Senior safety Ray-Ray Armstrong has been dismissed from the Miami Hurricanes football program, per, @hurricanesports.
UM, mum on the subject the past few weeks, announced the news in a release on Wednesday morning, stating that while no longer part of the football program, Armstrong has the option to remain at the university, under scholarship, or to transfer with a full release.
Unfortunately, Armstrong’s legacy will be that of a never-was at ‘The U’. The highly touted prospect from Seminole High in Sanford, Florida never played up to his potential. Rotating between quarterback and safety in high school, Armstrong cam to UM the nation’s 13th-ranked player, according Rivals.com and was 21st by ESPN.
Armstrong made his decision on national television back in January 2009 during the UnderArmour All-American Bowl with Seminole High teammates Dyron Dye, a defensive end, and wideout Andre Debose. While Debose opted for Florida, Dye followed Armstrong to Coral Gables.
Three years later, Debose, thought to be the best Sunshine State receiver in the 2009 class, has twenty-six career receptions and four touchdowns over two seasons with the Gators, while Dye has switched from defense to offense after his redshirt freshman year and saw minimal action at tight end in 2011.
All three players were named by Ponzi-schemer Nevin Shapiro in the tell-all Yahoo! expose last August, said to have received extra benefits on a recruiting trip to Miami in late 2008 and sadly, in the end, Armstrong’s tale is the saddest.
A tremendously gifted athlete, Armstrong came to Miami as a safety and donned the number of the late, great Sean Taylor – but never came close to filling Taylor’s shoes.
As a freshman in 2009, Armstrong showed potential as Miami put together a 9-4 – it’s best finish since 2005 – seeing significant action in ten games. Armstrong recorded a then-career high seven tackles in a win over No. 8 Oklahoma.
A year later, Armstrong was third on the team in tackles (79) and recorded a team-high three interceptions on the year, as well as two defensive touchdowns. He also matched nine-tackle high twice, against Ohio State and Florida State and forced a fumble against Georgia Tech.
In August 2011, when the Shapiro story broke, things turned for the worse. Armstrong earned a four-game suspension but returned for Virginia Tech, a game Miami lost 35-31 on a last minute score by Hokies quarterback Logan Thomas.
Armstrong recorded seven tackles and a fumble recovery against Virginia Tech and matched it later in the season against Duke, where he also recorded his lone interception of the year.
While the Shapiro-related suspension was forgivable – an offense that occurred before Armstrong even signed his letter of intent with UM – his second sit-down of the season was the result of stupidity and self-absorbtion.
Days after the early November win over Duke, Armstrong took to Twitter to boast of a meal at Prime 112 on South Beach. Unfortunately, the dinner with with the president of a sports PR firm, which Armstrong named in the tweet, and with the NCAA already all over UM, there was an investigation.
One would’ve hoped that the early four-game suspension would’ve set Armstrong right. It didn’t. Even worse, the November punishment forced him to miss the annual showdown with Florida State – a game where Miami fell 23-19 and could’ve used some help in the secondary.
(UM safety Kacy Rodgers II misplayed FSU receiver Rodney Smith in the end zone, leading to the Noles’ lone offensive touchdown of the day.)
Armstrong returned for the final two games of the season – a win at South Florida and a loss to Boston College – and unlike some of his cohorts, decided not to declare early for the NFL Draft, instead returning to campus this winter to workout and prep for 2012.
Head coach Al Golden and other assistants praised Armstrong’s off-season conditioning and used him as an example for other players, citing his work ethic and dedication. He ended spring ball the top free safety on the depth chart and a few months later, more social networking issues and news that he “violated team policy” again.
Armstrong again, supposedly took to Twitter and posted something booster-related. The tweet was deleted before making external waves, but internally at UM the ball apparently started rolling weeks ago.
As Brian ‘The Beast’ London stated in his Armstrong-themed CanesFix Podcast earlier today, speculation is still the name of the game and there are a handful of theories behind the safety’s dismissal.
Was it the tweet? What about the NCAA, which has been on campus uncovering items not necessarily Shapiro-related (re: look at what came up in regards to the basketball program in the post-season).
Was this Golden? Was it UM? Did Armstrong simply wear out his welcome?
Is this program simply tired of guys from the old regime screwing up after being given multiple chances to get it right? This could easily be Ray-Ray’s collective body of work more than just his latest tweet doing him in. No one has said otherwise.
Either way, wishing him the best, even though he didn’t give UM his.
Another scholarship has opened up. Golden will fill it proper and until then, it’s all about next-man-in and the next Cane great stepping up and filling in.
Absolute shame for a guy with so much potential. Wish Ray Ray all the best, but man did he not pan out. I’ll be happy to see Kacy or Highsmith vie for the spot; two kids who seem to have their heads on straight with good work ethics.
Next man up, I suppose.
A sad day for The U. To me, Ray-Ray is the perfect example of what’s doomed the Canes going back to the tail end of Larry Coker’s tenure. Miami has been infused with physically talented, highly recruited players who bring with them high expectations, and then whether it’s because they don’t work hard enough and/or aren’t coached up enough, they barely register as a blip on the radar screen in terms of on-field production. Ray-Ray is blessed with all the physical gifts an All-American safety should have. He’s what an All-American safety should look like to the eye. The problem is, the light bulb never went off for him. Things never clicked for him. I was hoping this would be the season that his on-field production would match all the hype he had coming in as a freshman, but now we’ll never know because apparently his lack of focus on the field translated to his dealings off the field. You blew a golden opportunity, Ray-Ray. No pun intended.
Good riddance. It’s a shame that Armstrong couldn’t figure it out with all the chances he was given but no individual is more important than the team. I wish he had done the right things as we could certainly use him on the field this season but he clearly is not capable of making good decisions. Hopefully the rest of these kids get the message. Good job doing the right thing Coach!
Every kid is entitled to some cushion. Just about every kid makes mistakes in this high-profile, highly-scrutinized and highly-regulated environment. Almost all of these kids deserve a second chance when they make mistakes. We need to remember that part of this “game” involves the teaching of kids.
2 and 3 chances? No. No more chances for Ray Ray Armstrong. He got his second and third chance and blew it by willfully disregarding rules, not by a mistake.
What gives? Is it selfishness? Self-absorption? Disregard for clear and reasonable rules? It does not matter. Ciao.
this proves that no one highly recruited player from the shannon era did ANYTHING postitive for the U. Good-bye!
Armstrong ran like a linebacker and was always out of position. Armstrong had his chance, so good luck and again Good Bye.
Deon Bush, HighSmith, Finnie STEP UP and LETS GO.
Tired of these guys thinking that the world revols around them. This guy had a chance to be something special, and leaves as a disappointment in terms of commitment, If you want the gold at the end of the rainbow, you have to earn it..
Ray-Ray we hardly knew ye. I wish him well, but I hope the rest of the team watches and learns what NOT to do. I think Coach Golden should ban twitter since it’s more trouble than it’s worth. It’s nothing but trouble for players in all programs nowadays. Guys don’t think before tweeting. Get rid of it.
Lambast away.
But, good riddance. Done more harm than good. It’s bad when your career highlight is a hit on a defenseless runningback that’s off his feet in the air.. No idea where people get off saying he’s so talented. Or how he was deemed a Thorpe watch list player, not when you look and see a player like Tyrann Mathieu on the same list..
I don’t think there are too many Cane fans out there who would disagree with this sentiment. All hype, no heart … and not much going on upstairs to keep making the same mistakes over and over.
I had the pleasure of coaching A.J. Highsmith as a freshman in highscool (Hightower High School/Missouri City, TX). Nothing would make me happier than to see him EARN one of the starting safety spots. Not to denegrate Ray-Ray, but A.J. is everything Al Golden preaches about being this generation’s Miami Hurricane.
Thanks for the report, and your constant hard work.
Not surprised. I called this a while back. I knew he wouldn’t remain on this team. Just another bum to come through this program. Now with the reports of more rule breaking, you have to wonder if the university isn’t just gonna throw in the towel.
Admin, Would love to hear your thoughts of the NCAA announcement of sanctions agains PSU tomorrow and how that could affect0 UM? The scandal in Happy Valley really can’t be compared to anything we’ve seen before. However, the decision of the NCAA to sanction without the typical committee on infractions process is very disturbing. Obviously, the NCAA would like to put the PSU situation behind them quickly, but this is out of character. Sure, the NCAA can acknowledge a lack of institutional control. But the argument against the NCAA’s involvement here is that this was a criminal manner, and has been handled by the authorities. I’m personally not arguing for or against NCAA involvement/penalties here, it’s just that the NCAA is usually so painfully deliberate. It seems that they are in such a fould mood, and that doesn’t feel good when it comes time for the ‘Canes to face the music, despite the university’s cooperation. I fear we are in deep #$%$
Unfortunately, AJ is not going to cut it at QB or at safety. Love the kid, but he lacks talent. This was a favor to the father, nothing else.
And Shannon did have some good kids. Sean Spence, Lamar Miller and a few others.
Highsmith just needs to be serviceable. No one expecting him to be the next Sean Taylor. Just a hard worker and what he doesn’t have physically, make up for with knowing the playbook, being in position and help the younger guys learn.
As for Shannon having some good kids, sure, there were a few … but for a head coach who supposedly preached discipline, character, etc. – that certainly wasn’t the case across the board. More characters the last few years than guys with real character.