2018 College Football Team Previews: Miami (OH) Redhawks
Miami (OH) Redhawks
Location: Oxford, OH
Coach: Chuck Martin (16-33) 5th Season
Stadium: Yager Stadium (Capacity: 24,286)
CSJ Projections:
8th: MAC (3rd in East Division)
4th: Ohio
97th: FBS
106th: Division I
2017 In A Sentence: The RedHawks took a step back with a 5-7 record in 2017. after finishing 6-7 and a bowl bid in 2016- four of their losses were by five points or fewer and were the result of critical Miami mistakes late in the game.
Biggest Shoes to Fill: CB Heath Harding, a two-time All-MAC performer, recorded 290 tackles, 18.0 tackles for loss, 10 interceptions, 30 pass breakups and four forced fumbles during his career. This spring he signed a free agent deal with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
Key Player: WR James Gardner was Miami’s lone first-team All-MAC representative after last season. The now-senior established career bests in receptions (47), yards (927), touchdowns (11) and yards per catch (19.7). His receiving yards rank 11th all-time in Miami football history, while his touchdowns (third) and yards per reception (fourth) also rank near the top of record books. He will likely need to up his game even further as he is the only starter back in Miami’s three receiver set.
Fearless Prediction: Miami kind of gets a do-over in 2018 as eight starters on each side of the ball and very well could have 15 of the 22 possible starting positions held by seniors. Having this kind of experience hopes to result in better results in the close games than was seen last year. Expect this to happen and the Redhawks will go bowling this year.
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football is the Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
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