Austin Brown and Miami Look to Rebound

The 2012 Miami football season didn’t get off to the start that most RedHawk fans had hoped for – a 56-10 loss to Ohio State. Despite the final score, Miami’s first half showed that they could compete at a high level and will be a formidable contender in MAC Conference play. To digest the game and preview Miami’s home opener, RedHawk Insider caught up with senior captain Austin Brown.

Through 15 minutes of play, the Miami RedHawks were beating the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday in front of 104,000 yawning fans. The final 45 minutes were not as welcoming for the Red and White as the Buckeyes forced three turnovers and scored 56 points to blow out their guests. For a Miami team with high expectations, the result was disappointing. Senior captain and Defensive Tackle Austin Brown was bothered by the end result, but thinks that Saturday’s game can be an opportunity. “We are upset, but we are going to use the game as fuel. We can’t go re-play it. It is time to rebound…and we have already started doing that,” he said.

“We had Sunday off for rest, but the entire defense came into the locker room that morning and watched film to get ready for this week. We are all in.” Brown said. “The defense has a bad taste in our mouth from that performance and we are ready to get that cat off our back,” the 6-2, 270 pounder added.

Miami fans are all-too-familiar with the team’s annual out-of-conference schedule of highly ranked opponents. Typically, these early season games end with unfortunate injuries and mixed results, but Brown is optimistic that things are different this year. “I think that we came out of that game with very few injuries and should have all the starters ready to go next Saturday,” he said. Another positive for the RedHawks is the maturity that this team offers. “Last year, we gave Missouri a closer game in the opener, but we weren’t really sure of where we were as a defense. This week, we know what we did wrong. There are definitely positive areas for us to build on,” added the captain.

Another positive was the defensive performance of true freshmen Kent Kern, Josh Dooley, David Deleon and Bryson Albright. “Those guys responded well to being thrown into the fire,” said their captain. Jamire Westbrook also carried the ball on offense three times for the Red and White behind another true freshman, starting guard Brandyn Cook. Brown added, “The most important thing about that is for the upperclassmen to lead those new guys. We need to give them something to build on and show them our frustration from Saturday.”

This week’s opponent that will see the defense’s frustration is Southern Illinois. The Salukis lost their opener to Eastern Illinois 49-28. Miami’s captain Austin Brown spoke for his squad when he said, “We are just excited to get back on the field. We are going to prove over the next few months that Saturday’s game wasn’t our best. We are better than we played. That is not who we are.”