Football Team's Senior Class To Be Honored Saturday
Dec. 2, 1999
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The University of Miami football team’s seniorclass will be honored before this Saturday’s Miami-Temple game at the OrangeBowl. Seniors Michael Boireau, Andy Crosland, Pat Del Vecchio, MondrielFulcher, Robert Hall, Zach Hart, Rod Mack, Richard Mercier, Jeff Popovich,Robert Sampson, Eric Schnupp, Michael Smith, James Sutton, Matt Sweeney,Wilbur Valdez, Nick Ward, and Ty Wise will all be recognized, along withtheir families, prior to Miami’s regular-season finale on Saturday.
Miami’s 1999 senior class entered UM as freshmen in 1995, ButchDavis’ first year as head coach of the Hurricanes. In their five years atUM, the class has compiled a 38-19 record entering this Saturday’s game andqualified for four bowl appearances.
“This group decided to come to Miami when it wasn’t en vogue,” saidDavis. “One of these days, this group is going to be remembered as part ofthe reason that the Miami program turned around and began heading in theright direction. Words can not tell what my heart feels for how much theseplayers have dedicated themselves to helping rebuild this program. Thecharacter that they’ve brought and the performance that they’ve given on thefield during a tough five years should be commended. This group of seniorshas shown a lot of courage and a lot of guts. They will not be forgotten.”
The 1999 Senior Class has excelled in the classroom as all 17 seniors are onpace to graduate by the Summer of 2000. Heading the class academically areMack and Mercier, both of whom have already graduated with Bachelor’sdegrees. Mack graduated in May, 1999 with a degree in Business Managementand is presently working toward a second degree in Finance. Merciergraduated in August, 1999 with a degrees in Finance and Accounting, and isnow working toward a third degree in International Business.
Five players are on pace to graduate in December, 1999, while tenplayers are expected to graduate following the spring or summer sessions in2000. Popovich, who is on schedule to graduate in May, 2000 with a degreein Bio-Medical Engineering, has been exceptional in the classroom at UM.Popovich was honored this fall as a Burger King Division I-A CollegeFootball Scholar Athlete and a GTE District III Academic All-Americanselection.
Several members of Miami’s senior class have been invited to post-seasonall-star games. Mercier has been invited to the Senior Bowl, the HulaBowl, and the East-West Shrine Game, as well as the Florida Citrus All-StarGridiron Classic. Boireau was invited to the Hula Bowl and the East-WestShrine Game, as well as the Gridiron Classic. Wise was invited to theEast-West Shrine Game and the Gridiron Classic. In addition to Mercier,Boireau, and Wise, Fulcher and Sweeney were also invited to the GridironClassic, while Crosland, Mack, Schnupp and Ward are under consideration forthe Gridiron Classic.
Miami takes on Temple at noon at the Orange Bowl. With a win, theHurricanes are expected to be given an invitation to the Toyota Gator Bowl,January 1, 2000 in Jacksonville, FL.
