Miami Hurricanes Debate: Derwin James the next Sean Taylor?

These types of debates are about as realistic as a unicorn punting a football. Debating it remains an alive, palpable, grueling and relentlessness national pastime that fans cannot resist.

You cannot argue that the candidate for best Miami Hurricane team of all time would be the 2001 championship version. Six players earned All-American status. 17 players from that team were eventually drafted to the first-round of the NFL draft.

Taylor was one of those first-round draft picks by the Washington Redskins in 2004. Miami’s quintessential revered champion has always occupied a sentimental and overwhelming connection to its community. He was tragically murdered in 2007.

Taylor was a hard hitting wrecking ball who winked at a cheetah while racing by it then face planted it in the dirt. He was also a member of Miami’s track and field team.

His size, strength, speed and athleticism were all fundamental constructs of his DNA. The football gods over-abundantly granted Taylor gifts that many since have never possessed.

Derwin James is a great football player. The number one overall safety prospect coming out of high school as rated by ESPN, Rivals, 247 and Scout. James did not disappoint. During his true freshman campaign in 2015, James finished with 91 tackles and four and a half sacks for the Seminoles.