What grandma said, why he’s back and how this former Georgia Bulldog stands out at Miami
The women in Tyrique Stevenson’s life — his mom, grandma and four little sisters — are clearly dear to him.
Now they’re near to him, too.
Stevenson is the friendly, thick-bodied, highly regarded cornerback who grew up in Florida City watching the Hurricanes before leaving to join the Georgia Bulldogs because his family deemed it safer to get away. Now he is back as a more mature transfer who conceded in the spring that he had initially been homesick and “should have just stayed” in Miami to build his promising future.
Plenty of time to still do that.
An enticing opportunity for the 6-0, 214-pound third-year sophomore will come in the season opener Sept. 4 against defending national champion Alabama, the team that pounded Georgia 41-24 last October in Tuscaloosa.
“As my grandma always says, ‘You can’t win ‘em all,’’’ Stevenson, who had five solo tackles as a nickel against Bama, said Thursday night after the Hurricanes’ first practice in full pads. “I took that as a loss, but I also took that as a lesson. I want to come back around this time and actually have a better effect to the game than I did last year.
“No matter where you at, you gotta play ball,’’ Stevenson added, when asked if his teammates inquire about Alabama and the Southeastern Conference. “You can have any name, but you still have to step on the field and play a whole four quarters. It really ain’t no difference because you got the same talent here that we had at Georgia. ...We got DBs, they got DBs, you feel me?
“We got a great chance.”
UGA’s Kirby Smart
Stevenson, a four-star, top-10 national cornerback prospect when he graduated from Miami Southridge after attending Homestead South Dade, is eager to take on his added role this season as an outside corner. At Georgia he played in the slot for coach Kirby Smart, but badly wanted an opportunity to branch out with a more physical game.
Voila — enter UM coach and defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, whose former staff tried hard to get Stevenson to commit to the Canes out of high school.
“He was the first coach to call me once I entered my name in the portal, and we talked for 20 to 30 minutes and he gave me this idea and this vibe, like, ‘I’m going to coach you hard and I want you to do everything right that you need to do to prepare yourself for the next level,’” Stevenson said after transferring. “He’s going to give me all the tools to do it.”
Stevenson said Thursday he’s now working the “majority’’ at corner “but in some packages it’s just how it was at Georgia. I might slide in the box for a little nickel.”
He said he makes sure to engage in some good-spirited smack talk with UM quarterback D’Eriq King to ensure King challenges him by throwing his way. “Yeah, I’m a real competitor, and I know he has a lot of good, deep balls,’’ Stevenson said. “My thought was if I get him to throw at me more that will make both of us better.
“His locker is not too far from mine, so, you know, I walk by and give a quick comment and keep pushing.’’
Question answered
Stevenson has lost some weight since arriving in Coral Gables, but his body mass is more NFL-like than collegiate
“When I first got here the biggest question was, ‘Are you, weight wise, [able] to play outside?’ he said. “And lately I’ve been showing them that weight doesn’t matter and my weight isn’t a problem... With this team there are a lot of competitors, and I knew how it was going to be, because at Miami we compete a lot.”
At Georgia, Stevenson played in 24 games and made four starts, totaling 47 tackles, two tackles for loss and 10 pass breakups. He made a game-saving pass breakup in the fourth quarter of Georgia’s 24-21 Peach Bowl victory against the then-No. 6 Cincinnati Bearcats. Among his competitors at UM are former high school teammate DJ Ivey, as well as Te’Cory Couch and Al Blades Jr.
Stevenson mentioned to Diaz after his portal entry that he intended to be “the first one to rock the [turnover] chain” in 2021, “and I plan on rockin’ it a lot.
“We were already on a good page with that,’’ he said. “He was like, ‘I won’t hold it from you and if you want me to I’ll hand it to you every time you get your interception.’’
Standing out
Diaz and Oklahoma wide receiver transfer Charleston Rambo — Stevenson’s roommate — said Stevenson is standing out in camp specifically and around the program in general.
“He’s really made a big impact on our secondary,’’ the coach said. “I don’t think it matters what conference he played in before. The guy is a good football player. We’ve known him since he was a ninth grader. He loves being here. He fits in with our guys in the locker room. He brings a competitive spirit and a confidence back there.
“The way he moves for his size — he’s a big dude. He’s dropped some pounds from the summer and he believes he’s going to make every play when the ball is thrown his way. Our offense notices him when they’re on the field. They feel his presence when he’s out there.”
Rambo, another vaunted transfer, described his roommate as a hard-working grinder who also happens to be a really good guy. “He’s always talking good about people, never negative,’’ Rambo said. “He’s a positive guy.
“He’s running with the ones and we’re working every day— grinding one-on-ones, seven-on-sevens...team pass, anything. Then we go home and probably talk about it, or look at a play on film, just teaching ourselves to get better.
“He’s long, I mean he got weight, too,’’ Rambo continued, laughing. “I be joking with him about his weight. He’s big bodied so he’s like 220 or something like that, I don’t know. He’s a big corner, something like an NFL corner, and we see that every day. So we’re making each other better.”
Ed Reed factor
Stevenson saw UM legendary safety, Pro Football Hall of Fame member and current Canes chief of staff Ed Reed at practice Thursday night. “I walked up to him and was like, ‘Me and you need to start having a lot more conversations,’’’ he said.
Despite maintaining his bond with former teammates from Georgia, Stevenson said he’s very happy having returned to South Florida. “I can see my mom and my sisters a lot,’’ he said. “I signed with that [Georgia] class and we kind of built a brotherhood that I hold to this day. But being back home is a great feeling.
“The guys, they have this sense of urgency and sense of dedication to this program and team,’’ Stevenson said after arriving. “I’m just trying to fall in line.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 2:13 PM.
