‘He ain’t throw a good pass all week,’ but McIntosh nailed trick play in return to Miami

When Kenny McIntosh was in high school at Davie University School, he spent plenty of Saturdays sitting in the stands at Hard Rock Stadium, where older brother RJ McIntosh was a two-year starter on the defensive line for the Miami Hurricanes in 2016 and 2017.

Four years later, McIntosh finally got to play in Miami Gardens himself. After spurning the hometown Hurricanes for the Georgia Bulldogs in 2018, the junior running back suited up in the College Football Playoff semifinals Friday and delivered a play to remember before the first quarter was done, throwing his first career pass and hitting Adonai Mitchell for an 18-yard touchdown to help spark Georgia’s 34-11 win.

Fellow running back James Cook, a Miami native, said he was “stunned” by the call. If Cook’s to be believed, it didn’t go quite so smoothly during the week.

“He ain’t throw a good pass all week,” said Cook, who starred at Miami Central and was the No. 41 overall prospect in the Class of 2018, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings. “When it came to the game and [offensive coordinator Todd] Monken called that, I was like, Hold on, I know he ain’t going to call this.”

In the biggest moment of his career so far, McIntosh delivered. With 4:41 left in the first quarter, he took a handoff out of shotgun and feigned a stretch run to the right sideline. Once he got outside the pocket, McIntosh held up, set his feet and lofted a perfect pass to a wide-open wide receiver in the end zone to give the No. 3 Bulldogs a quick 14-0 lead on the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines on New Year’s Eve.

“That was a good throw,” Cook said. “I give it up to him.”

McIntosh was a five-year starter at University, first as a wide receiver in eighth grade and then for four years as a running back, and he never attempted a pass there either, according to MaxPreps. Instead, the Fort Lauderdale native was simply one of the most bruising runners in Florida, piling up 1,423 yards and 20 touchdowns on 136 carries as a senior before heading to Athens. The Hurricanes, of course, wanted McIntosh to follow his older brother to Coral Gables, but couldn’t keep the the top-200 prospect home.

For his first two years, McIntosh was infrequently used by Georgia, getting just 83 touches across his freshman and sophomore seasons. This year, he ran for 317 yards and three touchdowns on 54 carries in the Bulldogs’ first 13 games, and carved out a role as the Georgia’s third-down running back, catching 16 passes for 187 yards and two more touchdowns.

On Friday, he added two more carries for 5 yards, three more catches for 32 and the first passing stats of his career.

While McIntosh came through with the memorable play, Cook had the memorable performance, reminiscent of Dalvin Cook’s monster game in the 2016 Orange Bowl.

The senior ripped off a 21-yard run earlier on the drive to set up McIntosh’s touchdown and caught a 39-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to ice the victory. He finished with six carries for 32 yards, and three catches for 99 yards and the touchdown.

In 2016, the elder Cook ran for 145 yards to lead the Florida State Seminoles past Michigan in the Orange Bowl.

Cook said most of his family was in attendance at the game — except for his older brother, whose Minnesota Vikings have a game Sunday — and they had “a big tailgate” before the game.

“It was special just doing it in your hometown,” Cook said. “It just felt different.”

The halfbacks were two of eight South Floridians who play for the two Orange Bowl teams. For the Bulldogs, Hialeah Gardens Mater Academy Charter’s Latavious Brini is a backup defensive back and Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas’ Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint is a backup wide receiver. The Wolverines feature a trio of St. Thomas Aquinas alumni — defensive back Ja’den McBurrows, and linebackers Anthony Solomon and Jaydon Hood are all seldom-used reserves — as well as Delray Beach American Heritage’s Mike Morris as a reserve defensive lineman.

Stuart Martin County’s George Johnson is also a seldom-used defensive back for Michigan.

CFP leaves Miami until 2024

The CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl on Friday was the fourth installment of a playoff game — three of them semifinals — at the stadium now known as Hard Rock.

There’s still one left at Hard Rock in the current rotation, but it won’t come for a few years.

The next time South Florida football fans can enjoy a Playoff semifinal in the Orange Bowl will be Dec. 28, 2024, with the 2025 national championship site still to be determined.

CFP executive director Bill Hancock, who arrived in South Florida on Tuesday, was at Hard Rock Stadium and gave a “thumbs up to the Orange Bowl Committee, as always.’’

“It’s been great,’’ Hancock said before kickoff. “We look at how the teams have been treated, and they’ve been treated great. Their hotels are super. Their practice sites are excellent. They’re very happy and ready to play.”

Hancock was asked by the Miami Herald if he envisions the Orange Bowl to one day again be a host for a national championship. On Jan. 11, 2021, No. 1 Alabama beat No. 3 Ohio State 52-24, the only time a CFP national title was decided in Miami Gardens.

“It’s too far in the future to say,’’ Hancock said. “We haven’t really talked about it. We’ll talk about it soon. We like to move it around, but the changes here at this stadium have been phenomenal. This is as good a stadium remodel as I’ve ever seen. So, we like it here.”

The other two CFP semifinals at the Orange Bowl were on Dec. 31, 2015, when No. 1 Clemson defeated No. 4 Oklahoma 37-17 at Sun Life Stadium; and on Dec. 29, 2018, when No. 1 Alabama defeated No. 4 Oklahoma 45-34 at Hard Rock.