Former Miami Hurricanes linebacker Shaquille Quarterman is competing at the Shrine Bowl this week as he looks to make a name for himself for the 2020 NFL Draft.

Quarterman joined The Big O Show earlier this week and shared some of his thoughts on why UM’s 2019 season was a disappointing one for Miami.

The top reason Quarterman provided for Miami's disappointing season? Depending on too much youth and inexperienced.

“If you look at our roster at how many young guys…people don’t understand that being young and playing at certain positions is unheard of,” Quarterman said. “You don’t hear about a freshman tackle being thrown into the fire and they don’t understand why he was thrown into the fire, but they expect him [to play well] and the other team didn’t care that he was a freshman. Then when you look at the grand scheme of things, my senior class is the smallest senior class in a while. To have a great team you have to have a senior class that plays great ball. Half of my class didn’t make it to my senior year or junior year. Now you have to lean on guys that haven’t been groomed enough to understand the standard, but you have to lean on them. They played hard and they fight, but they don’t have the Shaq Quarterman mentality yet—and you can’t expect them to.”

Quarterman finished the 2019 season with 107 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and one forced fumble. He finished his career with 356 total tackles with 46.5 tackles for loss and 13 sacks.

Quarterman ranks ninth on Miami’s career total tackles list.

The Hurricanes finished the 2019 season with a 6-7 record, which included losses to FIU, Duke, and Louisiana Tech to close out the year.

Quarterman was asked if he could put his finger on the reason why the Hurricanes struggled to win games when coming off bye weeks in 2019.

“I can’t pinpoint why exactly that happened, but usually when you take a game off or a week off, you are not as attentive as you were before,” Quarterman said. “Maybe you are too comfortable.”

Quarterman fully supports coach Manny Diaz, who was also his linebackers coach and defensive coordinator from 2016-18.

He has a message to the fans that have already given up on Diaz after year one as head coach.

“After year one, I would probably tell them that they should slide,” Quarterman said. “I don’t have an answer to give to fans to let them forget about the season, because I can’t forget about the season, but understand that we are going to keep it moving. Do I think this season will be repeated again for another six wins [in 2020]? No, I do not.”

Quarterman made it clear, however, that he does understand the impatience of the Miami fanbase because the Hurricanes have not been able to achieve consistent national relevance for more than a decade now.

Quarterman was asked if he thought bringing in former Hurricane Alonzo Highsmith into a ‘Chief of Staff’ type of role that would help oversee the football program would be a good move.

The linebacker is all for it.

“I think it would be a great asset,” Quarterman said. “I love Alonzo. Whenever I get to talk to him, it is fire and brimstone, but it is honesty and we need that. To have a guy like him who has done it—there is a different degree of respect with somebody who has done it. I think that would be a great move if they can add him.”

Quarterman is hoping a strong performance at the Shrine Bowl will earn him an invite to the Senior Bowl next week.