King ready to be triple threat, but Hurricanes shut out of Senior Bowl. And UM notes
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Monday:
▪ Mario Cristobal takes over a program with several highly skilled young players who could develop into legitimate pro prospects, and he’s adding more.
But here’s one reminder of how far the Hurricanes must go from a talent standpoint to compete with the elite of college football:
They don’t have a single player invited to the Senior Bowl.
The game’s executive director, Jim Nagy, told WQAM’s Joe Rose and Zach Krantz that he liked running back Cam’Ron Harris but “then he got hurt. D’Eriq King would have been in the mix but he got hurt [with a right shoulder injury]. I wouldn’t ask him to compete in the Senior Bowl after all the time he had off. That’s not fair to him....
“Bubba Bolden was in the mix at safety earlier and then he got hurt.”
Nagy said receiver Charleston Rambo and defensive tackle Jon Ford were considered. There were a “number of players who fell under the cutline,” Nagy said.
Though Bolden might have been invited if healthy, Harris and King were always long shots.
One veteran NFL scout said there’s not a single draft-eligible player he would select in the first three rounds from this roster, calling left tackle Zion Nelson and Bolden third day picks and everyone else an undrafted free agent.
Nelson hasn’t announced if he’s turning pro or returning to UM. Will Mallory - whom the scout called a late-round pick at best - has said he’s returning to school. Punter Lou Hedley - who wasn’t rated among Mel Kiper’s top 10 specialists - announced Sunday that he’s returning to UM for the 2022 season.
Miami has some younger players who have a good chance to become NFL draft prospects, players not yet eligible for postseason All Star games. That group includes Tyler Van Dyke, Leonard Taylor, James Williams and Key’Shawn Smith, perhaps Kamren Kinchens and this past season’s freshmen receivers.
So even with the infusion of several strong prospects in the 2021 and 2022 classes, that’s clearly not nearly enough to compete with the Alabamas and Georgias and Ohio States.
That’s why talent procurement, followed closely behind by talent development, will be priority one for Cristobal.
▪ Good to see King recovered enough to participate in East-West Shrine practices. Rambo also was invited to that game.
His agent, Scott Casterline, said King has been running well and is ready to begin throwing in the next week or so.
Considered a marginal NFL quarterback prospect, King is on board with learning other positions to enhance his chances of getting an opportunity to play professionally.
“He probably will play wide receiver and be a punt returner and quarterback at the East-West Shrine game,” Casterline said. “He’s so fast and there’s great film of him at wide receiver from his freshman and sophomore seasons” at Houston in 2016 and 2017. “We’ll display a triple threat at that game.”
King caught 59 passes for 504 yards and three touchdowns as a receiver at Houston.
A skilled runner, King rushed for 2055 yards on 4.9 per carry and 32 TDs in his career at Houston and Miami.
Before the season, King suggested he was willing to try other positions to better his professional prospects.
“When that time comes, whether it’s quarterback or a different position, I’ll just get one opportunity,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that.”
▪ Fortunately for UM, nothing has materialized after a Dec. 10 Sportico report that the NCAA was exploring whether Dan Lambert’s Miami NIL deal violates any NCAA NIL rules.
UM has not reached out to Lambert in the wake of the report, nor has the NCAA.
Lambert — the Miami Hurricanes booster and founder of a mixed martial arts team and gym — offered every scholarship football player $500 per month this past season.
Lambert said he hasn’t been contacted by UM or the NCAA, and his attorney said UM approved his NIL deal before it was implemented.
That Sportico report was “a crock of [expletive], a nothingburger,” Lambert said.
Lambert said he has spoken to other local companies with the goal of giving each scholarship football player $1000 per month next season.
“I put a pause on it, but we’re still going forward,” he said. “If there was an investigation it would have made things harder.”
▪ Among UM’s newest targets in 2022 recruiting: four-star Georgia based defensive tackle Christian Miller, rated the 77th best player in the 2022 class.
He told Canesport that he plans to visit UM and Oregon in January after previously visiting Ohio State and Southern Cal.
Miller produced 60 tackles (including 25 for loss) and eight sacks this past season and forced five fumbles and recovered two fumbles.
Defensive tackle remains a priority; Oregon transfer Jayson Jones announced on Friday that he’s enrolling at Auburn after also considering UM and others.
Here’s a look at several of UM’s other targets.
Early indications are that Cristobal wants to keep some key members of the recruiting staff, including well-respected director of recruiting David Cooney.
▪ The UM basketball program announced Monday that guard Harlond Beverly will undergo back surgery and miss the remainder of the season.
A third-year sophomore guard from Detroit, Beverly appeared in only four games this season because of the injury and scored two points in 37 minutes. He averaged 7.2 points as a freshman and 6.7 points last season.
“Losing Harlond for the season is a severe blow to our team,” UM coach Jim Larranaga said. “His versatility and ability to play multiple positions make him very valuable. My staff and I are tremendously supportive of Harlond. We know how much he wants to compete alongside his teammates and cannot wait to see him do so once again. We look forward to working with Harlond on his rehab and full recovery.”
Beverly has appeared in 54 games as a Hurricane, with 20 starts.
The Canes still have good depth at guard, with Kameron McGusty, Isaiah Wong, Charlie Moore, Jordan Miller and freshman Wooga Poplar and Bensley Joseph.
UM next plays at 9 p.m. Wednesday against visiting North Carolina State on ESPNU.
▪ Capitalizing on the momentum of the Cristobal hire, UM said it sold 2000 new season tickets in the first week that season tickets went on sale recently.
All prices have gone up - UM’s first increase since 2018 - but the Hurricanes refused to say the amount of the increase.
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 at 4:44 PM.
