Miami Hurricanes WR Phillip Dorsett had just about the worst game of his life last week against Notre Dame in Chicago. Though he could hardly be blamed for all of the Canes' struggles on Saturday (losing 41-3), his two dropped passes in the game's opening drive have plenty of Canes fans wondering what if.
On the first play from scrimmage, Dorsett beat double coverage on a post route, but QB Stephen Morris' perfect throw bounced off his hands. Had Dorsett caught the ball, he would have easily scored a touchdown. Later in the drive, he dropped another pass, this time in the end zone. Like the first throw, the pass was on target and hit his hands.
Those two drops, though they likely would not have changed the overall outcome, provided plenty of fodder for internet trolls. Dorsett told the Sun Sentinel Tuesday that he received some threats on Twitter after the game.
He did not elaborate on the specific threats, though, saying instead, "You know how sports fans are. Obviously, everybody has my Twitter account, so people are out there just talking. It doesn’t get to me."
On Sunday, Dorsett tweeted, "Games like yesterday shows who really supports you through the ups and downs of this game."
A search for his mentions on Twitter (where Dorsett goes by the handle @BrickByBrick_4) shows that he received far more supportive tweets than angry tweets, so there is no need to give up on humanity just yet.
"I got a lot of encouragement from my teammates, my coaches and my family," Dorsett added Tuesday. "To be honest, that's the only thing that really matters. All the naysayers out there and all the people threatening me, that really doesn’t matter. I don't listen to that."
Local
Dorsett leads the Hurricanes with 29 catches for 470 yards and three touchdowns. The week before the Notre Dame game, he caught 7 passes for 191 yards, including a game-winning 62-yard touchdown pass in the final minute.
He will get a chance to redeem himself Saturday, when the North Carolina Tar Heels visit Miami. "I didn't play to my standard [against Notre Dame]," he tweeted on Sunday, "but you better believe that will never happen again. It's going down next week."
