Miami football: 5 great players who didn’t live up to the NFL hype

Ranking the five most overrated Miami football players in Hurricanes history who were great for The U but were big-time NFL busts at the next level.

For the most part, when you look at the history of Miami football, the greats that have come through the program have gone on to enjoy great NFL careers. Whether it’s Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Willis McGahee, Edgerrin James, Michael Irvin or many others, the Hurricanes have produced a litany of greats at the next level.

But even one of the elite college football programs like the Hurricanes’ doesn’t have a 100 percent success rate when it comes to NFL prospects. There are a handful of players who starred for Miami football but never quite made it when they got to the next level. And frankly, many of them played quarterback.

While Vinny Testaverde just barely misses out on this list due to his long pro career, his overall lack of success in the NFL is noteworthy. Having said that, these five Miami football greats deserved more attention than he for their shortcomings in the league.

Considering that Brad Kaaya was named the Hurricanes’ starting quarterback as a true freshman, there were high expectations for what he could eventually do for the program. That was furthered by the fact that, though the team wasn’t necessarily thriving during Kaaya’s first season at the helm of the offense, he played quite well considering his youth.

In that 2014 campaign, Kaaya threw for 3,198 yards, 26 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. And though Miami finished the season at just 6-7 overall, there were hopes moving forward. Kaaya’s numbers actually took a slight step back the following season as he threw for 3,238 yards but for only 16 touchdowns, though with only five picks. Most importantly, though, Miami improved to 8-5 that year.

Kaaya’s best season and the best year Miami enjoyed with him at the helm came in 2016. The quarterback threw for 3,532 yards, 27 touchdowns and just seven interceptions while the Hurricanes improved to 9-4. After declaring for the NFL Draft a year early, Kaaya finished his career as the school’s career leader in passing yards and second in career passing touchdowns.

Despite having plenty of people in his corner pre-draft, Kaaya wasn’t selected until the sixth round in 2017, eventually landing with the Detroit Lions. However, he didn’t make final cuts and has bounced around practice squads, waivers and so on since. Though there’s still time for things to change, it appears that  Kaaya’s NFL career won’t amount to much.