South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
UM’s turnover chain is back, with an upgrade.
MIAMI GARDENS — Even before last season ended, Hurricanes defensive coordinator Manny Diaz — jokingly known around Miami as the father of the famed Turnover Chain — promised the gaudy necklace that became a national college football sensation in 2017 would return.
And both he and coach Mark Richt promised a new, improved version.
During the first half of the Hurricanes’ home opener against Savannah State, Miami’s players, their fans and all of college football finally got their first real look at the new Turnover Chain when cornerback Trajan Bandy recovered a Tigers fumble, headed to the sideline and was presented with a bigger Turnover Chain bearing not Miami’s traditional “U” logo as the pendant, but a large, glittering Sebastian the Ibis in its place.
According to Miami, this year’s version of the Turnover Chain features more than 4,000 stones. Last year’s version that bore the “U” logo had 900 stones on the 5.5-inch “U” pendant. The Sebastian pendant measures 8.5 inches.
And while the Turnover Chain’s debut was reason enough for Miami to celebrate, Bandy’s fumble recovery led to points for the Hurricanes when six plays later, redshirt freshman quarterback N’Kosi Perry completed an 8-yard scoring pass to Lawrence Cager that put Miami up, 28-0.
It also helped the Hurricanes improve their turnover margin after LSU managed two last week and Savannah State had one in the first half.
Freshmen get playing time
Ahead of Saturday’s home opener against a struggling Savannah State team that is preparing to move to Division II next season, the Hurricanes expected several of their youngest players would have the chance to log significant playing time.
Some of those players wasted little time making an impact.
Perry made his debut in the second quarter, his scoring pass to Cager marking the first touchdown of his Miami career. He finished the first half 5 of 8 for 31 yards. He was sacked once.
Hurricanes freshman tight end Will Mallory, who made his first start on Saturday evening, was another one one of Miami’s youngsters to notch a career milestone. His 2-yard touchdown catch with 3:57 left in the first quarter gave the Hurricanes their first score of the night.
Mallory arrived in Coral Gables this past summer as part of a highly-touted tight end duo with Brevin Jordan, who got the start last week against LSU.
By halftime, the two had com- bined for six catches for 42 yards to help Miami build a 28-0 lead.
Along with the two tight ends, two of Miami’s freshmen defensive linemen saw time during the first quarter against Savannah State.
Defensive end Greg Rousseau was playing on the line by Miami’s fourth defensive series, along with fellow tackle Nesta Silvera.
No warm greeting for QB Malik Rosier
In the days since the Hurricanes’ ugly 33-17 loss to LSU last Sunday, no Miami player has faced as much criticism as Malik Rosier, who struggled mightily in Miami’s opener.
And fans had little patience for him on Saturday after a slow start against Savannah State, the starting quarterback hearing boos after throwing two incompletions on Miami’s second offensive series.
Rosier would go on to finish the first half 8 of 12 for 131 yards with two touchdowns. His longest pass of the half was a 67-yard touchdown to Jeff Thomas,.