With the pigskin tucked firmly in his grasp, Lamar Thomas charges toward the endzone. He is too fast. No one will catch him. Touchdown. He improvises a dance that would make Hammer jealous, as he jubilantly thrusts his fist into the air. Ecstatic teammates topple Thomas as a standing room only Orange Bowl crowd errupts.

In Miami, nothing is low-key, especially for the Hurricanes.

"You can be flamboyant," proclaimed Thomas, the starting flanker. "There is nothing wrong with that as long as you come up with the big plays."

If such is the case, then Thomas can easily justify his antics. The fifth-year senior, with fancy footwork to go with 4.5 speed in the 40, has found a niche for breaking the big play.

Same goes for his receiving cohorts, Darryl Spencer, Kevin Williams and Horace Copeland. They frustrate defenders with their acrobatic catches and aggravate them with their touchdown tangos. Is there a more suitable monicker than the "Ruthless Posse?" They are ruthlessly awesome. Cocky, yes, but talented too.

The posse was actually rounded up last season under a different alias, "The Bomb Squad." This season the image was altered at Coach Dennis Erickson's request and it transformed into the "Ruthless Posse."

"It really developed last year when we decided to change our image, cut down our dancing. That type of thing," Copeland said.

The nickname is not intended to intimidate others, instead it helps rile up teammates.

"If Penn State had four or five O.J. McDuffies on the field at once, they would do the same thing," Thomas said.

Dare to dream.

Equal in talent and close in spirit, Copeland said their relationship expands beyond football.

"We're like brothers, man," Copeland gleamed. "We travel together and we stick together. We're a unit. We do our own thing."

Clutch catches for big gains, a posse forte, signifies the offense of Miami. In 1991 against the Lions, it was Copeland's 80-yard touchdown snatch which punctured the Penn State tire while Thomas sealed things with a 42 yarder of his own.

"I try to keep rallying the guys," Thomas said. "When they're down, I'll make the big play. I'll raise my hand and pump up the crowd. I consider myself a spark plug."

There is another receiver in recent 'Cane history who played with this same type of flare, the same type of dazzling talent. Former Hurricane Michael Irvin has a role with the Dallas Cowboys which is symmetrical to Thomas' role with the 'Canes.

Coincidence, this is not.

In fact it was Irvin who helped recruit Thomas into the Miami program, and they have been friends ever since.

"Michael is the main reason I came to Miami," Thomas said. "I just idolize his play. His work ethic is the best and that allows him to be cocky and conceited. That is his type of game and that is fine as long as he keeps coming up with the big play."

That is Miami. They may be garrulous, they may be conceited but their performance on the field speaks volumes.

Of course, this attitude may not make many friends for the Miami football program. No matter, they are here to win not socialize.

"Nobody likes Miami," Thomas snarled. "And that's because we're winners. People don't like winners, and thats what we've done, win, win, win."

National champions in '83, '87, '89 and '91, there is no doubting Miami's dynasty over the past ten years. Familiar with victory, they have not lost a game since October of 1990 at the hands of the Irish.

Despite tremendous off-the-field adversity, the 'Canes have commendably registered a 4-0 record.

In late August, southeast Florida was ravaged by the rage of Hurricane Andrew. Reading about it in the newspaper is one thing, but media could not convey the horror it brought to the natives.

"You heard everybody talking about Andrew but unless you are in a hurricane, you don't know what it's like," said a somber Thomas. "People lost their lives.

"It made us realize that football is important, but not as important as life. We all grew up a little quicker."

The tragic deaths of Jerome Brown and Shane Curry shocked and saddened the Miami system. Quickly, they learned to channel their frustrations in a positive way.

"We decided to dedicate our season to the people of south Florida, Jerome Brown and Shane Curry. We have so many things to play for, it has really pulled us together."

They have a focus, a purpose. But there have been distractions to challenge this focus.

A financial-aid scandal, naming 40 Miami football players, rocked the 'Canes in July. For their cooperation in the investigation, most of the named players were placed in pretrial diversion programs. But Jason Marucci and Thomas were indicted in August for federal fraud charges.

It turned out that Thomas' lawyer had missed the deadline to agree to the diversion program, and the situation was rectified. Still, Thomas fielded the brunt of a media attack.

"I sucked it up," Thomas said, obviously irritated. "Everybody likes the bad things. So they say those guys are a bunch of hoodlums. That's what sells the newspapers. You never hear about the good things we do or the schools we visit in southeast Florida. It hurts. But it pulls us closer together."

"Our attitude is that everyone is against us," added linebacker Michael Barrow. "We feed off that and pull together."

In his spare time,Thomas works as an intern at a junior high school, working with students who were expelled from public schools. Projects such as these are the ones which go unnoticed, he said.

Because of the rowdy 'Cane image, Thomas feels no one cares to mention these things. Only the negative. This image-thing really gets under his skin.

"Football is all about fun," Thomas said. "We're kids, we're humans, let us have our fun. Why can't we raise our hand to the crowd and pump them up? That's why people like to watch college football, because of the enthusiasm."

Thomas said people he has talked to in the college football community envy the freedom Miami players possess. Coaches like Howard Schnellenberger and Jimmy Johnson even encouraged the flash and dash. Dennis Erickson is a little more conservative but still lenient.

They play loose. They play their game. They thrive on the pressure.

"We like going on the road, we like going into hostile enviroments," explained Thomas. "I'm sure it will be like that in Penn State. It just gives us another reason to play hard."

"We're going to let loose," Copeland added. "It's going to get wild."

So it's Penn State they have to beat first before they go on and tackle the rest of the world.