Tracy Howard Interview on Time at Miami

Not disagreeing completely about coaching. But Howard went to the men's league. Raw talent gets coached up there all the time, which is the least you'd expect out of the #1 overall CB prospect. Maybe it hurts his draft status, but he should have balled out if here were that kind of player. It's not like being in the wrong scheme "ruined" him. Chick, who was hindered by both the scheme and the weight, was a way better pro. If he were lazy or something, that'd be one thing. But a true film hound would have been waiting to be unleashed. He just wasn't that good.

Dude averaged 2 tackles a game and had 5 total picks in three years as a starter. He was a good solid player. But that's all. No shame in that, that's all I am at my job.

So let me address this, as I already knew u were going to say this. I was initially going to bring up this point & said, nah...I’ll wait for this line of reason to be used in response. Lol

So let’s be very clear; if U’re not drafted by a NFL team, u already have a huge hurdle ahead of you. It’s already a hurdle as a late draft pick, but it’s an extreme hurdle as a UDFA (hence, the % of those guys making it on a team & sticking on the team is extremely low).

Here’s why; the NFL is a NOW league. They are not a developmental league; that’s what CFB is for. Typically the guys who are UDFA who make it & stay on a NFL roster come from either mid major schools, HBCUs or D-1AA. Why? B/c those players don’t get the exposure that ur P5 schools do (w/ exception to their QBs, and that’s only one or two guys from the entire group who gets recognition per yr). So those guys r not getting drafted, not b/c they can’t play, as opposed to being overlooked.

However, if u r a UDFA from a P5 school, the likelihood of staying on a NFL roster is slim to none. U are already behind the 8 ball, as drafted players r going get first priority. 2nd, if u received **** poor coaching on the collegiate level, they r not going to have time for you to wait & develop, not when u have no guaranteed $$ from them. So their investment in u is minimal. Using The NFL as a means to judge why Howard wouldn’t have done well at another collegiate program is extremely disingenuous.
 
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Here's a new interview with Tracy talking about UM and D'onfrio's system. A brief summary:

- Originally was going to Florida until the signing day
- Decided to stay because he loves Miami and wanted to play with Duke, Deon, Herb, Malcolm, etc.
- UF was the favorite because of T Rob
- Loved his time at Miami, but football wise if he could do it again would go to UF
- D'onfrio's system consisted for CBs dropping back practically every play
- Was not allowed to freestyle or do anything other than dropping back
- Would get in arguments with D'onfrio, Golden and even other coaches because he knew the defense wasn't going to work
- But he would always do what the coaches told him and would follow the gameplan to a tee regardless if he agreed with it or not
- Stated that what really made him good was his smarts and film study
- Was working out at Miramar prior to a game and film of the opposing team was playing on TV on replay
- Every time he looked the opponent would run the same play
- Then when the game came on Friday he couldn't believe they ran that same play
- From that moment he dedicated himself to film study
- Was constantly watching film and stated in college he knew 70% of the plays the opponent was going to run
- But regardless he couldn't do anything about it because he had to follow the system and bail
- The rest of the DBs in Miami never watched films
- Deon would watch 30 min max before getting bored and relying on keys and talent (still to this day does in the NFL)
- One thing that really shocked him was his freshman year after their first loss the team threw a party
- He didn't go, wasn't used to losing and although he didn't play he was ****ed
- That wore out and they accepted losing and were always partying after every game
- No one cared about winning, if someone would get ****ed they would look at them like they crazy
- Coaches wouldn't allow any trash talk and would threaten to bench you for the littlest things
- D'onfrio super smart and taught him a lot with nickel, but was stuck in his way and nothing would never change anything about his system


Well I’ll be damned..all our suspicions were on point
 
Yup, it was Golden's D, He ran the same bull$h!t scheme when He was the DC at UVA.

Should've known His scheme was complete & utter garbage when Frank Gore ran through that $h!t in 04' vs UVA.


It’s really amazing to me how people to this day / even in this thread - defend the idea golden could have succeeded if he were just less loyal to dorito. As if it wasn’t Golden’s D. As if he wasn’t awful in so many ways.
 
Deservedly, he hasn't been on a coaching staff since the 2017-2018 season.
Was an absolute disaster of a DC at Houston and that finished his CFB career. As far as I know he’s completely out of coaching.

Golden at the least made the jump to the NFL and never looked back. Still think that he made a career bad mistake by not jumping to Penn State when he could. Was a hot commodity and should’ve given them whatever they needed. If I recall at the time, he wanted to bring certain staff with him to Penn State and they said nope.
 
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Was an absolute disaster of a DC at Houston and that finished his CFB career. As far as I know he’s completely out of coaching.

Golden at the least made the jump to the NFL and never looked back. Still think that he made a career bad mistake by not jumping to Penn State when he could. Was a hot commodity and should’ve given them whatever they needed. If I recall at the time, he wanted to bring certain staff with him to Penn State and they said nope.
that stuff is all rumor and no way anyone knows it’s true. it’s a lot more likely they chose to offer the job to someone else (fact), and the face saving spin from the golden camp was he could have had it if if it.
 
So let me address this, as I already knew u were going to say this. I was initially going to bring up this point & said, nah...I’ll wait for this line of reason to be used in response. Lol

So let’s be very clear; if U’re not drafted by a NFL team, u already have a huge hurdle ahead of you. It’s already a hurdle as a late draft pick, but it’s an extreme hurdle as a UDFA (hence, the % of those guys making it on a team & sticking on the team is extremely low).

Here’s why; the NFL is a NOW league. They are not a developmental league; that’s what CFB is for. Typically the guys who are UDFA who make it & stay on a NFL roster come from either mid major schools, HBCUs or D-1AA. Why? B/c those players don’t get the exposure that ur P5 schools do (w/ exception to their QBs, and that’s only one or two guys from the entire group who gets recognition per yr). So those guys r not getting drafted, not b/c they can’t play, as opposed to being overlooked.

However, if u r a UDFA from a P5 school, the likelihood of staying on a NFL roster is slim to none. U are already behind the 8 ball, as drafted players r going get first priority. 2nd, if u received **** poor coaching on the collegiate level, they r not going to have time for you to wait & develop, not when u have no guaranteed $$ from them. So their investment in u is minimal. Using The NFL as a means to judge why Howard wouldn’t have done well at another collegiate program is extremely disingenuous.

Here is just a sample from 2020...the number of UDFA's that made a 53 man roster to start the season...your number will expand by the end of the season.



Averages out to 1 UDFA makes the 53 to start the season, You can extend that to probably 2-3 per team play, and you'll obviously have practice squad (which is the NFL's developmental system). Also, if you look, more than half of those players are from the Power 5, actually.

IMO, Tracy Howard just wasn't an NFL quality player. He was pretty good here. He got his chance...rookie year with the Browns, he got STARTS. If he thinks if he went to UF he might have had more of a shot in the NFL...ok, I won't argue with him...but he bounced around some of the worst teams in the NFL in his short 3 year career and was just a practice squad guy after getting a legit shot with the Browns. He just didn't capitalize on that opportunity and here we are. Sometimes you only get one shot, sometimes you get none. He at least got one.

Tracy is - again, unfortunately - a similar story to a lot of our players over the past 15 years, especially the past 10 years.

FWIW - the 2015 Miami Hurricanes defensive backfield had 8 players get a shot in the NFL. Howard, Artie Burns, Rayshawn Jenkins, Deon Bush, Corn Elder, Mike Jackson, Jaquan Johnson, Sheldrick Redwine. Crazy.
 
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The idea that players were nonchalant about losing is hardly limited to Miami. Despite what fans want to believe most of these kids’ lives don’t 100% revolve around football. Kids at the top programs may be more affected by losses because they’re rare so it hurts a lot more. When you’re at a program that’s not winning at a really high level, you tend to care less and less about losing the more it happens. It’s human nature. I mean could you imagine if the kids at Akron got emotionally crushed every time they lost? The whole program would be on suicide watch.
 
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Here is just a sample from 2020...the number of UDFA's that made a 53 man roster to start the season...your number will expand by the end of the season.



Averages out to 1 UDFA makes the 53 to start the season, You can extend that to probably 2-3 per team play, and you'll obviously have practice squad (which is the NFL's developmental system). Also, if you look, more than half of those players are from the Power 5, actually.

IMO, Tracy Howard just wasn't an NFL quality player. He was pretty good here. He got his chance...rookie year with the Browns, he got STARTS. If he thinks if he went to UF he might have had more of a shot in the NFL...ok, I won't argue with him...but he bounced around some of the worst teams in the NFL in his short 3 year career and was just a practice squad guy after getting a legit shot with the Browns. He just didn't capitalize on that opportunity and here we are. Sometimes you only get one shot, sometimes you get none. He at least got one.

Tracy is - again, unfortunately - a similar story to a lot of our players over the past 15 years, especially the past 10 years.

FWIW - the 2015 Miami Hurricanes defensive backfield had 8 players get a shot in the NFL. Howard, Artie Burns, Rayshawn Jenkins, Deon Bush, Corn Elder, Mike Jackson, Jaquan Johnson, Sheldrick Redwine. Crazy.


Appreciate the info; but I stated making it & “staying” on an NFL roster as a UDFA. Also, this list proved my point further. I counted 33 UDFA who made an NFL roster. 17 of them came from a P5 school, but 4 of the 17 were specialist (K,P). So that means out of the 33 players selected, only 13 that came from P5 school came at a full time position.

Burns, Jenkins, Bush, Elder, Jackson, Johnson, Redwine were all drafted. Jenkins, Elder, Jackson, Johnson, Redwine all got drafted after a coaching change.
 
**** whoever hired them & allowed this to happen. I don't think Manny is Lombardi but thank God he can make changes.
 
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Not sleep at all. Just know kids weren't looking at him the same way they did a Duke Johnson. There's levels..
dude he was the #1 player at his position them boys know who tracey is. he literally told you from his pov he wouldn't go back to miami.. the highest rated player at CB since 20212 we've had says i'd go somewhere else.... so it's not surprising why we've missed out on good dbs
 
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(Puts on Homer glasses)
Let me reiterate I really like Footballville/Caneville, but this interview is yet another example of why I wish X did more interviews instead of D. When Tracy mentioned "culture shock" being on Miami's campus, that was the perfect opportunity to say "if you think Miami was culture shock, you would have had a heart attack at UF,.........."

Great show. Just asking for a smidgen more homerism. LOL
 
You're reaching because obviously no one is saying to go out there and get penalties... But there is literally nothing wrong with talking trash and clapping at a player. And you must don't watch college football because literally every team taunts. Did you not watch every single unc player throw down the U...?? Did they get flagged?? So yeah, YOU can take that soft **** you're talking about to another team. There's a difference between showing emotion and just being plain stupid.

Did you realize every team we sneeze we get a PI

Teams could rape Sebastian after scoring a TD throw down a U and no flag would be thrown
 
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