Archdeacon: An ‘awesome’ addition for the Miami RedHawks

Quarterback Dequan Finn joined the Miami RedHawks this season after one season at Baylor University and four at the University of Toledo, where he was named the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year in 2023 and the season prior was the MVP of both the MAC Championship Game and the Boca Raton Bowl. Coming into this season, he has scored more touchdowns (93) than any current player in college football. MIAMI UNIVERSITY / CONTRIBUTED

Quarterback Dequan Finn joined the Miami RedHawks this season after one season at Baylor University and four at the University of Toledo, where he was named the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year in 2023 and the season prior was the MVP of both the MAC Championship Game and the Boca Raton Bowl. Coming into this season, he has scored more touchdowns (93) than any current player in college football. MIAMI UNIVERSITY / CONTRIBUTED

She said his closet has gotten a complete makeover this summer.

Lakia Finn said her son Dequan – “Quan,” as she calls him – got a pair of fancy custom-made cowboy boots with his name on them when he was at Baylor University.

But the style in Waco, Texas is a little different than Oxford, Ohio, where Miami University still retains some of its once preppy signature.

“He’s not wearing those boots around every day now,” Lakia said with a laugh. “They’ll stay in the closet ‘til he goes out for something special.”

As for any of the maroon and gold shirts he may have collected when he initially committed to play quarterback at Central Michigan University after coming out of Martin Luther King High in Detroit, they’ve been removed, she said.

It’s the same for the midnight blue and gold stuff he got while he was setting records at the University of Toledo and any green and gold attire he had from Baylor.

“All that is null and void,” she said with a laugh. “We donated all of it.

“His closet is full of Miami stuff now.”

No one is happier about those new threads than Miami head coach Chuck Martin and the rest of the RedHawks football fraternity, though the initial sight of Finn in red and white comes with a bit of jaw-dropping surprise.

The newest and grandest gift of the transfer portal for the RedHawks this season once was the hard-to-contain nemesis of Miami football.

He led Toledo against the RedHawks twice in 2023. He threw two touchdown passes to guide the Rockets to a 21-17 victory at Yager Stadium in October.

FILE - Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn walks the sidelines during an NCAA college football game against Illinois, Sept. 2, 2023, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)

Credit: AP

icon to expand image

Credit: AP

And when the two teams met again for the Mid-American Championship at Ford Field in Detroit in early December, Finn threw for a score, ran for another and was named the Most Valuable Player of the game even though Miami won.

Most other teams that Finn has faced in his long college career have fared the same.

“Of all the returning players in college football this season, he has the most touchdowns … and it’s not even close,” Martin said. “The success he’s had as a player is awesome.”

As a passer (66) and runner (27), Finn has a whopping 93 touchdowns in his college career.

He had a MAC-record seven – six passing and one as a rusher – when he led Toledo to a come-from-behind 52-31 victory over Kent State in October of 2022.

That season, along with being the MVP of the conference championship game, he was named the MVP of the Boca Raton Bowl after Toledo topped Liberty.

In 2023, he was the MVP of the MAC.

Before last season he transferred to Baylor and started the first two games before he said he suffered a pinched nerve in his throwing arm. He played in only three games and was granted a medical redshirt.

He’d already gotten another redshirt his freshman year at Toledo because he appeared in just three games. And the following year, like everybody in college football, he was granted an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID pandemic.

That means this season, as he takes over the reins of the RedHawks’ offense, the 24-year-old quarterback will be in his seventh college season.

“The first time I entered the portal (after the 2023 season) I had more than 50 offers,” he said the other day as he sat on a sidelines bench in Yager Stadium after practice.

“This time there weren’t as many schools interested, but I’m going to prove the doubters wrong. Some people might think the odds are against me, but I have confidence in myself. I know the type of player I am.

“No matter where I’ve gone, I’ve been a winner, and our team has been a winner.”

He said that’s a result of the way he was raised and especially the town he is from.

“We handle the hard times, that’s what makes Detroit, Detroit,” Finn said. “We have grit. We stick it out.”

Lakia, who works in the automotive industry in Detroit, agreed:

Dequan Finn, the quarterback of Martin Luther King High, hugs his mom, Lakia, at a game his senior season. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

icon to expand image

“We have determination and backbone. We show the naysayers.

We ain’t gonna talk you to death, we’ll just show you with our actions.”

Martin said he and his coaches have known that about Finn for a long time:

“We recruited him when he was in high school. I went up to King High and visited him personally. We didn’t get him then, but when you’ve got a guy like that in your league, you watch him.”

This time when Finn entered the transfer portal, Miami – which had just lost quarterback Brett Gabbert, who had spent six seasons with the RedHawks – wanted a shot at him.

“We weren’t for sure going to take a quarterback (from the portal,) but he’s a difference maker,” Martin said. “We reached out to him, but he never responded to anything from us for a month.

“He had some other good opportunities, but he didn’t feel like they were the right fit for him. Finally, his agent knew some people who knew us, and he reached out and said, ‘Are you guys interested?’

“We said, ‘We were interested a month ago.’

“And when Dequan came in and we told him how we approach things, he said, ‘That’s what I’m looking for.’

“The timing was right for both of us.” Finn agreed: “I’ve had a close relationship with Coach Martin since high school. And I know the history of Miami. This is a quarterback friendly school. I know the success Ben Roethlisberger had here.

“I want to do the same.”

Separate ways

“Quan started playing football when he was 5,” Lakia said. “Well, actually, I had him in flag football before that. He always could throw the ball.”

Once he began playing youth league football in Detroit, Dequan Finn was winning trophies as big as he was. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

icon to expand image

By the time he was seven, Finn said he could throw a spiral 30 yards.

He starred with the Southfield Ravens in Pop Warner League football and then really shined at King High his final two years. He threw for 25 touchdowns and ran for 21 more and led King to the state title in 2018.

That year he was named Michigan Mr. Football.

Although he initially committed to Central Michigan, he reversed course when Coach John Bonamego, who had recruited him, was fired.

After playing sparingly his first two years at Toledo, he became a starter and had three stellar years with the Rockets.

He’s the only player in Toledo football history to throw for at least 2,000 yards and run for 500 in the same season. And he did it three years straight from 2021 through 2023.

That prompted the jump to Baylor in the Big 12 Conference, but as he put it: “It just didn’t work out and that was unfortunate. In the end we both decided to go our separate ways.

“I wanted to find a school that truly believed in me and now I think I have.”

Bring the popcorn

In the era of the transfer portal and the enticements that come with NIL money, team rosters are now in a state of flux at the end of each season.

“Things are way different now than they were just two years ago,” said Martin.

“The other day I was really frustrated after practice, but then when I got home and thought about it, it was natural. This season 77 percent of our roster is either freshmen, sophomores or transfers. It takes a while for everyone to learn what we are doing and how we do it.

“But if you like to coach, we’re back to really having to coach now.”

Still, it’s not easy he said:

“It’s like being on one of those cooking shows on TV where you’ve got expert chefs watching you and you’ve got only 30 minutes to put together a dish with all kinds of crazy ingredients.”

Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn (7) passes during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Illinois, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Credit: AP

icon to expand image

Credit: AP

But that too is in her son’s wheelhouse, Lakia said:

“Oh man, Quan can really cook! And I’m not talking no hamburgers, simple stuff like that.

“He’ll be out there making lamb chops, steaks, alfredo, mac ‘n cheese, asparagus, mashed potatoes.”

“I make soul food, too,” Finn said. “I learned to cook from my mom.”

Other than that, he claimed he doesn’t have any unique pursuits:

“No, really I’m a pretty boring guy. Nothing special.”

Wait a minute!

Those personalized cowboy boots in the closet say otherwise. And so do all those gaudy records and the fact he’s now wearing Miami red and white.

It’s all come from one thing.

When he steps onto a football field, Dequan Finn is anything but boring.

His smile turned into a laugh:

“Yeah, then just bring the popcorn … and watch.”

About the Author