“My goodness, that’s a lot of touchdowns. Good for him. You want to see a bad quarterback, put a bunch of bad players around him and you officially have yourself a bad quarterback, including Tebow. We don’t have bad people around him.” — Florida coach Urban Meyer discussing Tim Tebow and the soph’s run for the Heisman with 51 touchdowns in 2007.
The majority of the Miami fan base has been all over Kyle Wright since 2005 and now that the era is officially over, maybe some of the harshest critics will finally attempt to be logical regarding what #3 had to work with his tenure at The U.
There was no Willis McGahee, Clinton Portis or Najeh Davenport in the backfield the past three seasons, yet Ken Dorsey had all three for his run in 2001. The previous year he had Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne, Jeremy Shockey and a young Andre Johnson catching balls during an 11-1 campaign and BCS berth in 2000.
The offensive line was a brick wall in ’01 with Bryant McKinnie, Joaquin Gonzalez, Martin Bibla, Brett Romberg and Sherko Haji-Rasouli blocking for Dorsey.
When McKinnie, Gonzalez and Bibla were NFL bound in 2002 and only 2 of 5 starters returned, that lesser line had Dorsey looking mortal at times and chucked around like a rag doll in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.
Wright’s lines from 2005-2007 made the 2002 offensive line look like 2001, in comparison.
The defense? Peaked in 2003 and progressively got worse every year since. Long gone were the days of short fields, forced turnovers and defensive scores which paved the way to the 2001 title. Even without that, how long is a defense supposed to overcompensate for a stagnant offense, unable to turn it around for half a decade?
I’m not going to make excuses for some of Wright’s personal shortcomings as a quarterback. Throwing into triple coverage in the red zone against North Carolina, with a comeback on the line?
No QB part of a major program like Miami should make those mistakes. Wright made a lot of them and he’ll have to live with that.
Still, it’d have been nice to see Wright settle in with one offensive coordinator instead of three and it’d have helped the kid out of the Canes recruited these past few years like they did the earlier part of the decade.
How good is Dorsey with the 2006 or 2007 Canes? How does Tebow fare this past season with a “U” on his helmet instead of in the orange and blue? How does Wright’s story play out had he landed in Coral Gables in 1999 instead of 2003?
Obviously we’ll never know, but it’s worth thinking about before piling on and trashing the kid in the wake of his career. Amazed that I’m going online days after Wright played his final game for The U and cries of “good riddance” are still echoing from this frustrated fan base looking for anyone and everyone to blame.
The kid left it all on the field and was let down by a coaching staff who didn’t surround him with big time talent, nor did they develop him into all he could’ve been.
Look at first year coordinator Patrick Nix. His impact on Wright showed most in the final two games of 2007. Now pretend Wright is a freshman and he has three more years to pull it together under Nix’s tutelage. Imagine someone had this impact on his game in 2003 instead of 2007, when it was too little and too late.
It’s bad enough the program failed this kid and that this fan base had to endure such a horrendous run the past few years, but attempt to class it up a little bit here people.
The body isn’t even cold yet and you’re already dancing on the kid’s football grave.
Rather pathetic, if you ask me. Especially when we’re talking about a University of Miami grad who just gave four years to a football program and former coaching staff that failed him infinitely more than he failed it.
.:Canes305:.
I don’t like trashing players either. Every team has players that frustrate the fanbase with their poor play. It’s okay to criticize and vent with a professional critique of the performance; making it a personal affair is simply wrong.
They’re student-athletes. They don’t get paid. They have to deal with a full academic load and also the pressures of performing at the highest level. It’s reasonable to expect them to balance it all, but when they can’t, one has to step back and realize that if it causes the fan pain, the player must be hurting 10x worse.
It takes discipline, work ethic, and drive to compete at this level, not to mention talent. Kyle Wright might not have had the talent to be a top tier QB, or maybe he did. We’ll never know because as you said, the supporting case plays a huge role. Was he fully developed as a player? Were the weapons around him potent enough to give him a chance? Did the changes in the coaching staff make it an uphill battle he just couldn’t surmount?
We’ll never know, but I will say this: that kid had some courage. He took a lot of pounding, both literally and figuratively, and he always hopped back up and tried to lead his team back into the light.
Which is a hell of a lot more than almost any fan can say of themselves.
Criticize the play, not the player. Good luck to Kyle Wright in whatever he does next.
I can honestly say that I’m going to miss #3. I agree completely that Wright is the product of an incosistent coaching staff and lack of talent, more than just being a flop!!!
I would say that the blame lies with both the player as well as the staff. It is difficult to progress with so many different OC’s in his stay, but then I look at Carson Palmer who also had 3 or 4 OC’s and won the Hesiman his senior year. There are so many variables. He was behind piss poor lines, average at best receivers and average RB’s. I don’t ever remember as many dropped balls in the last 4 years as under Wright. But also I don’t remember as many bad decisions in passes and accuracy. I do think he battled over the years and wish it would have been more successful for him and the program. I agree that is very easy for us fans to sit back and criticize KIDS with their shortcomings, and not realize that they are doing their best. He is competing against some history that can not always be matched. I thank him for what he has had to deal with both on and off the field and wish him the best in his future.
-Columbus Cane
well fucking said, 305.
…but then I look at Carson Palmer who also had 3 or 4 OC’s and won the Hesiman his senior year.
Yeah, some blame on Wright – and I acknowledged that, obviously.
Regarding Palmer’s senior campaign compared to Wright’s — zero comparison.
Palmer had Norm Chow calling plays for him and was throwing the ball to Mike Williams, Keary Colbert, Malaefou MacKenzie and had Justin Fargas in the backfield.
Palmer had a TON more to work with and arguably the best offensive coordinator in the game calling plays and tutoring him.
Chow also worked with Palmer in 2001 before making him a star in 2002. Nix had one year to work with Wright and safe to say if he were back in 2008, Nix could do more with him than just a one year experiment.
It’s simple. The staff failed Wright and Wright failed the fans. It is as simple as that.
Very few will remember all those dropped balls and piss-poor protection but everyone will remember who their leader was. It’s unfortunate but that’s the cold hard reality. In the last two games, #3 was the ONLY player on that team. He hustled, he scratched, he clawed, he did whatever he could to get it done.
It’s like in baseball. Everyone remembers the pitcher who gave up the homerun but no one remembers the anemic bats on his team that failed to score one. Bottom line, you don’t score, you don’t win. How many balls did Kyle put into several receivers hands and how many were dropped?! Way too many!!!!! I wish the guy the best because it was so unfair he never had a real chance. Thanks again Coach C(h)oker!!!!!!
I will admit that I have done some Wright bashing these past few years but it has been over frustation of the team’s efforts. While I definitely didn’t like some of the kid’s decisions, I do like the amount of heart he had. This year it seems that he took some of the heart other players should have used and channeled it through himself. I was shocked during the B.C. game at his ranking among Miami quarterbacks. Granted, he had four years to do it but he was in teh top ten for yards in a career and pass completions among many others. He showed a tremendous amount of heart in his career and especially in his final game. You could tell that he wanted that win more than anything and he deserved it. I just wish that some of the other guys could have given him a little bit more effort. I will miss you Kyle.
For once I agree with Urban Cryer. No player no matter how talented they are can be great without talent around him.
Kyle Wright is a talented player and I hope there is an NFL scout out there that notices his potential to be a great QB. When Kyle was given time to throw he showed you exactly why USC, UF, FSU, Notre Dame and countless others had him at the top of their list’s. If he went to USC, John David Booty transfers and USC 4 or 5 straight title appearances.
I remember watching his first start against FSU and I was excited to see what should have been the next in the line of great Miami QB’s. His arm strength was/is astounding and his accuracy was pinpoint. I remember my friends who are FSU fans that were amazed by the throws he made that game. I loved watching his warm ups and seeing him throw laser tight spirals that he couldn’t throw in games cause no one could catch them. That was the only game it happened in and look back at the tapes and see how many dropped passes there were.
Yes he made some “bad decisions”, but how many of them came immediately after a play that was well executed by everyone except the person Kyle had thrown the ball to? When your forced to make a big play time and time again you often end up in a bad situation. You’d be prone to doing the same if you were constantly pressured by the D-linemen and LB’s and your supposed playmakers couldn’t catch a beachball.
Kyle was/is proud to be a Miami Hurricane and he proved it everytime he stepped on and off the field. The guy did his job, never complained and was always a team player. Even when he lost the starting job to an inferior player he was supportive of the decision and of that player. He played his tail off and did everything he could and he did it right. It’s unfortunate that his promise (on potential) was not fulfilled, but I’m glad he came to The U and that he is proud that he was and always will be a Miami Hurricane.
RIP SEAN TAYLOR.
Well said. I hope he moves on and can prove himself as a quarterback at the next level.
I couldn’t agree with you more. Kyle Wright is a great kid and poured his heart out for this team. He took his role seriously, and I can’t say that’s true for all his teammates this past year. I was around the team before the Va Tech game, and no one was more focused on the game than Kyle.
I hate our south florida fan base. They were calling for Berlin’s head, wanting Kyle to start in place of Brock. When Kyle got his shot, everyone called for Kirby.
Look how long Kirbys starting job lasted for.
A lot of “true” hurricanes fans are acting like this is a professional team. These kids are on scholarship going to school. You can’t just trade them or say “sorry, you don’t cut it” and kick them out of the program. Ever since that 2003 game against UF in the Orange Bowl thats all I’ve been hearing about these QBs at UM.
I hate it. If your a di”e hard fan that goes to every single game” don’t throw your team or its players under the bus. Its just wrong at this level. They are called STUDENT-ATHLETES after all.