A New Beginning
By David Villavicencio
A new era of Hurricanes football kicks off Saturday at 6 p.m., at Hard Rock Stadium.
Tens of thousands of Hurricanes fans will be in attendance on a night that is sure to be filled with historic moments.
Saturday will be head coach Mark Richt’s first game at the helm of the Hurricanes. It will also serve as Miami’s first contest at the newly remodeled and rebranded Hard Rock Stadium.
The occasion will be special for everyone in attendance, including Miami starting quarterback Brad Kaaya.
“It’s a day we’ve all been looking forward to since last December, honestly,” Kaaya said. “I’m just eager to get after it with this team and see what we can do and put on film.”
The standout junior signal caller has been through two season openers at Miami and has been in several big games while playing for the Hurricanes, but Kaaya always treats the start of a new season like it’s his first.
“It’s still exciting,” Kaaya said. “The first week it’s always kind of hard to sleep at night. Last night I kept dreaming about Saturday. So that feeling of a new season is always there.”
Richt has been through 15 season openers as a head coach, 15 more as an assistant coach and four as quarterback for the Hurricanes from 1979-82. While he has a long list of responsibilities to focus on, he knows Saturday’s game will be a special one for him.
“That day is so busy,” Richt said. “It starts out with walk-throughs and quarterback tests and last second reminders. Then you go to the stadium and do some recruiting and you go from recruiting right into getting your mind right for calling the game and pregame warm-up. It’ll be the first time around on all that [at Miami], so I’ll be extra concerned about making sure everybody is where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there. There will be so many things to keep me busy that I’m sure I won’t get too nostalgic. I’m sure the Cane Walk will be an emotional time, but then we have to get our mind right and get to work.”
Richt is 12-3 in season openers as a head coach and he has never lost a season opener at home. The fifth-winningest active head coach in the FBS, Richt will look to maintain that streak when the Hurricanes host the Rattlers.
Kaaya, who is one of four Miami captains for Saturday’s game against Florida A&M, says the team is doing everything it can to make sure they make Coach Richt’s first game a success.
“We’re prepping pretty hard for them,” Kaaya said. “You know this is Coach Richt’s first game at Miami, so our preparation is just like any other game. We are treating them as if we’re playing the best team on our schedule, that’s every plan and we respect all our opponents and that’s how we take it every single week.”
Like Kaaya, junior wide receiver Braxton Berrios cannot wait to put his pads on and take the field at Hard Rock Stadium for the first time under Richt’s direction.
“We are thrilled,” Berrios said of the team’s mood heading into Saturday. “Honestly, I’m tired of talking about it. I’m tired of talking about it. I’m tired of practicing for it. I want it to be Saturday.”
