CFB: Miami Preps for Russell Athletic Bowl


Coral Gables, FL– As the Miami Hurricanes prepare to take on Big 12 Conference foe, West Virginia, in the Russell Athletic Bowl there are questions that loom larger that whether or not the team can notch their ninth win of the season.  Junior quarterback Brad Kaaya, is considering leaving school a year early to enter the NFL Draft.  Today, he was asked about his pending decision during a bowl practice.

“I’m just focusing in on this bowl game right now. I will probably figure things out the day after it ends. I’m just focused in on this game. We haven’t won a bowl game in 10 years, so that is a pretty big deal to this school. Right now, it’s all about beating West Virginia because they are a really good football team, so I can’t be thinking about anything else other than their defense.”

Kaaya, at the beginning of the season, was seen as someone who would definitely jump to the pros as he was a projected first round pick by many in the media who scout NFL players.  After a season in which he struggled during bigger games, in part due to the offensive line, Kaaya may have to come back for a year to regain his draft momentum.  Miami would love that because they can ease the transition to the next quarterback who is expected to be incoming freshman from Vanguard High in Florida, N’Kosi Perry.

Meanwhile, the team is focused on getting ready for a ranked opponent and using these extra bowl practices to work on some fine tuning the regular season doesn’t really allow for.

“There’s just more time to do stuff and more time for practice and more time to get reps in,” Kaaya said Thursday.

“We just want to get ourselves in a good position to win and get in some good preparation to put ourselves in a good place leading up to the bowl game.”

Miami plays West Virginia at 5:30 PM on December 28th at Camping World Stadium.  The game will be broadcast on ESPN.


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