Canes Determined to Finish Strong in 2018
By David Villavicencio
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – There are just two games left in the regular season and the Miami Hurricanes are going to make the most of them.
The Canes have a road game at Virginia Tech this Saturday before finishing off the regular season with a home game against Pitt on Nov. 24. With Miami sitting at 5-5, they have one goal in mind and that is to finish the season strong.
“That is our main goal, just getting to a bowl game,” senior defensive lineman Gerald Willis said. “Just finishing out strong. Especially getting the seniors to a bowl game.”
The unity on the Greentree Practice Fields is evident, as Hurricanes on both sides of the ball are continually pushing each other to improve and get ready for each week’s game.
“That’s really the number one thing right now, above personal goals because it’s our senior’s last chance,” sophomore defensive lineman Jonathan Garvin said. “They came back to give us a chance to win, things didn’t go as planned so we owe it to them to get into a bowl game.”
Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz believes earning a sixth victory and becoming bowl eligible would mean a lot to this program in 2018 and beyond. In addition to rewarding the seniors with one final postseason appearance as Hurricanes, it means the chance for the Canes to continue practicing and developing for the future.
“It’s great for the continuity of your team, and improving,” Diaz said. “You know, bowl games are sometimes a bridge to the following year, we saw that with the West Virginia game after the 2016 season and how that spring boarded us into the 2017 season. Right now the reward… the goal is go play your best game. You know, our best game is out there, go find a way to put it together; offense, defense, special teams. Go play a game like we should play, because we are running out of at-bats to do it. What a great weekend to do it up in Blacksburg, [Va.].”
The veteran leadership has set the tone and the younger players have stepped up and followed the example set by seniors like Jaquan Johnson ahead of Saturday’s game.
“It means a lot, we want to win a bowl game,” Johnson said. “We do not want to miss out on a bowl game. We are working hard to get a win, those guys [younger teammates] we worked with in the summer and the spring, so we developed that bond. They know it is our last year and they do not want to leave us behind, so we are working hard to get one.”
That bond shared by every player who wears a U on their helmet is part of what has kept the 2018 Canes together. Diaz sees the members of his defense holding each other accountable and pushing each other to live up to the standards set.
“You have to have some sort of bond. You’ve got to have a connection with something outside yourself, right? To be good at anything,” Diaz said. “So, you have to have some greater connection because yeah, if you get into your feelings and if you start feeling selfish then you may start to lower your standard. The great thing that we have is we’ve created a unit that takes a lot of pride in how we play and it would be a frightening thing to be the guy that lets down all the other guys that play defense; to be that guy. Because if our locker room senses it, if we sense it, the pack is going to take care of it and they’ve been told and demanded to do that. It’d be a bad idea to be the guy that all of a sudden let their level of performance drop because of what our record is. So, I think having a great locker room and having a great leadership helps with that.”
There is no quit in the Hurricanes’ locker room.
The players and coaches simply will not accept it or allow it.
Following the loss to Georgia Tech last Saturday, Johnson sent out a tweet that encapsulated the mindset he and his teammates share about the rest of Miami’s season, “I don’t care what nobody say, we not gone quit and we gone win! “
“After that loss, I already knew what was coming,” Johnson said. “A lot of fan talk, a lot of media talk, and I just wanted the team, plenty of the players follow me on twitter, to see that the leader, he is not quitting. He is not relenting at all. He is still going to go out and do everything he has to do, to try and get us a W and get us to a bowl game.”
Willis is another player relishing every opportunity he has to suit up as a Hurricane. The fifth-year senior has been one of the best defensive linemen in the country in 2018 and is one of Miami’s leaders. A future NFL player, Willis refuses to give anything less than his best as he tries to help the Canes finish the season with victories.
“My goal is to still play as many snaps as I can in a Miami Hurricane uniform; keep finishing out strong,” Willis said. “I am not going to lay back and just not play. I am just going to keep playing with my teammates, man, and just keep giving them my all.”
Head coach Mark Richt sees the desire and determination his players have every day in practice. The Hurricanes have been as focused and motivated this week as any other since the beginning of fall camp. It’s that determined mindset that helps Richt feels confident about the effort his team will bring every week when the game kicks off.
“First of all, any day like today – which was smoking hot – it’s a battle to get through practice, because the environment,” Richt said. “We know that it’s going to be a situation where, when it’s hot and humid, we all have to grind. That’s what everybody is doing – they’re battling. I saw no signs of anybody not wanting to do their very best. I think everybody wants to have a victory. I think everybody wants to see their teammates smile in the locker room when the game is over. I think that’s bigger than what a lot of people might think, as far as how important it is to be able to celebrate in the locker room after a win, after a hard-fought battle. That’s what we’re shooting for.”
