Hurricanes juniors Artie Burns, Stacy Coley mull NFL Draft decision
EL PASO Hurricanes junior cornerback Artie Burns and junior receiver Stacy Coley said after the game that they haven’t yet decided on whether they will leave early to enter the NFL Draft.
Both said they will talk with their families. Burns’ mother, Dana Smith, died in late October, and Burns, her oldest son of three, is the player most expected to leave.
Burns collided with safety Dallas Crawford in pregame warmups and appeared to injure his left ankle. He played anyway, making three tackles and two pass breakups.
Coley had three catches for 44 yards and a touchdown.
“I’m going to sit down with my family and talk about it,” Burns said. “I’ll release that to everyone — my decision.’’
Burns said he would likely know his decision next week.
Coley said he will talk to his mother “and ask her where does she stand, how does she feel about me leaving early, or does she want me to stay and get my education.
“My whole family is just big on education. My mom always preaches to us, ‘Education first. Without education you’re nobody.’ ”
Coley said the next step in his game would be consistency and “working hard, being bigger and stronger. And if I come back, leading my team in the right direction and going for the [Biletnikoff] Award.’’
UM COACHES
Hurricanes interim coach Larry Scott said he had “no idea” of his future with Miami. New coach Mark Richt was waiting to inform assistants of their job status until after the bowl game. It is assumed that defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio won’t be back, and offensive coordinator James Coley’s status is unknown.
YEARBY GETS 1,000
With his 63 yards rushing, sophomore running back Joe Yearby became just the ninth player in Miami history to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing in a season. Yearby also moved into 10th place on the all-time single-season rushing list, surpassing Jarrett Payton.
Yearby’s 14 rushing attempts moved him past Frank Gore and James Jackson for ninth on the single-season list (205).
LET IT SNOW
El Paso is situated near the Mexican border in the Chihuahuan Desert and rarely gets snow — maybe once a year.
But snow is exactly what the Miami Hurricanes have gotten both times they’ve played in El Paso’s Sun Bowl.
Washington State, the 20-14 victor Saturday, regularly sees, and plays in, snow.
The downfall began in the second quarter, stopped for a bit, and began again in the fourth quarter. By the time both teams had finished their postgame interviews, it was coming down hard — and not relenting. The field was covered in white, and Sun Bowl folks even built a snowman around the 50-yard line.
UM quarterback Brad Kaaya was asked how difficult it was to throw the ball in the second half.
“It wasn’t too bad,’’ he said. “I wouldn’t say it really had a huge effect on me, particularly.’’
Washington State coach Mike Leach said the weather did impact the game in the second half.
“It was both swirling, soaking wet — enough snow that it obstructed vision, wind that it obstructed balls and slippery enough that you bring out one or two of those foot-scraper things and you needed 11 of them,” he said. “The biggest thing is it affects consistency.’’
The last time UM played in the Sun Bowl — a loss to Notre Dame in 2010 — it snowed hard the night before and the field was covered with more than an inch of inch of ice and snow on game day.
Field turf stadium workers used long, buffet-type tables and foldable chairs in addition to a street sweeper to drag the snow and ice off the turf that year.
This story was originally published December 26, 2015 at 10:01 PM with the headline "Hurricanes juniors Artie Burns, Stacy Coley mull NFL Draft decision."