By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com

All throughout his college career at Miami, Shaquille Quarterman made sure it was clear.

He was a North Florida kid, a product of Duval County and the 904 was his home.

And so, on Saturday afternoon when that familiar area code popped up on his phone, the linebacker who for four years has been the heart and soul of the Hurricanes defense took a deep breath, answered, and realized an incredible dream was about to come true.

“When I saw the Jaguars had the next pick and I got a phone call, I tried to make sure I didn’t press the wrong button on my phone when trying to answer the call,” Quarterman said. “As soon as he said, ‘This is from the Jag…,’ I almost started crying already.”

That call was from Dave Caldwell, general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars. And in a brief conversation, Caldwell informed Quarterman of the formalities: his hometown team had just made Quarterman the 140th pick of the 2020 NFL Draft.

The linebacker’s professional career would begin right where he’d learned to love the game.

“It’s an awesome blessing to play for any team in the National Football League,” said Quarterman, who was the first of four Hurricanes taken in this year’s draft along with teammates DeeJay Dallas, K.J. Osborn and Jonathan Garvin. “But being able to stay home is just a different feeling, a very different feeling. I’m just so happy that I have the opportunity to do it. … [Representing] the brand has always been a thing for me, especially Jacksonville with that 904. I’ve been throwing up my 4’s since I got to college.”

While Jaguars officials acknowledged Saturday there was indeed something special about being able to add a local product to their roster, Quarterman’s deep ties to the Jacksonville area were far from the only reason he was an attractive fourth-round prospect.

In his post-draft assessment of Quarterman, Mark Ellenz – Jacksonville’s Director of College Scouting – said the linebacker’s leadership caught the attention of Jaguars’ personnel, particularly when they saw the impassioned speech Quarterman delivered on the sideline during his final game as a Hurricane in last December’s Walk-On’s Independence Bowl.

“It wouldn’t matter if he wasn’t from here. I think it’s a bonus that he is, because he’s a quality kid and a really good football player,” Ellenz said. “But I don’t think just because he’s hometown is why we selected him. This kid’s a four-year starter, real productive, smart, tough, all about ball. [He’s] an alpha male, leader, locker room kind of guy they don’t mess with there. He’s been running the show [at Miami] since he was a freshman.”

That the Jaguars saw all of that in Quarterman was no surprise to one of the people who know him best, Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz, who for three years, was the linebacker’s position coach and defensive coordinator at Miami.

On Saturday, Diaz recalled how it was at a team-bonding event before Quarterman’s freshman season that he saw how one of his youngest players had the potential to be different.

“We brought all the linebackers to my house that summer and we had 12 guys in the house. Everybody was in the kitchen, and Shaq goes, ‘Let’s all go in the pool,’ and 12 guys – juniors, seniors, older guys, younger guys, are all playing in the pool for an hour. Then Shaq goes, ‘Let’s get out and go play cards,’ and all 12 guys go and play cards,” Diaz said. “I’m sitting in the back, watching, and it was remarkable just seeing how a young man who really should only have been a month out of his high school graduation, whatever he said, everyone followed.

“You knew early on he had something about him.”

That something eventually followed Quarterman onto the field.

In his first season at Miami, Quarterman made school history, joining former teammates Michael Pinckney and Zach McCloud as the first trio of Hurricanes linebackers to start together as freshmen.

By the time Quarterman graduated, he’d made Hurricanes history again, becoming the only player at Miami to start 52 consecutive games. As a senior, he led the Hurricanes with 107 tackles, including 51 solo stops. His 15.5 tackles for loss were second among all Miami defenders and he earned first-team All-ACC recognition for the second straight year.

He finished his Hurricanes career with 356 tackles, a number that moved him into ninth place on Miami’s all-time list.

Now, the linebacker who so often said he wanted to leave his mark in Coral Gables heads to the NFL where he is determined to not only make an impact for his current team, but to carry on the tradition set by some of the Hurricanes greats who played in the League before him.

“I don’t want them to say Shaquille Quarterman went to The U,” Quarterman said. “I want them to say Shaquille Quarterman represents The U. He’s up there with Ray Lewis, Jon Beason, D.J. Williams, Jon Vilma, not just because I went to the school and graduated from there, but because I deserve to be there. That’s been my goal since going to Miami, since committing to Miami.

“If I do what I’m supposed to do and I’m amongst the names on that list, I did something right.”