Miami Will Release Mr. Football Outside the State Lines

As soon as the news was out that Patrick Nix was fired as offensive coordinator at Miami, the odds on quarterback Robert Marve transferring jumped from probable to near certainty. Marve was close to Nix. Much closer than he was to head coach Randy Shannon.

Harris played well enough in the Emerald Bowl to Shannon that he stated that Harris would go into 2009 as the starter. That was enough for Marve.

"I had to get out," Marve told the AP from his family's home in Tampa. "I just decided that I can't play for coach Shannon."

Marve has requested and received his release from Miami, but it apparently has come with some tight restrictions. He can't transfer to any team in Florida, plus no teams in the ACC or SEC. That means Florida, LSU and Tennessee -- three programs he was rumored to be considering are out.

No shock, the Marve family is not happy about the restrictions.

"We don't quite know the rules or how to approach things, but we're going to challenge it," Eugene Marve said.

Good luck with that.
Coach Shannon, while saying he would have liked Marve to have stayed hardly seemed broken up by the loss even before Marve formally sought his release.

"If Robert (Marve) chooses to leave the University of Miami, we got Jacory, we got Taylor Cook, we got Cannon Smith, so we'll be fine," Shannon told the station. "We've got enough talent on this team, we've got an experienced quarterback with Jacory, if Robert leaves, Jacory will be our guy, he'll lead the way, because he has a lot of game experience."

Roughly translated, "don't let the door hit you on your way out."

While Marve was a top recruit and named Mr. Football in Florida as a high school senior, Marve had a problematic time at Miami. He was injured in a car accident in his freshman year, causing him to redshirt the season. By the spring practices, it was clear that Marve would be the starter.

Marve, though, got in trouble before the season for allegedly breaking a mirror on a car. Coach Randy Shannon, who was hired in no small part for promising responsibility and accountability from the players, suspended Marve for the season opener.

Marve and his family were upset over this. They felt the penalty was harsher than the act. Marve was further frustrated by the decision of Shannon to give freshman Jacory Harris time at QB. Before he had even taken a snap in a game, it was already being speculating that he would transfer. He didn't, and got opportunities to start and remain the starter. Neither Marve or Harris, however, did much to seize the starting job.

Marve ultimately ended the season like it began -- with a suspension. This time, Marve was suspended for the Emerald Bowl because he missed class for the fourth time that semester. Again, feeling he was wronged. Claiming that he was merely late to the class.