Canespace: Legends Of The Fall: Lamar Thomas Part II

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kkThis is the second article in a three part series of our interview with Hurricane Legend of the Fall Lamar Thomas (LT). We recently sat down with LT at The Titanic in Coral Gables and spent some time talking about the glory of past UM teams (Part I), his time in the NFL and current activities (Part II), and the potential of the returning players and new recruits on the 2008 team (Part III).

LT had a spectacular career at UM and left Miami as the Canes leading all-time receiver. He was a star on the Canes 1991 National Championship team a team which outscored its opponents by a 386-100 margin (a differential of 286 points!) in Dennis Erickson's high powered offense. LT was a key part of "The Ruthless Posse" which helped QB Gino Toretta win the Heisman Trophy in 1992.

After his college carrer, Lamar was selected in the third round (60th overall) of the 1993 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. LT would go on to play eight years in the League, three with the Bucs and five with the Miami Dolphins. During his NFL career he would play 73 games and catch 106 passes for over 1500 yards and 10 TDs. In his final and most productive season with the Fins in 1998, he caught 43 passes for 603 yards and five TDs from Hall of Fame QB Dan Marino.

Here is LT as you know and love him...

Canespace (86): You were selected by the Tampa Bay Bucs in the third round of the 1993 NFL Draft. Tell us about that experience?

Lamar Thomas (36): Sam Wyche was the Coach at Tampa when they drafted me. Sam called me to tell me the Bucs were going to take me with their pick and at the time I was like yeah, whatever. I was kind of disappointed that I went in the third round but hey what can I say. After the Bucs drafted me Sam called me back and he asked: "Are there any other players on the Miami team we should take a look at?" I told him right away Horace Copeland; he had the prototype body for a WR. He was shocked. He said "You want us to take another WR. You wouldn't be upset if we take another WR?" I told him no, he's a Cane, he's my brother (in the Hurricane family) and he can play.

He couldn't understand the bond between players at Miami. Well they drafted Horace with another pick and we were teammates in Tampa. I started like the first three games of the season and then Sam called us into his office one day after practice and told us that Horace was going to start the next game. I immediately stood up and high-fived Horace and told him congratulations. Sam was like "This is crazy". He couldn't understand how I could be happy for the guy who took my job. He didn't understand that I love Horace like my brother and I was happy for him. That's the Cane way.

86: You know I have to ask this, so here it is: You were teammates with (former Alabama player) George Teague when you played with the Dolphins. Teague was the player who was on the other end of the now infamous "Strip Play" in the 1993 Sugar Bowl. Did you guys ever talk or laugh about that play?

36: First of all, as a Canes fan, you can understand that we don't like to talk about that game. Let's just say that they were the better team on that night They would have beat us with or with that play (The Strip). But here's a story that nobody knows. One day I was at the Dolphin practice facility and I see Teague drive up in his new Mercedes. So in the locker room I (jokingly) asked him if I could borrow the keys and take it for a drive. So he says sure and throws me the keys. I said are you serious? He says "Yeah, you made me famous, if not for you I may not have that car!" We laughed about it then.

86: Let's talk a little about what you are currently doing. You recently received your degree from UM?

36: Yeah, it felt really good to get my degree. People used to ask me: "When did you graduate from UM?" and I would just say I left there in 1992. Now I can say I graduated. I'm proud of that. I'm taking classes right now and have one class with several (current) players including Marve, Fortson, Spence, Jacory. Those kids are funny, and they are all really good kids. They really want to win trust me on that.

86: We recently saw you at you at several UM baseball games. Your brother is a pitcher for Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona and he recently pitched against Miami in The Regional Tournament at The Light. How did you feel seeing him pitch against the Canes? Were you torn between rooting for your brother or The U?

36: Look, I love my brother and I love The U. When I went to The U that became my family. Watching that game, of course I wanted my brother to do well, but I wanted the Canes to win. You have to understand, I love my University like my family. I love The U.

86: So what's next for LT? What are your goals and plans?

36: Well I have my degree and I'm taking some more classes now (at UM). I liked working in broadcasting and may have some opportunities to do more of that. But I really want to coach at The U. My ultimate goal is to be the WR coach at Miami. Aubrey (new UM WRs coach) is going to be a good coach for the program. He's a disciplinarian, but he's good guy too. I think he can help a guy like (Sam) Shields get the big picture. He's a guy I could play for, I know that.

I also want to be elected into the UM Hall of Fame, that's another goal. I'm willing to pay my dues, and I'm willing to help the program and the Athletic Department any way I can. I want all the fans to understand that I love The U, that's my family right there.

Join us again on Tuesday night at 8 PM for Part III of this series of articles on Hurricane Legend of the Fall Lamar Thomas. LT talks about Coach Randy Shannon, the current Hurricane football team and which individual players to watch out for in 2008. You will be surprised, I promise you that

Comments

I know the All-Florida WS would just KILL MLB ratings, but I don't care! lol
I root for you guys... When you're not playing us ;-)

Posted by: Loco | June 24, 2008 at 08:33 PM

Your right Cooper. Alot of the kids in Dade have serious grade issues. Miami is already sweating out grades this year and they took 32 kids. Imagine next year taking 18 kids and having 4 kids not make it. Obvisously all 3 of the TE commits are not going to the line. Miami desperately needs bodies at that position. Finallly, why would Miami want Berry's commitment if he has very little chance of ever being allowed to enroll.

Posted by: nycanes25 | June 24, 2008 at 09:02 PM

Willingham installed the West Coast offense at Notre Dame in 2002 before Weiss even got there. Bill Diedrick was his O-Coordinator.

Notre Dame wasn't putting up the kind of numbers before Weiss got there with Willingham and Diedrick that they did with Weiss tutoring Quinn and company. Samardzija and Stovall both had less than 22 catches with Willingham -

2004 - Samardzija 17 for 274 0 TDs
2004 - Stovall 17 for 313 1 TD

(no ND receiver had more than 6 TDs, only 1 had more than 4 TDs, only 17 TOTAL TDs through the air)

The 1st year Weiss took over -

2005 - Samardzija 77 for 1249 15 TDs
2005 - Stovall 69 for 1149 11 TDs

(32 Total TD's through the air for the receivers)

2006 - Samardzija 78 for 1017 12 TDs
2006 - McKnight 67 for 907 15 TDs

(37 Total TD's through the air for the receivers)

Quinn had 100 less throws in 2004 than he did in 2005 when Weiss got there.

2004 - 2,586 yards 17 TD's on 353 attempts
2005 - 3,919 yards 32 TD's on 450 attempts
2006 - 3,426 yards 37 TD's on 467 attempts

Weiss have everything to do with their offense.

Posted by: Six | June 24, 2008 at 09:12 PM

Loco - if that All-Florida World Series happened, haha, it would be a death wish on MLB ratings. I'm watching the game right now and the stands are .. well ... unless everyone is dressed like an empty seat, then they're full, otherwise - not so much full.

We can't really draw that well here either at the Trop unless it's a concert night. They've had a few concert nights on Saturdays ..

- Kool % the Gang (yes, people showed up for that)

- Some country singer guy named Trace Adkins? (big crowd for that)

- The Commodores (thought they were dead)

- Gilberto Santa Rosa (no idea)

Next concerts in line after the games,

- FREAKING LOVERBOY on July 5th

- MC Hammer (haha) July 19th

- LL Cool J (not bad) Aug. 2

Other than that though man, the place doesn't really draw like it should. When the Cubs came to town and the D-Rays swept them, the attendance was nuts .. something like an average of 30,000 at each of the games. Even when the Yankees come to town it's not as big as it was ... just proves how big of bandwagon they are. When the Red Sox come to town next week, that place should be nuts - esp. after that punk-azz garbage that Coco Crisp pulled up in Boston charging the mound.

Posted by: Six | June 24, 2008 at 09:21 PM