Hurricanes hope Walton shakes off sore ankle in time for FSU game,

UM’s star running back tweaks injury during win at Duke.

DURHAM, N.C. — For the second game in a row, Mark Walton took breaths away — in a bad sense.

As Walton helped Miami (3-0, 1-0 ACC) drain the clock in a 31-6 win at Duke on Friday, the star running back aggravated his left ankle injury, coach Mark Richt said afterward.

“Hopefully, Walton’s not too serious,” said Richt, who typically hasn’t received much information on injuries when he speaks after the game.

Walton twisted his ankle in Miami’s win over Toledo.

“I think it got hit more than it was rolled again. If you roll your ankle again, it’s not good. If it gets hit from the side or somebody lands on it, it’s painful, but usually it’s not — obviously it can swell up again and all that. If you roll it again, it’s less likely he would be back.

“My guess is he’s going to be OK, but he’s going to be living in the training room.”

Walton, arguably the most important player on the team, was tackled by Duke safety Alonzo Saxton with 7:31 left in the game. The two tumbled to the turf, and Walton was heard on the TV broadcast howling in pain as he writhed on the ground.

After a few moments, he slowly got up and walked to UM’s sideline. He got a loud cheer from about 2,500 UM fans.

Walton was largely bottled up by a high-quality Duke defense, which held UM to a season-low 139 yards on the ground. Walton finished with 17 carries for 51 yards, with a long rush of 11 yards. He was more effective in the passing game, catching four passes for 79 yards, including a 39-yard reception in the first quarter.

“I’m not worried about Mark,” quarterback Malik Rosier said. “He’s a warrior. I talked to him after the game. He said he was fine. I’m not worried about Mark at all. I think he’ll come back fine. I think all the guys are amped for this (Florida State) game coming up.”

Richards impresses in return: Hamstring injury or not, it’s not a particularly good idea to let a single defender try to cover Ahmmon Richards.

Duke learned the hard way.

“They have a really good corner,” Richards said, referring to senior Bryon Fields. “They felt confident in his game. Our coaches felt confident in mine.”

Advantage: Miami, after a three-catch, 106-yard, one-touchdown performance by the sophomore in a 31-6 win on Friday. Richards, the former freshman All-American, made his season debut after a hamstring strain knocked him out of action the past six weeks.

His season stats, as of now, include a 35.3 yards-percatch average, and 100 percent confidence in his health.

“I felt good,” he said. “It hurt a little bit toward the end, but I’m fine. You score a touchdown, it makes everything feel better.”

His first two looks came up the sideline. In man-to-man coverage, he roasted two defenders on sideline grabs, gaining 29 and 28 yards.

His touchdown certainly made Miami feel better, given that his 49-yard score came with Miami treading water.

The Hurricanes were up 17-6 on the road, early in the fourth quarter, to a team that kept forcing punts. Richards erased all that by snatching a shallow cross, with Duke blitzing and leaving the middle of the field wide open.

That, according to Rosier, came from a coaching adjustment that worked. On a blitz in the first half, Rosier thought he had Walton open in the flat for a “hot” throw (i.e., a quick, blitz-beating pass). Duke surprised Miami by covering the flat with a defensive end, who swallowed Walton and nearly caused a fumble.

“It was a great defensive call,” Rosier said. “We talked it over. We figured it out. That’s the thing this offense is so good at now is adjusting on the fly, figuring out what they’re doing, and making the right calls.”

The next time Duke brought that particular blitz, Rosier said, he had Richards cutting toward the middle. The ball came in-stride. Richards left his defender, angled his way past the secondary and skipped out of a tackle on his way to the end zone.

“It’s huge for us as an offense,” senior wide receiver Braxton Berrios said of Richards’ impact. That may be an understatement.

Richards said he’ll “most definitely” treat the hamstring for the rest of the season, hoping it won’t bother him again.

Receiver suspended: Miami announced before Friday’s kickoff that wide receiver Dayall Harris will be “withheld from the next three games for violation of team rules.”

Harris, a redshirt junior from Jackson, Miss., has two catches for 16 yards and a touchdown this season.