Bruce Feldman Gives J12 Some Props

Longtime Cane, former ESPN writer, college sports author and current CBS columnist Bruce Feldman chimed in this weekend regarding the Jacory Harris phenomenon and made some great comments about the once-maligned senior Miami quarterback.

Harris led his Hurricanes to a 30-24 win at North Carolina this past Saturday, going 20-of-30 for 267 yards with three touchdowns. Even more impressive; a third-straight interception-free game.

Over the past twelve quarters Harris is now 45-of-68 for 709 yards with eight touchdowns and no picks. His last interception came early in the second quarter against Kansas State in Miami’s third game of 2011.

It’s been written in this blog often that there’d be no better story in South Florida – or college football, for that matter – than redemption for Harris. Feldman called Harris’ rebirth “one of the sweetest stories of the 2011 college football season”, too.

The ridicule. The cheap shots. The lost faith. The cries for change. The Harris saga played like the ultimate “me against the world” drama, but even at 3-3, the losses haven’t fallen on the quarterback’s shoulders. The Miami defense has proven to be the Canes’ weakest link this year, with Harris and his O asked to bail the D out of hole after hole.

Harris sat out the opener against Maryland – a loss that was inevitably laid on sophomore quarterback Stephen Morris, due to a late pick-six on what could’ve been a game-changing and season-defining fourth quarter drive. Miami lost 32-24 and prior to the interception was down two, driving and seemingly in position for a game-winning field goal, at worst.

Harris returned for the 24-6 win over Ohio State, but the bigger story was the Buckeyes one-dimensional, ineffective offense. Harris was 16-of-23 for 123 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Canes got up early – 14-0 – and never looked back, treating the second half as a can’t-lose opportunity and relying on the legs of Lamar Miller, who ran for 166 yards and wore out Ohio State.

A 21-of-31 performance was turned in against Kansas State and even with 272 yards and two touchdowns in the second half, it will forever be a game defined by the one yard Harris didn’t pick up on 4th-and-Goal in a 28-24 loss that had all the makings of a stellar comeback.

Harris had a safe 12-of-17, 175-yard, two-touchdown day against Bethune-Cookman, but truly came alive a week later at Virginia Tech. Harris was 13-of-21 against the Hokies, throwing for 267 yards and three touchdowns in the 38-35 loss.

Miami trailed 21-7 at halftime, but erupted in the second half, scoring 28 points and doing enough offensively to seal the win. Unfortunately another defensive breakdown and one yard was against the difference.

Facing a 4th-and-1 of their own, Virginia Tech called a quarterback draw, allowing Logan Thomas to rumble for a 19-yard game-winning touchdown.

Harris exploded early against North Carolina this past weekend, but even more impressive was the fluidity of the Miami offense in the first road win under head coach Al Golden.

For the first time in forever the Hurricanes’ offense was moving with precision. The playcalling of offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch seemed perfectly in sync with the quarterback Harris has become. Especially those first six minutes.

Miami won the toss, opted to receive and opened on its own 29-yard line. After a four-yard run by Miller, Harris went to work. Back-to-back passes to Travis Benjamin – 13 yards and 21 yards – were followed by running back Mike James running the Wildcat.

Harris was back under center two plays later and found freshman Phillip Dorsett for a clutch eight-yard pick up on 3rd-and-6. On 1st-and-10, a pass to Miller that went for four yards and when a Benjamin-run Wildcat only picked up four yards on 3rd-and-5, Fisch again showed his confidence in Harris, allowing the quarterback to throw on 4th-and-1, where he hit Benjamin for a three-yard gain.

On an ensuing 2nd-and-Goal, Harris’ pass was slightly underthrown to Tommy Streeter but a play later Harris found James underneath for the four-yard touchdown.

A monster-sized special teams hit by Denzel Perryman caused a fumble, giving Miami possession at the UNC twenty-seven and Fisch went big, allowing Harris to go for the jugular (while gaining more much-needed confidence) and a double fake reverse was called, leaving Streeter wide open for the 27-yard touchdown, as crisp a pass as Harris has thrown in years.

Harris wound up leading Miami to five scoring drives on all five first half possessions, picking up right where he left off the previous week in Blacksburg.

North Carolina made their halftime adjustments and Miami didn’t win the battle in the trenches, but the first half of football showed the world that an old-but-new J12 has returned to the big time and this writer is in full agreement with Feldman’s assessment that Fisch is the main reason why.

Harris admits to losing his spirit last season, especially after a four-interception performance at Ohio State in game two. From that point Harris felt the season seemed lost and his confidence faded.

“I was afraid to make mistakes. I kept thinking, ‘Don’t throw an interception!’ ”

Even though the former Miami staff fairly doled out blame to receivers running wrong routes or missed blocks, Harris shouldered the blame and never recovered. The season fell apart, the Canes finished 7-6 and heads rolled.

Enter Fisch.

The Harris rebirth has everything to do with a new offensive coordinator that has connected with him, rebuilt his confidence and designed a game plan which allows him to succeed. Fisch’s motto; “Let it rip. Don’t be afraid!”

Harris notes that the coaches’ confidence in him has been a difference-maker. While an entire town and fan base seemed to have turned its collective back on him, it was a first-year coaching staff that appears to have saved him.

Harris’ motto this year is one of no regrets. He’s taken the “let it rip” approach to heart and is playing fearless football. Harris is no longer afraid to be aggressive – finally stepping into throws and putting some velocity on his passes.

As Feldman put it, “he’s attacking but not forcing things”.

3-3 with all three losses coming in the final minute – the last two by a combined touchdown – this is still playing out as the “special” year Harris was looking for and with a Georgia Tech loss last weekend and Virginia Tech known for some late-season collapses (though not lately), Miami still has life at 1-2 in the ACC and with the Yellow Jackets in town this weekend.

It’s certainly not time to start thinking ACC championship game, but with six showdowns remaining, it’d be foolish to count Harris and Miami out of any of them.

IN OTHER NEWS : Coach Golden has been on a roll today regarding his disappointment with left tackle play – most notably Brandon Washington. Per Sunday’s new depth chart, Seantrel Henderson has been moved back to left and has been named co-starter with Washington.

Regarding the poor left tackle play, Golden stated, “Art [Kehoe] knows it, Jedd [Fisch] knows it and I can’t look at it anymore.”

Golden went on to say, “I want guys who are fighting, acting and preparing like champions. I hope they don’t have a .500 mentality”.

When asked about facing an ‘angry’ Georgia Tech team coming off a loss, Golden quipped, “An angry team? We’re 3-3. I hope we’re angry. I hope the kids are angry that we’re 3-3.”

You can’t get too amped up over coachspeak, but you can appreciate the honesty here, as well as the Golden psychology and desire to motivate his players. Nothing sounds canned about any of this.

When Golden speaks, the college football world is getting the unfiltered, yet carefully-crafted words of a man six games into changing a culture and getting a proud program back to winning ways.

Beyond welcomed after what UM has been through regarding its past two head football coaches and their inability to motivate. – C.B.

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