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 Tuesday, September 4, 2001
Miami uses Shock therapy in offensive explosion
By Marc Connolly
ABC Sports Online
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Naming the ways that Miami outplayed Penn State on Saturday night would be like counting the number of RVs rowed up around University Ave. or the number of hours it takes to drive through central Pennsylvania on a holiday weekend.
In the 33-7 shellacking given to JoePa and his Nittany Lions in their own den by way of the Hurricanes, quarterback Ken Dorsey lived up to all the preseason hype -- even for a Miami QB -- and utilized all of his weapons to start what should be a three month Heisman campaign. The junior signal-caller spread the ball around to his split ends, his flankers and his fullback in throwing for a career-high 344 yards and three TDs on 20-for-27 passing.
|  | | Jermy Shockey showed his athletic ability while scoring his first-half touchdown. |
But on this night when critics wondered which burners would take the place of Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne to join a long line of prolific Miami wide receivers, it was his tight end Jeremy Shockey who seemingly set the tone for the year in becoming his go-to pass-catcher.
"We kind of wanted to ease those guys into it," said offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski. "We went to Shockey early. We went to Daryl Jones early. We've got some guys with experience."
The junior out of Ada, Okla., caught seven balls for 84 yards and one TD, including a team-high 6-64 in the first half when the game was still in question and the "easing" of the debut of split end Andre Johnson and flanker Kevin Beard was in full effect. Shockey's statistical numbers shattered his career highs in receptions (four at Syracuse last year) and topped his yards total by one. He led a group of eight different Miami receivers who hauled in a Dorsey pass, with Johnson catching the second-most balls (four for 69 yards).
What was most impressive was the athletic ability he displayed in the open field on his 10-yard TD reception at the end of the first half. After Dorsey dumped the ball to Shockey on a naked bootleg on second-and-2, the first-year starter juked DB Bruce Branch out of the building by cutting to the inside before storming past linebacker Tom Williams at the 2-yard line to get in for six.
"It was a good pass play, good call," said Shockey, whose first touchdown catch of his career was the game-winner against FSU in last year's classic at the Orange Bowl.
It showed confidence in Shockey to call that type of play in the red zone, considering Clinton Portis was running wild (13 carries for 136 yards at the time). Perhaps this is a premonition of the type of play-calling we'll see this year?
Shockey was the team's leading returnee among receivers after catching 21 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns to earn All-Big East honors while sharing time with Ivan Mercer, yet that didn't automatically upgrade his status on how many pigskins would fly his way this fall. But what perhaps secured that he wouldn't be getting his number called merely on short-yardage situations on a tight end screen, as a third or fourth read or on the ever-popular rollout-the-QB, misdirection bootleg that results in the tight end curling into a wide-open parcel of land in the end zone, was the shakeup on Miami's coaching staff.
No, it wasn't as much Butch Davis jumping ship to the Cleveland Browns or the player-friendly Larry Coker replacing him. What thrusted added play calls for the tight end into the Miami scheme was the elevation of Chudzinski from tight ends coach (1996-2000) to offensive coordinator in the offseason.
Chudzinski, a three-year starter and an honorable mention All-America selection as a tight end for the Hurricanes from 1988-90, doesn't necessarily say that is the case. Yet he reminds the media that "the Miami tight end has always been a featured guy." He's alluding to former players such as Alfredo Roberts and Bubba Franks, Brett Favre's main tight end on the Green Bay Packers and someone who Coach Chud personally coached. He speaks highly of his latest weapon.
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He's a great player, and he'll be a great player all year. In fact, I can't wait to see what he does next week. ” |
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— Ken Dorsey |
"He's really fast and he's so competitive," said Chudzinski. "Actually, he has so many good attributes. He's a guy who wants the ball in the clutch when it's on the line. Whether it's a run block or a pass block, he's the guy you want to go into a scrap with because you know he's got your back."
Just a year ago, Shockey wasn't even a known commodity to the other Hurricanes as he came into fall camp after a year at Northeast Oklahoma A&M, where he was a first-team junior college All-American. He always had the athletic ability and the hands, but the coaching and weight staff at a Division I juggernaut like Miami went to work on his body.
"When he came in last fall, he hadn't worked out with us," said Chudzinski. "But he's put weight on and has gotten stronger. He's bigger, stronger and probably faster than he's ever been."
At 6-foot-6, 236 pounds, Shockey is hailed more for his ability to shake defensive ends on passing situations than blocking them for Portis or Ken Dorsey. In other words, he's out there to catch passes from his Golden Boy quarterback. That's why at the end of Dorsey's run around the Beaver Stadium grounds greeting various media and friends in the Miami section, he made sure to make a bee-line for his tight end to give "Shocker" a pat on the shoulder pads.
"He's a great player, and he'll be a great player all year," said Dorsey after the game. "In fact, I can't wait to see what he does next week."
Exactly. If Penn State couldn't handle Shockey in a mere half of football in the season opener, what in the name of John Mackey will happen against Rutgers next week at the Orange Bowl?
Marc Connolly is a senior writer for ABC Sports Online. He can be reached at Marc.Connolly@abc.com
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 Ken Dorsey tosses three touchdowns in a romp of Penn State (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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Adam Taliaferro leads the Penn State Nittany Lions out of the tunnel (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
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