This is the year the Miami Hurricanes defense must step up if they're going to make a run for the ACC Conference Football Championship.
For too long we've seen late season collapses—mostly by the defense—that turned good seasons into bad ones and great seaons into good ones.
It goes back to 2004 when the Larry Coker-coached Hurricanes started out winning their first six games only to go 3-3 in their last six.
In 2005, with Coker still at the helm, the Canes went 8-1 in their first nine games and allowed just 11 pts/gm on defense. They lost their last two out of three, giving up 24 pts/gm. This was the year of the infamous 40-3 Peach Bowl loss to LSU.
In 2006, the Canes started out 5-2 and the defense held opponents to 13 pts/gm. In their last six games, they lost four and the defense gave up 19 pts/gm. Larry Coker was replaced by Randy Shannon at the end of the 2006 season.
The trend continued for the Randy Shanon-coached Hurricanes in 2007. They went 4-1 in their first five games and held opponents to 19 pts/gm. They finished by losing six of their last seven games and allowing 31 pts/gm.
In 2008, it was once again clear that the defense performed better in the first half of the season. Things were going good when the Canes upset Virginia Tech and had a record of 7-3. They allowed 21 pts/gm but lost their last three, while giving up an average of 34 points in those three contests.
Something's got to change. All Canes Blog, on 6/23/09, explained last year's fade by saying, "the defense was depleted, run down and injuries took their toll."
They went on to say, "Sean Spense enrolled early to participate in spring ball and it wore him down."
That may be true, but every team has similar problems at the end of the season and the trend is for more players each year to enroll early so they can play spring ball.
This year Randy Shannon will have a new defensive coordinator—welcome John Lovett.
Lovett replaces the highly-touted Bill Young, who returned to his alma mater Oklahoma State to take over the same position he held at Miami.
Some folks are actually happy that Young is gone. Chris Bonano, of the Miami Hurricanes Examiner, said, "Bill Young was a mixed bag in 2008."
Lovett comes on board with experience and good recommendations. Tommy Tuberville thought highly of Lovett when Lovett worked under him at Auburn. Most recently, Lovett was Butch Davis' special teams coordinator at North Carolina.
Lovett will inherit eight returning starters, 15 players with starting experience, and three freshman All-Americans.
He'll need all the help he can get—last year's defense finished 11th in the ACC in scoring.
On the offensive side of the ball, there will also be a new coordinator. Mark Whipple will be taking over for the fired Patrick Nix.
The offense's biggest concerns are replacing tackle Chris Rutledge and Shannon's son, center Xavior Shannon.
In 2009, Miami won't have to deal with a quarterback controversy like they did in 2008, because Robert Marve has left the program.
This will be Jacory Harris' team and he comes into the season with enough experience and more than enough talent to lead this offense to a very productive 2009.
Harris showed great maturity for a freshman. He completed 61% of his passes in 2008 but, more importantly, only threw seven picks.
The Canes will return running backs Javaris James and Graig Cooper and Harris will have plenty of receivers to throw the ball to, like the speedy Travis Benjamin. This is also the year Canes fans will see the debut of Harris' high school teammate, the 6'5" Tommy Streeter.
The offense will move the ball, they'll be able to make big plays, and it appears that Phil Steele, one of the nation's leading analysts, has counted on these factors when he selected the Canes as no. 21 in his pre-season poll.
Most of the other prognosticators have not chosen the Canes as a pre-season top 25 pick. The fact that their first four games are against No. 17 FSU, No. 11 Ga. Tech, No. 6 VA Tech and No. 3 Oklahoma must have something to do with their thinking.
John Lovett's defense will most likely be anchored by linebackers Sean Spense and Darryl Sharpton, who were two of the mainstays last year.
It looks like defensive end Eric Moncur and safety Randy Phillips were granted a sixth year by the NCAA, after season-ending injuries, and Lovett will need these two seniors to provide leadership.
The secondary is inexperienced and only turned in four picks in 2008. There are only 13 career starts for this year's secondary.
Phillips, Jojo Nicolas, Vaugn Telemaque, Jared Campbell, Joe Wylie are just a couple of players competing for starting roles in the secondary. Freshman cornerback Branden McGee, with 4.35 speed, also has a shot at starting.
This defense has to step up, and they won't have a lot of time to get used to Lovett and his system.
The schedule, as mentioned, is what Phil Steele calls the nation's 10th toughest. Besides the first four games, the Canes play at No. 23 North Carolina, at No. 24 USF, Clemson and at Wake Forest.
Four ranked teams on the road: In the last three years the Canes are 5-11 on the road.
There are plenty of obstacles confronting this young team and their young coach. Folks in Coral Gables, and Canes fans everywhere, are hoping the defense will step up in 2009.
