Four Miami Football Seniors go out with great performances

Four Miami Football Seniors went out with great performances in the Pinstripe Bowl despite the Hurricanes 35-3 blowout loss to Wisconsin.

Safeties Jaquan Johnson and Sheldrick Redwine, linebacker Mike Smith and defensive tackle Tito Odenigbo did their best to try and keep the Miami football team in the game against Wisconsin.

Johnson and Redwine were the leaders of the Miami defense and secondary. Johnson ended his Miami career like he has played the last two seasons by leading the Hurricanes in tackles. Redwine had the best bowl game of his career.

Smith and Odenigbo stepped in and performed well against the Badgers despite being backups for most of the season. Smith only had two starts during his four-year Miami career. Odenigbo started the final five games of the season for Miami.

Smith outplayed the more well-known linebackers on the Miami roster. He has been a big contributor on defense and also played fullback as a Junior in 2017. In the Pinstripe Bowl, Smith had 10 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss against Wisconsin.

Odenigbo got better as the season went on and had his most productive game as a Hurricane against Wisconsin. The Graduate Transfer from Illinois finished with five tackles and Pinstripe Bowl high 2.5 tackles for loss.

Odenigbo’s performance against Wisconsin was admirable with Miami missing All-American Defensive tackle Gerald Willis who was out with a hand injury. Odenigbo will be missed up front for the Hurricanes. His play helped add to Miami’s depth at defensive tackle.

As he has done throughout his career Johnson stuffed the stat sheet against Wisconsin leading the Miami football team with 13 tackles and securing the Hurricanes only interception. Redwine finished with seven tackles and one of Miami’s two pass breakups.

Replacing  Johnson, Redwine and Odenigbo and Smith will be difficult for the Hurricanes. Johnson was a three-year starter. He was the team MVP in 2017 and Defensive MVP in 2018. Redwine started as a Junior and Senior. Smith has been Miami’s most reliable backup linebacker over the last two seasons.

In spite of the loss in New York, Johnson had a memorable experience ringing the bell on the New York Stock Exchange to begin trading on Wednesday. Not surprisingly it would be the biggest day in NYSE history.

Johnson is one of the greatest leaders in the history of the Miami football program. It’s not surprising he’s a safety. Johnson continued the Hurricanes legacy at the position. The Miami Killian alum joins safeties like Bennie Blades, Ed Reed and Sean Taylor who are all Miami Athletic Hall of Famers.

Early in his Hurricanes career, Johnson learned from other Miami greats at defensive back, Artie Burns and Corn Elder. Burns are Elder are both in the NFL. Burns started all 16 games for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017 and has started 15 other games in his NFL Career. Elder has played in 12 games for the Carolina Panthers this season.

Before getting ready for the NFL Combine and then the NFL Draft, Johnson has one more college game. Shortly before they played Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl Jim Nagy the Executive Director of the Senior Bowl announced Johnson would in Mobile.

Redwine and Johnson have played together since Pop Warner. They also played together at Killian and all the way through college with the Hurricanes. Legendary sports agent Drew Rosenhaus sent out a Tweet that they have both signed to have him represent them.

Redwine was a great team player during his Miami tenure. He only began to play safety as a Junior. Redwine started 25 of Miami’s 26 games in 2017 and ’18 at safety alongside Johnson.

He wasn’t the leader or star that Johnson was at Miami, but Redwine’s departure will hurt Miami. The Hurricanes will have two inexperienced starters at safety in 2019.