By The Numbers: 2009 Season Statistics

This blog was written for Canespace by Michael Bradley (MiamiMike01)...

In a year of ups and downs, peaks and valleys and games of feast and famine, this is how our beloved Canes stacked up against the competition in the NCAA and against our ACC brethren.

Miami finished 9-4 overall, 5-3 in the Coastal Division, good enough for third. That third place finish earned a Champs Sports Bowl birth. The Hurricanes finished 19th in both the AP and USA Today polls. All in all it was a slightly disappointing finish for a season that started with so much promise.

Let’s start with what sells tickets and puts the fans in the stands: offense. Sophomore QB Jacory Harris threw for 3352 yards (third ACC, 15th NCAA), with a passer rating of 140.1 (fourth ACC, 30th NCAA). He completed 242 passes out of 406 attempts for a completion percentage of 59.6 while throwing 24 touchdowns (third ACC) and 17 interceptions.

Miami’s rushing attack was steered by Graig Cooper and Damien Berry (both seen above at L signing autographs at the Spring Game that Berry dominated).  Cooper finished the season with 695 YDS and 4 TD’s for an average of 57.9 per game, good enough for ninth in the ACC. Berry accumulated 616 yards and eight TD’s, with an average of 47.4 per game. The overall rushing attack was ranked fifth in the ACC and 70th nationally.

The wide receiver position is perhaps UM’s deepest position. The ball was effectively spread around all season, with every eligible pass catcher except Davon Johnson catching a pass. Junior Leonard Hankerson led the team in every receiving category. His 45 catches, 801 yards and six TD catches are all career highs. His return for his Senior year will benefit the Hurricanes tremendously.  Laron Byrd (seen at R) finished with 33 catches for 460 yards and a TD. Travis Benjamin collected 29 passes, for 501 yards and four TD’s.

Unfortunately the offensive line was one of the biggest disappointments of the season.  Miami’s OL allowed 35 sacks this season. That ranks 100th in the NCAA. Also, Miami allowed 75 negative yardage plays, tied for 60th nationally.

Now let’s shift our attention to what wins championships: defense and special teams.  The Hurricanes finished 29th (NCAA) in total defense (fifth ACC) giving up 329.6 yards per game. The Hurricanes’ rushing defense allowed 122.3 yards per game (third ACC, 32nd NCAA). Miami’s passing defense gave up 207.3 yards per game, good enough for fifth ACC and 43rd in the NCAA. Scoring defense surrendered an average of 22.2 points per game (fifth ACC, 37th nationally).

UM LB Daryl Sharpton finished the season tied for fourth in the ACC with 106 total tackles. Junior LB Colin McCarthy stockpiled 95 tackles (ninth ACC).  Sophomore DB Brandon Harris finished first in the ACC with 15 pass break-ups, averaging a little over one per game.  He also intercepted two passes. Allen Bailey had seven sacks (fourth ACC) and Marcus Robinson earned four sacks (t-16th ACC). Allen Bailey and Colin McCarthy each amassed 11 TFL (t-10th ACC).

Miami Junior kicker Matt Bosher (seen above with OcalaCane) made 14 of 16 FG ATT (third ACC). He also made 50 of 50 extra point attempts (first ACC).  Bosher punted 51 times for an average of 42.5 yards per punt, good enough to be ranked second in the ACC. 

Miami’s kick return unit was led by Cooper and Mike James, with Cooper having 26 returns for 582 yards, a 22.4 average. James had 19 returns for 404 yards, a 21.3 yard average. Thearon Collier had 12 punt returns for 158 yards and returned two for touchdowns.

In conclusion, let’s see how the Hurricanes improved from 2008 to 2009 (all rankings are national). Passing offense improved greatly, going from 77th to 30th. Rushing offense saw a minor gain and went from 78th to 70th. Total offense also reflected the improvement under new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, bouncing from 89th to 45th. All offensive categories from 2009 were an improvement over 2008.

Defensive passing efficiency stayed about the same dropping one spot from 45th to 46th, rushing defense improved from 76th to 32, total defense (yards/game) went from 28th to 29th, and scoring defense jumped from 56th to 37th, another significant improvement over the 2008 statistics.

While Miami didn't finish the season like we all would have liked, there's still reason for optimism around Coral Gables. Shannon (seen here with Canespace blogger 404Cane) will enter his fourth year as Head Coach at Miami with a roster full of his own players and maybe a leader or two he can call rely on to motivate the team. 

Offensive Coordinator Mark Whipple and Defensive Coordinator John Lovett will both be entering their second year at Miami.  It will be their job to improve the skills and strengths of the players on the UM roster while coaching the players to run their respective schemes on offense and defense.

Oh, and remember that #1 recruiting class from 2008?  Yeah, that one.  All of those players will be entering their third year in the program, many of those will be second or third year starters. The roster has been balanced and the depth has also been replenished behind the starters.  It is now time to perform on the field.

Despite the negatives (losing the bowl game, J12's surgery, Cooper's knee and Forston's injuries), I expect the 2010 edition of the Miami Hurricanes to be even better and more explosive on offense. The defense has grown up and there are no more excuses. Bosher is among the elite kickers in the NCAA and I expect his play to garner All-American status.

Look for no less than an ACC Championship Game appearance, which would mark Miami's first. UNC, VT, and FSU are at home. Winning the ACC and returning to a BCS bowl game should be the goal.

Anything less is well, simply unacceptable.

The following sites were used to gather information for this article:

http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?org=415&year=2009&week=19

http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?org=415&year=2008&week=19

http://hurricanesports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2009-2010/teamcume.html

http://www.ncaa.com/statistics/index.html

http://espn.go.com/college-football/

Comments

[solarcane]

yup

[solarcane]

i kill me sometimes

[solarcane]

bg,
did you have this James Wilder up already?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSu0RDMja0A

Posted by: solarcane | January 20, 2010 at 06:59 PM

[shwarma]

bg, this might be crazy talk because of the past, but JP still employed in the NFL?

Posted by: shwarma | January 20, 2010 at 06:22 PM

[Cat 5 Cane]

Rigged!

[miamimike01]

Richard Gordon didn't catch a pass. Forgot to mention him. That looks like the only correction.

[miamimike01]

JP, as in Jarrett Payton?

bg, this might be crazy talk because of the past, but JP still employed in the NFL?

Posted by: shwarma | January 20, 2010 at 06:22 PM

[roachcane77]

Nice work miamimike01... nice of you to include the research links too. (I'm sure your former English teachers would be proud to see you including citations... )

Sort of surprised by the "total defense" stat... we need to get into the top 10 there if we hope to win the ACC and go somewhere BCS-wise.

[bg1906]

bg, this might be crazy talk because of the past, but JP still employed in the NFL?

Posted by: shwarma | January 20, 2010 at 06:22 PM

Its not him John Palermo. Its only being speculated about. My guess was the guy fired by NY Giants, Mike Waufle.

[bg1906]

Also.

Arie Kouandijo says he was told by UM that we didn't have anymore slots. We still have 2 OL visiting (Seantrel Henderson and Shon Coleman) could the staff be hinting at something or just making room for those they feel are exceptional???

Something to ponder...

[Six]

Did Pitt act in Troy? All I saw was his abs....and I must say with a body like that...ok back to bed for me.

Posted by: canechic | January 20, 2010 at 06:19 PM

See Cav, told you that "Troy" was a chick flick

[bg1906]

^^^^Or perhaps they feel Kouandijo is a lock for somewhere other than UM^^^^

Will be an intersting close to recruiting in the next 3 weeks.

Esteban and I plan to do either a video or podcast once he finds the right software to cover the final stages of recruiting. Look for that soon.

[PhillyCane]

The Rock throws up da UUUUUUU on Jay Leno.. seriousness

[bg1906]

Also an insider at Ferman's is saying that Aubrey Hill is kicking major a$$ as a member of the staff in ALL areas (recruiting, coaching, etc).

[Six]

solar - ya, whoever shot and edited that James Wilder Jr. video is the man ... a ruggedly handsome one as well .. and he didn't even have to wear that stupid crossing guard vest that 86 rags on him about

I gotta give props to my boys up at work that helped with the extra footage of Plant High and James Wilder Jr. as well, b/c I really didn't feel like going to EVERY Plant game this past year ... I shot around 20 games total & wanted to go see other teams

I have some good Maurice Hagens stuff too that I'm putting together from the games I shot of him and the Tampa Bay Tech games my co-workers went and shot as well

[bg1906]

Lastly Coach and Aubrey Hill were in VA today and visited with Travis Williams.

[solarcane]

mm,
nice article, you know I like stats.

Stats mean nothing, yea sure...
Then why do we have to know what a kid's 40 is, what his high school record at qb was?
How do you actually tell if you are getting better in comparison to schools of equal talent?

Then you have the
Wins are all that count, don't confuse me with the why or how guys.

[solarcane]

Six, that was good stuff on Wilder and Plant
thanks

I didn't know if Bg and you put it up.
I saw some of your clips but the blog articles change before I can read everything ( its a bych actually working from 7:00 to 4:30 lol!)

[bg1906]

I have some good Maurice Hagens stuff too that I'm putting together from the games I shot of him and the Tampa Bay Tech games my co-workers went and shot as well

Posted by: Six | January 20, 2010 at 07:26 PM

Six I'd really like to see the Hagens footage.

[miamimike01]

Despite the offensive outburst this year in the ACC, our conference is still a defensive league.

I was somewhat surprised by the overall defensive stats myself, just goes to show that our perceptions can be misleading.

If Whip stays (it appears he will), I also expect the offense to take another leap forward. The wildcard here is, as always, the offensive line.

Miami could actually be better and have the same record next season. I don't see undefeated, but if UM is not a factor in the ACC race next year, in November, the season will almost be a failure.

The time is now.

If we see the same results next season, RS may get one more shot to make it work. I'm one of his biggest fans and supporters, but he HAS to deliver something with the words "Title" or "Championship" next to it to keep the fan base pleased and his seat from being warm.

JMO

[Cat 5 Cane]

Mike...
well written,
great stats,
great comparisons from 08 to 09
Great article

leaving only one thing for me to say...

Congrats to Lovett and Whipple for entering as a new DC and a new OC and given the hellacious amount of starters being injured in 09... They did an outstanding job of holding the ship together...

Given the schedule we had... How many where praying for a 9 and 3 season, where most people in the know, were saying 7/5 again or 8/4 at best going into the season!

Looking at it from a different vantage point... Hummm

[canefan3]

Arie crossed us off his list a few days ago. My guess is he is bama bound.

don't think we have a chance with henderson.

From what I have read we have punchers chance with Coleman.

[Calvin]

cav, that seantrel henderson video had alot of good information in it, gave i good inside look into what parents go through in the process and when you got dick weeds like lyin kiffin, oscar cryer, sneaky pete, incomes 305's own randy shannon, whether people like him or not as a headcoach, he's representin what realness is out their. If he wasn't sure if he was going to be here or not, he'd more than likely tell the kids he's recruiting, when you look at the history of UM, no matter who the coach was, a championship was won. That's the irony of it all, since 83, everycoach that's been here won a championship except the one who gets the credit for putting together what's been deemed as the greatest college football team ever in 2001, itch davis.

Other than that, every coach since than has won a championship, we all know davis would have more than likely won one, but fsu got invited and the coaches didn't allow it to happen. Anyway, with that being said, let's go shannon, keep the streak going of headcoaches with championships at UM.

Also, alot of people sleep on shannon and his own conections as well, he knows alot of people out their and got alot of connects, his 1st round of hiring he tried to do it his way and went out and got guys who he felt hurt UM while he was coaching at UM. That was not a bad move, but what he didn't take into consideration was the guys that he felt hurt UM were guys who coached against UM during the UM down years, so when stoutland was the o-line coach at cuse when they put up 60 something points on us, that wasn't a real UM team, and when nix and g-tech were going up against us, those were garbage UM offenses and the defenses weren't the greatest but we were real stout.

Now his second go round he's found a better replacement for pretty much everyone that was let go or left on their own. This next hire/d-line coach, he'll be better than what we had in coach hurtt, and if it's petri, that's a guy who knows how to coach at a championship level, it makes a real big difference when a coach comes in and you look under their resume where it says prominent players coached, you see names lke sapp(1st ballot hall of famer) under it, you can just stop right their, no need in comparing his with coach hurtt's and that's no knock on hurtt, it's just a fact.

A few of us have seen the obvious with hurtt for years now, we were rooting for em, but he never elevated his game. That's why what texasCane was saying made no sense to me about saying ed oregon fired petri, maybe it had more to do with an old axe to grind, couldn't have been because of coaching, that's like someone coming in firing soldinger. Just because you got fired from usc doesn't make you a better coach than a coach that got fired from kentucky, we all know which school has the better talent.

You bring a guy like petri and his coaching style to the talent level and mindset of the players that are being brought in to UM, and you'll see what alot of yall been waiting to see. I luv coaches like petri, guys who are not trying to be headcoaches per say and just focus on being the best d-line coach out their. Their was no doubt hurtt needed help and ith the o-lines and qb's we're going to face next year, no time to be bull-shating around no more talking about guys not doign what they were taught, etc. etc.

[solarcane]

mm,
I said 5 years is fair for Randy to show where he is going to get us.
5 years is right around the corner, we are making nice steady progress.

I'm with you on at least making the ACC champ game.
The Coastal is tough yea, but how long have we been mucking it up in the ACC?
And weren't we the flagship team that would bring football credibility to a basketball conference?

and
1. pre season polls mean nothing

2. Too Young etc. bullsht isn't gonna cut it

[canefan3]

From what I understand John Palermo has traveling restrictions (health related) that prevent him from recruiting. thats why he took the tenn tech job for a year instead of another major coaching job and then to the nfl.

[solarcane]

Vols fan wants to rename waste treatment plant after Kiffin

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/Tennessee-Vols-waste-treatment-plant-Lane-Kiffin-012010?gt1=39002

[shwarma]

I figured Bg, but when I was looking at staffs that were totally let go he seemed like the most obvious name despite the fast(forgot to look at staffs that were partially fired)

[Nashvillecane]

Are there too many hurt feelings to ever bring back soldinger???

[miamimike01]

We all have to remember these things:

A) First year starting QB, who injured his throwing thumb early this year

B) New Offensive and Defensive Coordinators

C) 53 FR. and SO.'s...

... and still went 9-3, when the experts were picking the U (like Cat5 said) 7-5, 8-4, when HEALTHY.

There's still room for improvement, but still room for optimism, too.

It's not time to jump ship, yet. I'm not. And neither should any of you.

I agree, solar, 5 year plan, let's see where we're at and reevaluate.

[Calvin]

From what I have read we have punchers chance with Coleman.
Posted by: canefan3 | January 20, 2010 at 07:36 PM

The thing about henderson though, whether he ends up here or not, i can see him going to osu or even bama reeling him in all of a sudden or even texas. osu though have alot of o-line recruits from the last 2 years who have been developing, we have several o-line recruits only from the last few years, so he'd have a better chance starting here than at osu, you know right now ole nick is going ot be their for at least 2 more years, and sweater vest, as long as he keeps winning the big ten, he'll be alright their.

shannon is coming into a pivotal year for him as far as longevity is concerned. The stats are in shannon's favor, the team has improved every year, and if we're 9 & 3 next year that's good enough for him to keep his job in my book, although we all know 9 & 3 is garbage even shannon knows that but 9 & 3 meant we were only a few players away from being 11 & 1 or undefeated.

Up and down our roster we're just a few developmental players away from winning it all back to back to back. As far as recruiting is concerned, coach hurtt did a hell of job while here but you put barrow in that same spot now, and and with the guys we got on staff, we'll be alright.

Add in a guy petri and that'll sell on it's own, if petri is coming in and corey lem knows that, it'll all make sense why he knows where he's going. A guy like marcus robinson has more ability in him than what we've seen bring in petri if at all possible, i could care less about anybody else right now, plus he's been here before, won't come in with the UM complex(oh these are actually good kids, or the, i'm just glad to be hear complex,, or the their good at Miami already complex, etc. etc.).

He'd just come in, be fired up that he's around more potential 1st round talent again and go get it real quick, petri is a guy that allen bailey needs right now, the eye test is good to pass, but the film test is the real one, allen has to much raw talent that needs to be developed. We'll have several guys that leave UM who'll get better at the next level.

As our coaching staff improves, so will our players, gota have real high competent guys who can recognize in game technique adjustments and communicate that to the players.

[shwarma]

Waufle, is interviewing with Raiders for DC for what its worth (and in that case its very little)

Anyone have a bio on Waufle? Having a tough time finding much about him other than he was recently fired.

[canesfan5]

Hey guys there is a new documentray coming about the stable of runningbacks that came through the U (James, Davenport, Portis, Gore, and McGahee). Its called "A Tale of 5 the documentary." Dont know when its coming out but i cant wait.

Here is the link to the trailer if you havent seen it yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_glo4xdMn4&feature=player_embedded

PS - We need to bring back Don Soldinger!!!!!
_________________

[DrewZ2]

Good article MM01 and i like the link canesfan 5

Look anyway you wanna b!tch about shannon, the guy is improving year to year.. 2 years ago we cracked the top 25 then last year we cracked the top 10 so its getting better and the talent is obviously getting better also

We need to ride this one out for a few more years

[Nashvillecane]

Shwarma, bg, mm01 takin wat arie said about um not having any more spots and and it appears they have 6-7 spot available u guy wanna take a guess on who ends up here??? Not to put yall on the spot jus askin

[Loco]

good article

and mail soup

[shwarma]

Hash

1) One WR who can get grades (Stick/Mireles)
2) A TE who can get grades or gets an offer (Thomas/Swanson)
3) A out of state DT (Brown)
4) A second DL (Lemonier/Ego/Whitaker)
5) One OL (Coleman/Ferguson)
6) A second OL or LB (Jones would be great but I think we lose out)and I havent heard much about Shirley)
7) A wildcard

[shwarma]

meant Nash

[CaniaK aka True Canes]

Why I fired my Secretary.

Last week was my birthday and I didn't feel very well waking up on that morning..
I went downstairs for breakfast hoping my wife would be pleasant and say,
'Happy Birthday!', and possibly have a small present for me.

As it turned out, she barely said good morning,
let alone ' Happy Birthday.'

I thought....

Well, that's marriage for you,
but the kids... They will remember.

My kids came bounding down stairs to breakfast
and didn't say a word.. So when I left for the office,
I felt pretty low and somewhat despondent.

As I walked into my office, my secretary Jane said,
'Good Morning Boss, and by the way
Happy Birthday ! '
It felt a little better that at least someone had remembered.

I worked until one o'clock, when Jane knocked on my door
and said, 'You know,
It's such a beautiful day outside, and it is your Birthday,
what do you say we go out to lunch, just you and me..'
I said, 'Thanks, Jane, that's the greatest thing
I've heard all day. Let's go !'

We went to lunch.
But we didn't go where we normally would go.
She chose instead at a quiet bistro with a private table.
We had two martinis each and I enjoyed the meal tremendously.

On the way back to the office, Jane said, 'You know,
It's such a beautiful day....
We don't need to go straight back to the office,
Do We ?'

I responded, 'I guess not.
What do you have in mind ?'
She said, 'Let's drop by my apartment,
it's just around the corner.'

After arriving at her apartment, Jane turned to me and said,
' Boss, if you don't mind, I'm going to step into the bedroom
for just a moment. I'll be right back.'
'Ok.' I nervously replied.

She went into the bedroom and, after a couple of minutes,
she came out carrying a huge birthday cake ...
Followed by my wife, my kids,
and dozens of my friends and co-workers,
all singing 'Happy Birthday'.

And I just sat there....

On the couch...

Naked

[JCane]

For those who remember or care, I see that Prince Kent has shown for spring drills at Baylor.

FWIW, highly rated OL recruit Eric Mack announced for Auburn today. The relevance is that Shon Coleman, for now at least, is an Auburn verbal. I think Mack is considered a guard, while Coleman likely could be either guard or tackle. Auburn also has three other OL verbals at this point. They have a verbal from a good kicker from the area, too, in Cody Parkey from Jupiter HS. This won't matter if we can bring in Palardy though (and Coleman, too, for that matter).

I still wonder what will happen not only with Buxton, who I suspect goes elsewhere at this point, and Clive Walford. Not hearing much from him in a while, other than of his planned visit to S. Carolina, while hearing of a few TEs visiting the U over the last months is a bit suspicious. Also, since we haven't heard much the last few months about Tavadis Glenn's SAT/ACT scores, one has to wonder about whether his past described subpar scores are still just that, leaving him to go the prep school route or elsewhere (hope not, as I like his attitude). I'm still wondering whether Sticks and/or Mireles can up their scores and qualify. It's clear that Mireles wants to come to the U if he can (or else he would simply EE to Ole Miss already, like his original plan was). On a separate note, I saw a rumor on Rivals about S. Henderson supposedly narrowing down his choices to NDU, Oh. State and the U, along with supposedly getting an ACT score of 17 (which I think would eliminate NDU, as I believe their qualifying score is a bit higher than this, but for OSU you simply need to guess 1 of the 3 letters in ACT correctly!...17 would just make it for us). I think we likely will get a few of the folks who are strongly considering us (ie Shirley, Lemonier...who has said he already decided but hasn't stated where, Henderson, Coleman, Palardy, etc.) but which ones is the $64,000 question. Willis Wright, although a great athletic WR, sounds like he has more academic problems than McCartney or Mireles, and I suspect we've heard little about him because the U probably doesn't see a shot in hell of him qualifying.

[Cat 5 Cane]

Z-2... good stuff!

[shwarma]

Nash I amend my answer as the Wildcard is Palardy or Dixon

[shwarma]

JCane, spot on about Walford and Glenn, though he seems like he could go the Bunche/B-Wash route.

Also, Buxton is James Jackson's nephew or cousin if I recall so even though there have been whispers I am likely to think he ends up here.

[JCane]

Nash:

FWIW, if Kouandjio isn't coming because we have no OL slots left, it makes one go hmmmm. We only have two OL prospects on our board, of those we know of anyway, like S. Henderson and S. Coleman, unless some of the other folks listed as DL or TE are thought of as taking one of these spots. Also, if there is any truth to T. Glenn potentially not qualifying, there is the question whether he was likely to be OL (again, I hope he is a qualifier, as I'd love to see him at the U...and if he doesn't qualify, I hope he goes the prep route and comes next year). If we get either Henderson or Coleman it would be a great pull, and I don't even want to consider getting both (I never thought we had a significant shot at Henderson, but I'm starting to think that we have a reasonable chance...at least 20-30% anyway...just my guess). Also, I still don't see Christian Thomas qualifying, although I hope he pulls up his SAT in his last shot this month, as he may actually have some interest in moving east from Cali.

[Canez1]

Sounds like Buxton is AWOL and TGlenn is an academic casualty.

The Glenn thing pizzes me off. Hopefully he get's his shyte str8 and makes his way back here next year. I like that kid.

GO CANEZ!!!!!

[JCane]

Hey Shwarma:

Just saw your post, and I think we agree about Glenn. Re: Buxton, obviously it's just a guess from my end and you hate to see any bad blood created with ex-players, but then again I don't think we worried much with Ferguson on this (can't say Gore, as it was a different situation).

We truly are looking to load up for years to come with the level of OL recruits we're pulling in, including our first 2011 verbal being a big fella from Vero, Marcus Jackson (I think right now he's supposed to be just under 300 lbs, with a year to go in hs).

[JCane]

We're obviously looking at loading up with big guys on the OL, big/fast RBs and big QBs (I think all of the 2011 offers, as far as we know, are all at least 6'3").

[miamimike01]

Posted by: JCane | January 20, 2010 at 08:38 PM

I'm on it!

[j.w.]

bg- You and I may be hearing the same thing. Not Palermo, but the mystery guy is a former NFL coach who appears to have been fired recently. People who claim to know won't give any info on who this mystery coach is. Speculation is that it is someone from the TB staff, but I didn't know they fired any coaches this year on the Defensive side. The Giants guy sounds more likely, though.

[Canez1]

Shannon in Va. today spent a couple of hours with Travis Williams (he took the visit with Aubrey Hill).

"It went pretty well," Williams said. "My family was asking him questions about the campus and all that. He answered their questions. It was like we already knew him."

Williams is set for his UM visit this weekend.

"We just had a long conversation," Williams said. "He’s a real chill dude. He answered every question I asked. He told me not to put on too much weight - he wants me to come in the 200 range."

GO CANEZ!!!!!

[shwarma]

I guess Randy is worried about Williams putting on the wrong type of wait as I would think we would want these kids to come in as big as possible