Hurricane force
UM expects another strong showing in NFL draft.
CORAL GABLES — For many of them, that final game in Hurricanes orange and greenwas something to remember.
But not long after Miami capped its season with a win over West Virginia in the Russell Athletic Bowl last December, for the Hurricanes seniors — and two talented underclassmen — football changed.
It was no longer merely the game they’ve loved. It became work, a way to make a living.
And as they began preparing for the NFL Combine and Miami’s Pro Day, the former Hurricanes found themselves embarking on the job interviews of their lives, interviews that will culminate thisweekend when the NFL draft begins tonight in Philadelphia and continues through Saturday.
“We’ve been training for forever, it feels like,” said former Miami cornerback Corn Elder, who enters the draft projected as a potential fourth- or fifth-round pick by NFL.com. “I’m just ready to see what’s next for me, see what team I go to, what city I’m going to be in. I’m just ready for the next chapter in life.”
Every expectation is that Elder will be one of several former Hurricanes to get one of those coveted calls from an NFL coach or general manager this weekend. And when those calls come, Miami will continue its years-long tradition of producing NFL talent, something that was highlighted thisweek by ESPN.
Since 2000, Miami has had 29 players drafted in the first round, a trend that is expected to continue today, since former tight end David Njoku is projected to be a first-round pick.
If Njoku’s selected there, it’ll mark the third consecutive year a Hurricane has been taken in the first round, after Ereck Flowers and Phillip Dorsett in 2015 and Artie Burns in 2016.
Ahead of this most current streak, Miami had a player taken in the first round of every draft from 1995 through 2008, a14-year stretch no school has been able to match yet.
ESPN’s Luke Knox analyzed the data fromall those recent drafts and, using a formula that weighed a player’s draft value with their performance in the league, determined that over the past 15 years, no school has overperformed likeMiamiwhenitcomesto producing NFL talent.
Also in that feature, ESPNnoted theHurricanes have churned out the most effective defensive backs and tight ends during that time period, and Miami has also produced NFL starters with the best longevity, with 29.2 percent of draftees spending at least four years in the league. Additionally, according toESPN, 14.5 percent of Miami draftees spend at least eight years playing at the highest level.
So odds are, the Hurricanes drafted over the next few days, including potential third- or fourth-round quarterback Brad Kaaya, will find themselves around familiar faces when they join their new teams.
While Njoku, Kaaya, and Elder may have some of the higher projections among the Miami players, theHurricanes had nine former players at the scouting combine earlier this year, including former Cypress Bay offensive linemanDanny Isidora, former Northeast High receiver Stacy Coley, safeties Jamal Carter and Rayshawn Jenkins, defensive end Al- Quadin Muhammad and punter Justin Vogel.
Former Miramar High standouts Malcolm Lewis and Jermaine Grace, aswell as cornerback Adrian Colbert, tight end Stan Dobard, running back Joe Yearby and fullback Marquez Williams, could also get calls from NFL teams in the coming days.