When Miami takes the field for its bowl game, the ACC school won’t have Michael Pinckney at its disposal.
On his personal Twitter account Thursday night, Pinckney announced he has decided against playing in the Independence Bowl. The senior linebacker wrote that he came to his decision "[a]fter a great deal of thought and conversations with my family.”
“I want to thank the University of Miami, my coaches and all the Hurricanes fans for their unwavering support these last four years of my life,” Pinckney wrote.
“I’ve loved every minute of it,” the player added. “I’m looking forward to continuing to play this game I love so much.”
Thank you Miami 🤞🏾🤞🏾 pic.twitter.com/f3KXR8BJGz
— michael pinckney (@56_nightmares) December 20, 2019
As 247Sports.com noted, Pinckney’s announcement came a day after defensive coordinator Blake Baker indicated he’d play.
“I know Shaq (Quarterman), Pinckney, and I each had a conversation after our last game. These guys are getting so much different information. We just worked through it all and we all agreed this was the best thing for them,” Baker said. “Knowing those two, they want to play. They have so much pride in this university, so much pride in their teammates. They’re getting a lot of outside noise, but I think at the end of the day they were going to play in this the entire time.”
Quarterman had indicated earlier in the week that he is definitely playing against Louisiana Tech the day after Christmas.
Pinckney is a four-year starter for the Hurricanes. All told, the Jacksonville native has started 48 of the 50 games in which he played during his time at The U.
This season, Pinckney is second on the ‘Canes in tackles with 64 (behind Quarterman’s 96). His five sacks are tied for second, while his 12½ tackles for loss are third. Following the 2019 regular season, he was named second-team All-ACC.
