Miami's new 2020 turnover chain includes 4,000 sapphire stones

The famous turnover chain tradition is back, and, once again, the Miami Hurricanes have a new one for their in-game celebrations. And they showed off for the first time this season Saturday during their game against Louisville.

Without a turnover in the No. 17 Hurricanes’ season-opener last weekend against UAB, the chain didn’t make an appearance. But that wasn’t an issue against the No. 18 Cardinals. The turnover chain first came out late in the second quarter when Al Blades Jr. picked off Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham, and the Hurricanes were ready to celebrate.

The new chain features the whole state of Florida with Miami’s signature green and orange “U” across it. It’s ridiculous, but also perfectly Miami.

This is the fourth turnover chain for the Hurricanes — a defensive celebration that began in 2017. The first one was a simple green and orange “U” with a gold chain, and the second one featured a jeweled Sebastian the Ibis, the team’s mascot, but no “U” logo. Last season, the “U” was small with a giant “305” beneath it, representing Miami’s area code.

And this year, the Hurricanes are looking at the entire state. More about the 2020 turnover chain, via The Sun Sentinel:

Attached to the 32-inch, 10-karat gold Cuban-link chain is a charm of the whole state of Florida in white with the South Florida tri-county area of Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties standing out in orange and green.

Of course, it also needs Miami’s ‘U’ logo on it, so it’s positioned over the northern part of the state with the intention, according to jeweler AJ Machado, of covering up the cities where the Hurricanes’ two biggest in-state rivals are located — Tallahassee, home to Florida State, with the orange left half of the U and Gainesville (UF) with the green right half.

Machado has designed each of Miami’s turnover chains, and he said there are 4,000 sapphire stones total with 1,400 of them in the “U” alone, The Sun Sentinel reported. The chain weighs two kilograms, while the state of Florida charm is 300 grams.