Quarterman Leaving a Legacy
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Shaquille Quarterman came to Miami to make a difference.
He’s now on the verge of making Hurricanes history – again.
When Miami takes the field Saturday to face FIU at Marlins Park – the site of the old Orange Bowl, where so many former Hurricanes greats once toiled – Quarterman is expected to make his 50th straight start at Miami.
That will tie the school record for consecutive starts currently held by former Hurricanes defensive tackle William Joseph, who set the mark between 1999 and 2002. And if all goes as Quarterman, his teammates and his coaches hope, in the coming weeks, Quarterman will stand alone in the record book after Miami’s regular-season finale at Duke.
It’s not a record the preseason All-ACC selection envisioned himself setting when he arrived at Miami in 2016, but it’s something Quarterman says he’ll treasure – and something he hopes will help add to his legacy as he approaches the end of a decorated college career.
“I always dreamed of starting early, but I didn’t know all this was possible in the beginning,” said Quarterman, who along with Michael Pinckney and Zach McCloud was part of the first trio of freshman linebackers to ever start together at Miami. “I really look at it as a blessing that I’ve been able to make it through all these practices, these games, these bowl games.
“It’s very special to me. I think it’s very out of the norm for something like this to happen and it’s been a tremendous blessing to stay this healthy during my career. I think as I approach this landmark, it’s a testament to my commitment to ball, but also my commitment to my body.”
The journey to this point, Quarterman acknowledged, has come with its share of challenges.
Like every one of his teammates, he’s dealt with bumps and bruises and played through some discomfort. As a freshman, a nagging shoulder injury kept him from feeling his best – but didn’t stop him from finishing wih 84 tackles and earning Freshman All-American honors from ESPN, Pro Football Focus and 247Sports.
After that first season, he set out to improve his technique, knowing the more soundly he played, the less likely he’d get hurt. He lost weight and accepted the fact he’d have to be more disciplined about making sure he got enough sleep and spent enough time in the training room.
Now a senior, Quarterman is the unquestioned leader of the Hurricanes’ defense. He rarely comes off the field and in recent weeks, he’s seemingly found a second gear.
Quarterman, who has a team-high 78 tackles and is second on the team with 14.5 tackles for loss, has finished as Miami’s leading defender in three of the Hurricanes’ last four games.
One of his best performances came during the toughest of Miami’s losses with Quarterman notching 13 tackles, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a quarterback hurry and breaking up a pass against Georgia Tech.
It was a performance that earned Quarterman effusive praise from someone who knows him well: Miami head coach Manny Diaz, who served as the linebacker’s defensive coordinator and position coach during Quarterman’s first three years on campus.
“He’s embraced the expectations and he’s had a great career. But at our lowest time, and I don’t think there’s a coincidence to this, he came out in the second half of the Georgia Tech game and damn near won the game for us all on his own,” Diaz said. “It’s really hard to do that in football and really hard to do that as a middle linebacker. Since that day, at Pitt, at Florida State, against Louisville, he’s playing at a level that is outside anything I’ve ever seen.
“It was the lowest point of our season and when we needed him most, he just stepped up. That’s not just about his legacy as a player, it’s about his legacy in helping Miami get back on the road to success. That those two things happened in concert with each other say everything you need to know about Shaq. When we needed him the most, he was at his best. His game has gone to a level I didn’t even know he had in him.”
Diaz isn’t the only one impressed with how Quarterman is working through his senior season.
Former Hurricanes greats Jon Beason and Jon Vilma have never shied away from reaching out to the linebacker to offer constructive criticism. Quarterman, too, has never hesitated to call them when he’s wanted advice.
Sometimes, the conversations haven’t been easy, but the fact Quarterman has never run from them and has been willing to listen to whatever tough love his mentors may offer is impressive, Vilma said.
“He’s always been willing to come to me and ask me questions and it was kind of gratifying to see him take that direction, advice and guidance and put it to use,” Vilma said. “You see it on the field now and he’s just playing outstanding football. I can tell that right now, he’s in a position where the game has slowed down for him. I remember being in that position my senior year, where everything just felt real slow. That’s when you get to a different level.
“And the thing is, we can tell him whatever we want until we’re blue in the face. But it’s Shaq that did it. It’s Shaq who put in the work and the time and the effort. It’s all a credit to him and his ability to want to be really, really good. His actions speak so loudly about how he wants to be one of the best. He wants to be great and he makes no bones about it.”
On the field, Quarterman’s high level of play has made a difference as the Hurricanes have bounced back from that Georgia Tech loss to win three straight.
But that isn’t all that’s made an impression on his teammates and coaches.
The senior has embraced his role as a leader in the locker room, even to the point where he’s grooming some of Miami’s underclassmen to follow in his footsteps.
“Shaq’s done a lot. From the moment my class stepped on campus, he took that role. You could never tell what year he was – he was always a senior in our heads. He’s that guy,” said sophomore cornerback Al Blades, Jr. “He taught me to be a leader. He’s like the Ray Lewis of our defense. He’s that guy when it comes to the program.”
For his part, that’s the legacy Quarterman says he hopes to leave in Coral Gables when he takes the next step in his career.
He wants his name added to the list of great Hurricanes linebackers and he knows what he does over the course of the next few weeks will only help him add to an already memorable career.
“I’m trying to accomplish my goals and my goals are to continue to win and to continue to play at a high level,” Quarterman said. “I just ask the Lord to let me play the best ball I know how to play and usually when I play the best ball I know how to play, it’s at a high level. I want to continue to do that.
“And when I’m gone, I just hope to be remembered as one of the greats by the guys that will be here next year and the year after that and the year after. I want anyone I played with to say that I was different, that I was like Jon Beason, Jon Vilma, Ray Lewis, and Rohan Marley. Those guys were different and I just want to fit into that box.”
