Hard to go wrong choosing any of UM’s 5 dominant Hurricanes in NFL Draft. Here’s why
On NFL Draft weekend, Miami Hurricanes defensive end Quincy Roche will be in Randallstown, Maryland, chowing down on his mother’s crabcakes, crab legs, potato salad and her homemade specialty: cherry cheesecake with graham cracker crust.
“Nobody does it better,’’ Roche said.
UM kicker Jose Borregales will be in Doral with his parents, girlfriend, brother and some, if not all, of his four sisters.
“We’ll have food and stuff but it won’t be a party or anything, even though it’s a life-changing event’’ Borregales said. “Yeah, it’s a celebration, but hopefully after I win a starting job somewhere I can celebrate.’’
Canes edge rusher Greg Rousseau will be in the Green Room in Cleveland, waiting to hear his name called at the site of the NFL Draft.
Also awaiting that momentous phone call from some NFL team: UM tight end Brevin Jordan and defensive end Jaelan Phillips.
At some point after the draft commences at 8 p.m. Thursday in Cleveland, continues at 7 p.m. Friday and then wraps up beginning at noon Saturday, likely all five of those Hurricanes will learn where their next journey begins.
The Canes are projected to possibly have two players — Phillips and Rousseau — taken in the first round. They could have anywhere from one to three players, including tight end Brevin Jordan and defensive end Quincy Roche, taken in the next two rounds and Borregales likely going the final day. But anyone who has followed the draft for several years knows strange things happen, and players can fall or rise unexpectedly.
“It may sound cliched but I’m seriously more excited about getting to a team and getting this process started than I am for the draft,’’ Roche said this week. “I’m blessed to be in this position. It’s been a long, drawn-out process and I’m happy it’s coming to the end.”
Each of UM’s five players in the draft have had exceptional careers. All of them say they’ll be ecstatic no matter what team shows them love.
Quincy Roche
Roche, 23, transferred from Temple, where he was the 2019 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, to UM for his final season in 2020. He started all 10 games at defensive end in the regular season and finished with 45 tackles, including 14 1/2 tackles for loss and 4 1/2 sacks. His three forced fumbles were tied for the ACC lead and he recovered two fumbles.
He also had an excellent UM Pro Day.
“I’ve spoken to every team,’’ Roche, just under 6-3 and 243 pounds, said. “I try not to get into the draft hype. At least I’m a guy that will go in the first few rounds. That gives me a little comfort at night. There are guys who don’t know if they’ll even get drafted. The work has just begun once you get drafted. Whether you’re the No. 1 overall pick or the [250th], we all have to produce to get to the League. The 40 times, how many times you lifted 225 pounds, that stuff becomes completely irrelevant.”
Jaelan Phillips
Phillips is the Hurricanes defensive end who transferred from UCLA to UM in the fall of 2019, trained with the Hurricanes in 2019 and played his one and only season for the Hurricanes in 2020 — a super season followed by a super Pro Day.
The 21-year-old Phillips is from Redlands, California and was the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2017. He didn’t play in the bowl game but ended his college career with a UM-leading eight sacks, second in the ACC. His 15 1/2 tackles for loss were also second in the conference to Virginia Tech’s Amaré Barno, who had 16 TFL but played in one more game.
Phillips, 6-5 and 260 pounds, also finished 2020 with 45 tackles, an interception, three pass breakups and five quarterback hurries.
“I have a desire to be excellent at everything I do,’’ Phillips said on Pro Day. “For me, I feel like it’s my God-given talent to go out there on the football field and just perform and dominate. The feeling of making a sack or getting a TFL and just winning games is just an out-of-body experience. There’s nothing like it.’’
Greg Rousseau
Rousseau, from Coconut Creek, graduated from Hialeah Champagnat Catholic as a 2017 state champion before he came to the Hurricanes in in 2018 as a true freshman. He broke his right ankle in the second game of 2018, and didn’t return to the field until 2019 — a monumental season for the then-redshirt-freshman rush end.
In 2019, Rousseau dominated the country with 15 1/2 sacks, 19 1/2 tackles for loss, seven quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery less than a year from the broken ankle.
Rousseau, who accepted an invitation by the NFL to attend the draft, opted out of the 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and some analysts think he’ll drop to the second round because he is a young project and only had one full season to show what he can do.
“I’m excited,’’ Rousseau, who just turned 21, said. “Everything happens for a reason. You just have to know that your decision was right and be strong minded. I know who I am and at the end of the day I trust in God and I’m trusting the process.’’
Brevin Jordan
Jordan is yet another gifted talent who produced in big ways as a Hurricane and delighted fans and the media with his big, friendly personality. He left Miami after his junior season, spending three seasons piling up statistics after he departed his hometown of Las Vegas in 2018 as 247Sports’ and ESPN’s No. 1 tight end in the nation.
Jordan ended 2020 as UM’s second-leading receiver with 38 catches for 576 yards and seven touchdowns in eight games. Pro Football Focus has Jordan the tight end with the most yards after catch this season: 353. In 2019, Jordan was one of three finalists for the Mackey Award that goes to the nation’s finest tight end. He was UM’s second-leading pass-catcher in receiving yards, with 495 yards on 35 catches and two touchdowns in 10 games.
“It hasn’t really hit me I’m going to the NFL,’’ Jordan, 20, said on Pro Day. “This is all just the beginning, man. Just to make an NFL roster sounds unreal to me.’’
Jose Borregales
Borregales is the kicker that keeps on giving, as his younger brother Andres, also a kicker, was a heralded national prep star who recently enrolled at UM early as a 2021 true freshman. The elder Borregales transferred to UM this past season from FIU, and became a consensus All-American and the first kicker to be named an AP first-team All-American since cornerback Antrel Rolle earned the honor in 2004.
In 2020, he made 20 of 22 field goals, including a school-record-tying 57-yarder at Louisville, and all 37 of his extra points. Then he went on to become the first kicker in Miami history to win the Lou Groza Award as the finest kicker in the nation.
Most kickers sign contracts as undrafted free agents, but there’s a strong chance Borregales, 23, will be drafted as the No. 1 kicker.
“Honestly, I stopped looking at those projections because you can’t really trust what they say,’’ Borregales told the Miami Herald. “I’m just going to watch the draft, and hopefully I’m one of those guys who is blessed enough to be drafted.’’
