The Birth Of A Man And A Miracle

Sean Michael Maurice Taylor was born in Miami on April 1, 1983.

Perhaps by fate, maybe by coincidence, it was later that same year that the University of Miami, behind a quarterback named Kosar and coach named Schnellenberger, would win their first college football National Championship by beating heavily favored Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

That game, which put the UM program on the big-time college football map, has often been referred to as the "Miracle in Miami".  Sean's Taylor's birth in April of that year could also be seen as a miracle for what this young man would soon bring to this team and its fans in his home town.

Sean would grow up in a tough South Dade neighborhood and later attend Gulliver High School where he would help them win the Class 2A State Title and become the #1 ranked prep player in the County by the Miami Herald.  Sean was so dominant at this level that he played multiple positions including running back, linebacker and defensive back for that team.

After a spectacular Senior season and a hotly contested recruiting battle for this star athlete, Sean decided to attend the University of Miami. It would prove to be somewhat ironic that Sean would be one of only four true freshmen to play in 2001 on the Hurricanes fifth National Championship team.

Even at this early stage, Sean's life had seemingly come full circle.  From being born during the Miracle in Miami season of 1983 to contributing to what was arguably the best UM team ever in 2001.  Sean Taylor had already become a hometown hero and would soon become a true legend in the 305.

As Junior at UM in 2003, after beating FSU at Doak Campbell Stadium in the pouring rain seemingly all by himself, Sean would win a slew of college football awards. And believe me, he earned every one of them.

After that amazing season, Sean decided it was time to take the next step and would choose to leave Miami for the NFL draft.

He would be the first of six Canes selected in the first round that year (an NFL record) when he was drafted fifth overall by the Washington Redskins.

By 2006 there was no doubt that Sean Taylor had become the dominant player at his position and was honored by being selected to the NFL Pro-bowl that year.  Nicknamed "Meast" by teammates for being part man, part beast, Sean would become one of the most feared hitters in the NFL.

Entering his third year as a Redskin, Sean seemed to be at the top of his game and the NFL talent pool.  By the tenth week of the NFL season he was tied for the league lead in interceptions and was considered an automatic selection for his second straight Pro-Bowl.

Then came the fateful night of November 26, 2007.

Sean Taylor, while at home asleep with his wife and 18 month-old daughter, awoke to a noise in his home. In an effort to protect his family, Sean confronted the would-be burglars. He was shot once and would later die from the severe loss of blood as his femoral artery was torn apart by a single bullet.

That night would end the life of a real Hurricane hero.

Sean Taylor's sudden and tragic death shocked his family, friends, teammates and the Hurricane faithful.  When he died the day following the shooting, we promised to never forget his contributions to the University of Miami.

This blog article is our simple way of proving that we have not forgotten Sean Taylor, #26, who played at The U and was proud to wear the orange and green.

As we look back, some memories and images simply never fade.

Even now, if you close your eyes, you can probably still see him, #26 back peddaling into open space, picking off another deep pass, splashing through the rain and the mud at the Doak, weaving down the field behind several blockers, refusing to be denied and diving into the end zone for a pick six.

That is how we will choose to remember Sean Taylor. 

As a miracle of a man who at times seemed to be the only player on the field completely capable of beating the other team all by himself.

Comments

[Native]

Holy Blazing Saddles Batchman its Hedley Louis.

[solarcane]

Shall we designate Mallory as a "King of Spring"?

Posted by: 86Cane | April 05, 2019 at 09:27 AM

I agree a bit with Windy.
Mallory plays hard and the coaches love him. He is going to be on the field a lot in the new offense,

I dont know that Mallory will be the king of spring, I would put my money on Jeff Thomas or Shaq .

[BigWindyCane1]

I dont know that Mallory will be the king of spring, I would put my money on Jeff Thomas or Shaq .

Posted by: solarcane | April 05, 2019 at 11:08 AM

Jeff Thomas and Shaq might be some of the best players in the fall, but I wouldn't be suprised if CMD limits their play in the spring game to prevent injuries.

Mallory should do well this spring, but I hope it carries over to the Fall because IMO he can make plays for this Canes offense under Enos.

[solarcane]

Windy,
I think Shaq is more or less the captain of the entire team, he came back because of Manny, they love each other.
I think Manny will use him to get vocal with the younger players. Somebody has to step up at linebacker or we are cooked there next year.

You could be right about Thomas not playing much, they know he is a franchise player.

[Go Canes!!]

All the Mallory talk further confirms how stacked this team compared to its competition this year.
M

[solarcane]

Some Manny

Manny Diaz’s vision for Miami football emphasizes integritity
by Alan Rubenstein 53 minutes ago Follow @UARuby
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During his speech at the Brian Piccolo Awards in Coral Springs on Thursday night, Miami football coach Manny Diaz emphasized his vision for the Hurricanes future revolves around integrity.
Playing on the Miami football team means certain standards. Only Alabama has won more national championships than the Hurricanes since their first title in 1983. Miami football head coach Manny Diaz emphasized the importance of living an honest, truthful life as the values he wants to install with his team.

Creating a culture is essential when any new coach takes over. Despite being the defensive coordinator for the Miami football team under Mark Richt, the culture Diaz is creating in very different than Richt’s. Diaz is far more active and entertaining on social media. He clearly wants to create the image of a player’s coach.

Diaz gave a riveting speech at the Piccolo Awards honoring high school senior football players in South Florida as cited by Christy Chirinos of the Sun Sentinel.

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“What was important for me to realize, I had to come up with some very tangible values that if you play football for the Miami Hurricanes, that you knew that this would be the standard that you’d be upheld to. And these are things that we would take ourselves very seriously on … the way we define this is not what we aspire to be.

There’s always the sort of high and mighty things we all aspire to be. But look at it this way — if you really want to know who you are, what’s the one thing you couldn’t take? What’s the one thing that would drive you crazy if someone described you in this way?

If you find out what that is, you’ll find out what’s important to you. We found out there were five things that were non-negotiables that our football team has to be judged by on every day and the guys that play football for us have to be judged by every day and they’re all measurable.

What I’d encourage you to do is to find some things you can measure that you can live by every day that you can say, ‘Right now, in this time of transition, I know who I’m going to be going forward and I know I can define myself by these things.’

For us at Miami, No. 1 is integrity. Integrity. What if they say you don’t have integrity. What do you have? Nothing. You have nothing. What’s the first word that pops in your mind when you talk about integrity? It’s usually what, honesty? Truth. Telling the truth. That’s all a part of it. But there’s more to it than that.

And this is especially true for your age — integrity is being truthful to yourself. You guys are growing up with things we in the back of the room never grew up with. You live a life based off of numbers. The numbers of likes, the numbers of retweets, the number of followers, the number of “friends.”

You live in a world that encourages you to be defined by the definitions of others. One of the great speakers who came up here tonight actually had a quote on that and how foolish that is. Be truthful to yourself. It’s important that we are who we say we are and we do what we say we’re going to do.

For us, at UM, the worst thing we can ever be called is a fraud. That’s the dirtiest word someone can ever call you. A fraud. We all run our own race. But you have to win your race and the biggest way you lose respect is when someone finds out you’re really trying to run someone else’s race.

Run your own race, win your own race, that’s integrity…We want to be men of great integrity. Second, we want to be men of great toughness. It’s very important that we have toughness. With football, the first thing everyone thinks about is physical toughness. And there’s no doubt that’s a part of it.

But much, much more important is mental toughness. How resilient are you? Do you persevere when things get difficult? Those are traits right now in very, very short supply. That’s why you need the great coaches in the back of the room. At some point, they’ve pushed you. … That’s called being resilient.

Resilience is a muscle. It has to be worked out like any other muscle in a gym. You have resilience, that’s why you’re sitting here today. Don’t stop exercising that muscle. It will give you a competitive advantage in the world, I promise you that.

So, we want to be men of integrity, we want to have great toughness and we have to have great passion. Nothing great in life has ever been accomplished without enthusiasm. We at the University of Miami should play football with passion. We live in a passionate city.

People spend their hard-earned money to come down and vacation here. Why? They want to listen to our music. They want to dance in our clubs. They want to go to the beach. They want to breathe in our culture.

Our culture, our community is one of passion. It only stands to reason that the Miami Hurricanes should play with passion. The people here, we want to see our team play with passion. That’s no different beyond the sport of football.”

Diaz’s final two pillars were competitive excellence and passion. Richt and the Miami football team were often criticized for lacking passion last season. Those that know Richt privately say he is inwardly competitive. Former Atlanta talk show host John Michaels who covered Richt when he was at Georgia frequently criticized Richt’s stoicism.

Diaz has reset how the Miami football program will be conducted during his tenure. He and Richt worked together well but have very different personalities. Diaz is open and outgoing, while Richt is more conservative and reserved. Both expect integrity from their players.

When rising junior wide receiver Jeff Thomas wasn’t living up to unspecified expectations last season he wound up not playing in the last two games of the 2018 Miami football season. Diaz has welcomed Thomas back but he will be expected to be a key contributed on and off the field in 2019.

NEXT: Manny Diaz wants toughness, fun and Miami players playing hard
Miami was resilient and mentally tough during the 2017, 10-3 season. The Hurricanes had several comebacks and close victories that other teams might have lost. Being mentally tough in a close game is essential. It’s often the difference between winning and losing. Miami’s four 2018 regular season losses were by a total of 30 points.

[solarcane]

Windy, the Rock digs your boy too

Dwayne Johnson
@TheRock
·
Thanks for rockin’ my #94
@LouHedleyy
.
Look forward to that workout one day. In the meantime, welcome to the U, keep disrupting and always be the hardest worker in the (MF’n) room.
#TheU #94

[NativeCane]

Canes hardballers playing the first of 3 game series against Noles.
No score, top of the 3rd.

[NativeCane]

No score top of the 5th.

Would love to see bitter Mike Martin lose his last series in Miami.

[NativeCane]

Alex Toral Grand Slams after Mike Martin trip to the mound, bottom of 5th, one out.
4 zip, Canes

[NativeCane]

Bases loaded again, Martin to the mound again.

[NativeCane]

Zamora with 2 run single.

6-0 Canes

[NativeCane]

Gill with RBI single

7-0

[NativeCane]

2 run double by Gates

9-0

[NativeCane]

Canes bring in bullpen catcher to bat in 10th run.

[NativeCane]

Evan Mckendry pitched 7 innings, 98 pitches, no runs. Mantilla in relief.

[Terrance Sullivan]

Great Work Native. Our Canes need to win this series badly.

[NativeCane]

11-0

[NativeCane]

Enjoying Dos Equis and a Canes win.

I don't always watch Miami and FSU Baseball but when I do... Canes Win... Canes Win!

[NativeCane]

They looked great tonight T, great bats, great gloves, great pitching!

[NativeCane]

FSU looked inept and I almost felt sorry for them.... No that's a lie I would never feel sorry for them if we beat that azz a million times in a row.

[JCane]

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than a combination of a Miami sweep and FSU not making the post season in baseball this year. Call me small, but I do not want to see miami's 44 year record streak be broken by FSU.

[solarcane]

Enjoying Dos Equis and a Canes win.

I don't always watch Miami and FSU Baseball but when I do... Canes Win... Canes Win!

Posted by: NativeCane | April 05, 2019

CLASSIC!
Stay thirsty my friend

[86Cane]

Look forward to that workout one day. In the meantime, welcome to the U, keep disrupting and always be the hardest worker in the (MF’n) room.
#TheU #94

Posted by: solarcane | April 05, 2019 at 06:47 PM

Video GOLD, that is what that will be.

#PureVideoGold

[86Cane]

I don't always watch Miami and FSU Baseball but when I do... Canes Win... Canes Win!

Posted by: NativeCane | April 05, 2019 at 09:59 PM

LOVE THIS!

Time to eat a big steak?

[86Cane]

NEW BLOG IS UP!