The Beast : May The Forcier Be With You

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

The unfortunate fact and hangover from Signing Day; the lack of a quarterback in this class. Hopes were high when Jacoby Brissett appeared ready to come on down, but when that didn’t happen either it was time to go the transfer route – bringing us to Tate Forcier.

When Al Golden took over I’m sure there was a moment when he scanned the roster wondering where all the quarterbacks were. Golden knows his Hurricane history and certainly remembers the Quarterback U era. From a Jim Kelly to Bernie Kosar to Vinny Testaverde to Steve Walsh to Craig Erickson to Gino Torretta to Frank Costa to Ryan Collins to Ryan Clement to Scott Covington to Kenny Kelly to Ken Dorsey. From there, it all truly went haywire.

In the post-Dorsey era, there was nobody. Derrick Crudup wasn’t the answer, which opened the door to Florida transfer Brock Berlin. The Kyle Wright and Kirby Freeman years were marred by a thousand offensive coordinators, poor play and coaching changes while guys like Nick Fanuzzi, Marc Gullion, Pat Devlin and Daniel Stegall never took.

From there it was Robert Marve, Cannon Smith, Taylor Cook and Jacory Harris, which quickly turned into just Harris. This year it was Harris and Stephen Morris, with Spencer Whipple as second string, until Morris’ redshirt was burned late in the year at Virginia.

Looking at the past eight seasons, you see the management of the depth chart at quarterback has been beyond sub par. In a perfect world an upperclassman is starting and maybe an upperclassman and lowerclassman as back up, with one of two redshirting. You also have some walk ons and guys who are at least good enough to hand the ball off late in the game or to play a quick series or two, if needed. Five quarterbacks is a pretty safe number for a program of Miami’s caliber to have available.

Florida currently has seven guys on their roster ready to take a snap, this past year Florida State had five and Virginia Tech had six. It takes years to accumulate that depth and it can’t be fixed in short order, so let’s make sense of things.

Entering this fall, Harris or Morris will be your starter and the other, the back up. Whipple is third string and Forcier will be the scout team quarterback, as he’ll be forced to redshirt. Next year Harris is gone, Morris will have two remaining years of eligibility, as will Forcier.

Golden and staff should recruit two freshmen and another JUCO. Depending on where things go with Morris (this season), in 2012 year you could start Tate and redshirt Morris, who could then start his senior year.

From there you’d have another junior ready to go, with probably a true sophomore and redshirt freshman behind him, with one or two redshirts sitting out that year. Then, and only then will this thing truly be back to where it needs to be regarding the quarterback depth chart.

Regarding the addition of Forcier, he was a big time four-star recruit out of high school and Miami started recruiting. Then-offensive coordinator Patrick Nix, now the wide receivers coach at Charleston Southern, deemed Forcier too short.

Forcier isn’t your prototypical 6-foot-4, pro-style quarterback, but he could play. I’ll tell you what else I like – you know what he is. You’ve seen him against real competition and you know what he can and can’t do at this level. Recruiting has become such a crapshoot – especially at the quarterback position – that on some levels you’d almost rather a transfer than a guy given Internet praise for his success against 16- and 17-year olds.

Forcier does come with a bit of baggage and and thing obviously went wrong at Michigan, but a new locale and second chance could be just what’s needed to jumpstart things for Miami’s newest quarterback.

IN OTHER NEWS : Huge, major props to Frank Haith and his club as they got a little win streak going – which was just what they needed right now. No, it hasn’t been pretty and there haven’t been ant blow outs, but they’re been wins nonetheless and that’s all you can ask of this team right now.

It was great to see Reggie Johnson get “his” win against Wake Forest. Now ‘Big Reg’, do that night in and night out and then we’ll start having some fun around here.

It will be a challenge against Duke this Sunday evening and coming in off a win over North Carolina, we’ll see what happens. Last thing you want are the Blue Devils off a loss to the Tar Heels, with something more to prove.

Looking forward to the big game atmosphere and hoping it’s a sellout. Let’s make it loud in there tomorrow night, Hurricane Nation.

Big ups to Katie Meier and the women’s squad for taking down No. 12 Maryland. It was a huge win against a good team. Shenise Johnson had thirty for the Canes and continues to show why she’s one of the best players in the country, along with her partner in crime, Riquina Williams. The third musketeer Morgan Stroman, who we had on allCanes Radio, had a great night, as well, coming away with 20 points, 9 boards, 3 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks.

I urge you to the highest degree – be at the BUC on Monday February 21st as Miami’s women play their next home game against Wake Forest. This team, without a doubt, deserves your support.

Baseball is getting underway and I have a feeling I’ll be spending a lot of time around the team this year. I love every sport at The U and if there was a U Swag Ping Pong team, I’d be in the stands. That said, there’s nothing like watching a game at A-Rod Park. I have such an affinity for head coach Jim Morris and what he’s been able to do with this program over the last seventeen years.

Give me Rag Arm, the Walk ‘Em Club (though I don’t think they’re alive anymore), the Maniac, Jay Ro, Mich the Shake Guy, the guy who chases down the foul balls, Lois, Mary-Lou, Betsy, Ted and his wife in the press box, some crazy promotions and the music that would be considered cheesy anywhere else. Give me anything and everything that comes with UM Baseball.

Unlike others in town that for years dogged Miami Baseball (behind closed doors) but still showed up at game to collect their check, this has truly been my first love since arriving on campus back in 1994. If my June is taken up by another trip to Omaha, I’ll be like a pig in … when you get my point … and I’ll leave you with this.

Next week will bring another great allCanes Radio. Former Cane Hurlie Brown will join us on the show. He’s the new Senior Football Operations Coordinator. I’m sure we’ll have some other surprises for you as well. Until then, Go Canes!

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