Lock And Load

From where I stand, it appears that the tide has clearly turned. And no, I am definitely not talking about the Crimson Tide of Alabama. 

I am talking about the incoming tide of top notch coaches and talent at the University of Miami in the last 60 days.

In that very short span of time, since 12/6/21, the Hurricanes have added:

• The athletic director from Clemson
• The head coach from Oregon.
• The defensive coordinator from Auburn/Tennessee.
• The offensive coordinator from Michigan.
• The defensive backs coach from Georgia.
• And a top 15 recruiting class with some serious talent.

So yes, clearly it does appear that the tide is turning in Coral Gables.

Could it be that the University of Miami will actually return to the top of the college football heap? Could it be that the Hurricanes may win the National Championship once again in just a few years?

Could it be that the Miami Hurricanes are locking and loading in the 305?

Yes, it could very well be. And we like that. Yeah, we like that a lot.

Comments

[AeroCane]

Nice
Go canes and as I’ve said many times: Mario will play good, strong, fundamental football, recruit at a very high level and we will be very competitive. I can’t say how far he can take us but my guess is the top 4 consistently. JMO

[58 Straight]

Well, we had Coley and he brought us Evan Sheriffs or someone in that ball park.

Posted by: HerbieIbis | February 07, 2022 at 06:26 PM

Gray Crow > Evan Sheriffs

https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/_/id/530314/gray-crow

[nemo2020]

Double nice.

[nemo2020]

Is Ed Reed still on the football staff?
If yes, in what capacity?

Posted by: nemo2020 | February 08, 2022 at 02:11 PM

Nothing has been reported on Ed Reed yet, but the schools site still has him listed as chief of staff

Posted by: Ohio_Cane | February 08, 2022 at 03:04 PM

"chief of staff" - - - whatever that is.

Thanks OC.

[roachcane77]

"And we like that. Yeah, we like that a lot."
Posted at 05:34 PM | Permalink

Super Mario! Yeah... liking what he's doing... A LOT!

Let's Go CANES! 🙌🏼 🙌🏼 🙌🏼

[HerbieIbis]

Chief of staff for him means meet & greet.

[Terrance Sullivan]

Yeah Daddio Go Canes

[alpine]

"Gray Crow > Evan Sheriffs"
58 Straight | February 08, 2022
the title of the Western you're writing?

[Ohio_Cane]

Kevin Steele wasn't the DC for Tennessee

[Ohio_Cane]

And I'm wrong, I do not remember him being at UT lol

[nemo2020]

Gray Crow > Evan Sheriffs

https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/_/id/530314/gray-crow

Posted by: 58 Straight | February 08, 2022 at 05:42 PM

F Y I, Gray Crow graduated from law school and is now a practicing attorney in Miami-Dace County.

[nemo2020]

Miami-Dade County.
Sorry about the typo.

[MLALUMNI1970]

Chief of Staff means, I think, the head guy over all the football, or sports staff. He is in charge, and I suspect, a big help to Mario. Like I said before, I am going on 74 years old, and can’t wait much longer for the Canes to turn it around. I am so impatient, for a good reason. Need to see some Championships before I croak!! 5 years is too long! What is wrong with THIS year??

[AeroCane]

Steele officially announced today!!

[VA Cane]

I love lock and load...AR-15, Keltec KSG 14 round 12 guage, 45 auto....the sound is sweet music....unfortunately we been loading BB guns..03 to 06...then in response to gun laws....we dropped down to good old safe nerf dart guns...then water pistols were the safe bet.....whewwwww....nothing like weakness....

I hope Mario gonna go back to long range ICBM nukes....show people once again we aint playing around no more...

Ohio he was at UT various times...grad asst, linbackers, dbs,interim HC....so he sure was there....

I think we head into the season strong in skill positions...for most part...to be elite ALL positions must be skill positions...thats how we won 5 titles...I think my biggest concern is like Herbie...OL/DL...and overall fundamentals....but given the time frame...I think Mario did pretty good...this season is a start...give him a little time and games...he should do better...

Think about it....how many players really say Wow...U of Oregon... all time...not too many...but he got a lot of good players...now let him flash the title rings the elites we have had....get the program going...and hear U of M....BIG difference! Sure hopeso...sounds good eh?

[nemo2020]

Chief of Staff means, I think, the head guy over all the football, or sports staff.
Posted by: MLALUMNI1970 | February 09, 2022 at 10:56 AM

Actually, at UM it means "the guy who walks around the sidelines" I think.

[alpine]

Actually, at UM it means "the guy who walks around the sidelines" I think.

Posted by: nemo2020 | February 09, 2022 at 11:41 AM

now THAT made me laugh!

[MLALUMNI1970]

Too funny. But, isn’t Ed Reed Chief of Staff? Hope he brings it, like he did as a player. He was fearless and totally committed to winning, at all costs. Remember his speech to his teammates, how he was hurt and they weren’t bringing it.?
I miss the old days, but look forward to seeing better days ahead.

[Ohio_Cane]

App St OC is coming in as our new QB coach! Mario is a god damn miracle worker. Homerun

[Ohio_Cane]

Sorry, Frank Ponce ^^

[Ohio_Cane]

Appalachian State offensive coordinator Frank Ponce, who was Mario Cristobal's wide receivers coach at FIU from 2007-12, will become Miami's new quarterbacks coach, sources told CaneSport Wednesday.

Ponce will be reunited with the new Cane coach and work aside new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. The agreement came together Wednesday morning after a search that extended to several candidates around the country.

Ponce had to decide whether to give up coordinator duties that he filled very capably at Appalachian State, where the Mountaineers averaged 34.5 points and 441.3 yards per game. Ponce ran a shotgun spread that also used two-back looks. This past season under Ponce, his team ran more than it passed (567 rush attempts, 413 passes),. a philosophy that aligns with the power spread that Gattis is expected to run at Miami and was perfected by Alabama through the years.

The final selling point for Ponce was the chance to work under Gattis, who won the Broyles Award this year as the nation's top assistant, and perhaps evolve into a generational offensive coach at Miami who could become coordinator if and when the rising Gattis moves on to a head coaching position.

He has experience and also has local ties with past high school coaching experience in the area. He was head coach and offensive coordinator at tradition-laden Miami Senior High from 2004-06 and the head coach at Coral Reef High from 2002-03. He began his coaching career with stints as an assistant at La Progresiva Presbyterian School (offensive coordinator - 1992), Coral Gables High (quarterbacks/wide receivers - 1993-96), Miami Northwestern High (quarterbacks - 1998), Miami Central High (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks - 1999-2000) and Miami Killian High (offensive coordinator - 2001). As a coach at Miami Central, he mentored Willis McGahee, who went on to become an All-America running back at the University of Miami and a two-time NFL Pro Bowler.

After his coaching experience in the area it was on to FIU, where coached six of the top 10 receivers in Panthers history during his six seasons with the Golden Panthers. His most notable pupil at FIU was three-time All-American T.Y. Hilton, now a standout with the Indianapolis Colts.

After Cristobal went to Oregon, Ponce found a job at App State as the passing game coordinator/QB coach from 2013-18. In his first season back with App State, quarterback Chase Brice set a single-season program record for passing yards (3,337) and the Mountaineers extended their FBS-leading streak of consecutive years with a 1,000-yard rusher to 10 while averaging 34.5 points per game. The offense helped App State post a 10-win regular season and win the Sun Belt’s East Division title.

Under Ponce’s mentorship at App State once Brice left, QB Taylor Lamb finished his App State career as the school and Sun Belt record holder with 90 touchdown passes. The only FBS quarterbacks in 2017 with career totals of at least 9,000 passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards were Lamb, Ohio State's J.T. Barrett and Louisville's Lamar Jackson. With 27 touchdown passes and six interceptions as a senior, Lamb had the third-best season for an App State quarterback in terms of touchdown-to-interception ratio, and he led the conference in passing efficiency during three of his four seasons.

When Scott Satterfield left App State to become Louisville’s head coach, Ponce joined the Cardinals’ staff. He was Louisville’s quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for two years and in 2019 oversaw the development of Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham, who set the school record with a passing efficiency rating of 194.45 — a number that would have ranked No. 2 nationally with one more pass attempt. Cunningham threw for 4,682 yards with 42 touchdowns, rushed for 1,091 yards with 13 touchdowns and completed 63.6 percent of his throws in his two seasons with Ponce, becoming the only Louisville quarterback to ever have four touchdown passes of at least 75 yards.

This past year Ponce returned to App State as its coordinator, and now it's on to Miami where he’ll get a chance to impart his wisdom to Cane QB Tyler Van Dyke, who starred as a first-year starter at UM this past season, completing 62.3 percent of his passes for 293.1 yards per game with 25 TDs and six interceptions and also develop Jake Garcia and Jacurri Brown.

So yes, Ponce has some tools at his disposal.

Also of note: Ponce is renowned for his recruiting ability, and he was named the Sun Belt’s top recruiter by ESPN.com in 2010.

A native of Miami, Ponce enjoyed a decorated playing career as a quarterback at Miami Senior, where he was the team MVP and a finalist for the 1988 Miami Herald Hispanic Athlete of the Year Award. He went on to become the starting quarterback for two years at Arizona Western College, where he earned an associate's degree in arts in 1990. He earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from Florida International in 1997.
THE PONCE FILE​
Coaching Experience
1992: La Progresiva Presbyterian School (Offensive coordinator)
1993-96: Coral Gables H.S. (Quarterbacks/Wide receivers)
1998: Miami Northwestern H.S. (Quarterbacks)
1999-2000: Miami Central H.S. (Offensive coordinator/QBs)
2002-03: Miami Coral Reef H.S. (Head coach)
2004-06: Miami Senior H.S. (Head coach/Offensive coordinator)
2007-12: Florida International (Wide receivers)
2013-18: App State (Co-Offensive coordinator, Passing game/QBs)
2019-20: Louisville (Passing game coordinator/QBs)
2021-present: App State (Offensive coordinator/QBs)

Playing Experience
1989-90: Arizona Western (QB)
Personal
Alma Mater: Florida International, 1997
Hometown: Miami, Fla.
Birthdate: April 3, 1971

[nemo2020]

Quadruple WOW.

I am super pleased with this new announcement.

UM now has one of the best college coaching staffs in the country - bar none!

And this coaching staff will be a recruiting dynamo - for sure!

[86Cane]

I left out of the article:

The AD from Clemson!

#Lock&Load

[AeroCane]

So when gattis leaves to be a head coach in 2 or 3 years, Ponce should be ready!!

[orange 'n green in the vein]

No Jordan Miller meant Devoe was back to tearing up UM's defenders like he did last year but finally putting together a taller and more overall athletic starting five really unlocked the potential of the team to rip apart zone from inside even as their three point shooting was marginal at best again.

Wouldn't expect Wake to self destruct by putting UM in the bonus with 13 minutes left in the game Sunday though, although it does make it easier if they decide they want to try that strategy also.

[TJL]

Awesome hire Ponce! Finally after years of misery we have a light at the end of the tunnel! On a personal note I write this from Kiev airport have been in Ukraine 🇺🇦 the past week. I was also here last month because my mother-in-law passed away unexpectedly Christmas morning we had the return this week to take care of her property due to the holidays government offices were closed Christmas week point is there’s absolutely nothing going on here I don’t know what the western media is talking about nobody’s digging bomb shelters no panic in this country whatsoever and we were in the eastern part very close to Russia absolutely nothing normal life as usual I think that western media is exaggerating which is not surprising

[alpine]

1- i miss the days when the canes were good at hitting 3's; if they don't get some of that earlier magic back vs teams like wake, gonna be VERY difficult
1a- shout out to waardenberg & walker
2- interesting stuff about ukraine, tjl . . . not so different from a couple opinion pieces i've seen written in the last month by ukrainians
2a- but it's putin we're dealing with, so who knows; fingers crossed for the ukrainians!

[Ohio_Cane]

New DC Kevin Steele speaking in a presser atm. Will post the link later. Not live streamed.

[Ohio_Cane]

OC Josh Gattis presser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sZ226NKnpI

DC Kevin Steele presser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7R7ty07v5Y

[nemo2020]

Alpine, I know that you know this stuff. So, here's my question:
How many ACC teams do you think make it to the Big Dance this year?
Thanks! I respect your opinion, even if you are LSA (Larranaga's Secret Agent).

[nemo2020]

Miami-Dade Mayor Nixes Idea Tropical Park Could Be Used For Canes Stadium

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/not-up-for-sale-miami-dade-mayor-nixes-idea-tropical-park-could-be-used-for-canes-stadium/ar-AATFA1v?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531

[nemo2020]

Betting Expert Ranks His Top 20 College Football Teams For 2022

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/betting-expert-ranks-his-top-20-college-football-teams-for-2022/ar-AATHBkY?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531

1-OhioSt
2-Bama
3-Clemson
4-NCSt
5-Georgia
6-Miami
7-Utah
8-Pitt
9-BYU
10-A&M
11-Iowa
12-Cincinnati
13-FSU
14-Michigan
15-PennSt
16-Texas
17-Wisconsin
18-VaTech
19-TCU
20-Florida

[alpine]

How many ACC teams do you think make it to the Big Dance this year?

Posted by: nemo2020 | February 10, 2022 at 02:12 PM

this is tricky and not my strength, 'cause i don't care enough about it (maybe OGV knows about this)
- from what i've read, ACC is waaay down this year, while the BIG 12 in particular, but a couple other conferences too, are waaay up
- which is bad news, and i think everyone expects only 3-6 teams will make it, with 4-5 being the probable amount
. . . which is why the canes cannot afford losing: DUKE, NC, VA, ND, and WAKE are all crowding us . . . saturday's game at WAKE is mega-big (well, they all are) as is the fact that the CANES lost BOTH of the 1-pointers to FSU
- FSU btw managed to lose their 5th in a row! no idea how, since all but one (WAKE) were to the bottom tier of teams (VA T., GA T., CLEMSON, PITT); leonard hamilton will earn his bucks if he gets them to crawl out of this deep hole

[alpine]

NCSt at #4??!!
4 ACC teams and only 3 SEC teams in the top 10!!??
- i can't imagine anything more welcome nor more fun than a scenario that approximates this !

[Ohio_Cane]

We should NOT be top 10.... Until proven otherwise, we're not even top 25

[86Cane]

New DC Kevin Steele speaking in a presser atm. Will post the link later. Not live streamed.

Posted by: Ohio_Cane | February 10, 2022 at 10:10 AM

Well done OC, well done!

[86Cane]

Mimai at #6 and FSU at #13 is insane.

Pure. Crazy. Talk.

#DudeHasLostHisMind

[VA Cane]

Mimai at #6 and FSU at #13 is insane.

Pure. Crazy. Talk.

#DudeHasLostHisMind
...agreeed....neither team has proven anything....and NCSU that high...no way....somebody got a early bunch of cash from Biden administration plan to provide needles pipes etc to druggies....this cat on serious China White heroin!!!!!!!!..IJS!!!

[HerbieIbis]

#6, say what? Maybe If Mario goes and gets at least one high profile LB, another DT, DE and CB. One more Oh lineman, then Maybe the juice might be worth the squeeze.
FSU needs a boat load, carnival cruise ship type.

[alpine]

Posted by: nemo2020 | February 10, 2022 at 02:26 PM

- will probably be nominated for "best ant pile kick" of 2022
- of course, 99% of canes fans who actually follow the team are shaking their heads and thinking how deeply sad it is, that this "betting man"s kick can only wind up with another pulled football and a landing on his back; squiggly vortexes & stars circling above his head
. . . and yes, lying there on the grass, wind knocked out, the ants will be having a picnic

[KYcane]

kick can only wind up with another pulled football and a landing on his back; squiggly vortexes & stars circling above his head
. . . and yes, lying there on the grass, wind knocked out, the ants will be having a picnic

Posted by: alpine | February 11, 2022 at 02:43 AM

Somebody ring?

[David Mills]

12/6/22 - really? I think you meant 12/6/21

[alpine]

Posted by: KYcane | February 11, 2022 at 08:17 AM

perfection!
open a cold one on me!

[Old Skool]

Just wondering ... Is it pronounced Ponce or Pon- say?

[Ohio_Cane]

I believe it's Ponce

[Ohio_Cane]

Confirmed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QwFBnfHxOo

[Old Skool]

Thanks Ohio

[Ohio_Cane]

Todd Stroud is "Senior Football Advisor" at UM, just FYI. He put it on his twitter recently. Maybe today.

[nemo2020]

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi on Friday listed UM, North Carolina, Creighton and BYU as his last four teams making the NCAA Tournament at this moment, in his view. The field will be announced March 13. The Canes (17-7, 9-4 in conference) play at Wake Forest at 3 p.m. Saturday and have seven regular-season games remaining... UM has one player in the nation’s top 50 in an individual category: Charlie Moore is 31st in steals at 3.12.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article257878413.html#storylink=cpy

[86Cane]

FSU needs a boat load, carnival cruise ship type.

Posted by: HerbieIbis | February 11, 2022 at 12:36 AM

Made me actually LOL!