“This is a no excuse season,” said Golden. “There are no freshmen. There are no seniors. They’re just Miami Hurricanes.”
Bold statement from Al in effort to draw a line in the dirt, but how will that really play out? Also, what’s the difference between an excuse and an explanation?
Truth is Miami lost some upperclassmen to graduation and the NFL Draft. Six Canes were chosen and fourteen were passed on, a handful of which signed free agent contracts.
Due to both, depth takes a serious hit and despite thirty-three new Canes heading to Coral Gables between the end of last season and the beginning of a new one, despite Golden’s attempt to motivate, there are a slew of freshmen – which inevitably equates to some rookie mistakes.
Miami does get a shot in the arm courtesy of early enrollees, which takes away that ‘true freshman’ feel come September.
“To be able to get all our freshmen before July 1st is going to be a great advantage to us. The ones here have not disappointed,” said Golden. “They are football kids. They want to make an impact.”
And an impact they’ll have to make if the Canes want to overcome a tough schedule and brutal out-the-gate start. Miami opens at Boston College and a week later travels to Kansas State.
From there, a light home opener against Bethune-Cookman is followed by another trek, to Georgia Tech, a home game against NC State, a road game at Soldier Field against Notre Dame and then three straight against North Carolina, Florida State and Virginia Tech in Miami.
The final three are at Virginia, South Florida and at Duke. Hardly a cakewalk.
The impact of a second-year coaching staff should make a difference. That wasn’t the case in the Randy Shannon era, though. Besides Shannon’s struggles as a leader, there was also the issue of staff turnover.
After year one, defensive coordinator Tim Walton was let go in favor of Bill Young. A year later Young bolted for Oklahoma State and John Lovett was fired. 2008 also saw the firing of offensive coordinator Patrick Nix, who was later replaced by Mark Whipple. That’s a lot of shake up three straight seasons and while Lovett and Whipple returned for 2010, they were both let go, with Shannon, after their sophomore campaigns.
2012 marks the first time in forever that Miami has staff continuity – with a quality staff, no less.
Offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch proved capable last season, not only doing as much as was possible with quarterback Jacory Harris, but with a lot of first-year starters, like running back Lamar Miller and wideout Tommy Streeter, who the previous staff had all but given up on.
Defensively, coordinator Mark D’Onofrio didn’t have much to work with and his squad struggled early, but as they began to understand his schemes, things tightened up on that side of the ball.
Reports out of spring ball had many excited about the defensive effort and when looking at the play of last year’s freshmen, most notable defensive lineman Anthony Chickillo and linebacker Denzel Perryman, it gives hope regarding the immediate impact of this year’s freshmen – especially highly-touted cornerback Tracy Howard and safety Deon Bush, who will help a depleted secondary that hasn’t truly shone in years.
This year’s crop of Hurricanes can’t be judged until December, but between the incoming talent, the Golden process and the effort shown by 2011 Miami, there is legit hope regarding this squad’s effort this season.
How that equates to wins and losses, time will tell, but effort-wise, there’s no doubt these kids buy into Golden’s claim that they’re Hurricanes and their age and experience don’t mean a thing depth chart-wise. – C.B.
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"The final three are at Virgina, South Florida and Duke. Hardly a cakewalk"
LOL maybe for the Canes, but those games are blowouts for damn near any other team in the top 25. That's what this program has fallen to. Even a team like Duke makes us Canes fans nervous
Ask preseason top five Florida State how easy Virginia was last year, Miguel - and that was in Tallahassee. A road game at UVA is no picnic as Mike London is turning that program around.
As for South Florida, another decent program that has had recent success. Duke is no powerhouse and obviously a very winnable game for Miami -- but Virginia and South Florida in late November after already playing Boston College, Kansas State, Notre Dame, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, etc. -- not easy games for a very young team.
If you want to turn that into a, "how the mighty have fallen" rant ... so be it ... hardly a news flash. Golden inherited a team that was 35-29 the previous five seasons and saw back-to-back Miami coaches fired for the first time in over three decades. It's not where the Canes have sunk, it's about how Golden can turn this around - getting it back to a point where games against a Virginia or South Florida were looked at like Pitt and Syracuse in the early 00s.
I think if Golden and crew continue building up the team and the expectations things will indeed turn out very well for the players on the team today. GO CANES!!!
Why is that the NCAA _ _ holes can go ahead and announce their investigation over the Cam Newton story in the matter of a month or so and it has nearly taken a year and half for Miami? Remember even before the official announcement of the scandal last year there were public annpuncements of the punk _ ss shapario claiming there were issues that Miami had. This should never take this long no matter what school it is or how big the investigation is!!!! I would love to see a piece on the NCAA taking this long. This is getting so damm ridicilous.
We have to be honest about this one. Cam Newton was one guy. We're talking about allegations from a jailed thug, many players and things that went down a decade ago. There's a lot of investigating going on here.
As for the why, c'mon now ... that's the simplest part of your question. These are government-like employees who are paid when they're working a case. They will drag this out as long as they can for as long as they can as it's easy money at this point. The heavy lifting has been done. Now they cruise and collect a check. It's the American way.
My, how times have changed. I never before would have considered games vs BC and KState "brutal" or labeled a 3 game stretch w Virginia, So.FL and Duke as "hardly a cakewalk." But alas it's true. Every game can be won, but every game can be lost. These days, you never know what you're gonna get, and I'm starting to get used to it. Hopefully this team can start changing my expectations.
Touched on this in another thread and yes, times have changed -- and they were in the toilet before Al Golden took over a team that went 35-29 over the previous five seasons, following the firings of back-to-back head coaches at The U. (Honestly, how far back do we have to dig to find to Cane leaders canned back to back, the 70s?)
The program got where it got and is where it is. Now it's all about trusting that the man in charge will do all he can to right the ship and turn things around. I believe in Golden even more than I believed in Davis in the late 90s when we started to see some progress with his teams. Golden seems to have *it* and now it's just about the players doing their job and the brand being sold enough to the point where top, proper talent keeps coming to UM, where it can be developed into next-level superstars.
So quickly everyone freaks out about doom and gloom, or the fact that the program is rebuilding.
It's a process. To toss a cliche, Rome wasn't built in a day. Even if Golden isn't Caesar Augustus, he still will need the three years to get this truck back on schedule. 7 wins would be outstanding frankly, but in such a process like this, the fan obsession with wins and losses is overblown. What really matters for the '12 season is team progress in the long term - and how the machine is building.
What I want to see is the return of fundamentals. Guys making tackles they should; guys wrapping up; guys not dropping passes; guys taking the right angles. QB (whoever it is) needs to make good decisions and not panic; lines have to hit their assignments. Play football the way Miami is meant to play it - the wins will come in time. Time's what's needed; panic about wins now (as the fan base majority seems to be doing) and you make the mistake that every short-term project makes.
I'll wait for the results in '14. Until then, I look forward to Golden's development of the players. That's what will pay off; not sacrificing the forest for a few trees (cliche-city with this reply)
Very well put, 7th Floor.
It really is amazing when fans want to lump recent failures on the new guy. Larry Coker's squads really started slipping around 2004 and crashed in 2006. Randy Shannon took over a dog in 2007, tried to make some progress, had little, got to 9-4 in 2009 and then backslid to 7-6 in 2010. I say this ad nauseam, but one more time, Al Golden inherited a team that went 35-29 since the 2005 Peach Bowl. Miami was in as bad a shape as it's ever been in the modern era and that will not get changed in one season.
Fully agree with you -- it's about progress. Getting better. Returning to fundamentals. It's more than wins and losses and it doesn't take a genius to see that Golden's 6-6 season last year was actually amazing based on the scandal, pending sanctions, suspensions and overall vibe.
Miami was three plays away from 9-3 or 10-2 last year --- Maryland, Kansas State, Virginia Tech, Florida State -- and if Golden could do that with Shannon's kids and all those distractions, he really does deserve time and support as he works to get it right in the coming years.
The 2012 Miami Hurricanes will be in good shape, will have better fundamentals, will bust their ass and will have more heart than past teams ... and the 2013 version will even better ... with 2014 better than that.
What we don't immediately know is how it will equate to wins and losses. Time will tell.
Im a die hard cane fan threw and threw but i read a lot of blogs and their is no confidence in Miami.Honestly u wanna know who is the number one fan of the canes. The NFL. The canes have put in the last two draft 14 guys and at least another 14 got signed F/A contracts. The U will never be void of talent. Rebuilding thats non sense you don't have 14 guys get drafted then another 14 sign after the draft off a combined 13 and 12 the past two seasons.Thats 28 guys, thats half an NFL roster. Another thing is we have always had coaches nobody points out that in the past thirty years their have only been two coaches fired from Miami and one of them won a national championship.Nobody gets a ten year contract coming off a six and six season unless he knows what he is doing.Honestly i wouldn't be suprised if we won 9 to ten games..I played for Chip Gierke..if you know about flordia high school football you know Chip and Bill Gierke...He always would say son i can put you in the right position you gotta make the play...point im making is we have top tier athlethes(14 guys drafted in two years) but if their is nobody to coach them up their just always gonna go to the league and we will have average seasons...Another point also is last year was exciting..disappointing but exciting..we had a chance every game and you know what most of the kids said after the games... blown assignments..just read the articles and i don't want to say anything bcuz my lil cuz plays for the team and i don't want to say his name cuz people tend to bash him and he straight told me he blew a lot of assignments last year ..straight up just being under shannon no discipline...Look i have trust in Golden and without a doubt the talent is there and always will b there so don't be suprised if we win 9 or ten bcuz the talents there just gotta make plays thats it...Fear the Tie