Miami Center James Brockermeyer Focused on Execution Ahead of National Title Game

When the Miami Hurricanes played their final regular season game at Hard Rock Stadium, the team got together and made a pact: It would not be the final game there.

As unlikely as that might have seemed at the time … it’s now a fact.

And Miami’s not looking to go out on a losing note tonight in the national championship at home vs. No. 1 Indiana.

Center James Brockermeyer weighed in on the massive upcoming game.

“At the end of the day we been a team that’s had a lot of ups and downs throughout the season,” he said. “You know, after the Louisville game obviously that was really disappointing for us. Mark Fletcher brought it up in a team meeting. Like guys, the national championship game is in the Hard Rock. That would be brutal to watch that game, two other team playing in our home stadium and not being a part of that.”

Brockermeyer says the team all agreed with Fletcher and the work went in to the product we’ve seen over the final games. The center says he thinks the “process” was the key and that as it went along “You can’t worry about just the end of the journey … you’ve got to focus on day-to-day operations to get to that point.”

As for upcoming opponent Indiana? The offense averages 42.6 points and 461.0 yards per game (218.3 rushing), and the defense only gives up 11.1 points and 260.9 yards (just 75.0 rushing).

On defense there are standouts all over the place. Up front DT Tyrique Tucker (first team All-Big 10, 11.5 TFL, 5.5 sacks) and DE Mikail Kamara (honorable mention all-conference, seven TFL, two sacks) are playmakers, and at linebacker first team all-conference selection Aiden Fisher (93 tackles, 9.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 2 INTs) and second team pick Rolijah Hardy (team high 98 tackles, 15 TFL, team high 8 sacks) are joined by honorable mention LB Isaiah Jones (76 tackles, 15.5 TFL, 7 sacks). In the secondary D’Angelo Ponds is a star who is the No. 5 cornerback on Mel Kiper’s NFL Draft big board – he has 56 tackles and two INTs this year. Plus safety Louis Moore (91 tackles, 6 INTs) was a first-team all-Big 10 pick and fellow safety Amare Ferrell (47 tackles, 4 INTs) was honorable mention. The defense has amassed 18 interceptions and 11 fumble recoveries, so Miami protecting the ball will be paramount.

“From a schematic standpoint they do a really good job of creating chaos on opposing offensive line,” Brockermeyer said. “Their D-coordinator does a really good job understanding the way offensive lines are going handle certain looks they present. So just from the front to the linebackers, they all do a really good job flying around making plays, creating chaos. It’s going to be a really big challenge for us. They do a good job of playing together. Don’t really make mistakes. It’s going to be a really big challenge for us.”

The key to winning the game?

“We just have got to go execute and do our job, not make it bigger than it is,” Brockermeyer said. “At the end of the day we’re playing a football game and there will be a lot of distractions and external factors that go into this game, and we just need to play Miami Hurricanes football and we’ll be confident to be able to do that.”

A final thought?

That’s a shout out to his offensive coordinator, Shannon Dawson.

“Coach Dawson has been fantastic,” Brockermeyer said. “Such as awesome person, great coach. Does a really good job of allowing us to play complementary football. We do a lot of good stuff in the run game here and there and he’s able to make it look the same on play-action. So he’s awesome. He’s one of my favorite coaches I ever played for and I’ll forever be indebted to him.”