23 Gators pinched on The Myth's watch, yet UM is Thug U

Dave Hyde had a great piece in the Sun Sentinel that I wanted to pass along. Miami fans oft scream "double standard" regarding the lack of criticism to come down on other state powers who run amok. The very talented and unbiased Mr. Hyde does a great job pointing out what so many others are afraid to say. Check it... and oh yeah, stay class Gators:

Sure, the e-mails are coming. I knew they would. Several a day. A couple of dozen in a week.

When a Florida State football player was arrested Tuesday for an incident involving a woman getting hit with a chair last November, a University of Miami fan wrote:

"If a Miami player did that, we'd be Thug U all over again ..."

When a Florida player was arrested last week for punching a man after trying to enter the victim's apartment, a Miami fan wondered why Urban Meyer wasn't being questioned about his 23rd player being arrested in four years.

"And don't tell me that winning cures all, because Miami was drilled by the media ten times as much when they won," the e-mail said.

All true. All fair. At least as far as it goes. There's a triple-standard being applied to the three state teams, at least if you only look at the time since Randy Shannon became coach more than a couple of years ago.

It's most pronounced by Florida and Miami. The arrest record in that span is about the same as the score on the field between these teams: Florida 15, Miami 1. And the one for Miami was freshman Robert Marve breaking a car mirror.

In the interim, Florida players have punched women, stolen property and been involved with guns and drugs. Yet nobody on ESPN is so much as reporting this. Nobody at Sports Illustrated is saying the Florida team picture should be taken from the front and the side.

Nobody at all is suggesting the University of Florida's championship luster should be dimmed even a little over the past four years by the arrest of 23 football players.

There's a hard lesson in this for Miami fans, and a harder warning for Florida fans. It's not as easy as the big, bad media picking on the Hurricanes, either. It's something you're told early in life: Once you lose your reputation, it's hard to get back.

Florida State has had its issues, but its national reputation isn't nearly as scarred as Miami's.

Miami lost its reputation, fair and square. There can't be any revisionist history here. This dates to 1986 when there were fights, arrests and phone-card frauds that involved 40 players.

In following years there was a Pell Grant scandal, the covering up of Warren Sapp's drug test and a rap star allegedly offering money for big hits on opponents. Even after Butch Davis calmed the waters, there came incidents that took the national story on a different, sensational tact: The murder of two players and an ugly brawl with FIU.

Did the players' murders, even if they were the victims, play into some national image of Miami? Sadly, yes. Was the brawl video overplayed? Sure.

But a couple of quiet years under Shannon can't completely erase years of issues. They help explain why I hope Shannon succeeds at Miami, though.

He is trying to show that winning and behavior aren't tied together. That's the cliche: On-field success and bad off-field behavior have a direct relationship.

Miami provides this warning to Florida: You're one ugly story or video moment from turning those 23 arrests under Meyer into national fodder. He better get a handle on this.

He has brought in lecturers to talk to the team. He says he's leaned on assistant coaches.

"There's not a day that goes by that we don't discuss all of the issues, the potential issues, that are out there," he told The Gainesville Sun.

"We've had a few of them, but we're getting a little better."

Last week's arrest marks the fifth Gator arrested in a year. That's better? No one expects a perfect mark. These are college kids, after all. But the way things are going, maybe Meyer should try something different before his school's reputation changes.

Maybe he should pick up the phone.

Maybe he should call Randy Shannon.

Bruce Feldman talks with Randy Shannon...

Bruce Feldman did a recent Q&A with Randy Shannon on ESPN.com which I'm poaching and posting here. It's that good and I think the haters need to read it.


Q: What do you see as the biggest reason why the program went into decline the past few years and also saw the end of Miami's record run of first-round draft picks?

Shannon: It's the recruiting aspect of it. You have to make sure you recruit the right type of players that fit what you do offensively and defensively. That's when you'll get back to where you have players drafted like that. Sometimes you can make a mistake by recruiting players just because he is "a name" or he's considered a "top-10" or "top-5" guy. Well, that may look good on those recruiting reports, but when it all comes down to, are you winning, that makes more difference than anything. You have to recruit the right type of players.

Look, I was here for almost everybody. I was recruited by [Howard] Schnellenberger. I played for Jimmy [Johnson]. I coached with Dennis Erickson, so I've seen the transition. I coached with Butch Davis when we got it back going, and then I coached with Larry Coker.

With Butch, we identified players that we felt were great athletes that we could play at different positions. When Edgerrin [James] came in, we tried him at receiver. He finally went to running back. We got Santana Moss. Nobody knew about him, but he fit what we needed because he was a fast guy that had great hands and was explosive and a tough kid. Dan Morgan was a free safety/running back in high school, but he was an athlete. Jon Vilma was a tight end/linebacker. We found tough athletes and realized those were the guys that made a difference. And that's what we're doing now. Finding athletes that can do more than one thing out of high school, and then when they come here, they'll be better players.

Q: Is it simply doing more legwork and being more thorough as you evaluate not only how tough and athletic they are but also the character side of things?

Shannon: It's being on guys earlier and really having people at the school you trust. You do not want to take a great player who will be detrimental to your team. You have to be very careful now, especially with the APR and the way everyone is on coaches about making sure you don't bring in the wrong players who represent the school in a negative light.

I insist on all of our guys making sure we talk to everybody we can. It may be a janitor at the high school. It may be a counselor. It may be a regular student. Anybody that you can talk to so you can find out the information on a kid to find out, is this the right person? Is he going to be passionate about playing football? Is he going to represent your university well? That's the key.

Q: I remember hearing [Butch Davis' right-hand man] Pete Garcia saying that after the probation that you guys had to make sure you had strong leadership within the locker room so that it could police itself, and then after that maybe then you could roll the dice on a borderline guy with the thinking the team will have an influence on that player. Do you think at one point the program may be strayed too far from that?

Shannon: My first year as the head coach we just didn't have many leaders. We had "guys." They were all friends, but no leader to really step up like an Ed Reed would or a Dan Morgan or a Santana Moss would. When I was a player here, we had Jerome [Brown]. Or when [Micheal] Barrow played here, he was a leader. We're getting that now. Jason Fox is a leader. Jacory [Harris] is a leader. Sean Spence has that. Randy Phillips has that. We've got a mixture now that want to be part of it. When you see that your team doesn't have that, when it can't police itself from the inside to making sure the locker room is clean, make sure guys are showing up on time for classes and for everything, then you know you've got to change up how you're doing the evaluations.

Q: When you're signing 25 kids, do you look at your recruiting board and see who those guys probably are?

Shannon: To be honest, these last two years we've done a great job with that. My first year, we got [CB DeMarcus] Van Dyke and a couple of players here and there, but we really just had a month to put it together. But since then, I think we've done a great job of hitting on the right kids. You see it at receiver. You see it with Sean Spence. You see it with Marcus Robinson. You can go to any position on the team and you see that we did hit on some real good kids that are hard-nosed, that love UM, want to work and you won't have to worry about any problems.

Q: From interviewing top college players around the country the past year or two, I hear about how a lot of kids grew up as Miami fans at first but then shifted over to other schools as they move into the recruiting process. When you hear that, what do you think?

Shannon: A lot of people say when we recruit them, "Ah, I always loved Miami." Well, the hardest part is really getting people to understand where Miami is located. Some kids and parents think we're right in the middle of Liberty City. They don't understand we're in Coral Gables. They don't understand that Miami is a private school, that we only have 8,000 students. They think Miami is 40,000 students. That perception you have to knock down real quick.

If we can get the parents on campus with the kid at the same time, I think we have an 80 percent shot that we're gonna get him.

Q: When you first got the job, some of your rules got a lot of attention, especially your mandate that your players could not have any guns. You've got a reputation as a strong discipline guy, but the pressure is building to get Miami back to the days of contending for national championships. How connected are these two things?

Shannon: The wins will come. The thing I always believed is that when you have distractions, it's very hard to win because you're fighting other battles instead of coaching and your team sticking together. The wins will come. I think we have 56 freshmen and sophomores on this team. That's unheard of. And out of that 56, probably 38 to 40 of them are going to contribute. We've got a senior class and then these freshmen and sophomores. There is a big drop-off between. We have only about eight juniors.

Q: If you didn't have the two new coordinators, where your opponents are probably more in the dark about what they might see early, would you be more worried about having to open with those first four games [at FSU, against Ga. Tech, at Va. Tech and against Oklahoma]?

Shannon: I'm pretty excited about it. [Former UM defensive coordinator] Bill Young was great, but he went back home to his alma mater. He's probably going to retire at Oklahoma State. [Former UM offensive coordinator Patrick] Nix is a good coach. I felt we just needed to get something else going. I hired coach [Mark] Whipple because he's a great offensive mind, and he's also a great quarterback coach, so he could work with Jacory. And on defense we got John Lovett, who has that experience, and he knows the ACC. They bring a lot to the table, and the players see that.

I go back one year ago and I didn't know what was going to happen because we had so many young kids we had to depend on. Right now, I'm thrilled to death. I'm excited about what we have going into next season. The players are much more experienced, and they're much better athletes going into the season.

Q: How did the players here handle the end of the first-round draft streak?

Shannon: The players on the team took it as a challenge. Most Cane fans probably were shocked but then the reality hit: The program had probably got worse than what everybody thought it was. I mean we had one guy drafted [LB Spencer Adkins] and maybe three guys get free agent contracts out of maybe 18 seniors.

Q: And that recruiting class had a pretty high ranking when it was signed …

Shannon: See, that's what I'm saying. You have to be careful of going about rankings and what's on the board instead of going after players. We've been fortunate the past two years. We got players now, but they were all young and we had to play them. A lot of people get on me for playing them so early, but they were still our best players.

Q: How many guys do you suspect might become first-round picks in the 2011 draft?

Shannon: You probably could have four. In terms of the NFL draft, 2011 and 2012 will be big years for us.

Q: What kind of similarities do you see to when you get the head coaching job and to when Butch Davis came in?

Shannon: Back then, we still had four or five players. We had Ray Lewis, Kenard Lang, Kenny Holmes and Duane Starks, so we won nine games, but when we ran out of those guys, we had nobody. We went 5-6 and had to play Santana, Reggie Wayne, Dan, Damione Lewis when they were so young. That's what we had to do in 2008 and we went 7-6. It's kinda like the same situation. After we went 5-6, then we went 9-3, then 11-1 and then we won it. Well, we as a team feel like we should be a whole lot better than 7-6 next year.

Q: What would it take to win the ACC this year?

Shannon: Luck. And what I mean by that is we have to stay injury-free. Jacory cannot get hurt. We have to bring the second-team QB around, and the offensive line and linebackers have to stay healthy. We gotta get more depth. Our first-team offensive line is full of seniors and juniors and then behind them are guys who haven't played a snap. We don't have that third-year sophomore who has played some. All we need are two guys to come around. Right now, there's a gap. Now that's not supposed to happen in a program, but that's called rebuilding.

Whipple: The Reason For Optimism This Season

While perusing ESPN.com earlier, I saw "Cane Mutiny" author Bruce Feldman’s pre-season Q&A. I scrolled for a Canes-themed question and finally stumbled upon one asking about Miami's shot at an ACC crown. Feldman didn’t discount it, going as far as quoting strength coach Andreu Swasey as saying, "it feels a lot like it did 7-8 years ago when you had all these explosive athletes ready to take off."

While I'm not quite Swasey-esque and willing to compare the ’09 Canes to the ready-to-explode talent of ‘01-‘02, there’s definitely reason for optimism. Contrary to negative opinion, Miami is going to turn some heads this season.

Those of you not quite willing to believe, I get it. This fan base has been burned lately and burned often. Teased in ‘03 by a supposedly 'famished' team, hungry to re-reach their third straight title game and falling short. (Where was that hunger in Blacksburg or the second half against Tennessee?)

A pre-season top ten team in 2004, on OT thriller over the Noles, a 6-0 start... only to limp to a 9-3 finish year one in the ACC.

An eight-game win streak after a season-opening loss at FSU. Ranked #3 in the country mid-November and a month later on the wrong end of a 40-3 bowl game beat-down.

Kirk Herbstreit called Miami a dark horse in the National Championship race when 2006 kicked off. A few new coaches on board courtesy of LSU, yet the same result – a second straight Labor Day loss to Florida State.

Thumped at Louisville thanks to some immaturity and false bravado. A brawl against FIU and an almost-loss a week later at Duke. The murder of Bryan Pata and two especially painful road losses.

After dropping four straight, the lone bright spot - a win over BC on senior night. Pata was recognized, honored and his spirit willed UM to a win that looked impossible after a disastrous first half.

The consolation prize; New Years in Boise and an eventual 7-6 record, making for the longest off-season in recent memory. Larry Coker literally found a way to take Miami to a darker place than Tony Russell and a Pell Grant scandal did a decade prior.

Those quick to question Randy Shannon and looking to turn up the heat year three? Re-refer to the 2006 break down a few paragraphs and rethink that.

The Shannon Project is barely 2 1/2 years underway and the clock just started ticking. The foundation has been laid and new coach’s sophomore campaign showed promise. Could've easliy been 10-3. Could've again been 5-7. Games were that close.

A Thursday night win over Virginia Tech, proved the Canes biggest win in three years. Same foe, different venue and less on the line - but an important step forward in the overall growth process.

Defensively, Miami showed it had the potential to ‘bring it’... just not consistently. Offensively, identity-less, inconsistent and for the most part, ineffective.

The Canes haven't truly clicked on O since Kellen Winslow II's would-be game-winning Fiesta Bowl touchdown. Ken Dorsey proved irreplaceable and a year later, Brock Berlin had an up/down year under his belt while Rob Chudzinski was lured to Cleveland to coach tight ends for Butch Davis.

A few months later, an undeserved in-house promotion for quarterback coach Dan Werner. The result - a two-year 18-6 run for a program coming off a 46-5 stretch. Werner’s eventual firing led to the short-lived Rich Olson/Todd Berry era – Olson, pushed on Coker because the admin didn’t have faith in Berry, a Coker buddy from his Oklahoma State days. The retread and the newbie, a complete and utter disaster when attempting to join forces and run an offense.

Four years after the first chink in the armor surfaced, it was officially time to clean house. Miami canned Coker; a first time head coach and lifelong signal caller who ironically enough was did himself in by not finding a quality offensive coordinator. 

Shannon was hired and eventually settled on Patrick Nix, a risky experiment nipped in the bud after two seasons. A lesser coach gives Nix one more shot to revamp the offense. Shannon cut bait, started fresh and reeled in a big fish.

The Canes former defensive coordinator made Miami’s biggest offensive splash in two decades; the hiring of Mark Whipple. If at first your fifth choice, no name OC doesn't succeed... try, try the NFL.

Whipple's resume isn't Olson-esque, an NFL assistant landing where his buddies hire him. Atop Whipple's ‘has-done’ list, helping mold Ben Roethlisberger and most recently, getting Donovan McNabb back on track with his best showing since 2004. McNabb threw for a career-best 3,916 overall yards, with a 23-to-11 TD/INT ratio. Philly coach Andy Reid offered a promotion to keep Whipple, knowing the fifth-year quarterbacks coach would turn him down.

"I've learned a lot and I want to put it to work," Whipple told Reid. The successful quarterbacks coach missed calling plays.

A riverboat gambler-type in his six-year stint as head coach at UMass, Whipple possessed a devil may care attitude too brash for a team leader, but the man knows how to run an offense and develop a quarterback. Two things the University of Miami has been void of for over half a decade. Whipple is the Canes' missing link.

That intangible that kept a ‘pretty good’ Berlin from being ‘great’. The skills to make sure "can't miss" five-star Kyle Wright doesn't miss. A resume to lure in better prospects, especially if he works his magic with Jacory Harris; the type of superstar who grew up on the hometown and wants to make a difference – something the Canes thrived off during all those championship runs. Whipple is the remedy to all of that.

Harris/Whipple has potential that Miami hasn't seen in forever. Dorsey was phenomenal, but don't confuse Rob Chudzinski's offensive prowess with the fact the '01 Canes were as loaded as loaded could be. (A year later, where was the game plan when Ohio State's defense came to play all night long?)

The last time Miami boasted a tandem with this much going for it, rewind two decades to the Steve Walsh/Gary Stevens era or Craig & Dennis Erickson show.

I’m not drawing a comparison before the season's first play has been called. It's simply a statement. On paper, Miami is inching their way back. Offensive needs are being addressed and it's high time the Canes are get back to high-spirited offensive performances.

Hard to be brash and full of (that overused-yet-relevant-here) "swagger" when a beat-down defense is grinding out 16-14 wins, picking up the slack for an incompetent offense for half a decade now.

You want to fill a stadium? Find this generation's "Thrill Hill". Put that ball in the air and make some plays. For God sake, we're talking about an offense where receivers used to print "BOMB SQUAD" on their hand towels.

The Dink-N-Dunk era is over. Miami will soon again be flying high and lighting up scoreboards. The defense finally gets its chance to feed off the other guys. Playing with a lead or knowing you can score at will - that's when you see a defense loose and making plays. That's when you get you turnovers. When it's "feel" and not "forced".

We're a long way from knowing where this season will wind up and for the skeptical folk, I get it. I don't choose to see it that way, but I understand why you're not sold. You have valid reasons for not buying in just yet. That said, at least acknowledge the potential of Harris/Whipple. Give Randy credit for the hire and recent recruiting haul-ins.

Wide receivers galore, all entering year two after a hit-the-ground-running freshman campaign. Depth at running back and a beefed up line, offensive coordinator and quarterback are looking at the most talented squad since '02.

Nowhere near that level of talent, but nowhere near 2006, either. (Oh Kirby where art thou?)

Skeptics, you have your first reason to believe. Proceed with caution if you choose, but get back on board. This ship is officially back on course.

Robert Marve chooses... Purdue

Word is that Robert Marve will be a Boilermaker by week's end. It came down to Purdue and Tennessee, with Marve deciding against walking on in Knoxville and sitting a year before getting his shot in West Lafayette come 2010.

I know some Miami fans are tired of hearing Marve's name. I'm right there with you. That said, it's a story and it needs to be understood that a percentage of Cane fans simply aren't going to "get over it".

When Marve came aboard, he was welcomed with open arms; an instant member of the U Family. He sat out year one due to injury, but was thought to be the next great Miami quarterback. He had an erratic up and down redshirt freshman campaign, never doing enough to solidify the starting gig, allowing Jacory Harris to get a foot in the door as a true freshman.

Marve got in trouble with the law, he didn't get it done in the classroom and when faced with adversity, he not only turned tail and ran - but he and his family badmouthed UM and Randy Shannon on their way out.

For those who are 'over' the Marve saga, good for you. But don't expect others not to be caught up in the soap opera. The same way you'd keep tabs on an ex lover and take an ounce of joy in finding out things aren't going so swell for them - it's comparable to how some fans feel about Marve, who basically left the Canes at the altar. Understand that when you're quick to tell your fellow fan to 'move on'.

One last parting shot from the allCanesBlog.com. I hope the fine educators at Purdue can teach Robbie a thing or two about geography. Last I checked, West Lafayette is about 1,100 miles from Tampa and Coral Gables is a good 275 miles from the Marve casa.

For a kid who wanted to move closer to home for his ailing dad, Indiana is hardly a neighboring state. I'm just saying... 

Bailey ranked No. 2 "workout warrior" by ESPN.com

ESPN ran a piece today called "College footbal's top workout warriors" and writer Bruce Feldman ranked the Miami Hurricanes' defensive tackle Allen Bailey second on his top ten list. Check it:

2. Allen Bailey, Miami, DT: On a wall inside the UM football offices are the team bests for each exercise by position. When you get to defensive linemen, almost all you see is one Bailey head shot after another. Some UM fans have taken to calling him "Freakzilla," thanks in part to his awesome athleticism but also to his Bunyanesque background that has created some legendary tales. Such as how he once killed an alligator with a shovel.

Bailey, who last season battled through a torn pectoral muscle while making the transition from linebacker to defensive line, had nine tackles for loss and five sacks. Now that he's healthy and more comfortable playing at defensive tackle, expectations around Coral Gables, Fla., are soaring. Some inside the program think the junior will restart Miami's streak of first-round draft picks. Lord knows he should test well at the NFL combine next year.

This spring, Bailey vertical jumped 39 inches despite weighing 288 pounds. He ran a 4.65 40 time. He power-cleaned 375. Longtime UM strength coach Andreu Swasey, who has trained the likes of Willis McGahee, Kellen Winslow II, Sean Taylor and others, gives Bailey perhaps the ultimate praise: "He is the freakiest of all the freaks since I've been here," Swasey says. "When he got here, he weighed 270, and I told the coaches, 'He's going to be 300, but it'll be a 300 like you've never seen before.'"

Bruce also did a Q&A on ESPN.com today and was asked about how realistic the Canes' shot at an ACC title was in 2009:

Kush (Miami FL): Hey Bruce, loved your book Meat Market. People keep sleeping on the Hurricanes this year. With the talent they have and the addition of a proven OC in Mark Whipple, can you see them making a realistic push for an ACC title this year?

Bruce Feldman: Thanks.. I do think they have a realistic shot at the ACC title. I was down at UM last week. Andreu Swasey (their strength coach) says it feels a lot like it did 7-8 years ago when you had all of these explosive athletes ready to take off. I like QB Jacory Harris a lot and Whipple should be a great fit with him. The challenge will be surviving a brutal first four games. If they go 3-1 somehow, they'll crack the top 15. Even 2-2 and being competitive with OU would be a good sign.

Jack McClinton : In Store Today!!

Our good friend Jack McClinton is in store today for a signing session -- 12pm to 1pm ET. Come meet the 2-time MVP and first team all-ACC selection... the 3-time league leader in 3-pointers per game... the 2-time league leader in 3-point field goal % and the ACC all time leader in 3-point field goal %.

Can't make the autograph session? Fear not as we'll have two different signed 8x10s available, signed mini basketballs and a limited edition 16x20 signed photo. All pics snapped by U of Miami official photographer J.C. Ridley.

Click here to check out the #33 signed gear available for purchase!

Canes roll in 2009 Academic Progress Report

The 2009 Academic Progress Report was recently released. Not exactly featured on the front of the Sports page and great to see stereotypes still apply.

When Pete Fiutak of FOX Sports mentioned that when Miami rolled in ranked 7th, he was quick to write, "no, not the Ohio version".

Funny how some stereotypes will never die. Sad, actually.

The University of Miami ranked only behind Stanford, Air Force, Duke, Rutgers, Rice and Navy. State-funded Florida earned a respectable 20th while Free Shoes U proved they're no academic juggernaut, ranked T80th. Also 80th, Virginia Tech and New Mexico. Mississippi State and West Virginia ranked higher. G-O N-O-W-E-L-Z!

For those who don't know about the APR, every Division I sports team calculates its APR each academic year. The total is based on eligibility retention and graduation of each scholarship student-athlete. Miami 977 points was better than Notre Dame, Northwestern, Boston College, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest, all who fell between 10th and 20th.

The Canes scored a 977 in 2008, up from a 10th-ranked 966 in 2007 and for those who think this is a new trend, think again. From 1992-1997, UM was one of only eight schools to graduate at least 70% of its football student-athletes. The 2004 AFCA graduation rate was 84.2%; the nation's average was 58%.

As for the ignorant fans who will chime in saying these stats are pointless, it's all about Ws and Ls - check yourself. This is a university first and football program second. These players are here to get an education and play football; in that particular order. What Randy Shannon is instilling in this kids is not only bigger than the game, but it'll make the better players. You need to be a winner across the board, not just on the field.

By molding young men, this will create better overall players. Top-flight recruiting classes and development of players are the other obvious parts to the equation.

Congrats Canes. Great work.


MEN'S SPORTS
Cross Country --- 1000
Swimming (Diving) --- 1000
Outdoor Track --- 991
Indoor Track --- 990
Football --- 977
Tennis --- 974
Baseball --- 970
Basketball --- 964


WOMEN'S SPORTS
Golf --- 991
Volleyball --- 990
Rowing --- 984
Swimming --- 978
Basketball --- 975
Soccer --- 970
Tennis --- 969
Indoor Track --- 966
Outdoor Track --- 966
Cross Country --- 927

Some "Meat" On Which To Feast...

Recruiting remains a topic no matter what time of year. What once dominated January and February, it's now a twelve-month long obligation.

Unlike the NFL, talent can pretty much overcome coaching in the college game - making recruiting all the more important.

The Miami Hurricanes fell off the map the latter part of this decade, due to poor recruiting and development of talent. If you follow this blog, you know where I stand on Larry Coker. His greatest weakness is proving to be Randy Shannon's strength; recruiting.

A lot of chatter occurs in the 'comments' section of this blog. I don't censor anybody who's not afraid to put their name with their thoughts. I even let a lot of 'Anonymous' stuff slide, as long as it's productive.

Everyone has an opinion about coaching, recruiting and the process. For those off base, I oft direct them to Bruce Feldman's "Meat Market : Inside The Smash-Mouth World Of College Football Recruiting".

Not enough college football fans have read that book and even based on my recommendation, I know most are too busy to heed the advice. Because of that, I'm going to occasionally post excerpts here. I want fans to compare the old coaching regime with the new. I want them to picture both coaching staffs recruiting -- the process, the attitude, the overall goal, the communication, the evaluation of talent.

And for my critics, yes I realize that Ed Orgeron, the former Ole Miss head coach, has since been fired. Doesn't mean he wasn't a solid recruiter and didn't have a game plan. Those in doubt, remember then when Tennessee starts reeling in solid classes with him as their line coach and recruiting coordinator.

You can also look at the Ole Miss team Houston Nutt took over in 2008. The one chock full of Orgeron's players that went 9-4 and knocked off Florida, LSU and Texas Tech. Proof that it takes recruiting and coaching, but that it all starts with talent.

Pay attention. Here's this week's passage:

Orgeron had been telling his staff since Day One that the evaluation process was always, always ongoing, but even he sometimes forgot his own edict about not falling in love too fast or writing someone off too quickly. Players the staff loved -- as well as ones they didn't -- were always up for discussion.

That also included committed players like (Robert) Elliott. Even though it was in Orgeron's nature to ride his initial reaction on a player, either good or bad, he knew he had to learn from past mistakes and go through the process as hard as he could, just like he preached.

"We need to crank this machine back up," he said before heading down the hall to grab a cup of coffee to top off the Red Bull.

The rest of the Ole Miss staff filed into the war room a few minutes before 8am for the Rebels' recruiting meeting. Orgeron reentered and circled around the table.

"I want these names to come alive!" he boomed, pointing to the recruiting boards. "We gotta re-recruit. They are out there, and we can get them. We got Brent Schaffer here! We got Cordera Eason here! We got John Jerry! Those guys could've gone anywhere, but we got them to come here. This time last year, Marcus Tillman was committed to LSU, and he ended up coming here...

Oregon paused for a breath and a couple heartbeats, his words still hanging in the air as if afraid to leave the room. Then he wriggled his shoulders to shed some tension and brought his voice down a few decibels.

"I don't wanna be an a**hole about this," he said. This was obviously the part of the top job he hadn't fully adjusted to, the part where he had to squeeze his buddies. "But please, please don't think your s**t is so important you don't have to be out there recruiting. I'll take that as a dagger right here."

He smashed his thumb into his heart with such force you half expected to see blood spurt out. Yet this didn't qualify as a full-bore, gloves-off, "let-'em-hear-you-in-Baton-Rouge" Oregeron rant. His voice hadn't ascended to an indecipherable high-pitched shrill. His eyes had bulged out, but only slightly. His chin had stayed moored to his face.

Maybe Orgeron had toned down his standard stump speech down a bit because two former Miami assistants, (Art) Kehoe and (Dan) Werner, and soft-spoken linebackers coach David Saunders were new to his system.

Orgeron knew that Kehoe, a proud man who'd spent 27 years at Miami, was beloved by many of the high school coaches in the state of Florida and that he could do wonders for his young line on the practice field. But Orgeron also knew that the Canes didn't have to recruit very hard to stay on top. Blue-chippers sought them out. Orgeron didn't directly stare at Kehoe or Saunders, the man who'd introduced him to his wife, but it became obvious these two guys were the principal targets of his "We Gotta Do More!" speech.

Yeah, I'm sure that's just how Miami's war room sounded 2002-2006.