Walton has career day despite injury

MIAMI GARDENS Underneath the pile, Mark Walton started to feel a physical pain he had never experienced.

As the Miami Hurricanes’ athletic training staff and doctors ran out to help him and began tending to his throbbing ankle, the running back wondered if his afternoon was done. Worse, was his season done?

And so, Walton — a preseason All-ACC pick and one of the emotional leaders on Miami’s offense — felt his emotions overtake him. The tears, the frustration all came in waves. But as Walton got up and hopped his way to the Miami sideline, he tried to stay positive.

“I started crying a little bit and trusting [athletic trainer] Vinny [Scavo] and his staff to get me back,” Walton said after Miami’s 52-30 win over Toledo. “We tried different types of taping styles. I knew I had to get back out there. I didn’t want to let my team down. It was 16-10 coming into halftime and being in the locker room, looking at that as one of the leaders of the offense and I’m out? I knew if I could try to go, I’m going to go out there and do what I can for my team. And that’s what I did tonight.”

While Miami’s offense struggled during his absence, the junior returned late in the third quarter — and put together a careerhigh 204-yard rushing performance that he and the Hurricanes won’t be forgetting any time soon.

Walton’s 200-yard effort was just the seventh such performance in Miami history and the first since Duke Johnson rushed for 249 yards against Virginia Tech in 2014. In the win, Walton also had an 82-yard rush, a career long. His 44-yard touchdown in the first quarter was his 26th rushing score, putting him in ninth all-time on the Hurricanes’ career rushing touchdown list.

And 67 of those yards came in the second half, while Walton conceded he was in severe pain.

Added Hurricanes coach Mark Richt of Walton’s effort, which included the running back lobbying his coaches to let him stay in the game after he noticed he was at 199 yards, “He’s a very good, instinctive runner. … He reads his keys well. When it’s there, he hits it beautifully. When it’s not there, he finds a way normally to make something positive out of it. I’m just really proud of him.”

Though Richt said he was uncertain of Walton’s status heading into Friday’s game against Duke, the running back said after Miami’s win that his ankle felt good and he did not get X-rays while in the locker room.

He left his post-game press conference without any kind of noticeable limp.

Berrios’ big day

Walton wasn’t the only Hurricanes veteran to put up big numbers against Toledo.

Berrios, a senior, had a career-high 105 receiving yards, including a 19-yard touchdown reception that put Miami ahead 31-16 and a career-high 55-yard grab in the third quarter that led to another score.

“This is my first 100-yard game here,” a smiling Berrios said after the win. “I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say it felt incredible.”