Four games into the football season, Miami (Ohio) wasn’t headed in the right direction.
The RedHawks were 1-3 and coming off a 76-5 loss at Ohio State. But since then, Miami has gone 7-2 and won the Mid-American Conference championship.
On Monday, the RedHawks (8-5), which feature a pair of redshirt sophomores from Columbus North, will play Louisiana-Lafayette (10-3) in the Lendingtree Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.
“I thought it showed a lot about what our team is all about this year,” offensive lineman David Redding said. “Nobody wanted to start out this way. Nobody expected us to do well, but then when we started playing getting into the MAC, that’s when we hit our stride. One of the big things for us was trying to eliminate the outside noise and listen to coaching and focus on the things we needed to get better at.”
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Redding started at left guard and right guard the first five games of the season, but injured a knee in a 34-20 win at Buffalo. After missing a few weeks, he has played only on the extra point and field goal teams since his return.
“This down time between the bowl game is getting back to 100 percent and getting back in the swing of things,” Redding said.
Mitchell Burton also has seen action on special teams this season. The backup running back has carried the ball seven times for 18 yards.
Twelve of those yards came on five carries in the game at Ohio State.
“It was an unbelievable experience,” Burton said. “They let me in, and I just took advantage of it. It was a pretty cool atmosphere, a pretty loud crowd.”
Redding also relished playing before more than 103,000 at Ohio State.
“It was a pretty cool atmosphere,” Redding said. “It was definitely a cool experience. In the first seven minutes, we were up 5-0, and it was dead quiet. We were able to compete for a little bit.”
Miami bounced back from that defeat in a big way. After winning the MAC East Division title, the RedHawks downed Central Michigan 26-21 at Detriot’s Ford Field.
“It was just the cherry on top,” Redding said. “It was the perfect way to cap the season. Nobody expected us to go in there and win. It was a really neat experience.”
Burton agreed.
“It’s super exciting, especially the way we started out,” Burton said. “The atmosphere has definitely changed over the past 13 or 14 weeks.”
Burton, who was mainly a running back at North, was the 2015 The Republic Football Player of the Year and the 2017 The Republic Male Athlete of the Year overall. But shortly after arriving in Oxford, he was moved to linebacker.
After spending his first two years of college at linebacker, coaches moved Burton back to running back before this season.
“I was super excited,” Burton said. “I was wanting to move back anyway, and they asked me. I’ve been working pretty hard at it. I kind of have the offense down. I think next year will be good for me.”
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Miami (Ohio) (8-5) vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (10-3)
When: 7:30 p.m. Monday
Where: Mobile, Alabama
TV: ESPN
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