Diaz pushes culture on club

Coach points to drafted Hurricanes as proof proper attitude matters

Just take a look at the top Miami Hurricanes selected in what was an otherwise underwhelming NFL draft for UM.

Linebacker Shaq Quarterman and running back DeeJay Dallas (picked in the fourth round) and wide receiver K.J. Osborn (fifth) were some of the leaders and top representatives of the program last year. Quarterman and Dallas might’ve gone slightly earlier than various projections, but many predicted Osborn would go undrafted. He shot up to become the third Hurricane taken Saturday after Miami was shut out of the first two nights of the draft.

It’s a lesson UM coach Manny Diaz wants to push forward as a new group of leaders look to improve on last year’s 6-7 record — and also improve their own future draft stock.

“Everybody saw that, really, our top culture guys were the ones that were picked first,” Diaz said on the Hochman and Crowder Show on 560-AM and 790-AM on Thursday afternoon.

“You look at a guy like K.J. Osborn. [He] came in and established himself from day one as one of the hardest-working guys in our program and really changed his status from a guy at Buffalo who might’ve been on the free-agent/ seventh-round fence to become a guy picked in the fifth by Minnesota. And Minnesota had him with a third- [or] fourth-round grade.”

Osborn’s character and work ethic, in addition to his ability, catapulted him to where he was drafted, whereas Miami’s other receiving draft prospect, Jeff Thomas, went undrafted. While Thomas arrived at Coral Gables ultra-talented as his team’s MVP in the Under Armour All-America Game as a recruit, he was also dismissed from the team at the end of his sophomore season, brought back and then suspended for two games last year as a junior.

“Our guys see it, and there’s a great lesson which our guys understand,” Diaz said. “I think we’re a little different group of teammates than we were a year ago in that everybody’s connected. And when the team wins, everybody wins, and when the team doesn’t win, that hurts everybody.

“Being together with likeminded people who want to work hard and grind for each other and starting to eliminate some of the guys that necessarily don’t helps us win in the fall, but that’s going to help our guys in April as well.”

Along with Quarterman, Dallas and Osborn, defensive end Jonathan Garvin was drafted in the seventh round by the Green Bay Packers to give UM four draftees.

Thomas and defensive end Trevon Hill signed with the New England Patriots as undrafted free

examiners taking a look at him and saying what’s best for his prognosis and what’s best for Tua in the long run,” said Tebow. “I personally would sit him for a little bit of time and heal him up — get him stronger, get him bigger and make sure he is 100% confident in his hip, in his legs that he is ready to go … I eliminate every barrier I possibly can to him getting hurt or not having success. I try to fit a team around him that can possibly be successful right when he takes the field, whether that’s in a year or whether that’s in half a year sitting, whatever it is.”

Tagovailoa is still recovering from a hip injury that ended his Alabama career in November, and he likely will spend most or all of his rookie season on the bench learning from returning starter Ryan Fitzpatrick.

“I think he has the chance to really change a franchise,” said Tebow, a Heisman Trophy winner and first-round draft pick himself. “He’s that remarkable of a young kid and that unbelievable of a talent.”