More Talk About Early To The NFL

A Miami Hurricanes legend has chimed in regarding all the early entries to the NFL off this 2011 squad.

Former offensive tackle Leon Searcy – a three-time national champion (1987, 1989 and 1991) and eleven-year NFL vet took to Facebook a few days back and wrote the following:

“What is it about a 6-6 season which says you’re ready for the NFL? I hate to see young men being exploited by dream sellers!!! Everybody in the league is big, strong, and fast. What seperates the men from the boys is the development of fundamentals, techniques, and work ethics which is essential to you’re survival in the NFL. I hate to see kids chase the cash then a few years from now, they can’t get a call back from their agent and are told their careers are over. Look, I could have come out my junior year and was projection 1st round. I decided that being a CANE was more important plus I wasn’t ready!!! I needed to develop. If you’re a baller, the cash is coming and he NFL ain’t going nowhere.”

The big man has spoken. Any questions modern-day Canes? Guess so as a handful continue on their pilgrimage to the NFL.

Wide receiver Tommy Streeter and defensive tackle Marcus Forston declared earlier this week that they’re moving on, while many expect running back Lamar Miller, safety Ray-Ray Armstrong and defensive end Olivier Vernon to announce their departure in the coming days.

Searcy returned for his senior season in 1991, sharpened his game, won a national championship and was the eleventh overall pick in the 1992 NFL Draft, taken by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Searcy’s fairy tale ending won’t be the case for next year’s Canes, with Miami nowhere near ready to compete for a championship and even with another year, Streeter and Miller are the only two aforementioned players who could work their way into the first round.

A .500 season has nothing to do with being NFL-ready, but Searcy has a point in kids being exploited and oversold. Solid talent in college can easily be bottom of the barrel in the NFL for guys who aren’t season. Fundamentals. Technique. Work Ethic. How can all that really be in place for kids who were either poorly coaches early in their collegiate careers, or only have one year as a starter under their belts?

Searcy says he decided that being a Cane was more important than the NFL and while that sounds good, it’s not applicable to these kids in 2011.

First off, much easier to have that Hurricane pride when taking home three titles in five years and go 56-4 over that span, with 11-1 and 10-2 considered “down” years. (Of course Searcy’s efforts, along with his teammates, earned every one of those 56 wins.)

Present day Miami is a program in transition, all these kids on their second coaching staff, turmoil (and losses) surrounding the program and arguably another comparable, or slightly better season, on the radar next year.

Searcy knew his Canes would be in that 1991 title hunt, which was also why guys like Ed Reed and Bryant McKinnie were sold on a 2001 return by then-head coach Butch Davis.

Beyond that, there’s much more money two decades later and a third- or fourth-round payday can still make you a very wealthy young man and for someone in Forston’s position, with family struggles being widely rumored, it could be a much longer and harder 2012 for his family if back in school.

Reminds of you of the late Bryan Pata years back, a senior in 2006 and looking like a third round draft pick the following spring. Pata was murdered late in the season and not only has his family not recovered from the loss of a son and brother, but they’ve never recovered financially as they were dependent on his gridiron success to change their lives for the better.

The Pata example is a tragic and extreme one, but more commonplace is the threat of injury. By returning, there’s the obvious risk of tearing or breaking something and with NFL teams putting millions of dollars on the line, more can be lost coming back and getting hurt than by going pro a year too soon.

Fans can sit on the sidelines, or on a message board, critiquing a situation, stating what “they’d do”, but in the end, only the athletes and their families know those infinite details that might prompt a decision.

Still doesn’t mean a kid is football-ready and that he’s doing the right thing, but he may be doing what’s in his personal best interest, right there in that moment.

On the surface the losses of these players doesn’t help this program in the short-term. Anyone who feels that 2012 Miami will be better without these guys, specifically Streeter and Miller, is off-base. That said, neither Streeter or Miller was a household name when 2011 started.

Both started making their names in spring and wound up having solid years, so who’s to say there aren’t two more like this waiting in the wings? Who’s to say Allen Hurns and Eduardo Clements aren’t next year’s tandem?

Same for what looks to be a big group of incoming freshmen. Players like Phillip Dorsett, Anthony Chickillo and Denzel Perryman made their mark as true freshmen and this will be another class with early enrollees getting a jump start and other immediate impact players.

If there’s any true upside to the current state of this program, it’s that jobs are wide open. You want to see the field early, Mr. High School Senior, come to Coral Gables and you may see your first start by mid-August.

Some have floated rumors about head coach Al Golden and his staff “asking” players to leave or showing them the door, in order to make room for others. Maybe. Maybe not. On one hand, freeing up scholarships of kids with one or two years remaining and bringing in some four-year players, that would help build depth if any scholarships are lost in the coming years. Still, it seems a bit far fetched.

Streeter was Miami’s top wideout. How is next year’s offense better without his production? Same with Miller at running back.

As for Forston, lost after three games, there was much talk early in the year about his leadership skills. For a team full of so much young talent, upperclassmen who can lead come at a premium. You don’t force a kid like that out.

Armstrong and Vernon? No idea. Both were embroiled in the scandal and received two of the longer suspensions, at four and six games, respectively. Not much has been said about either, outside of Armstrong’s second suspension for Tweeting about his Prime 112 dinner with the owner of a PR firm that reps athletes.

Are these two in the coaching staff’s good graces or have they mentally checked out and will they be given a nudge by the coaches? Neither has made their intentions clear as of yet, so worth paying attention to. One would think both declare in the coming weeks, though. Just a hunch.

While this type of off-season drama tends to get fans up in arms, you have to believe that in Golden’s world this would be referred to as part of “the process”.

When Golden took over last December, the first priority was saving the recruiting class, which at the time has six verbals, with two decommitting after Randy Shannon was fired. Part of that process entailed mending fences with local high school coaches who felt snubbed. as well as getting out in the community to shake hands with the fan base and to win everyone back over.

Within weeks, some dismissals regarding guys who didn’t fit the mold. Depth issues aside, especially defensively, Golden and Miami parted ways with two linebackers, Kevin Nelson and Travis Williams, as well as safety Devont’a Davis and cornerback Jamal Reid.

From there, a rededication to conditioning and the implementation of his “U Tough” workout. UM looked better conditioned in 2011, but it will take more than a season to change years worth of bad habits. The day after Miami’s season-ending loss to Boston College, Golden had his kids back in the weight room. With no bowl to play for, it was back to conditioning to get a jump start on 2012.

The Shapiro scandal. Suspensions. A new season, full of highs and lows, more recruiting and gearing up for year two. One would believe that Golden and staff expected a handful of these kids to go and with Signing Day approaching, there are scholarships to hand out.

Twenty-eight appear to be on board for 2012, mostly true freshmen, but there will also be some JUCO and prep kids in there as well. Miami needs some immediate impact players to make up for the lack of depth and is scouring the country looking for available bodies.

2011 is almost in the books and in all honesty, it can’t happen soon enough in regards to Miami Football. This was the first step in the journey and with 2012 approach, everyone is eagerly awaiting those next moves that will put Golden’s Canes one step closer to being where they want to be. – C.B.

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