NCAA Football miami (fl) Hurricanes

Okay, so Danny Hope isn't the only hope in West Lafayette, Ind., this spring. Former Miami Hurricanes quarterback Robert Marve (pictured at right) ended the speculation about his next address Thursday, confirming that he will transfer to Purdue for his final two seasons of eligibility. Marve will have to sit out this coming season but will be eligible in 2010 and 2011.

Marve was Florida's Mr. Football in 2006 but missed all of his freshman season due to a car accident. His numbers from 2008 were not stunning, and when Jacory Harris was named the starter, Marve decided he wanted out.

There's nothing wrong with that, of course. Football players play football, and if Marve didn't want to stand around holding a clipboard, it's his right to walk away. Your head knows this and agrees with it. Your heart, however, is saying something like "Yeah, but ... Purdue?" O ye of little knowledge.

As a high school senior in Tampa, Fla., in 2007, Robert Marve passed for 48 touchdowns and over 4,000 yards. The final pass of his prep career was a touchdown with 17 seconds remaining in the state title game. With big numbers and clutch performances, Marve was one of the top quarterback recruits in the country, fielding scholarship offers from Alabama, Purdue, Miami and Michigan State and a host of others. Initially Marve committed to the Crimson Tide, but after Mike Shula's firing, he reopened his recruitment and ended up signing with Miami.

Less than six months later, Marve was a passenger in a car driven by one of his Miami teammates. The car slammed into a guardrail on I-95 after the driver fell asleep, and Marve's left hand was badly injured, leading him to redshirt his freshman season. This past season, Marve returned to start 11 games for the Hurricanes, throwing for nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions. But in December he decided to transfer. Which leads to an interesting question, how often have college football quarterbacks transferred and actually been successful at their new destination?

The ACC championship game has seen diminishing attendance from the 70,000 plus in the first game in 2005 down to a dismal sub-28,000 in 2008. The problem, it seems, has not been the fact that the ACC has been a collective morass of mediocrity that makes it less attractive for fans to want to make last-minute travel plans to the game. It has nothing to do with teams with smaller alumni bases like Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Boston College making appearances.

How about the fact that they have been held in Florida and only once has Florida State or Miami appear? Good luck getting the ACC to admit that was the expectation when they set it up for the first four games to be in Florida.

The National Football Foundation has announced 16 players and two coaches have ascended to the College Football Hall of Fame. Its not the sexiest list ever, but whatever, its got John Robinson and a pair of Heisman Trophy winners among the honorees.

Notre Dame receiver Tim Brown and (snicker) Miami quarterback Gino Torretta are joined by notables like Arizona's hard-hitting safety Chuck Cecil, Ohio State linebacker and ESPN analyst Chris Spielman, and West Virginia's Major Harris -- who was Pat White before there was a Pat White.

He's still looking. The disgruntled and apparently very slow Robert Marve is still looking for the right fit as far as where to transfer. Marve decided to transfer before the start of 2009, and got his release shortly after wards. He got most of those transfer restrictions that had him and his family so righteously fought eliminated.

Marve chafed against being told that he could not transfer to ACC, most SEC schools or any Florida-based D-1A program. Yet the only program that he is considering that was on the restricted list appears to be South Florida.

Remember Catholics vs. Convicts? The 31-30 last-second classic in South Bend in 1988? Two decades have passed but the intense, bitter, intersectional battle between the Notre Dame and Miami football programs could be returning in the near future. The Miami Herald reports that the schools are in talks to renew their series in the future.

Things got hot after 1985 when the 'Canes were accused of running up the score to the tune of 58-7. Notre Dame took its ball and ran home after 1990 but the decline of both programs and a good two decades of precious time seem to be just the ingredients necessary to revive talks about playing more games. This is great for college football if the programs can work this out.

We've been following this Bryce Brown saga for, well, probably less than the amount of time constituting a true "saga," but enough to possibly give credence that highly-recruited tailbacks are to the college game what highly-paid receivers are to the NFL (see also: David Oku).

While linking his name to nearly every hot commodity outside of his Wichita origins, up to and including Canada, the No. 1 offensive prospect according to Rivals had a verbal commitment to Miami, bolstered by the fact that his brother is currently a linebacker for the 'Canes and his pops apparently wants to see him at Miami too.

Blue turf and blue collar: that's the Randy Shannon philosophy so-to-speak in regards to postseason berths as well as talent management. Particularly after Larry Coker's leather-so-soft touch (remember the Willie Williams article?), Shannon was sought to instill a stabilizing force to a program that was spiralling into internal chaos, and they weren't winning anymore all that much either.

Well, we saw how the Robert Marve saga ended up. And now, Bryce Brown, #1 recruit according to Rivals and semi-legendary waffler, no longer has a standing offer to Miami. Beyond the fact that Miami already has two highly-regarded tailbacks in its 2009, here's the money quote: "No one player is bigger than the University of Miami." This comes from a source within the UM program, but still- it's credible considering Shannon's bent as of late.

FanHouse's lead-up to college football's signing day makes like Charles Dickens and looks at the Ghosts of Recruiting -- past, present and future. In the Ghosts of Recruiting Past we note 10 recruiting powers who have hit a dry spell

In this episode, we look at two of the dominant brands of college football in the last 30 years -- Miami and Florida State. Please don't accuse us of saying these monsters are untalented, but there's been a drop for both. Steady and quiet at first, but more severe of late. These are two programs fans love to hate but I call this a touch depressing. Let's shake this all out after the jump.

If we're to make assumptions about newly minted Miami offensive coordinator Mark Whipple based on his most recent gig, here's what we're looking forward to at Miami: year after year of crippling dropped passes from middling wide receivers, an utter inability to convert third and short, plus a nearly annual trip to Tampa/Charlotte/Jacksonville/wherever to lose the ACC Championship Game to some squad that used to have no business in big games.

Good news, N.C. State fans!