I received an email from the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame this morning. One of those “This Date In Hurricane History” reminder-type notes, which usually evokes good memories of yesteryear.
Not today.
On April 20th, 2002 five Hurricanes were taken in the first round of the NFL Draft — Bryant McKinnie (7th to Minnesota), Jeremy Shockey (14th to New York), Phillip Buchanon (17th to Oakland), Ed Reed (24th to Baltimore) and Mike Rumph (27th to San Francisco). Running back Clinton Portis went early second round (51st to Denver).
Five more Canes were taken in the latter rounds – Martin Bibla (116th to Atlanta), Najeh Davenport (135th to Green Bay), James Lewis (183rd to Indianapolis), Daryl Jones (226th to New York) and Joaquin Gonzalez (227th to Cleveland) – for a grand total of eleven on the day.
Miami was also a handful of months removed from the program’s fifth national championship, a January 3rd beat down of No. 2 Nebraska in the Rose Bowl.
Fast forward a decade and again the Canes are the talk of the Draft, though not for the right reasons this season. NFL analyst Mike Mayock spoke out this week and made the statement that UM’s underclassmen will be disappointed with their Draft results next weekend.
“From my perspective, all of them could have been high, high draft picks a year from now had they stayed in school and become better players,” Mayock said. “And I don’t know anything about their personal situations, and I’m not making any judgments on that. I’m saying purely from a football perspective, I think they all would have helped themselves had they stayed in school.”
Miami had five underclassmen declare early – running back Lamar Miller, wideout Tommy Streeter, offensive lineman Brandon Washington, defensive tackle Marcus Forston and defensive end Olivier Vernon.
Mayock – and ESPN NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay – feel Vernon’s stock is rising, with both he and Miller looking to go somewhere between the second and third rounds. Both analysts feel Vernon is versatile, able to play either defensive end or outside linebacker at the next level.
The forecast for the other three isn’t as positive, with Streeter pegged as a fourth rounder, Washington going somewhere between four and five and Forston as a third day guy.
Mayock also went on to praise head coach Al Golden and to state that all five players could’ve made “big improvements” had they returned for one more season.
“The reality is with Al Golden as a new coach, he has a different system and this talent would have gotten better had it stayed,” Mayock said. “I’m a believer in Al Golden and I think the Miami Hurricanes are in good hands.”
Opinions will vary regarding the five who declared early, but anyone looking at this objectively can say that Miller was really the only Cane with any business leaving early – and even that’s a stretch, as he was a one-year starter. Still, the shelf life of running backs at the next level is a short one and Miller showed enough to impress.
But what about the others? Streeter? A one-year starter whose game is far from complete? What about Forston, who missed the majority of the season with an injury?
Vernon spent the first half of 2011 on the bench, due to suspension, while Washington openly aired his grievances with the coaching staff regarding where they had him playing on the line.
Truth be told, none of these five were ready to make the leap and while as Miami fans, you hope for the best next weekend, you already know how this thing is going to play out.
Best case scenario, Miller goes second round, Vernon goes third, Streeter goes fourth, Washington goes fifth and Forston goes sixth, seventh, or possibly undrafted. None will go better and all could go worse – either of which defeat the overall purpose of giving up those final years of eligibility, instead of honing one’s craft and putting in the work to improve.
Hopefully a decade from now when revisiting “This Date In Hurricane History”, the mass exodus of not-quite-ready underclassmen is as much a thing of the past as 6-6 seasons. – C.B.
I think what the article saye is “miami has no talent”. This is not goldens fault but the responsiblity of the 2 head coach pretenders who preceeded him, who could not/would not recruit.
Ths lack of talent is not due to poor coaching but due to poor recruiting. If you don,t recruit superior talent then you are “polishing a turd”.
My question, and it pertains to baseball as well, is why did the sports admin sit back and let this happen. Recruiting stats are readily available. They are not perfect, but it,s fair to say that if UF recruits 10 5 star players (any sport) and miami does not recryit any, then UF has a better class.
Who is responsible when recruiting drops off – the AD, the Pres, the supporters, the writers who want to stay inside and not complain .??
This question needs to be addressed right now because baseball is at the edge of the cliff and might fall off.
Recruiting and lack of talent has nothing to do with it. Perfect example is the 2008 class, loaded with talent and the top class in the nation yet nothing came of it. You are right about the previous coaches being to blame but youre wrong about the reason. These kids got here with potential but they werent coached. ill give you an example Hankerson cant catch a cold for two season than suddenly he goes outside the program gets with Dupper and turned into our best reciever, Another example Aurthur Brown loaded with talent rides the bench here for two seasons then transfers to Kansas State and all of a sudden he’s a beast. With havent lacked talent in Miami weve lacked coaches
Laz – Disagree that recruiting had nothing to do with it as both previous head coaches had no clue how to recruit positions properly, which caused depth issues down the road. In 2008, Randy took seven wide receivers … as well as some low character guys (Zach Kane, Brandon Marti, Joe Wylie) and other lower caliber, two-star talent that didn’t seem to have that intangible which made their lesser talent worth the reach (John Calhoun, Taylor Cook, C.J. Odom, Andrew Smith).
On paper that 2008 class got a lot of hype because of all the Northwestern kids. Local products. National champs. It really inflated star value for those kids. Forston became a five-star. Harris a four-star. Thompkins a three-star.
A lot of kids came in with potential and were poorly coached, don’t disagree there. But a lot of these kids weren’t the right fit and that’s on the coaches.
To your point about Arthur Brown, at day’s end he should’ve always been the big fish in a little pond. Neither he or brother Bryce had the stones, proper upbringing or grit to leave home for college. Look how it all played out. Arthur never got his head right at Miami and never saw the field, but went home to Kansas State and succeeded. As for Bryce, bounced around, landed in Tennessee (after a ton of recruiting head games) and turned pro this year, with rumors of a girlfriend and homesickness plaguing his short college career.
Shannon and staff didn’t know how to manage Brown and should’ve seen he needed a different style of coaching than local kids who didn’t miss home. Compare that to Golden, who got something out of a kid like Tommy Streeter last year, left for dead on the bench by past coaches. Even Eduardo Clements, who has turned around his work ethic and is becoming a team leader.
Miami has lacked the PROPER talent, as well as necessary depth and yes, both of those fall on coaches. You need to bring in the RIGHT kids. Not just ones who earn stars on Rivals and Scout. You need self-starters, winners and kids that want to work hard. It’s been too long since Miami had that mix, but it was indeed the main ingredient to that 2001 title.
I still don’t blame B-Wash for leaving early. Had he played guard in 2011 I bet he would’ve been a lock for as a 2nd round pick, maybe even higher. Why risk coming back when Golden & Co. might play you out of position again?
Miami may have the worst college baseball team in the state at this point. It’s clear that Jim Morris has lost his touch. This team is just plain AWFUL! Time to start over in this sport just like we have in football and basketball.
They could’nt handle U Tough program I heard!