UM’s top offensive line commit is working his way back from injury to help immediately

Offensive line is one of the Miami Hurricanes’ most important recruiting needs this cycles and Miami has already landed a handful of good ones. Maybe the most important player already committed to the Hurricanes’ Class of 2019 is Michael Tarquin, a four-star tackle from Citra North Marion.

Tarquin, whom the 247Sports.com composite rankings consider the No. 28 tackle in the country, picked Miami despite growing up a Florida Gators fan and drawing significant interest from the South Carolina Gamecocks, Oklahoma Sooners and Ohio State Buckeyes. Tarquin has been firm in his pledge since he orally committed in April and now he’s finishing up classes to early enroll in the winter.

While a shoulder injury prevented Tarquin from seeing the field this season, he hopes to be ready to compete for playing time as a freshman next season. Earlier this week, the senior discussed the allure of Miami, the appeal of football and what video games he’s looking forward to later this year in a question-and-answer session:

Miami Herald: How’s the shoulder doing?

Michael Tarquin: “I’m very limited right now. I’m still like three weeks out of surgery, just about to be four. The first six weeks, you’re very limited. You can basically just do stuff to keep the shoulder loose, so there’s not much I can do now. I’m still in the brace, so I’m just going to go from there. After the six weeks, I finally get out of the brace.”

MH: So it’s all focused on school right now?

MT: “For the most part, yeah. I just have two more high school classes that I’m finishing up. ... I actually did most of my online classes during the summer, so now I just need to finish up two more at the high school, then I’m done.”

MH: How were you feeling going into your senior year?

MT: “I was extremely excited. I had a ton of confidence going into my senior season, but like first week of practice I tore it, so my senior season was out.”

MH: What did you spend the summer working on?

MT: “I spent time getting in the weight room more. I was getting a lot stronger and just a lot of conditioning, the usual stuff like footwork, technique.”

MH: What originally drew you to football?

MT: “I just started when I was like — jeez, I want to say 5 or 6, maybe, the first time and I pretty much played it ever since. ... I was just introduced to it from my parents and started playing it, and fell in love with it. That’s pretty much it.”

MH: What are your biggest motivations?

MT: “Many people have doubted me and didn’t believe in me. Like I remember when I was a freshman, little things like saying ‘Oh, I’m going to start on varsity as a freshman.’ There were so many people who didn’t believe me, even like family members of mine. I told them, even in like eighth grade, I said I was going to play Division I college football and go to the NFL, and people didn’t believe me. I just worked my a*s off to make it happen.”

MH: When did those D-I dreams start to feel realistic?

MT: “I’d say during my sophomore because I had an injury. I wouldn’t say too bad, but I missed part of the season due to injury. That really kind of set me back and I couldn’t really get a lot of film my sophomore year, so I was just training as soon as I could again and I just didn’t know how I was going to go, how my recruitment was going to go. Sometimes I didn’t know if I’d get any major D-I offers after my sophomore year or ever, and then I just kept working and kept working, then I started to get some attention. Around that time, after my sophomore spring, that was when my recruitment blew up.”

MH: What drew you to Miami originally?

MT: “I just kind of took a step back away from recruiting and football, and all that stuff and kind of thought, If I wasn’t playing football, which school would I like the most, which school I would like to be at. And that was Miami. I loved the university and I just love it down there.”

MH: Was Miami a school you thought about when you were younger?

MT: “No, I always thought about UF. I was a huge Gators fan. ... Miami kind of popped up out of the blue. I didn’t know anything about Miami.”

MH: What’s your typical pregame routine?

MT: “As soon as we get back from the pregame meal, I already have my headphones. I just can’t stop thinking about the game. Some guys like to take a nap before or get laid back. I just have to think about the game, have to start listening to music, have to start taking my steps and just thinking about what needs to be done.”

MH: What’s on the pregame playlist?

MT: “Aw, jeez, I’ve got a ton of stuff. I listen to everything. I listen to some rap, I listen to some rock. I’ve got some Metallica, some Ozzy [Osbourne], some Lil Wayne, Biggie Smalls. I listen to rock, some metal, some rap.”

MH: You wore No. 70 and want to wear it at Miami. Any reason?

MT: “Not really. When I played at [Ocala] Trinity Catholic my freshman year and I got moved up to varsity after like one game, my coach just threw me in a No. 70 jersey and I just stuck with it ever since.”

MH: What are you typically doing off the field?

MT: “Outside of football, I love playing video games. I guess some people wouldn’t expect that of me.”

MH: What are you playing right now?

MT: “Right now, not too much, but I get into some real role-playing games like Fallout, games that take a long time.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2018 at 12:15 PM.