South Florida Staples: Community, Family & Football
By: Camron Ghorbi
On a breezy Tuesday morning in southern Dade County, as Jaquan Johnson helped his two nephews sign their paperwork for the Hurricanes’ youth satellite camp at a nearby registration table, defensive coordinator Manny Diaz summarized the scene perfectly.
“A lot of programs talk family, but this really is a family,” Diaz said. “South Florida is one giant family. A lot of great players played on this field, the same way with the one we were at [Monday] in Fort Lauderdale and the one in Palm Beach County last week.”
Johnson, Miami’s All-American safety who elected to return for his senior year, was helping eight-year-old Jamari and five-year-old Terry register for the camp, which featured more than 200 happy boys and girls roaming from station to station at Sgt. Joseph Delancy Richmond Heights Park.
Parents, many of whom were wearing turnover chain t-shirts, beamed from the sidelines.
For Johnson, Tuesday’s event marked a return to the old stomping grounds where he won two national championships as a Pop Warner standout.”They still see themselves as the little young men who walked on this field for the first time and put the helmet on for the first time,” Diaz said. “Their eagerness to give back, maybe to the next generation of future Hurricanes, is something they take very seriously.”
Johnson, along with fellow senior safety Sheldrick Redwine and freshman offensive lineman Delone Scaife, Jr., all spent their Pop Warner careers at Richmond Park. Roughly 20 of their Hurricanes teammates and the entire Miami coaching staff joined in on the fun as part of a four-camp satellite event series spanning the tri-county area.
On June 8, at Lake Lytal Park in West Palm Beach, locals Amari Carter, Zach McCloud and Ahmmon Richards were among those to lead youngsters through a series of drills before posing for photos and signing autographs.
Three days later, at Mills Pond Park in Fort Lauderdale, several of Broward County’s finest sons joined the coaching staff for the second satellite camp.
Tuesday’s session at Richmond Park was one of two on the day – the other took place in Charles Hadley Park in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood later in the afternoon.
All the events were free and open to local youth.”We talk about youth development and giving back to this community – there’s nothing better,” safeties coach and director of youth development Ephraim Banda said. “You want to come to a place that, when you leave – God willing, we stay here forever – but you make it better when you leave. That was Coach Richt’s plan from the jump. This was his idea and it’s my job to execute it.”
Banda said that by returning to local parks and offering the hands-on opportunity for kids to interact with Miami staff and student-athletes, there is a reminder for everyone involved in the sport.
“The best part is to see how much they love football,” Banda said. “You’re reminded quickly what the key ingredients are to great players, like Jaquan and Sheldrick. Those young men love football. They’ve loved it since they were that little three-year-old’s age.
“That’s what’s great about it. You’re quickly reminded of what’s more important – not being 6-foot-2 or running like the wind. It’s about loving football…that’s what’s in these guys’ hearts.”
For Johnson – who said no such camps occurred during his own time as a local youth – the opportunity to share the moment with his nephews was something he’ll never forget.
“I live right around the corner,” he said. “This is my neighborhood. This is where I grew up. It’s awesome giving back like this…it’s memories.”
Redwine said he could remember playing at Richmond Park “like it was yesterday.”
Taking a moment to soak in the scene, Banda said that for many local Hurricanes, the appeal of playing at The U extends far past simply wearing orange and green on Saturdays in the fall.
“Here’s the big thing – you see kids leave the tri-county area all the time,” he said. “They go to different schools, and there’s not a bad school you can pick. But the bonus of staying home, coming to Miami, is this – your opportunity to affect more than just a game and your community. It’s why you stay here. It’s why you come to Miami.
“It’s why you decide not to leave home – because you can do way more with your legacy by staying home and being a pillar in this community, versus leaving and kind of removing yourself from the community. That’s what you love about seeing Redwine, Jaquan, all these guys coming back and giving to this place. They’re going to give to this place long after they’re done playing college football and into their NFL careers.”
