Safety will return for senior season
When trying to determine his career path, University of Miami safety Jaquan Johnson took a cue from someone once in his shoes.
And not a bad person to take a cue from at that.
“I’m not going to compare my years to Ed Reed, or how Ed Reed came back, but I thought about that,” Johnson said Wednesday in confirming he will return for his senior year. “That was a big part of it.”
Johnson was freshly minted as the Hurricanes’ MVP with a junior season in which he led the Hurricanes in tackles with 85 and had four interceptions, four pass breakups and two forced fumbles.
Reed played four seasons at UM, returning for a senior season in which he had a career-high nine interceptions. And it paid offff as he was selected 24th overall by the Baltimore Ravens in 2002 to begin a Hall of Fame career.
UM’s losses to Pittsburgh and Clemson may have a long-range benefifit for UM, because Johnson said he’s “wanting to fifinish the season on a high note my senior year.”
Johnson said he had gotten an earful of advice along the way, including many who said he should go pro. “I could sort of sense it in people’s voice, that they wanted me to just leave, but I make my own decisions,” he said. “My dad taught me that. My mom taught me that. They tell me to make my own decisions. I knew I would do four years as soon as I came here and I’m going to get my degree and play for a national championship.”
As you’d expect, UM defensive coordinator Manny Diaz is delighted with the decision. “That’s great to hear as a coach,” Diaz said. “I think what coach (Mark) Richt is trying to do is you want to build a program where the players want to stay. I think Jaquan loves Miami. I think he loves our program and where it’s going.”
Turnover Chain stays: In the most important college football news this month — perhaps even this season — Diaz announced one of the team’s current stars is expected to return next year.
While Diaz is uncertain about the 2018 status of several key defensive players who can graduate to the NFL, the second-year defensive coordinator did say the Turnover Chain will not be retired after Saturday’s Orange Bowl against Wisconsin.
“I think you’ve got one of the best things in college football,” Diaz said of the chain worn by Hurricanes who record a turnover on defense. “I know our recruits would be disappointed (if the chain was retired after the Orange Bowl).”
Introduced earlier this season, the Turnover Chain has become a symbol of the Hurricanes’ return to national prominence. Miami enters the Orange Bowl tied for second with Central Florida with the second-best turnover margin (plus-15) in Divi- sion I, behind Wyoming’s 24.
Wisconsin, the Hurricanes’ opponent Saturday night, only has a plus-3 margin.
Some had speculated that the chain would be retired as a reminder of how successful this season was for the Hurricanes, though Diaz shot down that reasoning.
“Sometimes, you create a tradition here,” Diaz said, comparing it to holding up four fingers in the fourth quarter. “I think we still know that turnovers are going to be important a year from now as they are ( now). I can imagine getting a turnover in the fifirst game and everybody looking around like, ‘Wait, we don’t have the greatest thing in college football.’”
Johnson explained what makes the Turnover Chain so special.
“We just made a play, so it’s sort of like a party on the sideline as soon as the chain comes out,” Johnson said. “It gets the team going, gets the fifire going.”
Johnson is tied for the team lead in interceptions (four) with Michael Jackson. The Hurricanes as a whole have picked off 17 passes this season.
Diaz did hint that the Turnover Chain could return in a different form next season, though he did not give any specifics as to what the replacement would be.
“There’s an old, whitebearded man who lives up on a mountain who talks to us about the chain,” Diaz joked.