Miami’s recent win over rival Florida State vaulted the Hurricanes to the No. 1 ranking for the first time since 2002, the year after they last won the national championship.
This season marks the 25th anniversary of that title-winning team, regarded by some as the greatest college football team ever. Miami made it back to the championship a season ago and has established itself as one of the favorites halfway through the season to make another deep postseason run.
D.J. Williams, an 11-year NFL veteran who was on that 2001 team, recently caught up with Athlon Sports to discuss his alma mater’s return to prominence and the recent launch of his podcast “Greentree Made Me.”
(This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.)
Kyle Wood: DJ, thank you for joining me. Big win last weekend for your alma mater, Miami, against Florida State. It’s really the first time that we’ve seen Miami be challenged this season. What are your takeaways from that double-overtime thriller?
D.J. Williams: Every great team, when they’re on the road to the College Football Playoffs now — or even on the road to the national championship — you’re gonna have two to three games a year where you get tested. And going into that game, obviously University of Miami was the favorite. But again, when you have those lottery games, you take the records, you throw those out the window. And what you saw was a Florida State team that came ready to play.
KW: Playing a close game like that, I have to imagine that that’s a good experience for a team that, to that point, had won every game by double digits.
DW: It’s definitely a good experience. And not only that, it shows you what your team is made of. I was in a suite, I was in the Hard Rock Bet suite, and there were a lot of people in there that were extremely nervous and they couldn’t believe how cool, calm and collected I was. Even when we get into the fourth quarter, when it’s 21 to 14, we’re down by 7. And I got asked a question, I was like, now we find out who we really are and what we’re really made of.
KW: Watching on TV, it sounded like a great environment. What was the scene like on game day?
DW: Not only did the fans show up, they actually listened. It was an orange-out game. And as I’m looking out into the stadium, it looked as though 90% of the fans decided to wear orange. But it was crazy. It was an electric environment. It rained all day — that didn’t stop any of the tailgates. A fun play on words is we’re the hurricanes, so when the hurricane came we just continued to party.
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KW: Darian Mensah is one of the Heisman Trophy favorites right now. We saw him throw his first interception, but I thought he bounced back well in the fourth quarter. What have you seen from him halfway through his first — and maybe last — season at Miami?
DW: This game, I saw something that I had been waiting to see. I wanted to see how he handles himself in adversity. I wanted to see what type of quarterback he is when he gets pressured. In the first half, I believe they pressured him around eight times, knocked him down, sacked him a few times, picked his ball off. And he’s battle tested, he’s ready to go. And what I love the most was earlier in this off season, one of the Florida State players made a comment about how he couldn’t wait to play University of Miami. ‘Who do you hate?’ ‘Miami.’ And when the game is on the line, we put that guy out there on the island, one-on-one with Malachi Toney, and Mensah threw a pretty ball, Malachi adjusted well at the end of the play. But what I loved is, Mensah ran up to the DB, got in his face, was like, ‘Talk that trash now.’ You love to see stuff like that from your quarterback.
KW: I want to ask you about that next play, the two-point conversion from Malachi Toney to Cooper Barkate. You’re seeing that unfold, what was your reaction to that play?
DW: I’m just glad I’m not a defender out there. It’s one of those situations, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. And the fact that he can run the ball, he can throw the ball, he can catch the ball. You know the ball is coming to him, but at the end of the day, you don’t know how the play’s gonna end up. And he’s been very, very successful on that end around. So everybody on that strong side, that front side, has to honor. And it’s a split-decision play, right? Because if you’re too late on contain, now it’s gonna catch the edge. If you’re too fast — they had some, some good, overflow coverage over and Barkate was able to sneak through and catch the ball in the back of the end zone. It’s just one of those plays where, as the coach is speaking about it earlier in the week, he’s saying when he gets the ball, he can do one of two or three things.
KW: The breakdown on the fourth-and-long, the conversion and the penalty and then that crazy play at the end that ended up in the interception… It didn’t hurt Miami, but what did you see on those plays?
DW: We all know what the play’s gonna be. It’s gonna be a contested jump ball for Florida State, I believe his name is [Duce] Robinson. You got a guy at 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5, he’s gonna be up there with the trees. And what I loved was [Bryce] Fitzgerald was able to climb that ladder and go ahead and take control of the ball. There’s a lot of controversy going on the play, but there’s a lot of still shots and they show it that if we really focus and look, there’s a point in time where it’s in Fitzgerald’s hand, and Robinson doesn’t have the ball in his hand even when they come down. But not just to do it once, you have to do it twice. And you just got to applaud those individuals for not letting their foot off the gas and strapping it back up. Because I’ve been in games where I thought the game was over and it was decided and the fireworks went off and we all rushed the field and you had to go back out there and mentally get prepared. That’s a lot tougher than individuals think.
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KW: That win improved Miami to 6-0 and the No. 1 ranking in the country for the first time since we were on campus. Between last season — making the run to the national championship game — and now this start, in your estimation, how did Miami get back here to this standard?
DW: It was just a lot of hard work. And coach [Mario] Cristobal has a phrase, or the University of Miami has a phrase, and we say, ‘Are you a Miami guy?’ Whether it’s the coaching staff, it’s a player, whether it’s a janitor, it’s the omelet lady making food in the morning — we want people around the program around the facility that have the same value, the same drive, the same work ethic. And it took Mario a few years to get that going, but it seems like things are on track. You see the continuity between the coaching staff. You see the competition that you have with the guys. And we’re in the heat of the season right now, but what is everybody else still talking about? Everybody’s talking about the recruiting class that we got coming in. So it’s a nonstop machine, especially with coach Cristobal. He’s nonstop. They’re taking care of what needs to get taken care of today, but then you’re also focused on the future as well.
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KW: What have you seen from this team that makes you think that they can get back to the National Championship game?
DW: We have two of the most important factors. And we had them last year, and that’s really why we went on that run into the playoffs and made it to the national championship. And one of them is run the ball. If you look at what the offense did in this game, even though [Mark] Fletcher went down, [Javian] Mallory comes in, 13 carries, over 100 yards, two touchdowns, very physical. Everybody’s basically saying that this is Frank Gore reincarnated. They look the same, their bodies are pretty similar, their running styles are the same. And then the other thing is, you gotta be able to affect the pass pressure. And we thought that we lost a lot last year, with [Reuben] Bain and [Akheem] Mesidor. But we’ve been doing it by a committee this year, whether it’s [Damon] Wilson, whether it’s some D-tackles, we even got some of the DBs coming in and blitzing and stunting. So if you can affect the quarterback play with the guys up front, whether it’s four-man rush, blitz, linebackers coming in and you can run the ball you definitely got a shot.
KW: Are there any similarities that you notice between this team and some of the legendary teams that you were a part of?
DW: The biggest similarity I would say is there’s not a drop off. And I don’t even want to call somebody a backup. You say starters, those are just the individuals that went out there for the first play of the game. But the biggest similarity I see is you look in the running back room, we’re three, four guys deep. You look at the wide receivers, at any point in time anybody can be wide receiver one. We saw Barkate have his breakout game versus Clemson. That’s the biggest similarity that I see is the way that they’re able to rotate and keep guys fresh. And when they do those things, it’s not a drop off.
KW: I asked you what makes you think they can get back to the championship game. What, if anything, worries you about this team or needs to be cleaned up?
DW: You never want to make excuses. But a lot of the reason we gave up a lot of points is we’re decimated in the back end when it comes to DBs. But if you look at individuals like Ethan O’Connor who’s come back and taken his spot back and is out there balling, it’s just communication. So even though you got new guys in there, it still takes time to communicate and get on the same page. The only thing that I really see that really is out of our control is this injury bug. I think we went into the game with six or seven actual guys that started the season out. So if we can focus, get healthy — in this new transfer portal landscape that we have, when you look at teams, these aren’t guys that have been playing together for three or four years. There’s a big percentage, nucleus of your team that are actually new. And so sometimes it takes time to gel. So as I look at it, the trajectory that we’re going, we’ll be ready.
KW: There’s another big game for the Hurricanes in a couple of weeks. Everyone has the Notre Dame rematch circled. With Miami now returning to South Bend for the first time in several years, what are your thoughts on that matchup?
DW: It’s gonna be an exciting game. We held up our end of the bargain last week, which was winning. It would have been better if Notre Dame won, but we still got one more game, can’t look past UNC — gotta take care of them. But at the end of the day, you’re gonna have two teams that are both fighting and jockeying for their position in the College Football Playoffs. And we know how important this game is considering last year it was the deciding factor on who decided to go. And we’re giving Notre Dame their opportunity, their get back. They felt like they were slighted. I don’t understand how you can say you felt like you were the better team when you lost the game. Well, you get another opportunity to go out there and prove it. So it’s gonna be crazy with all the history that we got. I would say there’s good blood and there’s bad blood and good blood is Florida State. I think there’s an underlying respect factor there, because a lot of the guys grew up around each other, know each other from South Florida football, have family members and are related. But that Notre Dame-Miami rivalry, I don’t think that there’s much good blood going between there and leave it up to the media to kind of throw gasoline on it. But hey, it’s one of those things that the fan bases love.
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KW: Are there any other games left on the schedule that Miami fans should not be overlooking?
DW: You look at Virginia Tech, they got a resurgence. You got James Franklin who came in, who was very successful at Penn State and that’s one of those things you want to nip in the bud before it starts to get some momentum. But look, I think the real thing is staying focused. We’re No. 1 in the country right now. We’re gonna get everybody’s best game plan and, sad to say, there’s been a history of this University of Miami team in the last three years starting off hot and giving up one or two that they shouldn’t lose. And so this year, it’s all about focus. It’s all about keeping your focus, doing your job, and you have that 1-0 mentality, which is very, very important. Because every game that we go into — maybe besides South Bend, even though I think we should — we should be favored. So just because you’re the favorite doesn’t mean that the team is gonna go ahead and lay down. This is college football. This is big-boy ball. You gotta put your big pants on, so you gotta go out there every week and take it.
KW: Why do you think that has been a trend? Miami has taken a couple losses that maybe it shouldn’t have taken in October, November, the last few years. What would you attribute some of those slip-ups to?
DW: The season is long, and you’re looking at 18-to-23 year old men. For them to go ahead and keep that focus, week in and week out is tough. Every once in a while you may have a slip in focus or the ball may not bounce your way, and then you have a team that’s ready and hungry, and they come to play and you find yourself in a situation and you’re not prepared for it. Football is not one of those sports where you can just turn on. If you put in a bad game plan, you’re screwed. If you come in out of shape, you can’t get in shape during the game. There’s always going to be two to three games each year — no matter who you are — where you’re gonna get tested by teams that you should beat. And at the end of the day, it is focusing on your discipline and just finishing the job.
KW: Are there any players that you want to highlight on the current team that is being underrated?
DW: You got [Mohamed] Toure. I love the fact that he’s playing football the way the game is supposed to be played: violent, fast and physical. Let the referees and let replay sort it out and figure out if it was targeting or not. And then you have [Chase] Smith, who’s up-and-coming. I started paying attention to him about two or three weeks ago and what jumped off to me first was his size. I was watching the game, texting my dad, and my dad was like, ‘Hey, big No. 9 got some size on him,’ so I started paying attention more. And I saw his aggression, I started seeing how he was filling the gaps, and I was like, ‘Okay, yeah, he’s not just a big body out there, the guy can actually move.’ He knows how to use leverage, and I’m just excited to see what they’ll be able to dial up to him later on, put some spinner packages — don’t want to get too technical. But that type of size, speed and length, you can have him line up all around, across the line, get a bunch of different games going. So, I love the way that the linebackers are playing. I’m a linebacker and we haven’t had many standout linebackers in a few years, so I just love the way that we guys are running around.
KW: The last thing I want to ask you about is your podcast. Can you tell me about the idea behind it, what people can expect from it and how it came to be?
DW: So this is the 25th anniversary for the University of Miami’s national championship team. I just wanted to do something where we can tell the stories. I’m sitting down with 12 individuals this year. I’m sponsored by Hard Rock Bet. And of course, I’m gonna sit there with the biggest names. But again, I’m going into the vault, ’cause University of Miami brotherhood is deeper than most. So for example, I sat down last week with Gino Torretta, I had some conversations with Gino Torretta. I sat with Clinton Portis. I’ve already had conversations with Jonathan Vilma. One of the best conversations that I had thus far was with Mike Rumph, because Mike Rumph is one of those individuals that kind of bridges this old college football with the new college football. He was on my national championship team. He was a coach at the University of Miami. Now he’s head of recruiting, so he has somewhat of an understanding of this new collegiate landscape, inside and out. So when I spoke with him, it was more about this current team and the state of college football. So I’m gonna be sitting down with 12 individuals, and we’re gonna be getting, the how’d you get there? What was your welcome to college football moment? But also a lot of those stories that are untold. At least the PG-13 version.
KW: That sounds awesome, DJ. I really appreciate the time and getting to talk Miami football with you.
DW: You can find the podcast — we push snippets on Dyme Lyfe’s Instagram and Hard Rock Bet’s Instagram and the full show will be on Dyme Lyfe’s YouTube channel.
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