CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Michael Irvin is soaked in sweat on the Miami sideline. He's high-fiving players and coaches. He's chest-bumping anyone in his general vicinity. He's celebrating touchdowns, big plays, big hits, then waves to the Hurricane fans and tells them to get louder.
This wasn't a scene from 1987.
This all happened last weekend. And every other Hurricanes game day this season, too.
The 59-year-old Irvin — a national champion with the
Hurricanes, a Super Bowl champion with the Dallas Cowboys and a Pro Football Hall of Famer — doesn't need a seat at Miami games. He's not sitting. He's perhaps the most famous cheerleader in college football right now, in almost constant motion on the sidelines, reveling in the success of the second-ranked Hurricanes and their 5-0 start.
Irvin says he's been doing this for one reason: If Hurricane alums are asking players to be fully committed, then those alums have to show how committed they are as well.
“For years — for years — we’ve come back to Miami and all season we talk to the young men about how important it is to give your all, like we gave our all, to the university," Irvin said. “We talk about the great brotherhood. These young men today, they hear talk all the time. They hear everybody talking. You have to put substance behind the words to get any meaning towards these kids and who they are and what they are.”
Irvin proudly says he's never changed teams. He went to the national football power St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, then attended Miami, then spent the entirety of his NFL career with the Cowboys. “And I won a championship on every level,” Irvin quickly points out.
He has ties with Miami coach Mario Cristobal that go back longer than perhaps anyone else associated with the university. Irvin was one of the hosts of Cristobal's recruiting visit nearly 40 years ago. When Cristobal came back to Miami to take over as head coach, Irvin was one of the alums who loudly expressed how good a choice that was.
Cristobal called Irvin to invite him to games. And Irvin has always answered those calls.
“I think the best part of the way Mike brings his energy is the fact that he makes it very clear he’s very grateful for the University of Miami and for his time as a Miami Hurricane," Cristobal said. “And I think that’s a feeling that needs to be expressed by any and all of us that ever played here — because a lot of us came in here not knowing our head from our feet.”
This is not a new commitment from Irvin. He's a 'Cane for life. He was at Madison Square Garden and went viral for his cheering from the stands when Miami's basketball team played Stanford for the NIT title in 2015. He's been more visible on the football sideline in recent seasons, getting tons of attention for getting on his hands and knees during Miami’s wild 25-point comeback to beat Cal 39-38 last year.
This year, he's done it all while wearing a “Greentree Made Me” shirt, a nod to the name of Miami's practice field.
“Coach called me this off-season and his message for when I spoke to the team was that we've got to talk about the work. Talk about work," Irvin said. “That's got to be the message. I love seeing (freshman wide receiver) Malachi Toney talk about, ‘It’s about the work.’ In this day and age, you can create a dynasty if you've got this new talent understanding those old ways. What our coaches are creating is an anomaly. In a time where everybody's trying to work less. We've got a group of kids who are willing to work more."
It's not just Irvin who has gotten behind this Miami team. Edgerrin James has been at games. Devin Hester, too. Santana Moss texted Cristobal after Miami's win over Florida State. Dan Morgan and Greg Olsen reach out as well.
Practices always have a former player or two (or more) around. Former Miami coach Jimmy Johnson has been around the team. Ed Orgeron, who coached at Miami, is always nearby. The excitement among those who have been part of Miami's five title runs is obvious.
“That’s why I came to Miami as a player. That’s why a lot of my teammates, our teammates, came here to Miami,” Cristobal said. "And that’s why a lot of guys have come back. And we need to keep doing that. And we just need to make it almost like a token of gratitude. It is our role to do that and mentor the guys that have followed us, which is this current team right now, and help them get to the future.”
Irvin particularly enjoyed last weekend's win at Florida State. It took him back to 1987, when he scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to lift Miami to a 26-25 win over the Seminoles on that same Doak Campbell Stadium field. That win helped Miami win the national title.
He got run over on the sideline during that game, a collision where a pair of Miami defenders kept driving a Florida State runner backward after the play was over. Hurricanes linebacker Wesley Bissainthe got called for a personal foul on the play, and Irvin — along with ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe — ended up on the ground.
Both were all smiles afterward.
“I do all this for our coach," Irvin said. "Mario Cristobal sacrificed for this and we all have to follow him. We will follow him right to heaven, to that championship. He's the one to get us there.”
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