Three Former Miami Hurricanes, Warren Sapp, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed have been named as finalists for the 2018 Class for the College Football Hall of Fame.
Ten Former Miami Hurricanes are currently in the College Football Hall of Fame. Half of those enshrined have been since the Howard Schnellenberger era commenced. Somehow Schnellenberger himself is not in the Hall.
Sapp and Lewis were teammates on the Hurricanes during the end of the Dennis Erickson era at Miami. Lewis also was a key player during the beginning of the Butch Davis era. Reed is the best safety in Miami Hurricanes history and some consider him the best in NFL history.
Warren Sapp
Per Sapp’s Bio on the UM Athletic Hall of Fame page, he was the first Hurricane to win the Lombardi Trophy given to college football’s lineman of the year and the Nagurski Award for the nation’s most outstanding defense player.
He was also named the Big East’s Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus All-American. Sapp received recognition for all four following his Senior season in 1994.
Sapp’s dominant senior season included 10.5 sacks. That was an unusually high number coming from a defensive tackle. Sapp was so dominant as a Senior that he finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
Sapp and Lewis led a stout defense in 1994. The Hurricanes finished second in the country allowing 11.9 points per game. Miami entered the Orange Bowl 10-1 and faced a powerhouse Nebraska team that was 12-0 and ranked first.
Miami took a 17-9 lead into the fourth quarter. Nebraska scored two fourth quarter touchdowns to defeat the Hurricanes 24-17. That was Tom Osborne’s first national title and the Cornhuskers first in 23 years. It was also the first of three titles in a four-year span.
Garnet and Cocky
Ray Lewis
Lewis became the leader of the Miami defense with Sapp moving on to the NFL. The Hurricanes finished 8-3 in Butch Davis’s first season. Due to probation from the Pell Grant Scandal they were on probation that prevented them from getting a bowl invitation.
Lewis became a starter as a freshman in 1993. He earned all Big-East following his Sophomore and Junior seasons in 1994 and ’95. Lewis barely earned a scholarship at Miami. He was given the last one available in 1993.
Lewis was a Freshman All-American in ’93. He finished that season with 76 tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, and four pass deflections. He followed that up with 152 tackles as a Sophomore and 160 as a Junior.
His Junior season included 95 solo tackles, a Miami season record for a Middle Linebacker. Lewis was the team’s MVP following that season. He finished runner-up for the Butkus Award to Illinois’ Kevin Hardy.
Ed Reed
Ed Reed started playing for Miami three seasons following Lewis’ departure. He quickly became one of the leaders of a defense that was evolving into a dominant unit. He helped Miami improve from 52nd to 12th in the country in scoring defense from his Freshman to Sophomore season.
The Hurricanes improved from 9-4 during Reed’s Sophomore season to 11-1 during his 2000 Junior Year. The Hurricanes were slightly edged out by Florida State for a spot in the National Championship game. That was despite defeating the Seminoles in the regular season.
Reed finished second in the country with eight interceptions during the 2000 season. He led the country in interceptions per game in 2001 with 0.82 per game. He holds the Miami career records in interceptions with 21 and returns yards with 389 as well as returns yards in a season with 201.
The most iconic play of Reed’s Miami career was his return of an interception against Boston College that sealed a win during the 12-0 National Championship season in 2001.
The announcement of the 2018 inductees will be made January 8 in Atlanta. That is the day of the National Championship game that will be played in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
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All three Miami finalists are likely to get eventually if they do not make it this coming year. There are several other Miami coaching and players alums that all deserve to be in eventually. It’s especially hard to understand how Schnellenberger is not in.