‘Dream’ campaign continues for Willis
CORAL GABLES The moment he grabbed the jersey, Gerald Willis III felt his finger get stuck. Then came the pop. And after that, incredible pain.
But Willis, who missed all of last season while taking a leave of absence from the Miami Hurricanes football team, wasn’t about to let a little finger pain — okay, a lot of pain — keep him off the field. Not when his teammates needed him most, not with Miami facing rival Florida State.
And so, on the Miami sideline, Willis had Hurricanes athletic trainer Vinny Scavo pop the dislocated finger back into place and back into the game he went, even if he needed a little bit of numbing spray to dull the pain.
“I’m not going to finger keep me playing,” Willis said.
Through the Hurricanes’ first six games of the season, that finger mishap may let no from be the only thing that’s been able to — temporarily — slow Willis.
The defensive tackle, who spends most games getting double teamed by opponents, has emerged not just as a force for the Hurricanes, but as a player making national headlines for all the right reasons.
Willis enters this week’s game against Virginia with 12.5 tackles for loss, which ranks second in the nation among all FBS players.
He’s also totaled 28 tackles, two sacks and a pass breakup.
Against Florida State, his third-quarter fumble recovery was one of two turnovers that helped fuel Miami’s dramatic comeback that ultimately resulted in a 28-27 win.
Last week, Willis was named the Outland Trophy National Defensive Player of the Month for September.
On Wednesday, he was a midseason addition to the watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, given annually to the defensive player of the year Club.
Considering the ups and downs his college career has taken — from his dismissal at Florida to multiple suspensions and a knee injury at Miami — his emergence has been the stuff that dreams are made of. When he’s not on the field, Willis has a hard time wiping the smile off his face.
“This is what I wanted,” Willis said. “Sometimes it does feel like a dream, sometimes I pinch myself. But I’m just going to keep pushing.”
Making his start even more special is the fact, Willis says, he’s been able to share his success with his teammates as a whole and the rest of Miami’s defensive linemen, in particular.
He and defensive end Jonathan Garvin are among the top five in the nation in tackles for loss, Garvin just behind him with 11.5 stops. That’s helped create a little friendly competition between the two linemen, which has, of course, paid dividends for the entire defense. by the Maxwell “My group, they all feed off each other and everything is competitive, whether we’re in the meeting room or we’re [on the field], it’s not just two guys,” defensive line coach Jess Simpson said. “They all want to get it. That’s what makes it fun. What you saw Saturday night, when one of them has success, they all have success.”
Added Garvin, “We’re already going to fight hard, but fight even harder. We’re so joyful to see each other succeed. And we’re like, ‘Yeah, he did it. Well, let me try to get me one, too.’ Yeah, it is very friendly.”
Diaz pleased with effort against FSU: After Miami opened the season with a 33-17 loss to LSU in the AdvoCare Classic, Hurricanes defensive coordinator Manny Diaz lamented the way Miami couldn’t respond after falling behind early.
On Wednesday, he couldn’t help but praise how the Hurricanes responded after falling behind 27-7 against Florida State — though he did say he’d like to avoid Miami being in that kind of deficit again as the Hurricanes move through the second half of their schedule.
“[In the] LSU game we got very negative. No response. This game – the opposite. One of my favorite things was, after the [Willis] fumble [recovery], is the attitude of our team on the field celebrating. We’re still down 20 points. And really the attitude of the stadium. The fans too. It was almost like — theoretically, you say we’re still down 20 — but it was not that way,” Diaz said. “It was very positive. It was as if we believed at that moment that was the play that was going to turn the game around. [And] In hindsight, yes [it did]. But at that moment, guys were very upbeat and positive. That for me was the most gratifying.”