As I read all these preseason previews across the different publications, one thing that everyone talks about this time of year is returning starters. The teams that return a lot of starters are usually pegged to be strong teams, and the teams that don't are usually thought of as "rebuilding" or having uncertainty. I'm not sure there's a more useless stat, IMO.
In 2013, FSU had to replace a bunch of starters, and all they did was win a national championship. Last year OSU had to replace their starting QB, and they did OK. Why do we care so much about who was a starter last year? What if the kid this year is a better player?
Anyway, the reason I mention it is that it's being broadcast that Miami is returning 5 or 6 starters on D, depending where you look. But let's look into that. First of all, Corn Elder is a kid who will start and since he didn't last year, he's a "new" starter. But he played a TON of football last year and player really well. Also, Rayshawn Jenkins looks to be a starter at Safety as of now. He's not a returning starter. But he started 10+ games in 2013. He was hurt last year. Same deal with AQM. Hes a new player if you look at it as retuning starters. But he's another one who played a lot of ball 2 years ago.
In actuality, Miami returns a lot of kids who have started games on this defense in the past. Bush, Howard, Burns, Grace, Kirby, Jenkins, Muhammad, Kamalu, Jenkins, McCord....I believe Heurtelou and Wyche have started games. I believe Chad will be a better football player on the strong side than Chick was.
So the moral of the story is, this defense has experience. Don't believe the narrative otherwise. It's absolutely no excuses time. The recruiting classes of 2010 and 2011 are gone. Most of these kids are pretty high recruits. It's time for Donofrio to earn his paycheck. This is the most experienced and most talented defense that's been here in many years.
In 2013, FSU had to replace a bunch of starters, and all they did was win a national championship. Last year OSU had to replace their starting QB, and they did OK. Why do we care so much about who was a starter last year? What if the kid this year is a better player?
Anyway, the reason I mention it is that it's being broadcast that Miami is returning 5 or 6 starters on D, depending where you look. But let's look into that. First of all, Corn Elder is a kid who will start and since he didn't last year, he's a "new" starter. But he played a TON of football last year and player really well. Also, Rayshawn Jenkins looks to be a starter at Safety as of now. He's not a returning starter. But he started 10+ games in 2013. He was hurt last year. Same deal with AQM. Hes a new player if you look at it as retuning starters. But he's another one who played a lot of ball 2 years ago.
In actuality, Miami returns a lot of kids who have started games on this defense in the past. Bush, Howard, Burns, Grace, Kirby, Jenkins, Muhammad, Kamalu, Jenkins, McCord....I believe Heurtelou and Wyche have started games. I believe Chad will be a better football player on the strong side than Chick was.
So the moral of the story is, this defense has experience. Don't believe the narrative otherwise. It's absolutely no excuses time. The recruiting classes of 2010 and 2011 are gone. Most of these kids are pretty high recruits. It's time for Donofrio to earn his paycheck. This is the most experienced and most talented defense that's been here in many years.
