Several mentions of Miami football in Kirk Herbstreit’s preseason awards

ESPN lead College Football analyst Kirk Herbstreit has several mentions of the Miami football team in his annual preseason Herbie Awards.

Herbstreit’s Awards focus on ones that you don’t see normally honored. The Herbies include multiple player recognitions. Herbstreit also has several intangible and off the field awards. The Miami football team is honored a few times.

The most obvious mention of the Miami football team came in Herbstreit’s awards for Best Tandem. He obviously chose the Miami Junior linebacking tandem Shaq Quarterman and Michael Pinckney as one of five tandems among the best in the country.

Quarterman has finished second on the Hurricanes defense in tackles during each of his first two college seasons. Pinckney was third last season after finishing fifth as a Freshman in 2016. Both Quarterman and Pinckney were named to ESPN’s true Freshman All-America team in 2016.

Quarterman and Pinckney were the only duo from the ACC selected. Herbstreit easily could have chosen any two of Clemson’s defensive line as a duo to make the list. It’s difficult to separate any two from that fearsome foursome.

The other Hurricanes player honored with a preseason Herbie is Freshman defensive end, Gregory Rousseau. That came as somewhat of a surprise. It shows that Herbstreit pays attention beyond the recruiting rankings.

Rousseau was only the 427th player overall, the 27th ranked player at his position and the 80th ranked player in Florida in the Class of 2018 according to 247Sports’ Composite rankings. He has quickly shown that he might be been undervalued coming out of high school.

Rousseau was extremely impressive during Spring practice. He terrorized the Hurricanes backup offensive linemen this Spring. In three Spring scrimmage games, Rousseau recorded nine sacks. He has also been stellar during training camp. Rousseau is expected to contribute for the Miami defense immediately.

The Director of Player Personnel for the Miami football team Joel Rodiguez spoke to the Miami Herald in July about Rosseau’s potential. The interview was rerun by the Palm Beach Post.

"“With freshmen in general, you have to go game by game (as far as playing time and expectations). If we can get Greg to give us 25 to 30 snaps of productive football in that LSU game — really good snaps of setting edges, being physical, affecting the quarterback — then that would be a successful debut.”"

One of the more random categories that Herbstreit has is the best celebrity fans. Alex Rodriguez originally committed to playing baseball for the Hurricanes before being selected first overall in the 1993 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners.

Despite never playing for the Hurricanes A-Rod has maintained his allegiance to the U. He was the celebrity picker when ESPN’s College Gameday came to Coral Gables last season. That provided A-Rod with a chance to appear on the mothership with Herbstreit.

The final appearances by the Miami football team in Herbstreit’s preseason lists is in his prediction of a rematch in the ACC Championship game. Herbstreit expects the same result as in 2017. He picks Clemson over Miami for the second straight season.

Herbstreit has the Tigers advancing to the College Football Playoff after defeating the Hurricanes in the ACC Championship game. He also has Alabama, Penn State and Washington making the playoff. Herbstreit doesn’t specify the playoff matchups in the Semifinals. He picks Alabama over Clemson in the title game.