forums

Am I wrong in thinking, with the JUCO's that UM is tailing..

The offense is ready for prime time. BCS level. If we can patch together a defense (i.e., JUCOs), we can absolutely win big this year. No one saw Notre Dame or Kansas State as top 5 teams coming into this year. If we get a few breaks we can easily make some noise. And as others said, this is a big time year to show that this staff and program are for real with sanctions coming.
 
Advertisement
Al Golden told Beau Sandland he thinks we will win the ACC next year. I think we will too and taking JUCO's makes that easier. I don't think he was talking **** to a recruit either; I think he genuinely believes that. No reason we can't; FSU isn't that good and loses most people and nobody on the coastal side of the ACC should really challenge us. This coaching staff is able to develop players . . . so guys that didn't do much last year will be much better players this coming year. Jelani Hamilton may produce . . Luther Robinson will get better, etc. We will find depth now that we have some guys in the program and bringing in JUCO's to fill the top roles while the younger kids provide that depth is a great way to get over the hump and win that extra game or two we couldn't in years past that brings us from ACC contention to national contention.

It may be sanctions driven but I don't think Golden would be taking junior college guys if he thought we'd get 8 wins instead of 6 next year. I think he's thinking we get 10 or 11 instead of 8 or 9.
 
Few things.
1. With a tougher than anticipated schedule than next year they were on the cusp of the ACC championship game.
2. They're returning every meaningful contributor outside of McGee and James - neither is a huge loss.
3. It stands to reason there will be improvement - especially at positions where strength is critically important - since the entire squad is so young.
4. The offense led by Stephen Morris ended the year looking like one of the top units in the country heading into next season.

With all of that being the case, why wouldn't anyone think they're in excellent position to get to the ACC Championship? Adding a couple more instant impact players is the obvious thing to do, regardless of their academic class standing (juco or freshman). If Al can get a few more potential studs in the front 7 and close a couple more offensive playmakers this roster will be looking pretty good in August.
 
I think the problem completely stems from everybody measuring this team to prior Miami teams. We aren't going to have the best defense we've ever had. That doesn't mean this won't be a double digit win team. We play an incredibly weak schedule next year and are returning nearly everyone and that's not even counting a few guys that will inevitably step up.
 
armstead98 said:
Few things.
1. With a tougher than anticipated schedule than next year they were on the cusp of the ACC championship game.
2. They're returning every meaningful contributor outside of McGee and James - neither is a huge loss.
3. It stands to reason there will be improvement - especially at positions where strength is critically important - since the entire squad is so young.
4. The offense led by Stephen Morris ended the year looking like one of the top units in the country heading into next season.

With all of that being the case, why wouldn't anyone think they're in excellent position to get to the ACC Championship? Adding a couple more instant impact players is the obvious thing to do, regardless of their academic class standing (juco or freshman). If Al can get a few more potential studs in the front 7 and close a couple more offensive playmakers this roster will be looking pretty good in August.
Click to expand...


James will be missed. In more ways than 1. His tough running was a perfect compliment to Duke.
 
Advertisement
Dandycane said:
armstead98 said:
Few things.
1. With a tougher than anticipated schedule than next year they were on the cusp of the ACC championship game.
2. They're returning every meaningful contributor outside of McGee and James - neither is a huge loss.
3. It stands to reason there will be improvement - especially at positions where strength is critically important - since the entire squad is so young.
4. The offense led by Stephen Morris ended the year looking like one of the top units in the country heading into next season.

With all of that being the case, why wouldn't anyone think they're in excellent position to get to the ACC Championship? Adding a couple more instant impact players is the obvious thing to do, regardless of their academic class standing (juco or freshman). If Al can get a few more potential studs in the front 7 and close a couple more offensive playmakers this roster will be looking pretty good in August.
Click to expand...


James will be missed. In more ways than 1. His tough running was a perfect compliment to Duke.
Click to expand...

No doubt James will be missed but not because he's a good compliment to Duke, but because he was a good hard runner. I don't buy into this needing different styles to have an effective run game. I'd gladly take another Duke and have to of the exact same type of a runners. Point is we need another good back.

Hagens may be the guy. I think he can be relied upon to get 3-4 yds/ carry, which will be more than enough.
 
Mike James earned a special spot with me for his performance against G.Tech this year. Having said that, I think his character and leadership in the room will be missed more than his play. He was a good compliment to Duke, but nothing you shouldn't expect out of a typical UM running back.
 
Dan E. Dangerously said:
Mike James earned a special spot with me for his performance against G.Tech this year. Having said that, I think his character and leadership in the room will be missed more than his play. He was a good compliment to Duke, but nothing you shouldn't expect out of a typical UM running back.
Click to expand...

Dan, I don't disagree, but who is that guy on the roster? Will it be Clements or a Dillard?

In a perfect world, hopefully it's Collins
 
Advertisement
i think we go 10-4 next year ...anyone predicting over 11 wins is forgetting how bad our defensive was

Favored in 10 games go (8-2)
underdog 2 games (FSU/UF) 1-1
ACCCG and bowl game 50/50 games 1-1

also we have way too many holes to be except to win every game we are favored in ...also a lot of these games we are going to be favored by a 4-8 points so they will be competitive games

as bad *** as alabama was this year they didn't go undefeated and were lucky to beat UGA and LSU

we are a top 15-20 team next year and going in the right direction
 
k9cane said:
Dan E. Dangerously said:
Mike James earned a special spot with me for his performance against G.Tech this year. Having said that, I think his character and leadership in the room will be missed more than his play. He was a good compliment to Duke, but nothing you shouldn't expect out of a typical UM running back.
Click to expand...

Dan, I don't disagree, but who is that guy on the roster? Will it be Clements or a Dillard?

In a perfect world, hopefully it's Collins
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, that comment by me was banking on Collins coming here. Pretty sure it isn't smart/reasonable, but I expect him to be in Orange and Green next year.
 
dan, how can you say 10 wins w/ this dl depth??
even if we don't land a juco, the dline is automatically better. porter, robinson, pierre, moore, ivery, grimble, briscoe, king, hopefully bryant and bostwick. i'm sure i'm leaving someone out or someone will move back inside. i think depth already is better.
 
Last edited:
porter, robinson, pierre, king, grimble and moore have all played quality minutes, no? get something out of ivery, briscoe, byrant or bostwick and we have good depth. would love a juco here, but, it's not the end of the world. we have 2 seniors and soph who played a ton.
 
Advertisement
I've felt that we were a 10+ win team next year with a few key JuCo adds.

Namely DT and DE/rush OLB.

That was our main problem on D last year, not strung enough up the middle and no pressure off the edge. If we fix those issues with development and JuCo guys our defense should be considerably better. Having push up the middle and pressure off the edge should give coach D freedom to do more with his defense IMO.
 
5XNC said:
porter, robinson, pierre, king, grimble and moore have all played quality minutes, no? get something out of ivery, briscoe, byrant or bostwick and we have good depth. would love a juco here, but, it's not the end of the world. we have 2 seniors and soph who played a ton.
Click to expand...

5X,

Yes we will have depth but whose to say what type of production we will get out of any of them.

What has any of them shown or proved at this level? Pierre played better when Porter was occupying other OL, without Porter Pierre was barely average.

Can/will Porter stay healthy? I can't wait to see what is going to sideline him this fall until game 10 next season? Staph infection? Chicken Pox?

Bryant and Bostwick may indeed end up signing with UM but how productive will/can they be? How many true freshman DT's provide much of anything?

I think we need JUCO linemen BADLY. We weren't just average on defense or below average. We were **** near the worst defense in America and that is a fact. If we don't land at least 2 guys on the DL that are major D1 ready I don't see our defense getting that much better next season.

Coach D is stubborn and he (and Al) are stuck on playing their scheme no matter what. I would much rather them run the defense built to the strength's of the team (whatever the **** that is).

Having our DL occupy the other teams OL on just about every offensive snap is not UM football and it may never be no matter how badly they want it to work.

Striking out on some good JUCO's this recruiting season will be IMO a huge blow to our defense next season.
 
Advertisement
As stated above, I think Curtis Porter sticking around and then showing some durability is key. bottom line, while we have some depth, we have some JAGS and unknown quantities. I know there is strength in numbers, but there's real strength in having guys who can play

But I do think we will see some improvement out of some of these guys as they go through their first/ or another U-Tough and mature, overall

Offensively, I think there is vast potential, but I think it comes down to Stephen Morris- can he become more consistent in making the routine throws on a game to game basis? He does that, I think this will be a very productive O
 
Last edited:
I don't totally agree with the OP...I just see Golden and the staff seeing several areas that severely lack immediate talent (TE, pass rush, DT) and address them with JUCOs...I don't think it has anything to do with winning largely on any timetable or expectations for next year.
 
Last edited:
Golden made the point several weeks ago on WQAM that you like to get JUCOs in when you feel like you are turning the corner. If you get them earlier than that, they are gone when you get to the corner. I think Al knows we are very close. He also said that the best JUCOs aren't looking to go somewhere and sit. They want to play now. All of that points to getting guys who help you turn the corner, not just fill in dead spots.

We'll see. I'm more optimistic than my nature normally allows.
 
Spidercane said:
5XNC said:
porter, robinson, pierre, king, grimble and moore have all played quality minutes, no? get something out of ivery, briscoe, byrant or bostwick and we have good depth. would love a juco here, but, it's not the end of the world. we have 2 seniors and soph who played a ton.
Click to expand...

5X,

Yes we will have depth but whose to say what type of production we will get out of any of them.

What has any of them shown or proved at this level? Pierre played better when Porter was occupying other OL, without Porter Pierre was barely average.

Can/will Porter stay healthy? I can't wait to see what is going to sideline him this fall until game 10 next season? Staph infection? Chicken Pox?

Bryant and Bostwick may indeed end up signing with UM but how productive will/can they be? How many true freshman DT's provide much of anything?

I think we need JUCO linemen BADLY. We weren't just average on defense or below average. We were **** near the worst defense in America and that is a fact. If we don't land at least 2 guys on the DL that are major D1 ready I don't see our defense getting that much better next season.

Coach D is stubborn and he (and Al) are stuck on playing their scheme no matter what. I would much rather them run the defense built to the strength's of the team (whatever the **** that is).

Having our DL occupy the other teams OL on just about every offensive snap is not UM football and it may never be no matter how badly they want it to work.

Striking out on some good JUCO's this recruiting season will be IMO a huge blow to our defense next season.
Click to expand...

I've never once in my life seen a corch scheme his way around the youth and slugs that we had on our DL for most of last season. When Darius **** is logging major minutes for 9 games you should know your in huge trouble.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top