I will never forget going to a game in Yulee his senior year. He was foot taller and 10 steps faster than everyone else on both teams. Constant 70 yard touchdown runs.It may have been an urban legend but the way I remember it is Henry wanted to go to FSU but they wanted him at linebacker (to be fair I think most teams did)
If that’s false I’m gonna remember it that way anyway
FSU, UGA, UF & Tennessee were all recruiting him at LB.It may have been an urban legend but the way I remember it is Henry wanted to go to FSU but they wanted him at linebacker (to be fair I think most teams did)
If that’s false I’m gonna remember it that way anyway
A little bit of dad mode hit me that day watching him and I tried to watch the comments with these kids and recruitingI will never forget going to a game in Yulee his senior year. He was foot taller and 10 steps faster than everyone else on both teams. Constant 70 yard touchdown runs.
Two different programs: Pedo State loved football so much they protected a child molester. Our presidents starting with FF Foote and continuing with Troll Shalala and finishing with freak Frank wanted to end football - two intentionally and one negligently. None of these geniuses realized how a great football program is the best advertising you can have.Some of these players that played some snaps on the fringe of NFL rosters didn't do a **** thing for us.
AQ Muhammad, Jermaine Grace, Beau Sandland, Gus Edwards (infamously?) didn't do much of anything here for a variety of reasons.
9 NFL players quickly gets to 5, and from those 5 only 3 had anything that looked like a career in the NFL (3 DBs). Kamalu and Coley were good players here, but not even a cup of coffee in the NFL. Smoke and mirrors kind of class that might look like a decent class on paper with the volume of players that took snaps, but a closer inspection shows a far more flawed group of players.
Thought the best evaluation of the class was Kamalu. Which, starts to track. Golden, since his days at Temple, could find these developmental defensive linemen. Olsen Pierre, Kamalu here...trying to find his next Muhammad Wilkerson. We'd also miss on a ton of higher rated prospects that were similar in projection (Jelani Hamilton, for example), but you could see what they were trying to go for.
This was an overall good year in recruiting, even the underwhelming players at the top of the class ended up in the NFL to some degree. But we missed on seemingly EVERYBODY, and if we didn't miss on them, they were straight up not interested in us. As Memnon said, this is the dark times for the University of Miami...where our "successes" would be mild successes at Temple. Brutal.
Just as an aside...another team to follow at this time of our look back is Penn State. Another program with a CLOUD over them that didn't end up in College Football **** for the next decade.
Nationally, this is also when the Penn State pedo scandal really hit them hard. They would still land Hackenberg and Adam Brenenman (QB1 and TE1 in the nation) and they both will go down as two of the bigger busts of the past 15 years at their position. James Franklin would take over in the very next season and within 3 seasons, once again be a Top 10 team in the nation.
Kind of interesting how Ole Miss quickly got sanctioned when they played the same game as the established order.It may have been an urban legend but the way I remember it is Henry wanted to go to FSU but they wanted him at linebacker (to be fair I think most teams did)
If that’s false I’m gonna remember it that way anyway
There is a coach or corch currently at Miami who was told by Saban, as Saban tapped the school’s helmet on the TV, we can NEVER let that program come back. One guess which was that school?Kind of interesting how Ole Miss quickly got sanctioned when they played the same game as the established order.
It's almost as if a certain amount of chicanery was tolerated...but a serious threat was to be slapped down and crushed.
That talent went 8-5 on average over the next five seasons. I know that because they won 61% (8.4-4.6 record) of their games over that period.There is a big difference between a Pro Bowler and backup player. That's why I focus on those misses in the write up. The lack of elite players held these classes back from championship level.
But this was not 7-5 talent. I know that because when Richt and Manny inherited these players they immediately won 19 games in two years. A fully functioning coach (no disease, no unqualified son) would've done even better. They started losing when their own signees started playing more.
You're right that Golden benefitted from South Florida. This was a Golden Age in the area when South Florida was tiers above every other region. Our national kids were throwaways until Mario came with a national reputation and budget. The sad thing is that we left so much meat on the bone, both with the elite local kids and the low-hanging fruit.
Why did it get worse under Richt? He had a lot of credibility and made good things happen in 2017.We definitely didn't get enough out of them, which is a theme with every class in this era. D'Onofrio was the worst offender. It's a shame we didn't get to see AQM and Grace in Manny's defense.
But there’s a false narrative out there that NFL players only matter if they make Pro Bowls. It's just mathematically wrong. Less than 25% of four stars make the NFL at all. So if you have an entire class of four stars, and produce 25% NFL players, that's average. These guys were 53% for the entire class. If you include only the nine four stars, they made the NFL at a 78% hit rate.
The last 25 years have been dark days for the program. But if we're talking solely about talent acquisition, the Golden Period was a relatively bright spot even with "the Cloud" and a ton of mistakes. It only got worse after that.
Retooling it. Stay tuned.@DMoney, I appreciate the work your putting in on all these. It's a lot and has been interesting. Atleast Golden was getting some people drafted.
Have you and Pete stopped your Group Chat Channel?
Crazy played football with Stacy . I was a grade above him . The back and forth with him going to FSU cause one of the reasons ( our principal graduated from FSU but our coach ( coach bennett ) played for UM . That alone was crazy , his potential was through the roof . Could’ve won states in high school is we had a D1 QB ( No shade )A lot of depressing times back then but Coleys commitment will always go down in history for me
The emotion he was showing that day. The hat. Most had figured he was going to FSU
He didn’t reach the heights many hoped for him but he always played his best against FSU
Yea I think Boxing robes is grading on a 2000-2001 miami hurricanes curve.We definitely didn't get enough out of them, which is a theme with every class in this era. D'Onofrio was the worst offender. It's a shame we didn't get to see AQM and Grace in Manny's defense.
But there’s a false narrative out there that NFL players only matter if they make Pro Bowls. It's just mathematically wrong. Less than 25% of four stars make the NFL at all. So if you have an entire class of four stars, and produce 25% NFL players, that's average. These guys were 53% for the entire class. If you include only the nine four stars, they made the NFL at a 78% hit rate.
The last 25 years have been dark days for the program. But if we're talking solely about talent acquisition, the Golden Period was a relatively bright spot even with "the Cloud" and a ton of mistakes. It only got worse after that.
| 2016: 6th round, 183rd pick |
i was all the way with you until the bolded.That talent went 8-5 on average over the next five seasons. I know that because they won 61% (8.4-4.6 record) of their games over that period.
You are what your record says you are.
The coaches are to blame as well, but many of those coaches ended up having careers that far outlasted any of these recruits they left meat on the bone of. Golden would go on to coach in the NFL and for a National Championship runner up and is now back in the NFL. Diaz was a top DC and now a head man again in the P5.
Brennan Carroll is now OL Coach for the Raiders, Kehoe was on those Golden staffs (a shell of his former self, but I disgress), Coley is Coley, Tim Harris is an offensive coordinator now, Kevin Beard is still here, Thomas Brown is in the NFL, Hartley the GOAT, Banda, Searles won a national title at Georgia, Blake Baker, Rhett Lashlee (who just won 11 games at SMU with Miami level talent and you can extend to coaches like Patke and the dude from UNLV who are Lashlee-ites that have moved up) among others that would linger around the P5 or in position coach levels in the NFL (your Jethro Franklin types).
I'm not sure I'd call those collection of coaches 7-5/8-4 type coaches either considering what became of their careers after their time here. Were they that here? Absolutely. You are what your record says you are.
Its easy to look at all of these players and say a disproportionate number of them went to the NFL for a middling team and to put it all on the coaches...but those coaching staffs are filled with coaches that would go on to better things in the P5 and the NFL, too AFTER Miami for the most part.
Health.Why did it get worse under Richt? He had a lot of credibility and made good things happen in 2017.
Richt was the life jacket we needed at the time and he spearheaded more investment in the football programHealth.
He was very unwell & did not have the energy to be a Coach anymore. Hence why he stepped down after the 2018 season.
He ended up having a heart attack just a few months after & 2 years later would be diagnosed with Parkinson's.
If we're going to count Beau Sandland...cant we count the National Recruiting Ccordinator / TE Coach (he was doing WRs at some point in there)i was all the way with you until the bolded.
Brennan is an ol coach with the raiders...because just like Brennan from Prestige Worldwide and Step Brothers fame his DAD GOT HIM A JOB.
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The Tim Harris that is an offensive coordinator now.......is an offensive coordinator at Mater Academy in Hialeah.