This new group of Canes reminds me of some old Hurricanes. Guys like Dan Morgan, Nate Webster, and Ed Reed and Santana and Reggie immediately come to mind. Those guys wanted to be Hurricanes, and they were grinders and hard-nosed guys. They came here when it wasn't the popular thing to do.
When those guys came here we were in the midst of dealing with the repercussions of our last struggle with the NCAA. The Orange Bowl was empty. We would go to games where there was literally 3,000 people in the stands no matter what the announced attendance was. But Freckles Davis, who was a monster at evaluating character, found a group of talented guys who, more importantly, were determined guys. They weren't 5 star guys, and they weren't front-runners; they were guys with that inner drive to succeed that is so tough to evaluate. Our program is in similar condition these days. Our stadium is empty. We aren't the "it" program. But Al managed to find a group of guys who are very talented, and who, most importantly, are no-nonsense grinders who want to be here and relish the opportunity to be Canes.
Look at guys like Carter and Burns and Coley. How much twitter ***gotry did they engage in? How much diva **** did they pull? How many times did they commit and de-commit or try to "troll" the coaches and fans?
Think about Alex Gall. Then, think about Martin Bibla, who was a rough and tumble dude from Pennsylvania. Does anyone think that Gall will be anything but a success with his grit and toughness? Come on. This dude's about as close to a guaranteed on the OL as you will find. F#ck the fat 4 star with the puzzy attitude who will cash his chips if things don't go his way. Give me this mean sumbytch any day of the week.
Think about Mr. Stantastic and how badly he wanted to be a Cane. And this dude has skills to go along with it. When the chips are down, these are the guys who will make plays when the divas are quitting because it's too hot or too tough.
Think about Kevin Olsen, who never got shook even when Fisch split. Then, think about Ken Dorsey.
Think about God'sGiftGus, and then harken back to a different era with Steve McGuire or Alonzo Highsmith. Tough dudes with skill.
How about Sonny? You think there's any chance that dude will let himself fail? His mom sleeps in dirt, and his little brother got kidnapped by a 200 pound mosquito last week. This dude is fighting for real life ****, not thinking about some dumb **** he can say on twitter. Big Bryant McKinnie was playing the tuba a couple years before he got here. He wasn't a hugely heralded guy.
I applaud our new group of guys and can't wait to see them develop.
solid work as usual 'chise
I was going to bold the same part of the OP so might as well respond here.
I honestly think some people are very disapointed we didn't get some of the guys because there wasn't much talk about the ones we got.
***** is the clear example of waht I'm saying. I mean, the guy is a 300 pound fat slob diva son of a **** constantly yapping and running his mouth about how he's the greatest thing since sliced bread instead of grinding to get better, but we had a thread on here about him every single day. Subconciously, we made him bigger than he really is, hence the sting we feel that he didn't choose us.
Thomas on the other hand, was never the diva that ***** was, but he still was sorta playing games it looks like as he never really had Miami in the picture but left the staff hope they could get him (from what I understand at least). So he drags it into NSD, we talk about him a TON, and we feel like **** when we don't land him.
What if Carter had played those same kinda games? Or Burns? Or Olsen? Or AQM? We would've been talking about them a lot too, would've considered them MONUMENTAL gets on NSD and the loss of the other guys would've felt less painful I believe.
So what do we get? Hard working, straight forward and true Miami Hurricanes.
**** everyone else. We got who really wanted to come on board, and got some real ballers, 11 of 16 of which I highly doubt will be anything less than solid to elite contributors.
/By the way, great post, Chise, +Rep, and definitely deserved.
