Sounds like a page straight out of the playbook of Cam Newton when he was still a Florida Gator.
Miami Hurricanes cornerback Thomas Finnie has been arrested for stealing the laptop of another University of Miami student.
Finnie was arrested Tuesday and faces charges of occupied burglary and grand theft (laptops aren’t cheap!) and he’s been suspended indefinitely from the football program.
Coupled with a summertime arrest for possession of a small amount of marijuana, time will tell what this means regarding Finnie’s future at ‘The U’.
Finnie appeared in twenty-three game over the past two seasons and started half of Miami’s twelve games this season, racking up thirty tackles and one interception – a crucial haul-in late against North Carolina State that set up the game-winning pass from Stephen Morris to Phillip Dorsett in the 44-37 victory.
Another young man who made a big-time mistake and now his future lies in the hands of head coach Al Golden. Two years into rebuilding the program, another bump in the road here, leaving many to wonder what Golden will do.
The past few weeks alone linebacker Eddie Johnson missed a few games due to not following the rules, while wide receiver Rashawn Scott was suspended indefinitely for an off-the-field incident.
At some point, coaches have to determine the risk versus reward. Can a Finnie turn it around (and can a Johnson or Scott, for that matter?) or is it time to cut bait?
With sanctions and scholarship reductions on deck, every body on this rosters needs to be accounted for. Everyone needs to pull their weight, to have their head on straight and must be an asset, too. There’s no room for selfishness or stupidity. As UM looks to right the ship, the margin for error is nil.
Here’s hoping Finnie gets it together and that Golden makes the right choice regarding the future of a young man at a crucial fork-in-the-road life moment.
I don’t have much, if any, sympathy for this situation. I think you either kick Finnie out of the program or he sits for at least half of next season – and that’s IF he doesn’t end up in jail. I just don’t know what this guy is thinking, but he must pay the price if he did the deed. We’re already under a microscope at this point, so there is not much choice Golden may have. Like they said in the Bronx Tale ‘…there’s nothing worse than wasted talent…’
I love Miami and it truly stings when I pick up the newspaper and see incidents such as these. I trust Al Golden will do the right thing. I just hope incidents such as these don’t end up being what gets Al Golden the boot in the future becuase I want to see Golden here for a long time.
Get rid of him! He’s done. We are a program trying to rebuild, we need leaders! This young man doesn’t seem to want to be here. Fine. There are hundreds of other young men who would kill to be a part of this school! Everyone deserves a second chance… not a third or fourth.
… I understand the sentiment, but I trust Al. Finnie was one of his first recruits. A kid that was South Carolina-bound after Miami never offered, who flipped late and trusted Golden’s “process”. Al knows this kid well and whatever he chooses, we as fans have to back. Coach will do the right thing.
This is Finnie’s third run-in with the law, the second one that’s theft-related. And he stole a laptop from a FORMER TEAMMATE. This kid does not deserve to play football for the University of Miami. Not that the timing matters, but we don’t need this kind of attention with the Draconian NCAA looming.
Do the right thing Al, boot him.
this is his third strike. arrest in 2008 for grand theft while a minor. arrested in summer 2012 for possession of pot (not reported). and now arrested for stealing a lap top. this does not appear to an isolated incident or a moment where he strayed from his character. there is a pattern here, no?
like the guy and understand that me made a commitment to miami early. that’s great, but not special. same rules for everyone regardless of whether you took a risk on golden or not. no favorites.
i would be surprised if he rejoins the team, especially in light of the reduction in scholarships and the emphasis on creating a new culture.
by the way, are you doing a re-cap of this year? would enjoy that.
RSA – Maybe something during the holiday week. What did you have in mind?
I am behind Al, but I do have a question for you that is not quite on topic. I know you are out west.
Do you look at the Miami Herald online at all? Recent reporting has me convinced that Manny Navaro is so pissed that he was out-scooped by Yahoo that the guy supposedly covering the Canes goes out of his way to make them look bad. He has had two front page articles on the Nevin Shapiro crap in the last couple of months that are nothing more than re-hashing of the same old info. Where there was any new news the assumptions he makes towards guilt are quite a stretch. Then we have the whole Finnie episode. He originally reported the laptop theft in the sports section under UM football the day after it happened and stated 2 football players were arrested. Oops – that was wrong so the Herald quickly moved it out of sports and into local news. Now that it has come out that Finnie was involved his new report brings up an arrest that Finnie had when he was a sophomore in high school. How is that relevant to what happened at UM? Aren’t juvenile records sealed? It just rubs me wrong that the when the Canes are doing good the hometown paper wants to bask in the glory and when the crap hits the fan they seem to feed off it even more. Maybe I am too sensitive to this garbage. The Miami Herlad has become a worthless rag all the way around. If I was Golden, I’d keep Manny away from the team. OK – that’s my rant. Sorry
Look, you must hold this kid accountable. We are not talking about showing up late for meetings or not putting out in practice. This guy made a choice to STEAL, this is clearly a bad seed and he has no integrity as far as I’m concerned. No one player is bigger than the U.