Miami will try to win with a different type of swagger under Richt

Last October Miami entered its matchup with No. 6 Clemson anxious to earn a signature win and prove that the Hurricanes were again a program to be reckoned with.

Before the game was over Miami star quarterback Brad Kaaya was turning off the radio, unable to take what was happening after he was knocked out of the game with a concussion and sent to the hospital.

The final result was a 58-0 loss to the Tigers, the worst defeat in school history, and the first step of Mark Richt eventually returning to his alma mater.

“That was our lowest point in the season,” Kaaya said Thursday at ACC Media Days. “That was a tough couple of weeks… We banned together as a team and it brought us closer.”

Al Golden was fired the next day, and Richt was introduced as the head coach two months later after being let go by Georgia.

The Bulldogs head coach from 2001-15 has a chance for early success at Miami and Kaaya is a big reason why.

Despite the embarrassing loss to the Tigers, Richt doesn’t face a huge rebuilding challenge. The Hurricanes bounced back from the blowout loss to finish the 2015 season 8-5 (5-3) and have aspirations of competing for an ACC title in 2016.

Kaaya believes Richt can return the program to its glory days but added that Miami will attempt to win in a different way.

“It’s important to have confidence and a swagger about you, but at the same time that swagger is different now-a-days,” he said. “Swag is beating people. Swag is doing the right thing to where your team is in position to win the game.”

Kaaya said the Hurricanes had too much negative “swag” last season, which resulted in nearly 1,100 penalty yards.

Miami averaged more than 25 penalty yards per game than its opponent in 2015.

Punter Justin Vogel said cutting down on penalties and being a more disciplined team have been a big focus of Richt since being named head coach in December.

“He came in with a lot of rules off the start, and a lot of teammates were kind of skeptical and nervous about it, but he’s stuck to those rules,” Vogel said. “You can do what he says or not. The whole team is like if we don’t change we’re going to have the same results as last year. Everyone’s ready to change now.”

Richt did not speak much about expectations for 2016 but did make a few promises.

“We’re going to work hard and try to do things the way everybody will be proud of us, just a team that will play hard, play physical, be a disciplined bunch, just get after it.”

Vogel added that he believes the Clemson game got out of hand because some of the Hurricanes stopped competing. He doesn’t expect that to be a problem under Richt.

“What Richt has really instilled in us is, I don’t know if we’re going to win every game, but I know every play we’re going to have guys out there that are going to compete as hard as they can,” he said. “I think that’s a big thing that he’s changed. Even if we’re down we’re going to keep going.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2016 at 9:42 AM with the headline "Miami will try to win with a different type of swagger under Richt."