Mike Harley blog: I appreciate the motivation Reggie Wayne gave me

WR Mike Harley has had a weekly blog all season at CaneSport.com. In this edition, Harley talks about the Virginia Tech game and its aftermath:

13:01 starting “I saw him Tweet something out a couple of weeks back…”

I know I’m four catches behind Reggie Wayne’s all-time receiving record, need five to break it.

I saw him Tweet something out a couple of weeks back `records are meant to be broken’ and he put a crying emoji. I haven’t reached out to him yet, but I’m going to when I break the record eventually. My message to Reggie Wayne if I break the record? I looked up to you, Stacy Coley and Santana Moss. You guys came in and put the program on your back. You all are true playmakers, and I appreciate everything you did for this University. But … Lord willing my time is now and I have to break the record and you have to become second. I appreciate the motivation and the push that you gave me. 173 career catches, I’ve been looking at that number since I decided to come back.

And if I break the record, 100 percent I’ll be keeping that ball. I know I’m going to be in the Hall of Fame anyway with that catch, my uniform and everything. They’re going to grab me after the game and take all my belongings.

The ball - it’ll be an equipment manager that gets it for me. They control the balls, ball boy as well. They know this is very important to me, are on alert for it.

What that ball will mean to me? Well I would do anything to get it. I’d give two game-worn jerseys, my autograph, I don’t know, anything they need to get that ball. I’m not Tom Brady yet, but that means something so I’d have to give something.

I’ll keep the ball, don’t know where yet. I always give coach John Crabtree, my St. Thomas coach, he has all my belongings. He has my first touchdown cleats, first touchdown gloves. Everything I either give it to my parents or coach Crabtree. It depends, I don’t know yet.

For me, reaching the record was never in doubt. Coach Lashlee, coach Likens, they believe in me. I had a couple of talks with them: `I have to get that record.’ I never gave up.

Me personally I’m just trusting my process in my fifth year here. Just rolling with the punches, keep going.

Tyler, his confidence gave a lot of us confidence from older guys to younger guys. Watching Tyler competing, over 300 yards, two, three touchdowns a game. I’m very proud of him. I see him waiting his turn. He’s a humble, laid-back type of dude. He gets his chance, that’s the definition of take advantage of the opportunity. Tyler, his confidence is through the roof right now. That’s why he’s performing the way he’s performing.

And in practices literally dimes, every ball he puts deep is hitting us in stride, on the money.

Everything happening for Tyler right now is good.

5:57 starting “the future is bright”

The future is bright. A lot of versatile guys, man. You have Jacolby, a route runner with great hands, man. You have Melo who takes the top off, red zone, deep threat type of guy. Brashard is so versatile, you can use him at running back, receiver, quarterback, Wildcat, anything. Brashard - he’s electric, man. He reminds me of a younger Reggie Bush, a younger Jeff Thomas. Just get the ball in his hands, make things happen. With Brashard I just told him trust the process. Everything he works for he’s going to deserve.

You have Restrepo who catches everything. When I doubt you can depend on X. And a lot of guys I didn’t mention. You have the gunslinger Tyler, the whole line in front, Will Mallory coming back with Elijah Arroyo, Larry Hodges, Kahlil Brantley. So you’re just losing two or three guys and have the whole team back.

Next year the offense will be great.

Defense I feel will be better. All the young guys are playing. All those guys are back. The transfer portal has been helping us a lot. And the team feeds off the offense. The offense puts up points, the defense has to make certain stops.

Offense has to stay consistent and the defense will follow.

It really didn’t hit me yet, but that last catch as a Cane in that stadium was a touchdown. That touchdown sealed the deal for the game. I was happy. I’ll brag about that to my grandkids, kids, family members and even my teammates 10 years down the road: `Hey, remember when Tyler threw that touchdown to me when I was wide open?’ Yeah, it means a lot to me.

That play, it was Stutter 3 Post, ran a post and the middle was wide open. Coaches saw the coverage, called the play and executed it well.

8:43 starting “man, it means a lot…”

Man, it means a lot. A lot of blood, sweat and tears here, a lot of adversity. I learned a lot of lessons here. This University turned me into the man I am today, just making decisions, respecting my elders, just trusting the process, even teaching younger guys how to get through the process.

I would never regret coming here, never reconsider going elsewhere.

A lot of guys take Duke lightly. You don’t take a team lightly that has nothing to lose. So we will just go out there, execute and play our game, dominate, don’t have teams like that linger around and stay in the game.

We just have to execute and start fast from an offensive standpoint. Defense tackle, make plays and we’ll leave Duke victorious.

As for the bowl game and if I’ll play, I leave it all in God’s hands. Whatever decision I make - we’re going to make a business decision on that.

9:58 starting “we always lost the last three games..."

We focus on the task at hand. Manny Diaz doesn’t talk about the future, talks about the now. The past is the past. He’s keeping everybody levelheaded and sharp, not to worry. He’s been doing a great job with that.

And we just keep playing hard.

We always lost the last three games, literally. And it’s crazy seeing this program turn it around. It’s just the culture. The culture, guys like me and Zach McCloud, Amari Carter, guys that have been in the system that didn’t finish in four years and just changing the culture, doing our best to finish it out this year so guys can go into the season next year with a lot of momentum, on a positive note.

When we’re gone there are more leaders ready to step up. I know Tyler Van Dyke is a great leader right now, confidence level is high. You’ve got Rooster, he’ll say something here and there. And I feel linemen will take charge - Scaife is a good leader on certain things, Gaynor, and Will Mallory reminds me of a Tyler. On defense it’s guys like Corey Flagg, Keontra Smith, a lot of guys like that - you have James Williams, Kam Kinchens. Young guys, man, so it’ll be a young team and someone is going to have to step up.

We have a lot of guys that are going to lead next year.

We are at the University of Miami, so we have high expectations. National championship is the first thing in mind. And me being a fan next year, being on the outside next year, I put all my coins in the bucket for this year coming up being really good. Tyler, all the O linemen back, Rooster in the backfield and young, talented receivers, young/veterans on the defense. I feel coach is going to put all those guys in the right position to make plays.