McCloud injures wrist during drills
Spring practices will be limited
CORAL GABLES — Hurricanes linebacker Zach McCloud went through limited drills during the early portion of Tuesday’s practice, but Miami coach Mark Richt later said the former Santaluces standout will be limited for the remainder of the spring because of a wrist injury.
Richt first indicated a change in McCloud’s status with the team Monday morning during a radio appearance with WQAM-560’s Joe Rose, saying “Well, McCloud’s not playing now,” when responding to a question about Miami’s veteran linebackers.
Richt was not asked further about McCloud during that appearance Monday, though he clarified things a bit a day later.
“He’s got a wrist injury and he won’t be able to go through spring, but he’ll be ready in the fall,” Richt said. “I think the entire summer he’ll be good as well, to train.”
McCloud, at least during the early portion of Tuesday’s practice, was in full uniform with teammates De’Andre Wilder, Romeo Finley and Derrick Smith.
Finley and Smith, both safeties, have been working with Miami’s linebackers during the early portion of spring drills.
“We have what everybody else in America calls ‘nickel.’ Nickel is five DBs. They are playing a defensive back position out over the no. 2 receivers or the slot,” Richt said of those players last week. “So if we were in our base defense, they wouldn’t be in the game in that position. but in nickle, they play the SAM linebacker.”
Last season, McCloud had 48 tackles, including 4.5 that went for losses. He also had two sacks and a forced fumble.
Last week, the junior said he was looking forward to taking a bigger role this season, especially with Miami undergoing massive changes on its defensive line.
“Playing faster, improving coverage, improving tackling, all of that, everything, all around,” McCloud responded when asked how he wanted to step up his play in 2018. “We lost some good guys, but that talent’s always going to be coming in. We have some good guys now and all it is is a matter of making sure we get around them and make sure they feel the pressure that’s going to be put on them. That’s a special bunch of guys and we think they can hold up.”
Richt: D-line ‘really thin’
Richt also addressed the status of Miami’s defensive line during his radio appearance, noting the group — which lost defensive ends Chad Thomas and Trent Harris as well as tackles RJ McIntosh and Kendrick Norton — as being “really thin.”
That didn’t mean, though, Richt continued, there wasn’t some talent in the group.
“The guys that are in there are doing well. Gerald Willis, no one can block the guy, I can tell you that right now, at least not on a consistent basis. Pat Bethel is solid as you can imagine, doing a great job. [Jon] Ford’s getting there. Tyreic Martin. Younger guys trying to find their way,” Richt said. “But, I talked about one unit, two unit, three unit working against each other and when our threes go against each other, we literally go 7-on-7 at that time, because there’s not enough defensive linemen to even function. … Help’s on the way, though.
“The biggest thing, we just pray that not any interior defensive linemen get hurt at this point. I don’t know if we’ll even have a two-unit to work. Everybody’s got to stay healthy at that spot. We do have [Nesta] Silvera coming in, we have Jordan Miller coming in, we have another guy I’m not allowed to talk about yet coming in on the interior to help us out. But we’re super thin right now.”
(For reference, that help Richt didn’t mention by name is likely Tito Odenigbo, a graduate transfer from Illinois who is reportedly transferring to Miami).