When Miami Wins, The Swagger Will Be There

There’s been a lot of talk about defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s comments regarding Nesta Jade Silvera in practice last week. Those who know, you’re well aware that the defensive tackle is among one of the loudest players on Miami’s team, and has been everywhere during spring practice; during and after the play.

Now there are those who look at Baker’s comments and say, “how can you get mad at a player for that? That’s how Miami became famous!” And while you bring up some good points, it’s simply not true.

A lot of people believe that the the Hurricanes gained popularity and notoriety during the 1980’s based firstly off their on-the-field antics and celebrations. Wrong. Miami became a national powerhouse because of winning, and the dancing and showboating came after that.

Those who are reading this may think that I'm coming off as an old, conservative, no-fun, Dean Wormer character-like, but I’m not that guy. There’s nobody who loves the swagger-filled play of the Miami Hurricanes more than me. I believe it’s what help put The U on the national map of college football.

But it’s only warranted when winning is involved, and remember, the Hurricanes are still 7-6 in the eyes of the country.

Think back to the 1991 Cotton Bowl between Miami and Texas. How different would we remember that game, when the Hurricanes committed 15 penalties and taunted the Longhorns when they came out of the tunnel, if the Canes had lost? Or here’s another scenario; if Oklahoma ran the Hurricanes out of the Orange Bowl in 1986 when Jerome Brown and Winston Moss did all of their talking at mid-field, Miami would’ve gone down as some of the biggest jokes in the history of college football.

The reason that coach Jimmy Johnson allowed his team to do these antics is because he knew that his team was the better football squad, and that they would win. I mean, under Johnson, Miami lost just two regular season games in four years. So when that kind of winning is going on, then the swagger will come out automatically.

Just like when the Hurricanes hosted Notre Dame at Hard Rock Stadium in 2017, when Trajan Bandy is running back an interception for a touchdown and the place is going absolutely insane? That’s swagger. Swagger is when Michael Pinckney is rocking the Turnover Chain against FSU this past season.

Swagger isn’t when Miami gets into a fight with LSU an hour before kickoff, then goes on and gets obliterated as the eighth ranked team in the country. Swagger also isn’t when Tito Odenigbo commits a personal foul penalty in the final minutes in a humiliating loss to Virginia.

Braxton Berrios said it best when he told ESPN, “swagger is a lot of things, but first, swaggers winning.”

And so don’t read this and think that I'm against what Silvera or any other player is doing by expressing emotion. All I'm saying is that before we start doing anything celebratory, let’s make sure that there’s some wins that are there to back it up.