ACC finale rout powers Johnson's motivation
Crushing 38-3 loss to Clemson in title game drives the Canes senior safety.
As the University of Miami’s con
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — tingent of coaches and players drove to the Westin Charlotte hotel for their turn at ACC media days Wednesday morning, they passed Bank of America Stadium.
Just the sight of it brought back bad memories. Seven months earlier, Miami was crushed by Clemson 38-3 in the league’s championship game at that stadium.
“I defifinitely got mad when we passed the stadium,” senior safety Jaquan Johnson said. “I tapped Ahmmon (Richards). He was looking at his phone
and he was like, ‘That’s the stadium?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ I’m never going to forget that stadium. I’m hoping we really get back to the ACC championship this year.”
Wide receiver Richards, who served as one of the Hurricanes’ player representatives at the ACC Kickoffff along with Johnson, confifirmed that story.
“We drove past the stadium and I saw Jaquan’s face as he looked at the stadium, and he kind of
got mad a little bit because it’s just that feeling in the stadium that you left with,” said Richards, who did not play in the game because of a knee injury. “I wasn’t there. I watched on TV and it sucked, and I know my team. That’s not the way we wanted to end the season, obviously.”
That loss to Clemson was part of a three-game losing streak to end the season after the Hurricanes started 10-0. They have used the disappointing finish as motivation in the weight room and on the football field this offseason.
B u t mo t i v a t i o n a l o n e isn’t going to close the gap between Miami and Clemson. While a 35-point loss makes it seem as though the Hurricanes have a long way to go to catch up, players and coaches believe they are closer than it appears.
“We’ r e d e f i n i t e l y r e a l close, I believe,” Johnson said. “A few slip-ups — those last three games, actually, those were the slip-ups. We can’t get unfocused. We have to execute on every opportunity that we’re given and those were the games that we lost.”
A ske d h ow Mi a mi c a n catch up to Clemson, Richards said: “Just watching film, man. It just comes down to little things. You may see they have a lot more talent than us or they’re more experienced in big games than us. But I feel like we can play with them. You just watch the film, it’s just little plays that make a big difference – whether it’s on offense, defense or even special teams. It’s little things that will literally make the difference in the game.”
I t a l s o hel ps t o have a healthy roster. The Hurricanes were without three of their top offensive weapons in the ACC championship game: running back Mark Walton (ankle); tight end Chris Herndon (knee); and Richards (knee).
But Johnson refuses to use that as an excuse.
“I mean, when it boiled down to it, we didn’t execute the game plan,” Johnson said. “So with healthy players or not , we don’t execute the game plan, we get (blown) out. And that’s what that was. We didn’t make the plays we normally made the entire season and we didn’t do anything on offense. That’s the bottom line with that game.”
The good news for the revenge-minded Hurricanes is that Clemson is the clear favorite to win the ACC’s Atlantic Division. With Miami favored to repeat as Coastal Division champion, a Hurricanes-Tigers rematch is realistic.
The teams will not meet in the regular season.
“I want Clemson to come out on the other side,” Johnson said. “I look forward to the competition and the challenge that Clemson brings. The re c r ui t i ng c l a s s a nd the players that came back, they’ve got a stacked house. It’ll be good t aking them down.”
Until then, Johnson will continue to study last season’s ACC championship loss. No matter how much it hurts.
“It pops in my head every day,” he said. “It’s tough to watch it , but I watch it . I watch a few plays a day, just looking at it because I want to see what went wrong.”