MIAMI GARDENS – It’s the dawning of a new day for this year’s Miami Hurricanes.
In a 41-13 season-opening win over the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, two players from Palm Beach County had their best collegiate games by far. Sophomore running back Travis Homer (Oxbridge Academy 2016 alum) and redshirt junior wide receiver Darrell Langham (Santaluces 2014 alum) were lauded by their coaches, teammates, and media members for stepping up in a big way.
Played at Hard Rock Stadium on Sept. 2, Langham caught two standout passes in the game (three total) from newly minted starting quarterback Malik Rosier, including a nifty 5-yard touchdown catch in which he jumped over a Bethune-Cookman defender at the end zone.
Langham’s first collegiate touchdown came at the 5:34 mark of the second quarter, which put No. 18 Miami (1-0) up 23-3 over Bethune-Cookman (0-1). An extra point by kicker Michael Badgely would extend the lead to 24-3.
By halftime – and at the final buzzer – Langham led all receivers with his three catches for 65 yards and the highlight-reel touchdown.
“I felt like once [the opportunity] was shown to me, I was going to take it,” Langham told media members in his first postgame presser. “I wasn’t going to [wait] for it.”
Langham spoke on his first touchdown and being the game’s top receiver.
“To me, it felt like I was [doing what I was] always told to, [which is to] always go up and get the ball, just go up and snag it,” Langham said. ““It [the overall production] felt amazing, but I feel like as a receiver corps we can probably do more, put some more yards up.”
Langham was part of a receiving corps that helped Rosier have a stellar outing at the helm, as he completed 17 of 28 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns (career-high). It was Rosier’s second collegiate start at quarterback for Miami.
“I think he handled it well,” Langham said of Rosier. “He has to fix some things, but other than that, he handled it like a pro.”
Miami head coach Mark Richt was happy with Langham’s performance.
“He did good,” Richt said of Langham. “He made a nice catch on the post route. It was a good read by the quarterback. He had good ball placement. Their cornerback [Elliott Miller] was all over him, but the ball was placed well and he did what big guys do on deep balls. Not necessarily run away from everybody, but use that body and use his big long arms to reach out and snatch it away from the nearest defender. I thought he played well.”
Meanwhile, Homer registered his first 100-yard rushing game, even though he’s a backup to starting junior Mark Walton (Booker T. Washington 2015 alum). He finished the game with 11 carries for 103 rushing yards (128 all-purpose yards; added 2 catches for 25 yards).
“Travis ran well,” Richt said. “They didn’t blitz a lot. They played a lot of three-deep, a lot of what we call ‘quarters.’ They pressured a little bit, but they didn’t bring a lot of pressure. A couple times when they did, we went to a max protection and got the ball out relatively quick. I don’t know how many times the backs had to hook up and block somebody in pass protection, but [Travis] ran the ball well and he secured the football. That was big.”
Walton, who led all rushers with 16 carries for 148 yards and two touchdowns, said he’s proud of both his and Homer’s production for the team. It was the first time that Walton and Homer reached the 100-yard rushing mark together in the same game.
“It felt great to go out there and run for 100 yards,” Walton said. “Coach Richt did a great job trusting us and the running backs. Our offensive line did a great job, picking up key blocks and giving us running lanes. We just took advantage of it and we just trusted our ability to run hard.”
Miami, which is favored by most local and national media outlets to win the ACC Coastal Division, will play its next game on the road this upcoming Saturday against Arkansas State. The Sept. 9 tilt is set for kickoff at 3:30 p.m.
PHOTO CREDITS: Keith Forde
