral Gables, and I ended up talking to a manager, her last name was Greaves. I asked if her husband was Gary Greaves. Yes, I remembered him from the UM teams of the late '50's. (We had some good teams in the '50's, mostly poor working class white kids from rust belt, mainly Pennsylvania, upstate NY, Ohio, etc.) She was an avid UM fan. Back then, before Jimmy's teams started winning, a lot of older UM fans were lamenting the loss of Howard. They did not like or trust Jimmy. They all thought the world ended when Howard left.

Well, Mrs. Greaves and I had a great talk. She was telling me that Howard was a great recruiter, but Saban was the best. She said that if he had stayed, we would have won a NC even sooner. She said that there was never a kid who, if he wanted him, couldn't get him.

Well, everyone hears the story about how Jim Kelly didn't go to PSU because paterno wanted him for LB. About thirty years ago, one of my then neignbors told me the real story. Somebody had to take the SAT or ACT for him so he could get into UM. The guy I was talking to was from East Brady, Kelly's home town. This is the first time I've even said anything about this to anybody and I guess it might be true. I don't like spreading lies if not true but what the heck. Is he going to sue me for libel? I hope not. It was probably not that unusual. I heard one of my cousins had somebody else take the SAT for him so he could get into the Wharton School of Finance. So it happens at a much different level, too, I guess. (I haven't seen that cousin in 40 years, if that). When I took those tests, in the mid-60's, I never heard of anybody cheating.
You bring back memories.you are so right about those fifties teams. The best was probably the team played Clemson in the OB and the next year in the Gator bowl. Mighty Mouse Jack Hackett was the QB. Two things. First Paul Bertecelli. He came out of nowhere and started as a true freshmen. Second I think Jeff George was nixed by JJ. I may be wrong.
 
Respectfully, I offer a slight correction. Paul Bertucelli started as a Red Shirt Freshman not a True Freshman. He was the starting LT on the '83 team after Redshirting in '82. To say he came out of nowhere is fairly accurate though. He and I graduated from Sunset together in '82. He played DE for us on a team that struggled in a highly competitive district. He was good but not great for us though he was a beast when properly motivated. His ace in the hole was the fact that he had great feet and speed for his size (about 6'4" 240 or thereabouts. Very good size for the day). From talking to him before our Senior year, I know that he was being recruiting pretty hard by Florida and South Carolina. I was kind of surprised that he got a UM offer but it did show that Schnellenber's staff knew what they were doing. There were local players who got more pub than Paul but they did not have his physical tools. I know this because I played against a bunch of them and they were not fit to carry his jockstrap.

Recruiting was a much different business back in those days. You didn't have the plethora of camps to compare and contrast players up close like they do today. Finding the best players required a coach to see a player in person, get to know him to some extent and watch a ton of film. There were a handful of gurus back then like Max Emfinger in Texas, Tom Lemming in Chicago and Bill Buchalter in Florida. When they decided they liked a player, that player became a chosen child in the eyes of the rating services. Of course this was a bunch of BS. There was no way these guys could watch enough film to produce a valid evaluation. Notre Dame used to get most of Lemming's favorites and they sucked because of it. Another factor to consider is the fact that the national experts of the time had no idea just how superior the brand of football played in South Florida was. They had zero clue in the 70s and only started to catch on by the late 80s. This worked to our advantage in a huge way. Our supposedly unwanted players were in fact, as good as or better than anyone else's.
 
BACK FROM DISGRACE : Cornerback Reggie Sutton Has Made a Lot of Mistakes, but Now He's a Saint
November 07, 1987|GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI | Times Staff Writer


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Now you see Reggie Sutton: Boston College vs. Miami at the Orange Bowl. National television. Doug Flutie lets loose with the Hail Mary pass. Sutton and a cast of Miami thousands mis-time their jumps. Touchdown. Miami loses.

Now you don't: Sutton, once described by coaches as the team's best athlete, is dismissed from school shortly after Miami's loss to UCLA in the 1985 Fiesta Bowl. Poor grades are the official reason. Rumors of drug use are the unofficial explanation.

From there, it's an eight-month free fall to reality, complete with a bout of severe marijuana dependency, a desperate stint as a hospital worker, a legal battle to gain eligibility for the 1986 National Football League draft and a lonely stay at a drug rehabilitation center.

And for what?

"Oct. 9, 1986," Sutton said. "I remember that. That's the day I signed with the Saints."

So now you see him again: New Orleans cornerback. Tied for the conference lead with four interceptions. Three blocked punts, one returned for a touchdown--against the Rams. Budding family man. At last check, clean as a whistle.


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