The latest at The U…

Geeks unite. NCAA Football 2010 is a few weeks away. Available on July 14th, it’s not a bad way to kill some time this summer as we wait for the real thing, come Labor Day. Especially if you’re doing that video game thing in high-def. I buy one game a year and this one is it. Checked out some screen shots/videos and I’m already thinking Tallahassee in early September. Can’t wait.

I chatted with Evan Rosenfeld of Rakontur Productions yesterday. Evan is one of the guys who worked on the “Cocaine Cowboys” documentary and he’s involved with the piece they’re doing on the Canes, airing on ESPN early December after the Heisman trophy presentation.

I’ve read a bit online about this documentary and saw some Miami fans chatting about the intent of this piece. Because ESPN is associated, many fans assume there’s an agenda there and that it will be an anti-Canes piece. According to Evan, nothing could be further from the truth.

Not only is everyone involved with this piece a U of M alumnus, but they’re Canes fans as well and they’re on a mission to clear the air and paint UM in a good light. Evan talked about wanting future recruits to see this piece, to understand the UM athletics culture and for this documentary to change people’s perception of The U.

In an effort to make this a top flight piece, the Rakontur guys are covering all bases and they’re putting out a call to Miami fans. If you have any interesting pieces of Hurricanes swag – they’d like to include them in this documentary. Vintage photos from yesteryear. Classic apparel. Memorabilia. The kind of item that would make even the most diehard Cane step back and say, “wow”.

If it’s a special piece, ESPN might even pay you a licensing fee and/or your name could wind up in the credits.

Any fan with some old school Canes garb, email me and I’ll sync you up with Evan. Again, we’re talking about something vintage here — not a ticket stub from the 2001 season. Dig deep, people. Raid your parents’ attic. We’re talking early 1980s or older. Find it and get it to Evan and the crew.

That sound you just heard was a another state rival arrested for being an idiot. Florida State linebacker Maurice Harris was hit with grand theft auto on Monday. Harris was arrested after he was unable to explain his obtaining a motorcycle with an altered vehicle identification number and improper tag. Whoops. Harris was released on $3,500 bond early Tuesday morning and has since been suspended indefinitely.

I’m not here to throw rocks at these dirty Seminoles or Gators who have been arrested as of late. My issue lies in how these incidents are perceived by the media. Most of this news is swept under the rug. Sportswriters are too enamored with Tim Tebow to call out Urban Meyer for letting players run amok. The Tebow angle is a good subplot for college football and in Tallahassee, no one wants to paint the legendary Bobby Bowden in a poor light.

Andy Staples of CNNSI.com – a Florida grad, ironically enough – chimed in regarding his alma mater and some other SEC programs chock full o’ hoodlums:

“The Gainesville Sun dug up some interesting numbers last week. During the same four-year period, Georgia has seen 30 players arrested. Tennessee has seen 21, Florida State 12 and Miami two. Yes, two. That might be the real under-reported story here. Turns out the Hurricanes are some of the NCAA’s best citizens — and that’s probably because they know coach Randy Shannon will boot their butts if they misbehave.”

If the media wants a real feel-good story this upcoming season, how about making Miami’s LACK of arrests front page news? Shannon has turned things around, yet few are giving him the credit… which will most likely be the case until he starts winning ballgames. Meyer gets away with murder because he wins and conversely, Bowden is finally starting to feel some heat because his win-loss record isn’t what it once was.

Former Canes running back Charlie Jones shared his thoughts with Shandel Richardson at the Sun Sentinel. Jones defended the 2004-2005 recruiting classes and blamed the decline on the decrease in family atmosphere and pressures that came from losing ballgames. 

“When I first came to Miami, I think the coaching was fine,” said Jones, rated the nation’s No. 5 running back while at South Dade High School. “There was no problem with it. We were learning something new everyday …. “They were always preaching family this and family that, but after coach Coker left, it wasn’t a family. Everything changed. A lot of guys felt they were screwed over.”

Jones transferred to Memphis after the 2007 season. In one breath he mentions staff turnover as the culprit, but truth be told Jones was frustrated over losing his starting job to freshman Javarris James and losing reps to the other back ups.

“Graig Cooper came to the University of Miami in the spring of 2007, and [the new coaches] put him first on the depth chart the first day of spring practice,” Jones said. “Nobody had seen him play. I mean, they had only seen him on film.”

This sounds like a case where Charlie should just pipe down, focus on where he’s at today and attempt to turn his career around. A highly-touted back coming out of South Dade, Jones never lived up to the hype. His talk of players being “forced out” when Shannon “cleansed” the program. The belief that Shannon “screwed over” a lot of upperclassmen. It all reeks of sour grapes from a player who not only underachieved, but turned tail and left the program. 

Truth be told, Jones never had “it”. His best year to date was a 507-yard campaign in 2005. Last year at Memphis, Jones ran for 255 yards on 53 carries and had a half dozen touchdowns. His most impressive outing, an 11-carry, 57-yard performance against Nicholls State.

Jones is a 23-year old kid, so I’ll cut him some slack here. In time, maybe he’ll have a better understanding for how the world works and why certain decisions are made. Right now, it’s personal. He came to Miami and left frustrated, unwilling to shoulder any blame and quick to put the onus on a coaching shuffle instead of his lack or results.

Add this to the long list of what went wrong at The U the past few years, leading to the decline. I haven’t heard a rant like this since Ryan Clement blamed past Canes for the probation his teams suffered through.

Comments

comments