During the halcyon days of Miami of Florida, there probably wasn’t a faster or more athletic program in college football year-to-year than the Hurricanes. And, if there were, you could probably count them on one hand and still have some fingers left over.
Over the past few years or so, that overall team speed has decreased, as has, not coincidentally, the win total compared to the eighties and nineties.
This year, though, you’d better not blink when watching UM as you might miss them. At least, that vision of future speed is what has head coach Randy Shannon excited about the coming season.
“This is probably the fastest team we’ve had,” Shannon said according to the Sun Sentinel. "...We’re real excited about it. When you give the ball to guys who can really run, things can happen.”
As if to put an exclamation point on this newfound speed, all four members of the ‘Canes’ 400-meter relay team are also players on the football team. Cornerbacks Brandon McGee, DeMarcus Van Dyke and Cory Nelms and wide receiver Travis Benjamin clocked a 40.14 time last month in the relay, the top time at UM since 1998 and the third-best in school history.
Of course, there’s track speed and there’s football speed. If UM can take that burst from the track and translate it to the football field? At the least, it sure couldn’t hurt.
