Tyrique Stevenson blog: 50/50 chance I'll be back next season, will have a decision in the next few weeks

SENIOR DAY EMOTIONAL, BUT I MAY STILL RETURN TO MIAMI

Being part of Senior Day it was just raw emotion. Honestly, I didn’t know how to feel based on the fact that this could possibly be my last game going out here with these guys. I’ll graduate in the spring, and it was just raw emotions. Just happy to be out there, happy to be around the guys, around this coaching staff despite the year that we had. It was just pure happiness, was also a little bit of sad emotion there but I couldn’t let it get the best of me. Just wanted to go out there and be able to play my heart out. Possibly this could be my last game … or not. So I wanted to go out there and bless the fans and bless everybody who came out there to support me, my mom, my grandma, everybody who just came out there and wanted to see us play hard. So I was more focused on that, not even focused on the fact that it was Senior Day. And I was just out there and this could be my last game so I wanted to play my heart out.

WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN FOR ME TO RETURN FOR MY FINAL YEAR

Just I want to put myself in the top three rounds. I feel I’m a real good player, but if I need a year to come back and show you all that then it’s no problem. I feel I improved myself from last year as far as everything they were questioning me about. Just top three rounds, I want an opportunity to go to the pros and it doesn’t matter what round I go in, I want an opportunity. But I feel my talents, hard work and dedication at least deserves top three rounds. So top three rounds it would be the smart thing to go pro, but it also depends on how me and coach Cristobal and coach Addae break down everything. It all goes into the small details. I’ll take notes over the next few weeks and make the best decision for me. Coach Cristobal and coach Addae, I have respect for them and I just want their honest opinion. They’ve been through stuff, coach Addae had a couple of pro DBs last yewar so I want their best opinion and advice on everything once I come with my facts and my side of things.

I don’t have all the facts yet, don’t have all the details yet. That’s what I’m going to spend the next few weeks doing. I’m making sure whatever journey I decide to take after this point is the right one and the best one. If that’s me coming back and playing one more year, you know then it is what it is. I just have so much love for the game, but at the same time I’m at a point in my life where I want to do it the right way, put my best foot forward.

It’s 50/50 I’ll be back. The coaches at Miami are all giving me the same message: If you can make your money for your talent then go ahead, we won’t hold you but we’d love you back here. Every coach is giving the same speech, recognize I have an opportunity in the NFL and might be ready. Some of the coaches and I feel like I’m ready to be a pro. But it’s back to square 1, making sure I have all the facts and I want to do it the right way.

I SHARED FEELINGS ON SEASON AT CRISTOBAL MEETING

Just a normal end of year meeting – he asked me how I felt the season went in my eyes, just a little more pointers as far as an older guy. He was like `What do you think these younger guys need?’ So nothing about leaving or anything. But it goes back to the fact I’m waiting to have a meeting with the coaches, I want to have all the right information from all the right people that I trust. There’s a lot of people out here trying to make money off me and that’s how they live, but I want to make sure I have all the right information before I sit, have a complete talk with them.

And when coach Cristobal asked how I felt the season went, I told him honestly I felt it was a great season because despite the adversity this team was facing we kept fighting. Despite everything that happened, the losing streak, major losses we took, I never saw this team’s spirit drop. I never saw this team fold and buckle like a lot of teams do. I never saw this team give up. We always looked for a better outcome. Even this last game, win or lose, we went into it with a positive attitude. I told him I was more proud of the guys, this was a young team and I was just proud of how mature they were over the course of the season because this season could have been a three-win season, two-win season. All they did was keep their head down, trusted in the coaching, trusted in the process, kept playing. The 5-7 record we didn’t want, but they came every day with a smile on their face despite everything going on, despite problems at home, just came in and put in work.

But as far as what went wrong, the disconnect, I still don’t have that, still don’t know. Just at times the team wasn’t a team, you know? And it showed. Some adversity – sometimes the team itself was doubting itself.

I SEE BRIGHT FUTURE WITH CRISTOBAL APPLYING NEW STANDARD

I trust coach Cristobal. I’m actually excited about the future of this program. All he’s saying is he’s going to bring guys in that are willing to abide by the standard. The standard he is holding this program and the standard that hasn’t been there is here now. And all he wants in the building is guys that will uphold that standard, add to it and make sure the guys around them are staying on top of their stuff, too. So very excited about the program. If some of my friends aren’t here, we’ll always stay in touch, I’m just trusting in him, trusting in the next few years he will have this program as a top program in the nation. And all that starts with applying by the standard.

As far as players that lived up the standard this season? On the field I feel the majority of them did. They went out and worked hard. Some people on scholarship didn’t get an opportunity because they got outworked by some other guys. And as far as putting the work in inside the building, doing the extra work on  your own that’s needed, I’d say half the guys bought in. The other half just relied on their athletic ability. That’s with any program, at any school. You’ve got the guys that work hard and really want to do well and the guys that are athletic enough just to go ahead and scoot by. I’d say the majority of the guys that were on scholarship actually bought into the program, bought into the standard and bought into doing extra work, extra film coming into the building when nobody is here and just being here, you know? Talking to coaches, making a relationship with the coaches. I feel a lot of the guys that will come back will boost the standard of this team and just follow the rules that Cristobal is going to set out.

BUY-IN KEY TO 1-YEAR TURNAROUND, AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH COACHES

I thought we were going to pull off 10 wins or more this year. I feel like with some of the games we lost, not the ones we lost by a lot, but some we lost we could have pulled them out if we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot. And with that being a big jump it’s going to take a lot of discipline, understanding and a lot of compassion for one another. At the same time the ultimate thing is everybody is going to have to buy in. Just buy in and become a family just to be able to set that goal and be able to go hit it. It has to be a family thing.

I don’t feel that will be a big jump just because of the standard he’ll hold next year and that the guys he brings around have to be a part of that standard and uphold it. Them upholding the standard and buying in is just going to be able to put this team at the top.

As far as the talent level? I feel like when I was at Georgia everyone was good, there wasn’t anybody on top of anybody, everybody was at an equal level of good. So once the buy-in came it was more like everybody is good. Like George Pickens said the other day, practice at Georgia was harder than the NFL because everybody wanted to make each other better, see everybody succeed there. So the buy-in has nothing to do with the coaches, has everything to do with how you treat your brother. If you come out and don’t practice well then you’re not getting better and he’s not getting better. But if you come out to practice and try to dominate him, now you all are working, now you all are going past limits you put on yourselves. So buy-in is as far as the brotherhood and the team, has nothing to do with the coaches, nothing to do with the strength staff, nothing to do with talent. It’s just how bad do you want your brother to succeed? Because at the end of the day, if he succeeds it helps you too. The game was the fun part – we’d been hurting all week and we go out Saturday and play people we know we’re better than because we put in the work. That’s how it’s got to be.