Miami At Maryland : The Preview

Every off-season feels longer than the last. Especially on the heels of underachieving seasons and bowl losses, which have been the new norm for the Miami Hurricanes. Just when you already felt like the longest off-season in football’s history, Nevin Shapiro rears his ugly rat head a three-week dark cloud feels like its been there for three months.

That in itself came on the heels of losing the two final regular season games, the firing of a coaching staff, a dramatic new hiring process, an ugly bowl loss and months of damage control as this new staff worked to fix both on- and off-the-field issues, some of which resulted in players leaving the program.

After all the nonsense and those long dog days of summer, kickoff is finally here and when Miami takes the field at Maryland on Monday night, none of the other stuff matters. Not Shapiro, not the suspensions, not three straight losses and not the opinions of outsiders.

Come Monday night it will be about the game plan implemented by a new coaching staff, eight months of conditioning and a true belief in the man next to you – the teammates who lived the same existence the better part of this year and the only people in you life who have walked a mile in your shoes.

The overall future of Miami football remains up in the air as the NCAA will continue digging, but with the 2011 season here, all that matters now are the next twelve games, starting with Maryland. Break things down game-by-game, or at most, in the context of a season.

The pre-game preview pieces started showing up online this weekend and the articles coming out of College Park seem a bit one-dimensional. Tongue in cheek references to the scandal, injuries or suspensions keeping some players out on both sides, two new coaches getting their first starts with new teams and in this case, an obvious bias towards the hometown squad.

Terp folk expect Danny O’Brien to have a field day throwing against the Canes, with first-year offensive coordinator (former Oregon signal caller) Gary Crowton easily implementing a new offense that will spread the field – which in itself doesn’t fit the personality of first-year head coach Randy Edsall.

The notion is that Miami’s defense has been “gutted” – and when losing Sean Spence, Marcus Forston, Ray-Ray Armstrong, Olivier Vernon and Adewale Ojomo, that’s an understandable opinion. That said, it completely ignores the remaining talent and the ‘motivation’ intangible.

Jordan Futch doesn’t have the resume of Spence, but as a senior, he’s a hard-nosed, smart, tough kid that is ready to make the most of the opportunity. After being a part of the program for years, having some solid moments and missing valuable time due to injury, Futch has waited his entire life for this moment.

Rumors always swirled about Futch living in the doghouse of former head coach Randy Shannon. With a clean slate, a new head coach in Al Golden and a fiery defensive coordinator in Mark D’Onofrio – as well as the toughest off-season conditioning this program has seen in a decade – there deserves to be some optimism regarding this personnel move.  Futch is no Spence, but with a new-look coaching staff and new Miami attitude, he doesn’t deserve to be written off – especially by the guys on the other side.

Same for newbies like Anthony Chickillo, Jalen Grimble and Darius Smith, three fresh faces on the defensive line who will have to pick up the slack for Forston, Vernon and Ojomo.

Two highly-touted high school kids and a JUCO transfer (Smith), all of which who have dreamed of a moment like this.

Back in 1993, true freshman Ray Lewis got his first road start for Miami, at Colorado. Lewis played out of his mind, recording 17 tackles, one sack and three pass break ups. Lewis saw his first real playing time the previous week when replacing the injured Robert Bass in a 21-2 beating of Virginia Tech, where Lewis led the Canes with 12 tackles.

While no one is calling for a Lewis-like, monster outing from a true freshman tonight in College Park, no one should limit their potential, either. To believe that a Chickillo isn’t capable of stepping up and going off … again, one-dimensional words on paper.

Lost in this talk of three-year old “impermissible benefits” (re: a few hundred dollars tossed around), the true impact that a top-notch coaching staff can have on its players. Nothing has been more exciting this season than charting the Golden effect.

From the attitude change, the focus on conditioning, the promotion of competition, right down to the overall psychological impact and the confident, professional way Golden and staff handled this recent wave of bad press. For the first time since Butch Davis left down after the 2000 season, the Canes have a coaching staff that gets it.

Successful men who are winners and are passing winning ways down to kids who haven’t lived up to the hype. Players who spent years underachieving finally appearing ready to overachieve and reach their potential.

Maryland faithful are breaking down depth charts, pointing out holes where on paper they will match up with Miami, but again, it’s underestimating the effort and mindset of those being asked to step up tonight – guys that in many case would probably start for the Terps, while sitting at second or third string for the Canes.

With rain on the forecast, tonight’s focus will be on the ground game, which favors Miami. The duo of Lamar Miller and Mike James will play the role of workhorses behind a big and solid Hurricanes’ offensive line (even with Seantrel Henderson sidelined due to surgery.)

While Miller and James grind away, ground success will open up a passing game where quarterback Stephen Morris will spread the ball to a handful of targets. Yes, the speedy Travis Benjamin is gone, as is back up Aldarius Johnson – but guys like Tommy Streeter and LaRon Byrd have emerged and good things are expected out of newbie Allen Hurns.

For all the holes on defense, Miami’s offense is all but fully loaded tonight, ready to absorb any losses. New offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch brings inexperience to the table, but will also check stubbornness at the door. In other words, the Mark Whipple air-it-out approach to the last few seasons is gone. It’s about balance and allowing a solid running game to open up the pass, where the ball will be put in the hands of playmakers and they’ll then be expect to make plays.

More yards after catch and less turnovers in itself will be a night and day difference from 2010.

Miami took down Maryland, 26-20 last season in a back-and-forth game. Morris got his first collegiate start under center, threw two interceptions (one pick-six) and responded late with a huge run on 3rd and 17 before a 35-yard game-winning strike a play later.

The six-point win made for a closer-feeling game than was as Canes were also hit with a bogus penalty negating a fumble recovery for a touchdown, resulting in a Terps’ field goal – a ten-point swing midway through the fourth quarter of a close, low scoring game.

A new quarterback, turnovers, a bogus call – and Miami still won by six. Morris was an efficient 18 of 30 for 286 yards, while Miller and James went for 176 yards on 32 carries and two touchdowns.  As for the two turnovers, linebacker Alex Wujack, the thorn in Morris’ side, is suiting up for the Cleveland Browns this fall and will be nowhere near the field this evening.

Come kickoff, Miami will have its hands full for the season opener – but a win at Maryland isn’t an insurmountable challenge. Honestly, after a month of pure turmoil, the game itself might be the easiest thing these Canes have dealt with in a long while.

With good coaching and guys stepping up, this has the potential to be business as usual for ‘The U’, despite the past month being anything but that. – C.B.

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