Akheem Mesidor following in championship footsteps of Canadians on legendary 2001 Miami Hurricanes squad
Photo courtesy: Miami Athletics/Eric Espada.
What does it take for the University of Miami to win a national championship? Well, if history is any indication, it requires some quality Canadian talent.
Ottawa native Akheem Mesidor has been front and centre throughout the Hurricanes’ historic run through the College Football Playoff, providing relentless defensive pressure to propel the 10th seed all the way to the championship game. If he is able to overcome top-ranked Indiana on Monday night, it will mark the first national title in 24 years for one of college football’s most recognizable brands.
What Mesidor has accomplished as a Canadian export is unique and may well push him into the first round of the upcoming NFL Draft, but he isn’t totally alone on Miami’s roster. Scout team offensive lineman Nino Francavilla hails from Toronto, and together, they have a chance to become the 11th and 12th players from north of the border to win a ring since the NCAA introduced a definitive national championship game in 1998.
That places the pair in exclusive company, but they are by no means the first to tread this road for the Hurricanes. The U stakes a claim to five national championships over its 100 years of football history, and it has never finished on top without at least one Canadian contributor.
Offensive lineman Ian Sinclair from Toronto was there for the school’s first title in 1983. He was long gone by 1987, but Vancouver’s Steve Blyth played in the trenches for that championship season. In 1989 and 1991, cornerback Jean Stiverne from Montreal played a depth role. And, if you really want to push the definition, that ’91 squad also contained a young Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who is entitled to a Canadian passport thanks to his Nova Scotian father.
But none of those teams hold a candle to the most iconic of them all: the 2001 Miami Hurricanes. The last ‘Canes team to lift the trophy and the only one to do it in the BCS era is widely regarded as the greatest college team ever, boasting a laundry list of future NFL stars.
Andre Johnson, Jeremy Shockey, and Kellen Winslow Jr. all caught passes from Ken Dorsey. Bryant McKinnie paved the way for a backfield that featured Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, and Frank Gore. Jonathan Vilma and D.J. Williams commanded a defence that had Vince Wilfork and William Joseph stuffing the run, while Ed Reed, Sean Taylor, and Antrel Rolle were patrolling the secondary. Several of those players weren’t even starters due to the team’s depth. In total, the roster featured 38 players who would be drafted into the NFL and 17 future first-round picks, with those athletes combining for 43 Pro Bowl selections.
In the midst of all that talent was an incredible four Canadians, making that Miami squad by far the most maple-soaked of any modern era champion.
Defensive lineman Miguel Robédé from Val d’Or, Que., played the smallest role of the quartet. The future first overall CFL Draft pick sat out the majority of his freshman year and later transferred home to Laval, where he won a pair of Vanier Cups with the Rouge et Or. Add in a 2008 Grey Cup victory with the Calgary Stampeders, and his trophy case is one of a kind.
Offensive lineman Joe McGrath appeared in seven games that season, mostly in a reserve capacity. The native of Moose Jaw, Sask., would see his role grow in future seasons and eventually became a second-overall CFL Draft pick, best remembered for his time in Edmonton.
Sherko Haji-Rasouli was unable to suit up in the national title game against Nebraska due to a knee injury suffered late in the campaign, but was a valuable starter at left guard and a second-team all-conference selection. Born in Iran but raised in Toronto, he was credited by his teammates for broadening their minds and changing their opinions about Islam in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, giving him a leadership role far beyond what was seen on the field. He would play another season for the Hurricanes, earning third-team All-American recognition, before embarking on a successful CFL career, most notably with the B.C. Lions.
Then there was Brett Romberg. Miami’s starting centre in 2001 is the closest comparable to Mesidor in terms of a difference-making Canadian starter at the top of his game and one of the public voices of the team. While his best year arguably came the following season when he was named a consensus All-American and won the Rimington Trophy as top centre in the country, the Windsor native was still first-team all-conference during the title run and never allowed a sack.
Romberg later went undrafted, but stuck for nine seasons in the NFL with the Jaguars, Rams, and Falcons before bouncing around several different media gigs. In 2012, he told the Canadian Press that his football career had left him with memory issues and that he could recall very little of the 37-14 Rose Bowl triumph that earned the Hurricanes their last championship. All that he could remember was walking off the field with a Canadian flag tucked in his shoulder pads.
A lot has changed in the more than two decades since that moment. College football is nearly unrecognizable, awash in the financial chaos of N.I.L. and the roster churn of the transfer portal era. The road to winning a championship has never been longer, though also never more accessible for those with blemishes on their resume, like this current Miami team.
And yet, there will still be a Canadian star donning the orange, green, and white in Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night, seeking that same moment that Romberg had: the chance to drape themselves in the maple leaf while winning another country’s biggest collegiate prize.
The only difference is that a win by Mesidor will also restore the winning legacy built by his Canadian predecessors, bringing back a swagger that was lost after 2001.
The Miami Hurricanes (13-2) will face the Indiana Hoosiers (15-0) in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, January 19, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. EST.
