Hello Huskers

[ladyhawke]

Welcome to the Board! What a refreshing post! Best wishes this year! It will be fun to play Miami again.

[okaive]

What ever happened to the Nevin Shapiro ordeal? I tried following it, but lost out to Naval Deployments at the time.

[admo]

Hey Hurricane thanks for responding. Great feedback!

[Notsince1985]

What ever happened to the Nevin Shapiro ordeal? I tried following it, but lost out to Naval Deployments at the time.

 

NCAA messed up the investigation by trying to pay his attorney....seriously. We ended up self imposing 2 bowl bans, which was actually 3 postseason bans, because when we self imposed a bowl ban in 2012, due an ACC rule, we also had to forfeit the right to play in the ACC Championship game. Then when the NCAA finally ruled, they basically gave us time served, plus 9 scholarships taken away over 3 years. They also limited some recruiting visits and stuff like that.

[wildman]

We didn't play USC when he was there, but he was on the '93 Miami team that got into a brawl at Colorado. Now, I doubt he chased the Buffalo anywhere, but if anyone did, it would have been him....or Rohan Marley. That dude was nuts.

 

As for the "Thug U" name, what bothers me, is how people use the name, and just think all Miami players were gangsters and criminals. They weren't. Not even close. They danced and talked trash, but they weren't getting arrested. At least no more than other schools. They were going to class and graduating way more than the national average. When Miami went on probation in the 90s it was a Pell Grant scandal, but people have this notion it was for players pillaging and raping. Even this last scandal with Nevin Shapiro, while it was "bad," the kids were getting free meals a Benihana, and trips on his boat, and going to strip clubs, they weren't getting arrested, they weren't killing people, raping people, they weren't cheating like at North Carolina or Florida State, but, since it's Miami, people just take it and run. Did Miami do stuff that was against NCAA rules? Of course. But it was one booster. Let's not pretend the SEC doesn't have 50 Nevin Shapiro's. Again, not condoning it, but, the "Thug U" does get tiresome.

 

I googled it. What I found was that it was the Aztec mascot that he chased up into the stands.

 

I agree I bet the SEC is dirty as hell. Theres no way money wasn't exchanged in the Cam Newton deal. I'm willing to bet that the SEC is acting like how the Southwest Conference did. Almost all teams if not all of them cheating and paying players. Mainly due to egos of boosters with to much money. Sad thing is with how popular the SEC is. I doubt we see anything coming from the NCAA on sanctions about them.

[Notsince1985]

 

We didn't play USC when he was there, but he was on the '93 Miami team that got into a brawl at Colorado. Now, I doubt he chased the Buffalo anywhere, but if anyone did, it would have been him....or Rohan Marley. That dude was nuts.

 

As for the "Thug U" name, what bothers me, is how people use the name, and just think all Miami players were gangsters and criminals. They weren't. Not even close. They danced and talked trash, but they weren't getting arrested. At least no more than other schools. They were going to class and graduating way more than the national average. When Miami went on probation in the 90s it was a Pell Grant scandal, but people have this notion it was for players pillaging and raping. Even this last scandal with Nevin Shapiro, while it was "bad," the kids were getting free meals a Benihana, and trips on his boat, and going to strip clubs, they weren't getting arrested, they weren't killing people, raping people, they weren't cheating like at North Carolina or Florida State, but, since it's Miami, people just take it and run. Did Miami do stuff that was against NCAA rules? Of course. But it was one booster. Let's not pretend the SEC doesn't have 50 Nevin Shapiro's. Again, not condoning it, but, the "Thug U" does get tiresome.

 

I googled it. What I found was that it was the Aztec mascot that he chased up into the stands.

 

I agree I bet the SEC is dirty as hell. Theres no way money wasn't exchanged in the Cam Newton deal. I'm willing to bed that the SEC is acting like home the Southwest Conference did. Almost all teams if not all of them cheating and paying players. Mainly due to egos of boosters with to much money. Sad thing is with how popular the SEC is. I doubt we see anything coming from the NCAA on sanctions about them.

 

 

The worst part, for me at least, is living in Chattanooga, right in the middle of SEC country. Everyone here is either a Bama, Tennessee, Georgia or, in the last 4 years, Auburn fan.

[wildman]

 

 

We didn't play USC when he was there, but he was on the '93 Miami team that got into a brawl at Colorado. Now, I doubt he chased the Buffalo anywhere, but if anyone did, it would have been him....or Rohan Marley. That dude was nuts.

 

As for the "Thug U" name, what bothers me, is how people use the name, and just think all Miami players were gangsters and criminals. They weren't. Not even close. They danced and talked trash, but they weren't getting arrested. At least no more than other schools. They were going to class and graduating way more than the national average. When Miami went on probation in the 90s it was a Pell Grant scandal, but people have this notion it was for players pillaging and raping. Even this last scandal with Nevin Shapiro, while it was "bad," the kids were getting free meals a Benihana, and trips on his boat, and going to strip clubs, they weren't getting arrested, they weren't killing people, raping people, they weren't cheating like at North Carolina or Florida State, but, since it's Miami, people just take it and run. Did Miami do stuff that was against NCAA rules? Of course. But it was one booster. Let's not pretend the SEC doesn't have 50 Nevin Shapiro's. Again, not condoning it, but, the "Thug U" does get tiresome.

 

I googled it. What I found was that it was the Aztec mascot that he chased up into the stands.

 

I agree I bet the SEC is dirty as hell. Theres no way money wasn't exchanged in the Cam Newton deal. I'm willing to bed that the SEC is acting like home the Southwest Conference did. Almost all teams if not all of them cheating and paying players. Mainly due to egos of boosters with to much money. Sad thing is with how popular the SEC is. I doubt we see anything coming from the NCAA on sanctions about them.

 

 

The worst part, for me at least, is living in Chattanooga, right in the middle of SEC country. Everyone here is either a Bama, Tennessee, Georgia or, in the last 4 years, Auburn fan.

 

 

lol I feel the pain. I was born in Mobile Alabama. I do like watching their games especially the iron bowl. Most of my family from my moms side is still in the Alabama area, with a few in Texas. So I hear about the SEC mainly Alabama and Auburn the most. The only time they are united during football talk. Is when I blurt out how corrupted or over rated the SEC is.

[Bigred_inSD]

Not since, you said golden was a bad hire. That was by now current nebraska ad correct??

[Notsince1985]

Not since, you said golden was a bad hire. That was by now current nebraska ad correct??

No, he was hired by Kirby Hocutt, who is now the AD at Texas Tech. Eichorst was our AD for like 9 months.

[grandpasknee]

Yes, we do have that reputation, and some of it is earned, though some it is not. It does get annoying when people still refer to Miami as thug U, when if you look at our arrest records and classroom and graduation rates, we're basically choir boys compared to a lot of college football (at least the SEC), but I doubt we'll ever shed that image. Unfortunately a lot of Miami fans embrace the image and are "tough guys" on the internet and in the stands. You'll usually find much "better" Miami fans at away games or bowl games then you will at home, and, as bad as our home attendance can be, we usually travel well. Some schools are shocked because of our reputation for having horrible home attendance, but we're great on the road, largely because 55% of the student body is from out of the state. Since I live in Chattanooga, I go to all the games at Ga Tech, and the Tech fans have said that we've brought the most fans of any school aside from Georgia, Clemson and Auburn. Each time I've been to Atlanta (2004, 2010, 2012) Miami has had over 10,000 fans. I remember Miami bringing over 5,000 to Seattle in 2000 to play Washington. I know you guys travel well, but for a school the size of Miami to have 5K+ fans all the way in Seattle was pretty impressive.

 

As for my parents, mother was an English professor at Miami before moving to FIU in the 90s, and my father teaches a class a semester at the Med school, and as much as I love Miami, I never wanted to attend school there. Not anything about the school, but growing up in Miami, I needed to get away for school.

I'll have to say, Miami must be making progress in terms of perception. When I saw you were from Miami, I didn't immediately feel hate, which I would have 10 years ago. Probably not so much about thuggery (we had a few thuggish rogues when we were on top too) as it is...you guys haven't ruined our lives for several years now.....lol. Anyway, welcome. There is a part of me that feels like all is not right in the football world if NU and Miami aren't consistently at the top. As others have said....good luck except next week.

[Notsince1985]

Now that it's officially game week, and I got to see the Canes in person yesterday, here is a breakdown of Miami this year:

 

Offense

 

QB: Brad Kaaya is the QB right now, but Ryan Williams, who was the incumbent after Stephen Morris graduated, is expected back soon. He partially tore his ACL in the spring, but had the Nebraska game circled as his comeback date. He has dressed every game this year, and has been practicing for a month, but the coaches say they won't play him until he's "fully mobile." He's a 5th year senior, and not amazing, but very reliable. He started as a true freshman at Memphis and threw for 2,000 yards with 13 TD and 10 INT before transferring to Miami (he's from the Ft. Lauderdale area). In 2 years as Morris' backup he was 37-52 for 456 yards with 4 TD and 1 INT. IF he can't go, it'll be Kaaya. Kaaya was a 4-star recruit from the LA area that chose Miami over USC, UCLA and Stanford. He has a huge upside, but many (myself included) were shocked he won the job as a true freshman. He looked like a deer in the headlights against Louisville for some of the game, though he did make a couple of nice throws. It wasn't all his fault, as Golden and the OC, James Coley didn't open up the playbook, and didn't really give him a chance. He looked ok in the second game against FAMU, and looked very good yesterday against Arkansas State, going 16-24 for 342 yards with 4 TD and 1 INT. He's not very mobile, but has very good size (6-5, 220). The backup, unless Williams is healthy, is Jake Heaps, the transfer from Kansas and BYU, who was the #1 recruit in the nation coming out of high school, but he couldn't beat out a true freshman in the summer, so that's pretty much all you need to know about him.

 

RB: Duke Johnson is one of the better RBs in the nation. He's fast, but isn't one of the fastest RBs around, and not even one of the fastest guys on the team. Don't get me wrong, he'll break long runs, but he'll also get caught from behind. He's 5-9, 206 and he's really, really strong. He has one of the best stiff arms I've ever seen, and he doesn't go down easy. He has 277 yards on 43 carries this year, playing in 2.5 games (he sat the 2nd half against FAMU, as did most of the starters). He also has 3 catches for 25 yards, and is a great receiver out of the backfield, but our OC refuses to use him, which is another story I'll get into below. For his career he has 2,144 yards in 23 games. He's a great kickoff returner, but he's been taken off kickoffs to save his energy. His main backup is true freshman Joseph Yearby, a 4 or 5-star recruit (depending on the site). He's 5-9, 190, so like Duke, but a little smaller, but he runs like Duke, strong for his size. He has 127 yards on 24 carries. The other RB who gets carries is Gus Edwards. He was the #1 FB coming out of HS, but was moved to RB. He's 6-2, 230, but runs smaller than Johnson and Yearby, which is something he needs to change. Most Miami fans would rather have Yearby or Johnson in for short yardage. He has 9-70 on the season with a couple of TDs. As for FBs, Walter Tucker is the starter, but he got hurt yesterday, and we don't always have a fullback. We go 1 back a lot and 3 wide or 4 wide.

 

WR: This is probably the deepest area on offense. Before the season, if you would have asked me who the best of the group was, I would have said Stacy Coley. Last year as a true freshman, Coley was the only player in the nation to score a TD on a pass reception, a rush, a kickoff return and a punt return. As a receiver he had 33 catches for 591 yards and 7 TD and he had 1,461 all purpose yards. This year he got hurt on the first punt return against Louisville, and while he finished the game, he didn't look "right" the rest of the game. He had 3 catches for 9 yards. He played the first quarter against FAMU and Golden said he held him out of the last 3 quarters because he "dinged" his shoulder and it was just FAMU and it was precautionary. Well, he didn't play against Arkansas State. Now, if I had to bet, if we were playing you guys yesterday, he would have played, but I guess we'll find out later this week. Phillip Dorsett is our fastest WR. He was clocked at 4.19 in the summer. I know he won't run that with the laser timers they have at the NFL combines, but he's a sub 4.3 guy. He's a track star too for Miami. He had 4 catches for 204 yards and 3 TD against Arky State and for the season has 8 for 284 and 4 TD. He was hurt most of last year, but his sophomore year (2012) he had over 800 receiving yards. Herb Waters is another good receiver. He leads the team with 10 catches for 112 yards this year. He's bigger, 6-2, 200. We also have Malcolm Lewis, and true freshman Braxton Berrios, who looks like a Wes Welker clone (minus the drugs). He seems to be Kaaya's safety blanket on 3rd down. He has 10 catches for 106 and a TD.

 

TE: Clive Walford is the starter at TE. He was a basketball player in HS who moved to football. He's 6-4, 260. He's good, not great, but has 82 career catches and had 34 last year. He had some ridiculous stat where 23 of 25 catches were either first downs or TDs.

 

OL: Our OL is G-d awful. It was supposed to be good, but, damn, they're bad. Now, we have a very good LT in Ereck Flowers, and we have 2 good true freshman, that once they take over starting jobs, will be good, but the two guys starting now, Isadora and Gadbois should be playing for Miami of Ohio (maybe).

 

Defense

 

DL: For years this the weak spot on the team. Last year they were historically bad, as was the entire defense. It was so bad that Golden brought in 2 graduate transfers, one David Gilbert, who was a stud at Wisconsin until doctors told him he couldn't play anymore, and another guy who rode the bench at Virginia. We also had a 6th year senior who basically had bionic knees. Anyway, this year they're playing a lot better. At one DE we have Anthony Chickillo. He was a big time recruit out of HS. He was up there near (not as good) Clowney. We had high hopes for him. He came in at 6-4 230 and played as a true freshman. He had a good freshman year, but his next two years were about the same, no progression. He's now 6-4, 282 and rotates between DE and DT. He never lived up to the hype from HS, but he's been solid. 12.5 sacks in 3 years 20.5 TFL, 129 tackles. This year in 3 games he has 17 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 FF and 1 FR. His dad and grandfather played at Miami, and he's all heart. The other DE is Tyriq McCord. He's the polar opposite of Chickillo. He's very small for a DE. Sometimes we play a 3-4 and he's a rush DE or OLB in that scheme. He's 6-3, 248 on the official site, but no way does he weigh that much. He has 7.5 sacks and 11.5 TFL in his career (2 years) playing mostly as a reserve or only on 3rd downs. Also at DE we have true freshman Chad Thomas, who chose Miami over Alabama. All Miami fans think he will be one of the best to play at Miami before all is said and done. He hasn't done much so far, but he did play a lot against Arky State. Arguably our best pass rusher, Quan Muhammed was suspended for the season by the school for beating up his roommate. He said it was self defense, the roommate said it wasn't. Anyway, he'll be back in January. At DT we have a JUCO transfer in Calvin Heurtelou, who is 6-3, 315. He has been very good so far plugging up the middle. Starting next to him is either 6-5, 300 Olsen Pierre, who is good, not great, or Ufambo Kamalu, who plays some DE, but a lot of DT at 6-6, 295. He's looked really good this year, with a couple of sacks, TFL and 8 tackles. We also have Michael Wyche, a JUCO transfer who was supposed to be a stud, but he he came in at 350. He's down to 340 and plays a couple of series a game, but still needs to get into better shape. Also rotating in is true freshman Courtel Jenkins, who wasn't a big name recruit, but has surprised everyone.

 

LB: We are very thin at LB, largely because we've had 4 players kicked off the team in the last 2 years, 3 of them starters. Our best defensive player, Denzel Perryman, is our MLB. He's one of the hardest hitters in college football. He's 6-0, 242. He's great in run support, but not amazing in pass defense. He was still 1st team All-ACC last year after putting up 108 tackles, 5 TFL, 1.5 sacks and FF. This year he has 25 tackles, 4 TFL and a sack in 2.5 games. The other starters are Raphael Kirby, who looks the part (6-1, 240, fast), but isn't consistent, and Thurston Armbrister. Armbrister is having a monster year so far, which came as a shock, since many wanted him benched last year. He's 6-3, 241, and has 17 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 TFL, 2 FR and 2 FF. Jermaine Grace, an undersize LB, also sees a lot of time.

 

CBs: The secondary was supposed to be the strength of the defense, but they've underachieved so far. At one corner is Tracy Howard, a 5-star recruit, who has ok speed, but great cover skills. He had 4 INT last year, but this year he's been beaten a bunch already. The other corners are Ladarius Gunter, who was a JUCO, but in his 3rd year at Miami. Solid, not spectacular. Corn Elder might end up being the best CB. He was Mr. Football and Basketball in Tennessee. He's small (5-10) but has great speed (was a RB in HS). Artie Burns was a big time recruit and is lanky and has good ball skills. Also, Antonio Crawford sees a lot of action. We rotate 5 CBs.

 

Safety: Rayshawn Jenkins, staring SS from last year is out of the year (hurt his back in the summer). Many thought he wasn't going to start this year anyway, but it hurts depth. The starters are Deon Bush, who was a HUGE recruit and chose Miami over Bama. He had a great freshman year (2012) but had a sports hernia last year, missed 3-4 games, and was never "right." He hasn't looked great this year either, though he had a sack yesterday. The other safety is either Dallas Crawford, who as a RB last year, and started when Duke Johnson got hurt, or Jamal Carter, another big recruit, who is an athletic freak. Carter is the big time hitter, and Crawford is the QB out there directing everyone. They all have potential, but they also whiffed on A LOT of 1 on 1 tackles yesterday against ASU.

 

Special Teams

 

They're horrible, and Golden is the ST coach, so I kind of wish he'd fire the ST coach. So far in 3 games we've given up a kickoff for a TD, snapped a punt over the punters head for a TD, missed 2 FG and an XP. Coley, when healthy is a great return man. If he's not returning punts, it's Berrios, who is solid, but not spectacular. Kickoffs, without Duke, nothing special. The punter, Vogel, is good, 45.8 yards per punt. The FG kicker, Goudis, was 13-17 last year. This year he's looked terrible. He's 4-6, but the misses were bad, and the makes didn't look good. Then it came out after the FAMU game that he has a hurt back. We all thought it was an excuse, but he didn't play against Arkansas State. His backup was ranked #1 kicker in the nation by 247 sports in HS. He shanked an XP against Arkansas State, so, who knows.

 

Now, you might have read all of that (or, who am I kidding, most of you probably didn't read all of that) and were thinking, either Miami is good, or this guy is delusional, and pumping up his team. Neither, and here is why. Miami is one of the most talented teams in the country. I think we're more talented than almost everyone on our schedule (player for player). So why will we go 7-5? Coaching.

 

Al Golden: Great "face" for the program, but, in reality, he's a more articulate Randy Shannon. Horrible gameday coach. Can't win the big games. Heck, can't beat teams with a pulse. Has won 3 games over ranked teams at Miami, and those teams were ranked at the time, like Ohio State and Florida, but finished 6-7 and 4-8, respectively.

 

James Coley: Offensive Coordinator. Worst OC I remember at Miami. And that includes Patrick Nix under Shannon. Coley is a GREAT recruiter, but, wow, calling games?!?!? He was OC at Florida State, but Jimbo didn't let him call plays. Now we see why. Now idea what he wants to do. Offense has no identity. Are we a spread? Pro-style? Who freaking knows? Ran 3 trick plays (all failed) in the first half against Arkansas State when we were up 20-7 and moving the ball at will, and it killed our momentum. Also, ran a reverse pass inside the 10 against Louisville when we were down 14-10 that failed.

 

Mark D'Onofrio: Defensive Coordinator. We've had historically bad defenses the last 2 years. Like, really, really, really bad. Like #115 in the nation, bad. No one can convince me it's lack of talent. Anyway, he runs soft schemes, a lot of zone, doesn't bring a lot of blitzes, has the CBs playing 10 yards off the WR and then backpedalling immediately. It'll be 4th and 1, and I'm not kidding, we'll come out in a base defense with the LB 8 yards from the LOS and the safeties 15-20. It'll be goaline defense and the LBs and safeties will be way back in the endzone. Teams will go 4-5 wide, and we'll stay with 4 DBs and 3 LBs. He even has DEs out covering slot receivers. Golden won't fire him because he was the best man at Al's wedding, his roommate in college, etc. Also, he runs Al's scheme, which is Al Groh's defense.

 

Most of the other coaches are better recruiters than Xs and Os coaches too, which is a MAJOR problem on Saturdays.

 

Anyway, if you guys have any other questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

[kyle sibert]

Anyway, if you guys have any other questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

Predictions? What's one thing Miami has to step their game up in to win this game? From what you know of Nebraska, does our defense have the capabilities to limit Duke Johnson?

[Notsince1985]

I think Nebraska wins because of Miami starting a true freshman on the road, but hopefully (for us) game 4 is different than game 1. For Miami to win, they'll have to protect Kaaya, and open up the playbook, two things they didn't do against Louisville. Your defense can limit Johnson by stacking the box, unless Kaaya goes off. I know that sounds like football 101, but since he's a true freshman, Louisville stacked the box, and Miami ran the ball right into 8 and 9 man fronts. It didn't work for 90% of the night. Johnson finished with 90 yards, but it was on 20 carries, and 2 of those were for like 40 of the 90 yards. If Kaaya hits a couple of big passes to Dorsett and Coley (if he plays), it'll be very hard to stop Johnson.

[Danny Bateman]

Great breakdown of the Canes man. Thanks for that and welcome to the board! Hope it's a great game to remember Saturday!

[desertshox]

 

 

We didn't play USC when he was there, but he was on the '93 Miami team that got into a brawl at Colorado. Now, I doubt he chased the Buffalo anywhere, but if anyone did, it would have been him....or Rohan Marley. That dude was nuts.

 

 

san diego st iirc, they had a nice little brawl with them too.

 

 

Yes, in 1990, they started it though. We also had one with South Carolina in 1987. We got around back then.

 

 

oops, i just meant that was who miami was playing when "the rock" went chasing after the mascot. didnt mean to accentuate the brawl just that it was part of it.