Top 10 Headlines for the Miami Hurricanes' 2011 Season

The 2011 Miami Hurricane season was a roller coaster ride.  They ended the season at 6-6 and became bowl-eligible, but they declined the invite due to possible future NCAA infractions.

Now with the season over, it is time to reminisce over the good and bad of the 2011 season.

Here are the biggest headlines from Coral Gables.

Lamar Miller Reaching 1,000 Yards

When i first saw Lamar Miller play in 2010 I knew this kid was going to be special.  He had amazing speed and great field vision.

This season he started off with a bang, running for over 100 yards in the first five games.

That wasn't even the most impressive stat, though, as Miller had a 40-plus yard run in each of his first four games, the only person in the country to do that.

Miller went on to run for the third-best single-season total in Hurricane history with 1,272 yards.  He also had 10 total touchdowns (one receiving).

Miller became the first Hurricane running back to rush for 1,000 yards since Willis McGahee did it in 2002.

The Comeback of Jacory Harris

No one really knew what kind of season Jacory Harris was going to have.  He was suspended for the first game as he took money from booster Nevin Shapiro.

He got the starting role the very next game, but threw two interceptions and the first thing that crossed my mind was that he was the same Harris from the 2010 season that threw more interceptions than touchdowns.

I was wrong.

The next nine games Harris threw 17 touchdowns to just three interceptions before falling apart against Boston College (four interceptions).

Overall Harris came back from a horrible 2010 season, completing a career high 65 percent of his passes.  He threw for 2,486 yards, 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Harris ended the season with a passer rating of 150.6, ranking him 20th-best in the country.

The Nevin Shapiro Scandal

By now everyone knows about the allegations about the University of Miami football program earlier this year.

If you were in hibernation from the college football world, you can read the yahoo article here.

To make a long story short, ex-Hurricane booster Never Shapiro allegedly gave thousands of dollars and multiple gifts to current and past Hurricane players.

Before the season started, the NCAA suspended eight current Hurricane players.  Two of them, Ray Ray Armstrong and Dyron Dye, were suspended for an additional three games while Olivier Vernon was suspended for five more.

Even though the season is over, Miami is far from being cleared from their wrongdoings.

Miami is still under investigation with an expected NCAA decision coming this spring.  It is still possible Miami could face the death penalty, future bowl game bans and a loss of scholarships.

The Emergence of Tommy Streeter and Allen Hurns

Going into the 2011 season, one of the biggest question marks surrounding the football team was the lack of quality wide receivers.

Aldarius Johnson, Travis Benjamin and LaRon Byrd were supposed to be the Hurricanes' primary receivers, but the indefinite suspension to Johnson changed everything.

In came Tommy Streeter and Allen Hurns.

Hurns played outstanding throughout most of the season, catching 45 passes for 415 yards and four touchdowns, but towards the end of the season Hurns dropped a few too many passes and saw less time.

Streeter, on the other hand tore it up, catching for a team-high in receptions (46), receiving yards (811) and touchdowns with eight.

If it weren't for those two receivers, Miami wouldn't have even won the six they did.

The Indefinite Suspension of Aldarius Johnson

Aldarius Johnson was supposed to be the "next big thing" when he came to Miami just a few years ago.  He had great size, good speed and terrific hands.

During his freshman season he was Miami's leading receiver with 31 catches for 332 yards and three touchdowns.

It seemed inevitable that Johnson was going to be the main target for years to come.

That idea was short-lived, as his sophomore season saw him catch only 10 passes all year long.  He was hurt a lot of the time and just never evolved during his time at Miami.

There was early chatter before the 2011 season though that he worked extremely hard and was going to have an amazing season.

It didn't even begin as new head coach Al Golden suspended Johnson indefinitely after allegedly being dishonest during the NCAA investigation.

Although Johnson's replacements, Streeter and Hurns, had great seasons, it doesn't take away what could have been for Johnson and the Hurricanes.

Lost Six Games by a Total of Just 33 Points

Many people just look at the Hurricanes' record and assume they had a horrible season.  In some ways they did, but they did one thing they haven't done in years and that was give up.

There wasn't one game in which the players gave up and that resulted in Miami having a chance to win every game they played in last season.

Their biggest loss came in the first game against Maryland in which Miami lost by just eight points.  That is pretty good considering Miami was without eight starting players due to NCAA violations.

The rest of the season was pretty much the same thing as Miami was able to stay close to great teams such as Kansas State, Florida State and Virginia Tech.

All in all, Miami lost six game by a combined 33 points, or just 5.5 points per loss.

Declined an Opportunity for Bowl Bid

The Miami Hurricanes became bowl-eligible after beating South Florida 6-3 on November 19.  The fans and players were ecstatic that their season was going to continue into late December.

Then their hopes of playing in a bowl game vanished, as Miami decided to decline any bowl bid they were to be offered.

The decision was a hard one for the school, but what it came down to was the current NCAA allegations, stemming from players taking money and gifts from an ex-booster.

Miami wanted to show the NCAA that they were willing to cooperate with them in any way possible and with a possibility of future bowl games that meant "taking one for the team" now.

The Hurricanes were not going to be in a big bowl game anyway, so why not just decline this year's bowl? 

It made even more sense after hearing that Ohio State was banned for one bowl game next year because if Miami gets a similar one-bowl ban penalty, it has already been served.

That is what everyone is hoping for anyway.

The Verbal Commits Come in Bunches

I, just like many other Miami fans, was pretty skeptical on what would happen with the Hurricanes' 2011 recruits after the firing of Randy Shannon before last year's bowl loss to Notre Dame.

Many were worried that they would lose a lot of the big-name recruits like Anthony Chickillo and Denzel Perryman.

They didn't lose anyone, really and even with the current investigation, Miami still has 28 verbal commits for the 2012 season.

That tells a lot about the new coaching staff that Miami hired after Randy Shannon.

These kids that are here now and those that are coming in the future know that something special is brewing with Al Golden and his staff.

The Impressive Play of the True Freshmen

The Hurricanes had very limited depth across both the offensive and defensive side of the ball before the 2011 started.

The coaches knew that and realized they needed to get the true freshmen to adjust to college football right away.

Thankfully, many of Miami's incoming freshmen were pretty close to being ready already, especially Denzel Perryman, Anthony Chickillo, Phillip Dorsett and Thomas Finnie.

Perryman ended the season with the second-most tackles on the team (69).

Chickillo also was very productive and ended the season being one of Miami's best defensive linemen.  He had 38 tackles and was tied for second on the team in sacks with five.

Dorsett and Finnie didn't have huge numbers but played in all 12 games, giving them a real feel for the game.

Miami rotated over 28 players on defense, many of them true and redshirt freshmen.

The Loss of Underclassmen

Like most major schools, Miami has problems keeping great players to stay in school to finish their collegiate careers.

So many players want to chase their NFL dream, even if many people don't believe they are ready.

It happened this year to Miami as they lost Brandon Washington, Olivier Vernon, Tommy Streeter and Marcus Forston.

All those above-mentioned players were not only starters but possible All-ACC or All American selection hopefuls.

Washington and Forston were listed on many of the preseason award watch lists before the 2011 season.