Talk about the unknown guy that did well with his life, Russell Maryland is a true underdog story.
Maryland grew up a sort of chubby kid in Chicago that really didn’t like football, so it’s said. Maryland’s family put emphasis rightfully on academics and he was enrolled at a charter school in Chicago that didn’t produce a lot of football recruits. At Whitney Young High School in Chicago, overweight and somewhat short, Russell Maryland was getting no recruiting attention at all.
Maryland was about 6-1, 350 and the only real interest he was getting was supposedly from Indiana State. We know that the legendary Larry Bird played basketball there and took them to the Final Four, but who knows anything about their football team?
Nobody else was even interested in Maryland.
However, don’t mourn for Russell Maryland because things changed for him at the last minute. The Miami Hurricanes were coached by Jimmy Johnson at the time and they had a commitment from a different Chicago recruit named Mel Agee who backed out at the last minute and signed with Illinois. Agee did not have a bad career and even played in the NFL, but Maryland jumped on the opportunity and became a Miami Hurricane. Agee was a more highly rated player and played at Chicago’s George Washington High School, signed with Illinois and was a good player for them. He was a 6th round draft pick by the Indianapolis Colts and he played in the NFL for 5 seasons and then a season overseas, before going to the Arena Football League and playing 5 more years. A solid player, no
doubt, but he passed away in 2008 at the young age of 39 from a heart attack.
Maryland had to be the lowest rated recruit in the Hurricane’s class because he wasn’t even rated at all at the time.
But, Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson saw something in Maryland that he liked. Jimmy Johnson had an eye for talent and he proved it with the Hurricanes by loading up on that roster. But, he really proved it with the Dallas Cowboys when he took them from last place to Super Bowl champions multiple times. It was Jimmy Johnson that acquired all that talent and the egomaniac owner ran him off and they have never been the same, but that’s beside the point.
Johnson couldn’t have seen Russell Maryland’s heart and his drive, but maybe he did. He had a way of spotting talent and potential, but it was Maryland that was going to work hard and earn it.
Russell Maryland did just that.
Maryland signed with the 1986 recruiting class, a class that would be a part of two national championships. Maryland redshirted in 1986 and the Hurricanes were upset by the Penn State Nittany Lions for the national championship.
The following season, Maryland continued to work hard and as a redshirt freshman, he was a reserve on a 12-0 national championship Hurricane team. That took head coach Jimmy Johnson to the
pinnacle of the college football coaching world.
In 1988, Maryland was a sophomore and he worked his way into the starting lineup at defensive tackle.
The Hurricanes had an exciting season in 1988, they opened with a crushing 31-0 win over top-ranked Florida State which was so convincing that the Canes moved into the top spot.
They had to make a miraculous comeback in Ann Arbor, Michigan to win by one point over the 15th ranked Michigan Wolverines. Catholics vs Convicts almost didn’t
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After the 1988 season, Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson took off for the NFL and the Dallas Cowboys where he turned that franchise back into a powerhouse.
The Hurricanes hired Dennis Erickson from Washington State as Johnson’s replacement and they were rewarded with a national title in 1989.
Notre Dame star Chris Zorich and Tim Ryan of USC were first-team All American defensive tackles in the 1989 season while Maryland’s sidekick at Miami, Cortez Kennedy was a 2nd team All American along with Marc Spindler of Pittsburgh and Jeff Alm of Notre Dame. On the 3rd team was Russell Maryland, but he was coming back for his best year yet.
Miami was the top-ranked team going into 1990, but they were immediately upset in Provo, Utah by 16th ranked BYU.
However, the then 10th ranked Hurricanes bounced back immediately by crushing California and Iowa. Then, they beat arch-rival Florida State next, 31-22 and the Seminoles were ranked 2nd in the country at the time. That huge win propelled the Canes back down to the 3rd position in the latest poll.
They jolted the Jayhawks of Kansas next, 34-0, which set up another trip to South Bend, Indiana to take on another nemesis, Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish somehow beat the Hurricanes again, 29-20. The tremendously talented Hurricane team were now 4-2 on the season and out of the national title hunt.
But, that didn’t stop them from playing hard and winning the rest of their games including a highly convincing stomping of Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
The one-time chubby boy from Chicago was a consensus All American in 1990 and the first ever Miami Hurricane to win the prestigious Outland Trophy for the nation’s best lineman. Yes, Russell
Maryland who had basically one real offer to play division 1 football had just been voted the Outland Trophy winner and a consensus All American.
There was no quit in Maryland and he had the heart of a lion.
The biggest honor was yet to come for Russell Maryland when his former coach, the man that had offered him a scholarship out of high school, selected him with the number one overall draft pick in the 1991 NFL Draft. He was now a Dallas Cowboy and would be an active member of several Super Bowl championships
Maryland was once as heavy as 350 pounds but was now a trim 275 pounds with excellent feet and quickness. As a senior at Miami, Maryland was credited with 10 and a 1/2 quarterback sacks which is extremely impressive for an interior lineman. He also had 7 tackles for loss and 5 forced fumbles.
Maryland played for the Cowboys for 5 seasons and then was a free agent and signed with the Oakland Raiders and played there for 4 more seasons and then he finished up with a year in Green Bay.
The Maryland family took their educations seriously and they were raised that way. Mr. and Mrs. Maryland had 3 boys and all 5 of the family graduated from college.
The city of Chicago should be really proud of Russell Maryland. He was a true underdog story.