MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Teammates, coaches, opponents, and analysts have been singing Travis Homer’s praises throughout the year.
Since he officially took over Miami’s starting running back position this past October, Homer has been a force to be reckoned with in more ways than one.
Coaches have consistently raved about the Oxbridge Academy alum’s uncommon combination of durability, stamina, vision, strength, speed, and humility. Teammates were immediately receptive of Homer’s role as the starter once junior running back and 2016 team MVP Mark Walton went down with a season-ending injury at Florida State on Oct. 7.
Homer is the only Miami offensive player who earned the right to wear the famed “Turnover Chain”. He got to experience this level of excitement after recovering a fumble on special teams in his team’s home game against Virginia on Nov. 18.
Homer is arguably Miami’s most versatile player, due to the fact he can make plays on both offense and special teams. He’s willing and able to return kickoffs and punts, as well as making key blocks and tackles on the punt and kicking teams.
In 13 games this season – including Miami’s Orange Bowl game against Wisconsin (a 34-24 loss on Dec. 30) – Homer has recorded 966 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. He added 18 catches for 219 yards and one touchdown, which makes it a grand total of 1,185 all-purpose yards and nine touchdowns.
Homer’s best game of the season came against Georgia Tech on Oct. 14, when he had 20 carries for 170 yards and two touchdowns in a 25-24 comeback win. In his first official start, Homer earned Player of the Game honors for Miami.
“He’s extremely dynamic,” Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said. “To me, it’s the run game and the pass game. Not like he gets a ton of targets in the pass game, but seems like good things happen when he gets the ball in his hands. He’s very, very explosive out of the backfield, physical runner, obviously great — elusive, great speed. He’s a problem.”
Leonhard spoke further on Homer’s game.
“As a fan of football, it’s fun to watch the way he plays,” Leonhard said. “To me, it’s watch him block. You watch him go up there and pick up a linebacker, come across and hit a DB (defensive back) coming off the edge. That to me truly shows you his mentality and his mindset and how he plays the game. He competes, very physical, he runs hard. You can tell he loves the game, and to me that’s the biggest credit to who he is as a player.”
Miami head coach Mark Richt couldn’t agree more.
“He’s got vision and quickness,” Richt said recently of Homer. “He secures the ball extremely well. He cuts the ball very well out of the backfield, and he has a lot of stamina.”
Miami defensive lineman Kendrick Norton gave a positive impression of Homer as well.
“He comes to practice every day and works very hard,” Norton said. “Even when he was behind Mark (Walton), those guys came in and competed every day. Travis is a great ballplayer for us.”
Miami offensive coordinator Thomas Brown has always been complimentary of Homer’s approach to the game. Before the season started, Brown predicted that Homer would have a breakout season.
He was obviously right.
“There’s a huge improvement from year one to year two”, Brown said of Homer back in August. “He was good enough to play last year, but we just had a little bit more depth with a couple guys that left – one that went to the NFL and one that transferred on us. I think he has gotten bigger, he has gotten stronger, he has gotten faster, and he has always been a tough kid.”
Brown had more to say about Homer back then.
“I think it’s him being able to understand how to use his body better, and protecting himself from hits,” Brown said. “I think his knowledge of pass protection has grown, which is probably the hardest part of playing tailback – when you come from high school to college, and coming to a system that’s going to be a pro-style system. We’ll run a seven- or eight-drop back protection, play action protection. That’s probably been the biggest improvement for him. He’s always been a tough guy.”
Homer’s best play of the Orange Bowl was when he muscled his way past the opposition for a 5-yard touchdown run that helped propel No. 10 Miami (10-3 final record) to an early 7-3 lead over No. 6 Wisconsin (13-1 final record). And though the Hurricanes would go on to suffer a 34-24 loss to the Wolverines, making it a season-ending three-game losing streak, Homer has a lot to look forward to in the years ahead.
“Anything can change, so you’ve got to be prepared whenever,” said Homer, who will go into next season (his junior year) as the incumbent starter at running back. “I can’t do anything without my line, quarterback, and receivers. All props go to them.”
Side note: According to Homer’s mother, Karri Valot, he played the very last game in the original Orange Bowl Stadium in 2007 before it was torn down. This took just over 10 years ago. It was first highlight on Valot’s Twitter account prior to last night’s Orange Bowl game between Miami and Wisconsin.
PHOTO CREDITS: Keith Forde
