Steve Kim: On This Night, Everything Was Wright

Published Sep 24, 2007

On This Night, Everything Was Wright

This is what it was supposed to be like the past several years for beleaguered Miami quarterback Kyle Wright and the rest of the Hurricane offense. Beginning with their opening drive, which covered 80 yards in 18 plays, taking up nearly nine minutes, the Miami offense finally clicked on all cylinders in spanking the Aggies of Texas A&M last Thursday night by a score of 34-17.

Wright would end up with a stat line that read: 21 of 26 for 275 yards and two touchdowns. But the numbers don't tell the whole story. He had a certain poise and confidence in the pocket which had been lacking in the past. His reads, for the most part, were quick and decisive. His passes were zinged with great velocity and accuracy. It looked like he had finally taken a leadership role for this offense, which had been a rudderless vessel for so long.

He resembled the guy who was ranked as the nation’s best prep quarterback back in 2003 out of Danville, California. Not the jittery signal caller, who looked shaky in the pocket, predetermined his reads and stared down his receivers time and time again.

On this night, he looked like a Miami quarterback. No, he'll never be in the pantheon of Jim Kelly, Vinny Testaverde, Steve Walsh, Craig Erickson, Gino Torretta or Ken Dorsey, but he showed that he still has more than enough natural talent to at least salvage his senior campaign a la Scott Covington in 1998.

Whether his early season stint on the pine lit a fire underneath him is debatable. But there's no debating this: Wright is by far the best option Miami has under center, currently. Sorry folks, for all the high hopes and hype surrounding true freshman Robert Marve, that's all he really is - a true freshman who hasn't taken a snap as a college quarterback.

If Wright can play consistently, then the Hurricanes are a factor in the very-winnable ACC.

But this isn't all about #3. While he has taken the brunt of criticism the past few seasons, it's not like he's had much help. But it's funny what happens once a quarterback gets decent pass protection, has some threats at running back, receivers who can get open and catch the rock, and just as importantly, some actual coaching.

You wonder, just how good could Wright have been if he had been under the tutelage of a Gary Stevens or Norm Chow, or a host of other quality coordinators and quarterback coaches that you see throughout the country? Instead, he's had Rob Chudzinski, Dan Werner, Rich Olson, Todd Berry and most of all, Larry Coker to work under.

Let's face it - while the rest of the NCAA was going through an evolution offensively, Miami was stuck in 'Stillwater' with its previous regime: an outdated and antiquated system that hampered the development of Wright. Against the Aggies, Wright looked in command as his newest coordinator, Patrick Nix, drew up a game plan that was reliant on quick-developing passes that got Wright into a rhythm, and then shots down field with the play-action. Miami ran the majority of its sets without a fullback and three receivers. In the past, it seemed Miami had been wed to it's pro-set I on early downs. Nix, not having an Alonzo Highsmith or even a Najeh Davenport, played to his strengths and utilized his personnel.

Screen plays, which had been dormant recently, were run to great effect with Graig Cooper and the tight end was re-introduced to the 'Cane attack. Also, the middle of the field, which has been a Bermuda Triangle (and I'm not talking about Miami's linebackers of the early '90's) to the Hurricane offense since the departure of Dorsey, was attacked with great frequency.

It was a vintage night on many levels. The crowd at the Orange Bowl was well below capacity but boisterous. And the players, for the first time in a long while, fed off that energy from the partisans. The offense was efficient and the defense was swarming and the Aggies would summarily implode. And like a by-gone era of the past, Miami got some first-rate quarterback play.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- Lost in all the hoopla of Wright's play was the re-emergence of sophomore wideout Sam Shields, who had a breakout game with 6 grabs for 117 yards. There has been this recent mantra that UM no longer has any playmakers on the outside, but on this evening,
Shields sure looked like one.

- Anyone else think that Dedrick Epps can be Mondriel Fulcher 2.0? He may not be a masher in the running game, but I think he can be a consistent threat catching the ball.

- While Calais Campbell gets all the attention, Eric Moncur has been a nice bookend and reserves Vegas Franklin and Courtney Harris have given UM some quality play off the bench. I love the wrinkle of getting all four defensive ends on the field in obvious passing situations.

- For all the problems Randy Phillips had at corner, I thought he looked much more comfortable at safety. I get the feeling that by the middle of the year, he'll be getting the majority of the PT in place of Willie Cooper and Lovon Ponder.

- The ACC schedule couldn't have set up any better for Miami : Duke at home, and then a roadie against a struggling UNC squad before coming home on October 13th to play Georgia Tech. Now, this is another test for Randy Shannon as a head coach. In the past, Miami would play down to the level of its opposition and just generally did not make any progress as a team. The coming weeks present a golden opportunity for Miami to improve and continue to build upon this new-found momentum.

- Speaking of the Duke game, perhaps the term shouldn't be 'playing down' to the level of
competition but 'being coached up' to where a team can play at a consistently high level regardless of the circumstance. That certainly didn't happen with one Larry Coker, did it?

- I don't want to continue to harp on this, but jeez, Miami's kickoffs are an abomination. Where have you gone Jorge Gaitan and Edgar Benes?

- While Graig Cooper has electrified at times, I'm still convinced that there will be at least a game or two where Javarris James will get all the tough yards and move the chains during the meat of the ACC schedule. In other words, if Miami is to take down FSU, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Boston College, it will be on the thick legs of 'Baby J' moving the chains in crunch time.

- Is Steve Kragthorpe on the hot seat already at the 'Ville?

- Seriously, why didn't Penn St. spread the field against Michigan ? It's not like they don't have some talent at the skill positions. Or is it that Anthony Morelli is just that erratic running their offense that the Nittany Lions’ staff doesn't trust him?

- Have you jumped on the Andre Woodson bandwagon, yet?

Steve Kim is a frequent contributor on CanesOverHere.com and runs his own website, Maxboxing.com. He can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com

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