Osborn Making His Mark
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Before taking the field for what would be his only appearance in the storied Miami-Florida State rivalry, K.J. Osborn reflected on his journey.
And so, as he has so many times this season, the redshirt senior gathered some of his fellow receivers and spoke openly, sharing with them what that moment, that stage meant not only to the Hurricanes as a whole, but to him personally.
“Before the game, I was with Mike Harley and Dee Wiggins and Mark Pope and we talked for a long time about a lot of things,” said Osborn, a graduate transfer from Buffalo who joined Miami earlier this year after also considering offers from Florida State and North Carolina. “I told them, ‘You know, I was a phone call away from being at another hotel down the road getting ready to play you guys instead playing with you. But, I feel like I really did pick the right school. Being at Miami has been a blessing. It’s been a dream come true.”
Osborn isn’t the only one happy he became a Hurricane.
In his 11 months in Coral Gables, the receiver has emerged as more than a reliable target for the Hurricanes’ quarterbacks. Osborn has also become a leader, an ambassador, and a big brother of sorts to many of his younger teammates, particularly those in Miami’s receivers room.
This past summer, though he’d yet to play a game for the Hurricanes, Miami head coach Manny Diaz picked Osborn to serve as one of the school’s two representatives with linebacker Shaquille Quarterman at ACC Kickoff, the league’s annual preseason media day event.
During offseason workouts, more than once, Osborn reached out to his fellow receivers, encouraging them to join him in the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility for some extra work catching passes with the help of a JUGS machine.
Without being overbearing or demanding, the newcomer quickly became exactly what his coaches hoped he would – an example to the rest of the Hurricanes; someone who’d show them firsthand what kind of work they’d have to do to be successful at the highest level.
“His presence has been tremendous. He’s the utmost professional, really,” receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield said. “He has the demeanor to be coached hard. He has the work ethic to be able to take his iPad home and actually look at film and come back with questions and ideas. … He had solid numbers at Buffalo, but to come here and be consistent, that’s been because of hard work and toughness. He’s shown those things pay off.”
Through Miami’s first nine games, Osborn has a team-high 36 catches for 439 yards. His five touchdowns lead all the Hurricanes’ receivers and two weeks ago, he made one of the biggest plays of the season.
With Miami trailing Pittsburgh on the road and just 52 seconds left, Osborn snared a pass from Jarren Williams and scored on a 32-yard touchdown that ultimately, lifted the Hurricanes to a 16-12 win over the defending Coastal Division champion Panthers.
It was a pivotal moment for the young Hurricanes, who have endured their share of ups and downs this season and as they have so often, Osborn’s younger teammates were watching.
“We were depending on him and he stepped up and made the play,” Harley said. “It was like watching our older brother handle something. I just looked at him and was like, ‘I really look up to that guy.’ I look up to a lot of guys, but I don’t always tell them that. K.J.’s like a bright star. He shines and I told him, ‘Man, I wish I could do what you do.’ He’s just different.”
Osborn is hopeful that plays like that one – or his touchdown against North Carolina – will help him catch the attention of the NFL scouts who monitor teams across the ACC.
He arrived at Miami eager to prove he could be effective and successful at the highest level of college football and Diaz is confident that’s exactly what Osborn, who is pursuing a master’s degree in criminal justice at UM, has done.
“K.J. can play for anybody in the country. There’s a lot of good players that the recruiting process misses. I’ve coached some outstanding players at Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee that could have been stars at Miami and K.J. is proving again, it doesn’t matter how many stars are attached to your name coming out of high school,” Diaz said. “What’s great about K.J. is that you want your hardest workers to be rewarded in games by making those types of plays and that’s what K.J. has done.
“He’s come in with an intent to change the culture in our wide receivers room, which needed to be changed. He’s shown that being the first guy in the gym and the last one to leave can go out there on Saturdays and have success and not just depend on talent that’s God-given. To see that correlation as a coach is really fulfilling.”
Though Osborn’s lone season at Miami won’t end for a few more weeks, on Saturday afternoon, he’ll play his final regular-season game at Hard Rock Stadium when the Hurricanes host Louisville in a cross-division ACC matchup.
The redshirt senior expects there will be emotions then, just as there were before he faced FSU.
“Being at Miami has been a blessing, totally,” Osborn said. “It’s been amazing, from the people I’ve met, to being on the field, off the field, getting better as a player, getting better as a person, it’s been a dream come true to be a Hurricane.”
