University of Massachusets Athletics
Standout Lineman Gains Accolades
December 16, 2002 | Football
Dec. 16, 2002
Walking casually out of the Massachusetts football locker room, Maikel Miret barely seems to notice the winter chill that is seeping into the concrete structure. The 6-foot-3, 285-pound senior offensive lineman even has a smile on his face when he talks about the cold temperatures moving through New England.
"I don't believe the cold is that bad, and I enjoy it, actually," said Miret.
In fact, if it wasn't for the t-shirt he was wearing with "Miami" scrolled across the front, it would be hard to guess Miret hails from Miami, Fla.
"I'll go back home over the winter and it will be like 70 degrees every day. It's different, but I've never been around the cold weather so for me it's cool."
Still relatively new to the Massachusetts climates in his fifth year with the Minutemen, Miret admits he actually looks forward to seeing the snow. Yet he doesn't complain about the 70-degree temperatures when he returns home to Miami over the winter, either, as living in warm climates comes natural to his family. Born in Cuba, Miret moved to the United States with his older brother and two parents when he was one-year-old. Taking a boat to America, the family settled in Miami to start a new life in the United States.
Being only a toddler at the time, Miret doesn't remember his life in Cuba, but he used his family's move to Miami to the best of his advantages.
While attending South Miami Senior H.S., Miret excelled in both football and wrestling. The Floridian was a three-year starter on the offensive line, playing at each of the five positions on the offensive line. As a captain during his senior campaign, Miret earned third team All-State, first team All-District and second team All-County honors. While accumulating his gridiron accolades, Miret was also successful on the wrestling mats. He won the Florida Class 6A wrestling title his senior year while tallying a perfect 29-0 record.
When Miret chose to continue to his football career at UMass five years ago, he said goodbye to wrestling, choosing to participate in only one sport at the collegiate level.
"It's really tough to wrestle, and the practice is really tough, and I would have to lose weight for wrestling and then gain it for football, so I didn't really want to wrestle in college," said Miret.
While Miret ended his wrestling career, he still used part of a wrestler's mentality on the football field.
"In wrestling you're out there by yourself, and in football you're just trying to take care of your business, do what you need to do," Miret said.
As a fifth-year senior, Miret has taken care of all of his business on the field for UMass, starting in every single game over the last four years for the Minutemen. He started a school-record 47 consecutive games for the Minutemen in the trenches, two more than Vaughn Williams started in the UMass secondary from 1988-91, and his 47 starts tied Jerard White's school mark set from 1996-99, too.
"I've been really lucky. The only injury I have really had was my sophomore year when I messed up my knee, but that was during camp, so I was able to play the whole season," said Miret. "I just try to play, no matter what."
The co-captain was rewarded for his efforts on the field when he was named to the first team of the 2002 Atlantic 10 Football Coaches All-Conference squad. This honor gave Miret recognition for his play, something that is considered a rarity at his position.
"No one really talks about [the offensive line] when we are winning. Then when we're losing, they point the finger at us when something goes wrong," joked Miret, who also earned All-New England honors in his final campaign, too.
In addition to earning All-New England and All-Atlantic 10 honors, Miret was selected as the National Offensive Lineman of the Week by Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette following the victory over Maine. Miret led a UMass offensive line which allowed the Minutemen to rush for 119 yards and pass for 176 yards on a muddy field in their 20-10 victory over the eventual A-10 co-champions and then-second-ranked Black Bears. The offensive line allowed only one sack on 22 pass attempts, against a Maine defense which had totaled 27 sacks in the season's first six games. He was also the key blocker on the game's final drive, when UMass ran four consecutive quarterback sneaks behind him to gain 12 yards and a first down to run out the clock.
But Miret doesn't mind not receiving a lot of public recognition for his play.
"It just goes with the position," said Miret. "We know that we're not going to get any notoriety, we're just there in the back and the quarterback and the running back can take all of the glory." This team-first attitude made Miret a successful captain on the Massachusetts squad this year. For the year, Miret started all 12 UMass games, helping pave the way for an offense which averaged 166.1 rushing yards and 370.0 yards of total offense, while averaging 27.2 points per game
"[Maikel Miret] is a four-year starter and a great competitor, who brings a lot with his toughness and his love for the game," said UMass Head Coach, Mark Whipple.
Along with co-captain Corey Potter, Miret used this competitiveness to excite his teammates while the Minutemen's season winded down. Miret puts the team's trip to the playoffs his redshirt freshman year among the highlights of his UMass career, and tried to prepare this year's squad to get back there.
"I told them they've done a great job and to just keep doing what we've been doing," said Miret. "We tried to keep everything normal during practice, just trying to keep everyone's spirits up." As UMass' season came to a close on Nov. 23 when it was left out of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, Miret's Massachusetts career ended as well. He had already bid his adieus to UMass on Senior Day on Nov. 16 when the Minutemen played Hofstra, but at that time the senior still had a game against Rhode Island to look forward to.
"It was difficult knowing it was my last home game, but I knew I had to just keep going," Miret said.
The senior did keep going, playing hard against Hofstra and then again against Rhode Island the following week. But that's where his collegiate football career would end. When Miret looks back on his five years with the Minutemen, he won't focus on the wins and losses. Instead it will be the time he spent with his teammates that will stand out in the lineman's mind the most.
"All of our road trips were fun, just being able to hang out with all of the other guys," said Miret.
Miret took a five-year road trip when he decided to come play football for UMass. The Sunshine State resident learned how to win and lose, how to perform on and off the field, and along the way he also learned a little bit about snow and cold temperatures.
Miret even got a heavy dose of snow during his last game at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. On Senior Day Miret had a chance to play his first game ever in the snow, giving the Floridian a cold farewell from UMass.
"That was my first time ever playing in the snow," said Miret with a smile. "But I enjoyed it."
