Shaq Quarterman Enjoying Best Season Of His Miami Career

The Miami Hurricanes are enjoying a three-game winning streak that has completely flipped their season, and has Coral Gables on fire. One of the biggest reasons for their success has been the play of linebacker Shaquille Quarterman, who is putting together the best season of his UM career.

The senior leader has been a four-year starter, and the face of the Miami defense since 2016, along with fellow LB Michael Pinckney, who both decided to comeback for their final year at UM.

Quarterman came into 2019 having already put together three impressive seasons as a Hurricane, having earned All-ACC honors each year he’s been at Miami, and he was already being remembered as an all-time great linebacker in Canes history.

Through the first several games, Quarterman definitely had flashes of that All-ACC linebacker we had seen the past few years. He recovered a fumble against the Gators, and notched a career-high 14 tackles when Miami hosted Central Michigan.

While we can look now and see what a fantastic year Shaq has been enjoying, the case wasn’t the same for he and the defense following their loss to Georgia Tech just four weeks ago. In the 28-21 defeat, the Canes missed an astounding 29 tackles. Even in a game where he totaled 13 tackles, there were still those accusing Quarterman of regressing.

Though, in the past three weeks, Quarterman has wronged that ship and once again been a force for the Hurricanes defense. Starting in their game against Pitt, Shaq had a strong performance with 12 tackles and two pass breakups in Miami’s 16-12 win.

The next week however, against rival Florida State, is when Quarterman really turned on the burners. In the Hurricanes 27-10 victory, Shaq was simply everywhere, and most of the time he was in the backfield, doing an incredible job against talented running back Cam Akers for FSU.

Quarterman left Tallahassee with nine tackles and then career high 3.5 TFLs, as he secured a 3-1 career record against the Seminoles.

#55 carried the over to this past Saturday against Louisville, as Quarterman again dominated in his final home game at Hard Rock Stadium.

Shaq posted another career-high in TFLs with four in Miami’s 52-27 win over the Cardinals. That brought his season total for TFLs to 14.5, which is a new career high for Quarterman. So in Miami’s three-game win streak, Shaq has 27 total tackles and 7.5 TFLs.

His season stats read: 42 solo tackles, 78 total tackles, 14.5 TFLs, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 pass breakups and 1 sacks. He’s six tackles away from tying his career-high.

Quarterman would love to keep up this pace of play, as the Hurricanes look to end 2019 on a high note, and as Shaq tries to improve his profile for the NFL Draft.