K.J. Osborn's Big Decision
By Camron Ghorbi
HurricaneSports.com
In the midst of a life-altering decision – choosing between his NFL aspirations or a fifth year of college football – K.J. Osborn was swayed by what he saw on his television set in early January.
But three days away from the start of NFL’s Wild Card weekend, it wasn’t a preview for the Cowboys-Seahawks matchup that he was analyzing. Nor was it a panel of talking heads predicting the outcome of the upcoming CFP National Championship.
Osborn was glued to his screen as Manny Diaz gave his introductory remarks as Miami head coach in a packed auditorium inside the Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence just three days after Mark Richt’s retirement.
“I loved his vibe,” Osborn reminisced, smiling, just steps away from that same auditorium less than a month later. “I loved his energy from that first interview.”
Coming off a career year as a key member of Buffalo’s first-ever 10-win team, Osborn had plenty of options. He had spoken to Miami coaches before the Hurricanes’ bowl game about the possibility of transferring for a graduate year in 2019, but a lot had transpired since those initial conversations.
UM lost in blowout fashion to Wisconsin at Yankee Stadium. Richt announced his retirement a few days later. Diaz, hired as Temple head coach in mid-December, was lured back, replacing Richt and the offensive staff.
Osborn wasn’t so sure Miami would be in the cards.
“When Coach Richt retired, I watched Coach Diaz’ press conference live,” he said. “I could tell just from the way he was talking, the energy, that I trusted him. I knew he was going to bring in the right coaches. I knew he was going to bring in a good strength coach. I knew he was going to bring in a good receivers coach.”
Eight days later, Osborn announced his intention to join the Hurricanes on his Twitter page.
“After deep prayer and conversation with my family, I have decided to grad-transfer to the University of Miami,” he wrote in a social media post. “Thank you Coach Diaz and Coach [David] Cooney for presenting me with such an amazing opportunity. I am extremely excited and thankful and have already gotten to work.”
It’s All About The 🙌🏾🌴 pic.twitter.com/YA2m3o7jn0
— K.J. 2️⃣ (@KJ_Osborn) January 11, 2019
THE COONEY FACTOR
A few weeks after that post, Osborn, fresh off a workout with new director of strength & conditioning, David Feeley and getting ready to head to campus – stressed that his relationship with Cooney was a deciding factor.
“That’s one of the things that I wanted, was to build relationships,” Osborn said. “It was recruiting all over again. It happened so fast that it’s all on trust, really. It took a lot of praying, talking to my family, things like that. When I was talking to Coach Cooney, I was really, really comfortable with him. I didn’t know him that well yet, but from the first conversation we had, I knew. For a lot of guys, it’s ‘football, football, football.’
“Coach Cooney talked to me about football, he talked to me about education, about life after football, the alumni, the tradition. They have a master’s program here that not a lot of other schools have, which was very important for me. People said, ‘you’re only making a football decision.’ If I could get my master’s degree in what I would like to do, why wouldn’t I do that? I thought that was very important.”
The magnitude of his decision to transfer hit Osborn during one of his first few lifts with Feeley.
“My friends at Buffalo were just getting back to campus, and I thought to myself, ‘Wow. I’m really at The U. I’m at a whole new school,'” Osborn said. “When you go to a school – any school – you never really think you’re going to transfer. But this has been a blessing.”
AN INFLUX OF TRANSFERS
Luckily for Osborn, he was never alone in that decision. Four of Miami’s seven scholarship additions for the spring transferred from other Division I programs – including two who announced their decisions during the December signing period: offensive tackle Tommy Kennedy (Butler) and running back Asa Martin (Auburn).
Shortly thereafter, quarterback Tate Martell joined for the spring semester after spending two seasons at Ohio State.
“We can all just talk and share experiences with each other,” Osborn said. “I don’t feel like I’m the only one. We can talk about things, help each other out, almost like freshmen again. It’s fun. The whole ‘Portal U’ thing gained some hype on social media, which was fun for all of us.”
Diaz said that while the staff had some fun with social media and GIF posting during the late-year influx of transfers, that the trend started for the Hurricanes in his first season as defensive coordinator in 2016, with Texas defensive back Adrian Colbert.
“We’ve had, in our minds, great success the last three years with graduate transfers, specifically on defense with [Colbert], Dee Delaney and Tito Odenigbo this past year — all three guys really had a great, great season,” Diaz said. “Two of the three are in the NFL and Tito is bound for the NFL. They all really improved their stocks. They were all at a position of need.
“It’s a constantly fluid state of affairs because you have to understand your roster, your roster which is changing sometimes with guys that are leaving early, or you may have guys transfer off your own football team. So it is a situation where you have to be available to whoever’s out there. Of course, the portal sort of does make that easier now. But the No. 1 thing is you have to understand who you are and what the needs of your football team are.”
Ohhhhhhh, so that’s how it works… pic.twitter.com/E1R2mxZUwf
— Canes Football (@CanesFootball) February 6, 2019
A NEW ELDER STATESMAN
Osborn, who had 53 catches for 892 yards in his final season with the Bulls, said that one of the reasons he felt he was targeted was to inject some much needed leadership into a group of extremely talented but equally as young wide receivers.
Prior to Osborn’s arrival, sophomores Mike Harley and Jeff Thomas served as elder statesmen in a room that included three true freshman (Brian Hightower, Mark Pope and Dee Wiggins), one redshirt freshman (Evidence Njoku) and one high school early enrollee (Jeremiah Payton).
Combined, the seven players’ career totals could not match the 1,490 yards and 12 touchdowns that Osbornposted at Buffalo.
The Ypsilanti, Mich., native, who played high school football at IMG Academy, said he knew he was joining a young position group, but did not realize the full extent until he arrived on campus in mid-January.
“I’m looking around and talking to guys that are all freshmen, and I’m like, ‘wow. This really is a young team,'” he said. “When I came in, I wanted to be a leader but I didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes. At the same time, I’m looking around and there’s not really many upperclassmen. I’m helping lead the young guys. Not too much, but a little by little, just by example – my work ethic, showing how I work, the discipline, things like that.”
A FAMILIAR FEELING
It was a whirlwind of a month – leaving his Bulls teammates behind, finding a new apartment, enrolling in a master’s program, beginning workouts and learning the names and faces of his brand new teammates – but Osborn seems anything but overwhelmed.
“The whole thing has been a blessing. The whole transfer process, when you think about it, when the idea started to come up, I’d have to be doing a lot,” he said. “Now that I got here, it’s a blessing to walk around. There’s so much tradition around here.”
A mid-workout conversation in January with linebacker Shaq Quarterman helped reaffirm his decision.
“Me and Shaq were talking about the standard around here. To wear that ‘U’ on your chest, we have to be held to a different standard,” he said. “That’s what I’ve learned. The fans, that’s what they want – they want winners. They want you to get it done. You have to follow up on the type of tradition and legacy that the guys before you set. I’m excited.
“The feeling I got right before I committed to Buffalo was the same feeling I got right before I committed to Miami. It was the right spot. I’m very happy with it.”
