Miami Football: 5 takeaways from Hurricanes’ 2017 regular season

2. The Turnover Chain

I talked about Manny Diaz previously and I’ll talk more about Mark Richt soon, but this one is strictly about the Turnover Chain. Miami once embraced its bad boy image in college football.

Jerome Brown led the Hurricanes out of a Fiesta Bowl BBQ back in 1987 (for the national title of the 1986 season). In the 1990s, linebackers Jessie Armstead and Micheal Barrow tormented stars like Florida State’s Tamarick Vanover and Syracuse’s Marvin Graves. Warren Sapp was a force to deal with in the mid-1990s flanked by NFL mainstays in Ray Lewis, Kenard Lang and Kenny Holmes.

Then the comeback to national prominence in Coral Gables was led by defense again with Ed Reed, another Super Bowl winning legend.

The Hurricanes knew their program couldn’t return to its heyday without a strong defense. What does Coach Diaz love more than tackles for loss? It’s turnovers. He went out and had a Turnover Chain made and the country either loved it or hated it which means it worked.

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/940980921364242432

Hurricanes players went wild over earning it, the coaches loved breaking the chain out and putting it on a player, and Richt even seemed to get it. Actually, Richt has really shown he understands what embodies South Florida, Miami in particular, and the Hurricanes’ legacy. He’s a Hurricane at heart, even if he then coached the Seminoles and Georgia Bulldogs.

That hasn’t stopped Richt from understanding Miami talent as he did recruit guys like Sony Michel from the tri-county area. The chain now has a life of its own and was even hinted at being retired on SB Nation’s blogs, because it was so over in 2017 how could it continue on in 2018?