Part II: Leon's thoughts on the current state of the program, favorite things, word associations and more! Click here to read Part I.

pC: Where’s Russell [Maryland] now?
LS: Russell is in Dallas. He works for a software company that sells video components to the NFL and college teams.

pC: You played under both Jimmy and Erickson. Did things change when Jimmy left? Erickson ran a loose operation from most people’s accounts.
LS: Well the years I was there, it was kind of like Erickson was given the keys to a Porsche and he was told not to wreck it. Everybody when I was there understood what Jimmy Johnson had done over the years and what he had built. We were a little skeptical with going outside of the family with the hire because initially Gary Stevens was a guy everybody wanted because he was the offensive coordinator. That had a lot to do with why Steve Walsh left because Steve Walsh basically gave Miami an ultimatum and said keep Gary Stevens on board and that’s why he entered the supplemental draft. So when Erickson was hired we were a little skeptical about his offense, though it was a pro-style offense in a way. A lot of long passes and decent running game. And the one thing he didn’t do is touch the defense. He let the defense stay where it was.

I can just remember the first time we saw Dennis Erickson, we were all running 15x110s and I remember him walking out on the field and seeing Lamar Thomas, Horace Copeland and he is seeing offensive lineman and defensive lineman blazing by him and he was in awe of all the speed we had as a team. We were just flying by and him thinking, man this new guy is coming in here, just don’t mess it up because we had just come within a yard of winning back –to-back [championships]. Everybody knows that wasn’t a fumble that was called against Notre Dame and we would have been back-to-back. We had a motto in Miami that was it was either title or bust. It was no going to a bowl. If we weren’t playing for a national title, our season was not a success. So we just wanted to make sure that whoever was brought in here, he understood what our purpose was and he was on board for it because we felt we had enough talent on that team to win a National Title that year and we actually did.

pC: So would you say the players had more of the role of running the ship than he did?
LS: Yes. We had enough leadership on that team, that he didn’t really have to do anything. Everybody knew their role, we knew who we looked up to and what kind of talent we had and he didn’t have to come in and discipline us. You know, we had guys that had little spats but not to the point that would jeopardize the team and what we set out to do.

pC: They call us the “U Family” and all the old players come back to practices, they still work out there. How did that start?
LS: Everybody cares so much for the program because we understand the amount of sacrifice that was put into it. That is what we always tell the young guys nowadays. You’re in the position you’re in now because of what guys have done that paved the way to this point. Jimmy Johnson did create a family sense and guys came back. I mean it’s hard to be a defensive tackle and not listen to Cortez Kennedy who is a future Hall of Famer. It’s hard if you’re a receiver to not listen to Michael Irvin who is also a Hall of Famer. It’s hard if you’re a running back, to not to listen to Edgerrin James tell you about cuts and read defenses. It’s hard to be an offensive lineman and not listen to Leon Searcy who was an all-pro. We had enough guys at so many different positions and guys were saying listen and they had no choice. They always welcome guys to come back and it rolled over. Guys always come back and help and we created that bond where we cared enough about the program to not see it falter.

pC: Do you go back often?
LS: Not as often as I like. Only because these last couple of years I was coaching, so I was recruiting and this and that. When I was in league I would go back and talk to guys and I used to train down there early in my career.

pC: Did you have a nickname or anything?
LS: Michael Barrow used to call me Godzilla because I used to always bark out calls. Some guys used to also call me “Big Pun” which is short for punisher when I was playing.

pC: What was the toughest place to play an away game in college?
LS: Oh easily, Florida State. Florid State during that time was like our little brother. It was like looking at a mirror of yourself, only smaller. I’m sure they’re not going to like that, but it’s true. They always gave us the toughest time. Most of athletes on the field at that time were similar. If we had a receiver that ran a 4.3 [second 40-yard dash] they had a DB that ran a 4.3. If we had offensive lineman that could bench 500 [lbs] they had a defensive lineman. They complemented us. They complemented us in every way. I know it had to be very frustrating for them because in my five years there they only beat us once and the one time they beat us we still won the title so I know it must have been very frustrating for them at that time. Florida State with that chomp and everything that goes on up there, it’s tough.

pC: Who was the one guy that was really influential in the development of your game?
LS: My high-school coach and my offensive line coach Art Kehoe. The one thing Art Kehoe did for me was that he kept me humble. I was having so much success so fast from when I came in as a freshman and then came in my sophomore year, things just started rolling for me. I’m starting, we’re winning titles but he always kept me humble. He always stayed on me about my technique. I could have an outstanding practice in my mind and then he would tell me that that was horrible. I understand what he was doing. He was feeding the fire. He didn’t want me to ever become comfortable with myself, with my technique, how I train, how I study. Ultimately he knew I was going to be an NFL player and if I became comfortable with myself I could never achieve what I wanted to achieve at the next level. He also worked on my techniques, fundamentals, hand placements, how to shoot my hands, how to train as an offensive lineman and all that stuff. Coach Kehoe definitely had a great deal to do with my success.

pC: Do you still talk to him?
LS: Yes I still do.

pC: You said going to the NFL wasn’t that bad of a transition. What would you say was then the toughest part about going to the NFL?
LS: One of the things was living up to the first round status. Going to the Pittsburgh Steelers and being the 11th pick overall, I was now the highest paid guy on the line as a rookie. So, having to live up to those expectations. Then, just the speed of the game. We had a lot of speed in Miami but there were so many different formations and variations in the league [NFL]. You would have to check out safeties, cornerbacks, twist and stunts at the next level. The speed and the expectations were probably the toughest.

pC; You went to the Steelers, the Jaguars, Ravens and Dolphins. What was your favorite stop?
LS: My favorite stop was Pittsburgh. I love being a Steeler. Everything about it. The hard-nosed, tough, hardhat, coming to work everyday lunch pail attitude, the Steelers exempted, I loved everything about it. Coach Cowher was an awesome coach, very player friendly. He loved winning, hated losing, tough, hard-nosed. I came in with Cowher, I was his first pick in 1992. Everything about being a Steeler, I enjoy.

pC: Going to the current state of the program, why did you think it became this way, how can it get back?
LS: I probably didn’t make a lot of UM fans happy when I made a comment on the radio about how Miami has become the Cal Berkley of California. In the sense that USC has become the staple now in California and there is USC and everybody else. Now in the state of Florida the tables have turned in the sense that now, the University of Florida is the toast of the town and Miami is in the back seat. It is true though, in Gainesville they have this machine running. They have two National Titles in three years, they are doing something right. We’re getting just as much as talent as they are, but somehow it’s not transforming onto the field. I don’t know who to blame. I don’t know if we should blame the coaches, or the recruiting. Everyone says the facilities or we don’t have the money. When I was at the University of Miami, our weight room was no bigger than this Applebee’s, but I can name a lot of talent that came out of that little weight room with one little window when anytime you need to get air you had to open the door to get air. You’re talking about guys like Russell, Tez, me, Warren Sapp a slew of NFL players that came out of the little facility. I don’t want to hear about we don’t have the money or facilities. Something is just not being done there. Now I hear that if we win seven or eight games, you can’t have those sort of low expectations and ever expect your program to be where it used to be. I really don’t converse with those guys as much as I used to, but I hope they care that they want to turn it back around. I know they are working their behinds off but something is not going right.

pC: Do you think Randy is the man for the job?
LS: I do think Randy is the man but does Randy have the people around him? He was there and I know Randy knows about the traditions and upholding them but he’s got to have everybody on the same page. If he has everybody on the same page with a clear objective of getting the program back to where it used to be then it will be back where it should be. Right now it doesn’t make any sense to me that over the last four or five years we have top 10 recruiting classes according to those publications and then not being able to transfer that over to the football field.

pC: So you think there was a problem at least in coaching or development.
LS: Look at this statistic. I was watching the NFL network and the last couple of years Miami has been squeaking out a first round pick. Now this year we might not even have a guy drafted. When Butch had that machine running and we were on probation, a Butch Davis recruiting class consisted of Ed Reed, Cliton Portis, Edgerrin James, Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne, Bryant Mckinne, DJ Williams, Phillip Buchanon and this is when we were on probation. When you’re on probation and they take 33 of your scholarships away you’ve got to recruit and you’ve got to develop these players if you want to compete. Look at Jimmy, look at Dennis, look at Butch and you look at Larry and you look at Randy. Somewhere there was a demise. If you look at a timeline, there was no demise with Jimmy, Erickson towards the end maybe, Butch built that thing back up. Someone is to blame after that. I won’t say the name but you do the math.

pC: Do you think the program can come back though?
LS: I believe they can. I believe they can. If they’re getting the top-notch players you have to put these guys in position so they can win football games. That’s what it boils down to.

pC: What do you think about the move to Dolphins Stadium?
LS: I didn’t like it. I know why it was done, money. A private school, not state funded and the Orange Bowl facilities were shammy at best. I understand why they made the move. The whole idea of the Orange Bowl was to have the student base there for the games. The atmosphere is not the same and the fans are spread out.

pC: Why the number 73 at UM?
LS: I was 77 in high school and they gave me 73 in college. In the pros I wanted the number 73 but it would have cost me $10,000.

pC: Who did you have to buy it from?
LS: Justin Strzelczyk, he was an offensive lineman of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was the first round pick making all this money and I just assumed I would get my number. I asked if I could have my number and they said well someone has it. I said I need my number and they said you need to go talk to him about it. So I went to him and said would you like to switch numbers, I have been 73 my whole career. He told me ‘it’s going to cost you’ and I said how is it going to cost me? He started it up at $25,000. I said you can keep that and he told me ‘alright you can have it for ten grand.’ I said I’m not going to give you ten grand for a number. I’ll just be 72 and I’ll make it famous.

pC:I say a word and you tell me the first thing that pops in your head:
Randy Shanon: Onion
pC: That was his nickname?
LS: That was his nickname
pC: Why?
LS: The rumor was that he would make the girls cry but I doubt that. That’s what they used to call him.

Larry Coker: Good guy
The Orange Bowl: Tradition
Dolphin Stadium: A waste
Sebastian the Ibis: Crazy as they come
Art Kehoe: Genius
Coral Gables: Too expensive
The Fiesta Bow: Robbed
Ohio State: Hate ‘em
Jimmy Johnson: Outstanding
Dennis Erickson: Aight

pC: Do you follow the NFL now? You follow a team?
LS: I follow the Steelers. I played for a couple of teams but the Steelers seem to be the only ones interested in me after football. They contacted me last year because it was the 75th anniversary of the Steelers franchise and they called me and said that I made the all 90s team and they wanted me to come. They send my son stuff and stay in contact with him. The Jaguars, I have yet to hear from them and they were my most recent team.

pC: Why did you end up going to the Jaguars?
LS: This is a funny story. I’m a free agent just out of the Super Bowl. My agent is Drew Rosenhaus, enough said there. I’m a little cocky and I’m in the Bahamas. I’m resting. Drew Rosenhaus calls me and says ‘Leon we have a deal on the table.’ I say from the Steelers? And he says ‘no from Jaguars.’ And I said the Jaguars? Come on now.

This is why I left Pittsburgh. Drew Rosenhaus got the Steelers on the phone. Drew told me at the time that the money we were asking from Pittsburgh didn’t think I deserved it. You’ve got to remember at the time, I am 24, 25, a pro bowler and teams are telling me that I don’t deserve [the money]. He said ‘Pittsburgh doesn’t think you deserve the kind money you are asking for.’ They said you’re too young. I said I don’t believe you, you’re lying. So Drew got them on the phone, and I am on the phone listening. Drew is ranting and raving and saying Leon is going to leave and they’re saying we don’t care we have someone to replace him. So that was probably the worst thing that could have happened to me.

pC: They didn’t know you were on the phone?
LS: No. They didn’t. They didn’t know I was on the phone and Drew negotiated with them. You don’t want to hear negotiations. For one, I’m 25 years old, you don’t understand the business. His job is to get as much money as he can and their job is to keep as much and we’re supposed to meet somewhere in the middle. But Drew did not explain that to me. He just explained that they don’t want you for the money you’re asking for. So, I’m on the phone and I’m hearing them say Leon is only a starter for us for 3 years and we can’t give him that kind of money because Dermontti Dawson is this and he will be a future Hall of Famer. We love the kid but we can’t pay him to be the highest offensive lineman. So I am listening to this. I am fuming mad. I said the hell with Pittsburgh. I’ll go somewhere else and prove myself. As soon as we hung up the phone, Drew had the Jaguars right there. He had already staged the whole thing because the Jaguars wanted to make me the highest paid offensive linemen in the NFL at that time. So, Drew said don’t worry about them, I’ve got a team that wants to make you the highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL and I said who’s that? He said the Jacksonville Jaguars. I said, let’s go. I was fuming mad from that point on but I didn’t understand the nature of the business. That’s how the business is. I would advise any guy who is a free agent, that is young to not listen to the negotiations between your agent and the team. They want to strip you down and he’s going to build you up and they’ve got to meet somewhere in the middle. You couldn’t tell me that, not at the time. The way they were stripping me down. He can’t do this, he can’t do that, he’s got limitations. It was so tempting to just say something on the phone. I was holding it in.

pC: Favorite Food?
LS: Seafood

pC: Top tunes on your iPod?
LS: R&B, old school, Prince, light rap

pC: TV show you can’t miss?
LS: Law & Order and Cold Case

pC: What you do in your spare time?
LS: I try and spend as much time as I can with my kids. I have two daughters and my son. When I’m not doing something, I want to be with them. It was tough when I was playing ball because I was so busy. I saw my kids get raised without me. I was traveling and doing this and that. I was still wild and out there. So, now that they’re growing up, I want to spend as much time as I can with them. My daughters live in Atlanta, my son lives in Orlando.

Click here to read Part I of our interview with Leon Searcy.

We at proCanes.com would like to thank Leon Searcy for being so gracious with his time to do this very insightful interview for our new feature "Tracking proCanes." We would also like to thank his son Leon for his patience and input during the interview.

proCanes.com is continuing our “Tracking proCanes” feature with former All-American, 3-time national champion and NFL Pro Bowl offensive tackle Leon Searcy. Searcy played primarily with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars in an 11-year career spanning between 1992 and 2002. He was drafted in the first-round, 11th overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers out of the University of Miami in the 1992 NFL Draft. Searcy also spent one season with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001 before signing with the Miami Dolphins in 2002. In 2002 he was ultimately placed on the injured reserved and he subsequently retired after the 2002 season. From 2004 to 2006, Searcy was the offensive line coach at Florida International University. Searcy was a member of the 1987, 1989 and 1991 University of Miami National Championship teams and was a first-team All-American in 1991. He also played in Super Bowl XXX for the Pittsburgh Steelers and in 2003 was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame.

Part I: Where is Leon now? His days as a Hurricane and more!

proCanes.com: So, what are you up to these days Leon?
Leon Searcy: I’ve got a couple of foundations that I run, actually two foundations, one is called ProsToo . It’s a foundation where we raise money for formers professional athletes that may be struggling with life after football and we point them in the right direction as far as getting their disabilities. We look to find them opportunities for worker’s compensation and raise money to get them help. Each state varies and you know, when you play in the NFL, you play in so many different states but the main state right now is California because there is no statute of limitations in California. If you played out in California they take a portion of your salary as a workman’s fee and so the guys who played out there are eligible for worker’s compensation. We’ve helped about 200 guys. I have an attorney out there that I work with and we fly them out there and we set them up at the hotel and set them up with doctors out there and they get a full body examination. Each part of their body is evaluated and graded. The process takes about two years before anything is finalized. My main purpose for doing this, is for guys to get medical help that they otherwise couldn’t afford for the injuries they suffered while playing because people don’t know that once you finish playing ball in the NFL they only cover you for three years. A lot of these guys have bad knees, shoulders, back or hip problems. I try to get these guys help for their medical and get them compensated for their injuries.

My mom is the executive director of my other foundation Stand Up For Kids. It is a nationwide program that helps homeless kids. My mom runs it in Orlando. There is a statistic out there that says that one out of every 50 kids is homeless in America and that is a lot of kids that don’t have food, shelter, clothes or water to drink. So, my mom just got involved with that right now, and I’m a part of that. My dad has my foundation in Jacksonville also, the Leon Searcy Jr. Foundation. What we do is we feed people. We prepare baskets and give food out to the homeless throughout the whole year. What we’re trying to do now is build a kitchen so we can feed people every day.

pC: Did you start the Leon Searcy Jr. Foundation when you played in Jacksonville?
LS: Actually no, I started it when I got drafted. I had told my parents when I got drafted that I wanted to give back so I started that foundation.

pC: So you coached at FIU for three years right?
LS: Yea I coached for three years at FIU from 2004 to 2007, you know Don Strock was our head coach. I actually got fired by a Hurricane.

pC: By Mario [Cristobal]?
LS: By Mario, but you know I understand it’s a business. You know one thing I learned about college football is that you want your guy. I played with Mario for three years at Miami, but I wasn’t his guy. He wanted to bring in his guy and he explained that to me and I understood the nature of it and there are no hard feelings, though I wish he hadn’t cut my interview in half. I mean I had a five hour interview with him and Mario was asking me questions he knew I taught him. But it was all cool and it all worked out for the better.

pC: Are you looking to get back into coaching?
LS: I don’t know right now. Someone has given me the opportunity in a Minor League Football league called the United National Gridiron League. It’s supposed to be Minor League Football and they’re going to actually play their games at FIU. I think the head coach’s name is John Fox. They actually hired me but they just haven’t gotten the league kicked off yet.

pC: You’re from the DC area, when did you start playing football? How did it all start?
LS: I started playing football really young. I never played organized football. I just played on street corners, sandlots, in the street. I just loved to play football and I was really active. These were the days before video games and all this other stuff. Kids played outside. Your parents would punish you by saying you couldn’t go outside. Those were the days. I would play basketball, football anything outside. I could never make the grade to play organized football because I was too big for my age. Like this one time, me and my friends are walking to the field for football and as soon as I walked onto the field the coach sent me home because they didn’t believe I was nine years old. I was too tall and too big. I cried all the way home. You know, you walk in there with your friends and everybody else is playing but they send you home. So, I remember my mom putting me in the car and driving back to the football field and she storms in front of the coach and asks him: ‘are you the one that sent my son home?’ and he said ‘yes.’ And my mom says: ‘I want you to remember this name: Leon Searcy. I want you to remember it.’ I know why she did that. I know why she did it that day.

pC: Have you ever spoken to the coach since?
LS: I have never spoken to him since that day.

pC: When did you start playing organized football then?
LS: I didn’t play organized football till my senior year in high school. A lot of it had to with the fact that my mom is a schoolteacher and has been in education for over 45 years. She set my academic standards real high. I couldn’t play ball until I had a 3.5 [GPA]. That was a little high, but I understand what she was doing. Although she wanted me to play football she knew that if I wanted to take it to the next level that she had to set the standards high. So I didn’t play sports until my senior year. So just imagine now, I am 6’4” 305lbs, the biggest kid in school, and I’m not playing ball. First of all, forget the ladies, the ladies are out, you’re not going to be very popular because you aren’t playing ball and they’re going to wonder what’s wrong with you. So I had to endure that my sophomore and junior year. I went out to the Jamboree going into my senior year and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the contact of hitting other people. I gravitated right to it. My high school football coach sees me dunking the basketball one day and he comes up to me and asks me if I was new at the school. I told him I was going to be a senior next year. And he said: ‘You are going to be a senior and you have never played football before?’ And I said no I have never played before. He said: ‘why don’t you come out and let me train you in the summer and we’ll get you ready for the season.’ Most kids in the summer wanted to party and hang out with their friends. I had a 3.75 GPA and I was in summer school training with my head coach. We’re doing drills, weight training, suicides, lifting weights everything. Going into my senior season I had some good games. My first two letters that I got were from Florida A&M and South Carolina State. By the end of the season I had Michigan, Notre, Dame, LSU, Florida, Florida State, and Miami.

pC: Who you recruited you out of Miami?
LS: Don Soldinger. The funny thing about it is, is that he came to my school to look at another player. He came to look at a defensive tackle and a linebacker. He wasn’t even considering me. The funny thing that happened was he was sitting at the stadium watching us do drills, and the guy he was looking at was guy I ran over in the drills, the linebacker and I didn’t do it just one time, I did it like three times in the drill. So Don Soldinger asked ‘Who is that?’ My coach said, ‘oh that’s Leon Searcy he has never played football before’ and Soldinger said, ‘that kid could play at Miami, let me talk to him.’ That’s how it all started.

pC: Why Miami, were you a fan of them growing up?
LS: Absolutely. You know I didn’t watch much college football growing up but I remember Don Soldinger playing a tape of the 1986 team. The whole pageantry of how they played football just excited me. Michael Irvin, Jerome Brown, Stubbs, I mean just every aspect. I said that’s where’s I want to be. I just felt that the pageantry and the way they played football was exciting. I knew that’s where I wanted to be.

pC: On your recruiting visit to Miami, what do you remember? Who toured you around?
LS: I believe it was Melvin Bratton. You know, I wasn’t a little young, I was a lot young. You know, I didn’t go out much, but Melvin Bratton is taking me out to Inferno all these other clubs. You know, I’m a green kid, I had never seen that. I knew I could never tell my mom about where we went. She would have never let me come here if I did but I loved every bit of it. He took me to the Beach to all the hot spots.

The one thing that stood out that he said, was ‘if you come to the University of Miami, if you’re not coming here to be the best, don’t come.’ That’s what he said. He said ‘if you’re not coming here to be the best, don’t come because you’ll be back home in six months because they will run you out of here.’ He said ‘there is so much talent on that field that if you don’t compete it will show and you will not play.’ You know Coach Soldinger told me that too. I am sitting there on signing day, and signing day was a lot different than it is now with all the show. My signing day was in a closet-like room with three chairs and table my dad to my left and Don Soldinger to my right. I am sitting there with the papers and Don Soldinger and before I signed the pieces of paper he said: ‘when you come to the University of Miami, if you don’t come here to be the best, you won’t play and you’ll just be a five-year backup. Before you sign that piece of paper know what you’re committing to.’ I wasn’t worried about that though because I knew I was going to compete, so I signed and was off and running.

pC: Was there another school that was close in the running?
LS: Yea there was one school. Florida State, but Florida State kind of did themselves in. It was between Miami and Florida State, but Florida State was actually the reason why I went to Miami. I went [on a recruiting visit] to Miami first and then Florida State second. I talked to Bobby Bowden and then that evening when the hostess was taking me out I see Deion Sanders, I see Sammy Smith. I see all these guys. They were in the room having a good time and we sit down and we start talking. We start talking football and they start talking about Miami and how they can’t beat Miami and this and that. I said, wait a minute, all these guys are talking about is how great Miami is and how they can’t beat Miami. I said to myself I am in the wrong place. I’m going to spend five years of my life, just like these guys right here, talking about how I can’t beat Miami? When I left and I went back home and my parents asked me what I was going to do, I told them I’m going to Miami. It was like they were already defeated before they even stepped onto the field. In the off-season! I said no, I’m not going to a place like that. I’m not going to a place where they don’t have a tradition of winning and they don’t want to win and they feel like Miami is their obstacle and they can’t overcome it. They answered it for me. I’m going to Miami.

pC: What was the toughest thing playing at Miami? Was it the competition?
LS: Absolutely. Absolutely. The best thing Jimmy Johnson ever did at the University of Miami when he was there, was you never felt comfortable with your position. He kept the grind on you so hard. My first year at the University of Miami he [Jimmy Johnson] got all the freshman together and he said: ‘look, I want you to look to your left and I want you to look to your right because one of you all is not going to be here because when we counted those scholarships someone will have to go.’ He kept the ax on us. I did not feel comfortable with my starting spot until my senior year and I was an All-American by then. He never let up. He constantly kept the ax grinding on you. I remember when we played Arkansas. He is from there and we were beating Arkansas 31 to nothing going into the fourth quarter and he told us on the sideline: ‘if they score a touchdown I am going to run the hell out of you all.’ He meant it, I guess they didn’t offer him a job or something like that and he meant it.

We played Florida State and they had that rap tape and they were preseason number one and we had just won the National Title the year before and that rap tape just pissed him off. He kicked every coach out and you know he was a psychology major so he knew how to get in your head because he scared the hell out of me but now I understand what he was doing. He kicked all the coaches out, all the administrators out of the room and locked the door and dimmed the lights. He sat in the front and took that VCR tape and popped it in and when we saw that tape, we were fuming. Jimmy Johnson after the tape said ‘hey guys, that’s what they think about you. They’re the number one team in the country. They are coming into our house.’ I mean I felt sorry for them [Florida State], I mean I always felt sorry for them but we beat them 31-0. But that’s what he did. I’m not going to say he was a hell of coach but he was great at taking people and putting them in the right positions of power to get things done. We’re talking about Soldinger, Art Kehoe, Gary Stevens, Butch Davis. Tubberville and Orgeron were GAs [Graduate Assistants] when I was there, I mean he put a hell of a staff together and we worked. This was before the NCAA had all those rules and I mean we worked. There were times when if he didn’t like a drill he would start the whole practice over, I mean it was crazy, it was totally crazy. Our conditioning test would be 15 x 110s and these could make or break your career. The only reason Cortez Kennedy started his last year at the University of Miami was because Jimmie Jones failed the 15 x110 test. He always had the test on the hottest day. If it was cool or breezy he wouldn’t do it.

pC: You won two titles when at Miami, what was one of your favorite memories?
LS: Actually I won three titles because I won one my freshman year. Just winning, I mean my favorite memory was probably how we prepared for games on Saturday. At the University of Miami we said we outworked everybody else. You know when I got to the pros I was already taught on how practice would work and how to study film. You know, at the next level, I was ready. Just the winning and the camaraderie was probably the best memory.

pC: Does one win or one game stand out?
LS: The one game that really stands out that we won in 1989 when Notre Dame came in the number one team in the country and we were like number seven. Just the whole thought of how they stole the title away from us the year before with the fumble. I remember how it was that evening. We don’t like Florida State but we really don’t like Notre Dame. I don’t know what it is. I mean there was the whole “Catholic versus Convicts,” the whole “Good versus Evil” that was created. We really didn’t like them because they were the total opposite of what was presumed. We always presumed Notre Dame to be a bunch of choir boys, stuffed collars with ties walking to class with a halo over their heads. We were depicted as the guys with gold chains on and our guys weren’t’ really like that. So, we just despised them so much we wanted to stick it to them. This was the last game of the rivalry, and I just remember walking into the stadium and the electric feeling. I was just amazed of how much energy we would exert on the bus, in the locker room, in warm-ups before the game. I mean I couldn’t believe how we could then just go out and play.

pC: You went up some big-time defensive tackles in your day, who would you say was the toughest to up against in practice?
LS: Easily Cortez [Kennedy] and Russell [Maryland]. Absolutely those two. They were immovable objects in practice. You know, I did an interview on the radio about two weeks ago and Russell was on the show. I told him that a lot of our offensive success had to do with our demise in practice. I told Russell that the offense might have won 18 practices in five years against the defense because our defense was that good. I mean, they were so good that when we played other teams come Saturday it was easy for us. We would go up against Russell, Cortez, Michael Barrow, Darrin Smith, Jesse all of these guys and we had a good secondary. You’re not going to see that kind of talent on one team back then. Russell and Cortez were easily the toughest guys to go up against.

pC: Who was one leader during your years that really stood out? An emotional leader?
LS: We had so many. Everybody on the team was vocal. I mean we took classes in trash talking. Everybody in there was vocal. Who was the emotional leader? I don’t know. It’s difficult to say. We turned to each other. Everybody cared enough about the program that they spoke up when they thought things weren’t going right or we weren’t practicing right or getting it done in the weight room or in class. Everybody spoke up. Russell was the type of guy that when he said something, because he was so quiet, everybody took notice.

pC: Who was your best friend during your years?
LS: Because I was an offensive lineman, usually guys I hung out with were offensive lineman. There was no one in particular. We usually hung in groups like that.

pC: Do you keep in contact with a lot former guys?
LS: Not as many as I would like to but I talk to Hurley Brown a lot, Horace Copeland, Russell two weeks ago, Calvin Harris actually called me yesterday. It would be nice to catch up with some of the old guys.

Come back tomorrow and read Part II of our interview with Leon Searcy and see what he has to say about the differences between Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson, the current state of the Hurricanes, Drew Rosenhaus and more!