This program was built on DL.
From '69 to early '80s, Ted Hendricks, Mike Barnes, Ruben Carter, , Don Latimer, Don Smith, Lester Williams, Tony Chickillo,
During the 'run': ***an, Sileo, J. Brown, Stubbs, Hawkins, Tez Kennedy, J. Jones, Maryland, Curry, Sapp, K. Lang, K. Holmes, G. Mark, Medearis*
More recently: D. Lewis, McDougle, Joseph, Williams, Green, Walters, Wilfork, Campbell, Bailey, Vernon
Today we get excited by 3* kids who can play basketball.
Ted Hendricks, Cortez Kennedy and Sapp are in the HOF. J. Brown would be*. Vince Wilfork may get there.
Eddie Edwards and Calais Campbell had just below HOF careers. DPOY for Campbell, plus 5x pro bowl and 3x all pro. Edwards had 83.5 sacks before they even kept proper records, and 17 fumble recoveries and was an all pro.
Russell Maryland was an All American, won the Outland Trophy, was the No. 1 pick in the draft, and was a pro bowler and 3x Super Bowl champion. Gary Dunn and Jim Burt captained multiple Super Bowl winning teams. Sileo was a tough SOB on Miami teams. Stubbs was an All American, national champion at Miami and 2x Super Bowl Champion. ***an is in the Ring of Honor at UM and was a Super Bowl Champion in the NFL. J. Jones made the all-rookie team and was a 2x Super Bowl Champion. K. Lang and K. Holmes played a decade each in the league. Greg Mark was an AA at UM. Bill Hawkins was also.
I think we fail to appreciate that if you don't have several players on your team who won't just get drafted, but be impact players at the next level, then you're probably not talented enough to be competing for a CFB title.