Knee injury sidelines reserve RB Lingard
CORAL GABLES — The Miami Hurricanes’ injury woes keep mounting.
A day after running back Lorenzo Lingard was injured in practice, Miami announced the freshman is set to undergo knee surgery later this week and a timetable for his return will be determined after the procedure.
Lingard, a five-star prospect out of Orange City University, has played primarily behind Travis Homer and DeeJay Dallas, rushing for 136 yards on 17 carries. He is a two-sport athlete, competing as a member of Miami’s track team last spring.
Whether he’ll be able to compete in his second sport is unclear, but on Tuesday morning, Lingard himself took to social media and said he is determined to make a full recovery.
“Things happen in this sport called football and if you really know me, this won’t hold me back,” Lingard posted on Twitter. “It’s only going to make me stronger and faster. I’m in good hands and will be back better than ever.”
Because Lingard has appeared in six games, the freshman cannot take advantage of a revised NCAA rule that would allow a player to retain his redshirt eligibility if they have played in four games or less. Before his injury, Lingard had played in games against LSU, Savannah State, Toledo, FIU, Florida State and Virginia.
Hurricanes running backs coach Thomas Brown on Tuesday didn’t want to say too much about which healthy backs could move into Lingard’s spot as the third back, but there are several options, including redshirt senior Trayon Gray and freshman Cam’ron Davis out of Miami’s Carol City High.
Gray this season has 20 carries for 52 yards and two touchdowns, while Davis has six carries for 27 yards.
“We’ll see who’s the third guy when we get going in the game,” Brown said.
Offense looking to bounce back: After the Hurricanes’ disappointing offensive showing in their 16-13 loss to Virginia, quarterback Malik Rosier shared that in the days leading up to the game, the offense was reprimanded with some post-practice work after a lackluster practice.
Those practice issues showed up on the field in Charlottesville, the Hurricanes managing to convert on just 3-of-11 third-down opportunities and turning the ball over three times.
As Miami looks to improve its offensive showing this week at Boston College, Rosier and several of the Hurricanes noted they’ve felt better about their preparation this time around, with the offense doing enough this week to even prompt defensive coordinator Manny Diaz to scold his group after the offense managed several big plays.
“I think the big thing that we learned is that we have to come out and execute every play. I mean, two weeks ago, we didn’t have a good practice, but the last two weeks, ones, twos and even the threes have been dominating,” Rosier said Tuesday. “We actually had Coach Diaz yelling and screaming at the defense for the first time in a long time for just us throwing touchdowns, us doing a good job with our progressions.”
Jackson, Johnson named Thorpe Award semifinalists: Hurricanes safety Jaquan Johnson and cornerback Michael Jackson were both named semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top defensive back.
Johnson and Jackson were among the 14 players to earn semifinalist recognition and Miami is one of just three schools nationwide to have two players selected.
Johnson, a preseason AllAmerican, leads the Hurricanes with 44 tackles, despite missing two games with a hamstring injury. Jackson, meanwhile, has 22 tackles this season.