Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Looking for a good combo
Several cornerbacks, linebackers meet with Miami at NFL combine
INDIANAPOLIS — Without a first-round pick in next month’s draft but with selections in the second round and two in the third, the Miami Dolphins could be looking to use some combination of those picks on a cornerback or inside linebacker.
Those appear to be the primary areas the Dolphins could use some new blood on a defense that will transition to being led by new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
As far as cornerbacks go, the Miami Hurricanes’ Tyrique Stevenson and Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes were among draft prospects that said at Thursday’s media sessions at the NFL scouting combine that they’ve had conversations with the Dolphins.
If Stevenson, a physical 6-foot corner, were selected by the Dolphins, he would fulfill a South Florida trifecta of a football career, playing in high school at Miami Southridge, his final two years of college at UM and then the Dolphins.
“I’m down to go wherever, take my talents wherever,” Stevenson said Thursday at Indiana Convention Center, “but it would definitely mean a lot to me to be back in South Florida, give my family an opportunity to come, be closer, be able to get to games a lot easier, be able to have my great grandma, my grandma come to games. It would mean a whole lot to me.”
With the Hurricanes, Stevenson already plays his home games at the Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium. He said it has given him visions of playing in the pros.
“Every time I go in there — I been to a couple of games on Sunday — just seeing how fast that can switch around,” Stevenson said. “It just gave me the opportunity and the visualization where I can feel like I can play with any team in the pros.”
Stevenson played his first two college seasons at Georgia before transferring to Miami for a homecoming. He had three interceptions and 11 pass deflections in two years for the Hurricanes, but also had his share of coverage busts that led to big plays.
He excelled in coverage drills at the Senior Bowl, however, and a strong combine performance could elevate him into the end of the first round, although he’s more likely a Day 2 selection, where the Dolphins have their first picks.
Forbes also could be an option for the Dolphins.
He was wearing a throwback Florida Marlins hat at his Thursday press conference with the media at the combine.
While he made clear the Marlins hat was not any indication of where he would prefer to go in the draft, he did speak highly of a conversation with the Dolphins and coach Mike McDaniel.
“It was a great meeting,” Forbes said. “Great to meet their head coach. He’s a great guy, honestly.”
Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. is part of a crop of the draft’s top cornerbacks that likely gets chosen in the first round, before the Dolphins are up in the middle of the second round, but he touched on time living in South Florida with his father, the former Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker by the same name.
“I lived down in Miami when he was playing with the Dolphins,” Porter Jr. said. “It was a great experience. Love the weather down there. He said it was a great organization.”
The Dolphins have also shown interest in Louisiana Tech cornerback Myles Brooks, he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel while training in South Florida last month with Pete Bommarito at Bommarito Performance Systems.
Elsewhere among prospects in the secondary, Alabama safety Jordan Battle, also a South Florida high school product out of St. Thomas Aquinas, said he has spoken with the Dolphins.
“That’s the home team. I would love to go home,” Battle said. “A lot of people would have to get their ‘no’s’ though down there. People are going to want tickets to the games, but I’m going to have to say no.”
Battle said he learned his competitive nature going up against other top high school recruits from South Florida.
“I went to St. Thomas Aquinas, right in Fort Lauderdale,” he said. “I had to compete there, didn’t even start till my junior year. … Just coming from South Florida, just the speed. That’s the big thing. The speed and good receivers coming out of there, just making me better every day.”
Linebacker roundup
Linebackers that could get selected in the second round who said they either met or are scheduled to meet with the Dolphins at their interview sessions included Clemson’s Trenton Simpson, Texas Demarvion Overshown and Oregon’s Noah Sewell.
“I feel like they liked me a lot,” Simpson said.
Overshown said he loved his conversation and mentioned he would enjoy teaming up with former college teammate, safety Brandon Jones, if Miami chose him.
Alabama linebacker Henry To’oto’o said he had not yet had conversations with the Dolphins, but he expressed admiration for Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as a fellow Polynesian football player to go through Alabama.
“He’s another trendsetter for the Polynesian culture,” To’oto’o said. “We have a lot of guys that put on for our small culture, trying to make us worldwide. He’s one of those guys doing it. Hopefully, guys like me and guys like Noah Sewell can be able to follow their footsteps.”