When the Miami Hurricanes host Georgia Tech for a critical ACC Coastal Division showdown in October, the program will pay tribute to a handful of great players from the program’s history. Michael Irvin, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Warren Sapp, and the late Sean Taylor will all be added to the school’s Ring of Honor in Hard Rock Stadium.
That is quite a collection of program legends to honor on the same night, but it is also a group very much deserving of the honor from the program. With Miami hosting the Yellow Jackets for a primetime Thursday night game, expect Miami to be able to showcase the history of the program on as grand a stage as possible. The game is scheduled for an 8 pm kickoff on ESPN.
Irvin holds the Miami record for most career touchdown receptions (26) and he was a part of Miami’s national championship team in 1988. The brash wide receiver went on to have a Pro Football Hall of fame career with the Dallas Cowboys, where he was coached for a time by former Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson and won three Super Bowls.
Lewis was an all-Big East player for the Hurricanes in 1994 and 1995 and went on to have a Pro Football Hall of Fame-worthy career as the cornerstone of the Baltimore Ravens from 1996 through 2012 with a pair of Super Bowl victories and one Super Bowl MVP award. Reed was a teammate of Lewis from 2002 through 2012 with the Ravens, where he also put together a hall of fame-caliber career. Reed was a two-time consensus All-American in 2000 and 2001 and a BCS national champion with the Hurricanes in 2001. Like Lewis, it will just be a matter of time before heading to Canton for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Sapp is already in Canton, and he had quite the career at Miami before heading to the NFL. Sapp became the first Miami player to win the Lombardi Trophy and was the unanimous Big East Defensive Player of the Year in 1994, when Miami played Nebraska in the Orange Bowl with an outside shot at claiming a national championship (Nebraska and Penn State each went undefeated and finished 1-2 that season; Miami was No. 3 going into the Orange Bowl against the Huskers).
Taylor looked like he would be another hall of fame player before his untimely death in 2007. At Miami, Taylor led the nation in interceptions in 2003 and set the Miami record for pick-sixes with three in the 2003 season. He was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year as a result and remains the program’s fifth-all-time interceptions leader. He was a part of Miami’s 2001 national championship team.
Miami will also be wearing their brand new alternate black uniform for the game.