Miami Hurricanes 2025 NFL Combine Preview

With 10 players heading to Indianapolis, including the potential #1 overall pick, the Canes will be among the main storylines for this year’s NFL Draft Combine

Welcome to NFL Draft season, everyone!

With players having already decided if they were entering the draft or returning to school, we move forward in Draft season to hit the second major milestone: the 2025 NFL Draft Combine.

With the two major showcase games — the Senior Bowl and Shine Bowl — already in the rearview mirror, the Combine takes center stage as the focus of Draft season. If you’re wondering what the final milestones are, they are 1. on-campus pro days and 2. private team workouts. But those are later, and we’ll talk about them in due time.

Back to the present, the NFL Draft Combine is held annually in Indianapolis. This is an invite-only event for prospects, and showcases them in a variety of ways, putting them through cognitive tests, medical exams, team interviews, and on-field workouts. Personnel staff and coaches from all 32 NFL teams attend the event as they search for players to help improve their organizations.

For the Miami Hurricanes, 10 players will be attending the Combine, a contingent which is among the largest from any school this year. The event, which runs from Thursday, February 27th through Sunday, March 2nd, is all action all the time. While players can interview with teams on any day, there are selected days for the on-field drills portion of the Combine.

Let’s look at each day, and see which Canes players will be featured:

NOTE: All sessions televised on NFL Network

Wednesday, February 26th — Kicking Workouts

This is the only session not televised, but the kicking workouts will take place on Wednesday afternoon. That means K Andres Borregales will ply his trade for the assembled coaches and front office personnel.

Borregales was a standout at the Shrine Bowl, and has already met with several NFL teams from that week. I expect him to be among the top options for teams looking to bolster their special teams units at, or immediately after, this year’s draft.

He was yet-another Miami player who performed exceptionally well at the Shrine Bowl, and even met with several NFL teams during that week, a testament to his skill and performance.

Thursday, February 27th — Defensive Linemen and Linebackers, 3pm

The first day of the Combine, Thursday features Miami players DL Tyler Baron and LB Francisco “Kiko” Mauigoa going through their on-field drills.

Baron fits the bill physically, but will need to test well athletically due to his sporadically impactful performance. He was a monster against early-season inferior competition, but struggled in conference play while playing at both Tennessee and Miami in his career. A standout performance during drills and athletic tests will be key for him.

Mauigoa will need to do the same as Baron. Though he showed an ability to play decent coverage at the Shrine Bowl, and flashed nice athleticism, Mauigoa was routinely overmatched by quicker athletes in the passing game in his senior season. Mauigoa is a monster against the run, and adds physicality and leadership to any defense he’s a apart of. If he’s able to show well against some of the top athletes in coverage drills, and perform well in athletic testing and other drills, that will be a big, big win for him.

Friday, February 28th — Defensive Backs and Tight Ends, 3pm

While S Meesh Powell may end up being drafted, he wasn’t invited to the combine. The spotlight on this day instead goes to the only Miami player participating in drills: TE Elijah Arroyo.

Finally healthy after 2 seasons plagued by injury, Arroyo burst on the scene with a massive season in 2024. On top of being one of the fastest players in the Country, clocking in speeds of nearly 22mph on sprints in multiple games, Arroyo was among the best players at the Senior Bowl. He was uncoverable in 1 on 1 drills, and showed well in blocking situations, too.

The question with Arroyo is the health of his knee. The medical tests will be key for him, as teams evaluate him as a prospect. Arroyo played fewer than 1,000 total snaps in 4 years at Miami, so passing medicals will be crucial for him this week.

After his standout season for the Canes and magnificent showing at the Senior Bowl, Arroyo is shooting up draft boards. Another stellar performance at the Combine and Arroyo could find his way into top 2 rounds come April. There are whispers of a fit with a specific team at the end of the 1st round, but that’s a bit speculative at this point, in my opinion. However, if Arroyo performs like many believe he can at the combine this week, it’s possible those whispers of a late 1st round pick status could get louder.

UPDATE: #Welp! According to a report (after I’d pre-written this piece, of course), Arroyo sustained a knee injury at the Senior Bowl, and because of that, he will not participate in the Combine. He should be full-go by the Canes’ Pro Day on campus in March.

Saturday, March 1st — Running Backs, Quarterbacks, and Wide Receivers, 1pm

If the first two days of the draft were the appetizer, Saturday is unquestionably the entree as far as Miami is concerned. Half of the Miami players invited — 5* players — will hit the field on Saturday, with the potential #1 pick leading the way.

The 5 Miami players invited to the combine for this day are: QB Cam Ward, RB Damien Martinez, and WRs Sam Brown, Jacolby George, and Xavier Restrepo.

Martinez had a solid showing at the Senior Bowl, and is being looked at as one of the players teams can target in the middle rounds of the draft. Brown and George did very well at the Shrine Bowl, and made a ton of plays. Likewise, Restrepo was among the best receivers at the Senior Bowl, and the record-setting WR has seen an uptick in his draft stock as well. All 4 of those players — Martinez, Brown, George, and Restrepo — would be helped by another day of above-average to elite performance in athletic testing and on-field drills.

The headliner of the day, of course, is QB Cam Ward. The potential #1 overall pick, Ward was a no-brainer to be invited to the Combine. After declining to participate in the Senior Bowl, it remains to be seen whether Ward will participate in drills (and if so, which drills) at the Combine. This will be among the biggest storylines from the Combine overall, so stay tuned.

Sunday, March 2nd — Offensive Linemen, 1pm

The Miami player will hit the field on Sunday.

OL Jalen Rivers will be in the second OL group, which I believe is split alphabetically. He, like all the players listed above, had a very strong showing at the Senior Bowl, and is on the radar to be drafted. Though he’s been most commonly projected as a 5th round pick in mock drafts over the past 2 weeks, a strong showing in Indy could elevate Rivers’ status slightly. His ability to play both Guard and Tackle will be a benefit for whichever team drafts Rivers (and could help him fashion a career in the league, as well).

The NFL Draft Combine is a premium opportunity for all 10 invited Miami Hurricanes players to show their skills and potentially elevate their draft stock. They will have steep competition, of course, but I’m excited to see how they perform with the lights on in Indianapolis.

Whether they all — read: Cam Ward — participate in the Combine remains to be seen, but whichever way things shake, I’ll be dialed in starting at 3pm on Thursday.

We all know Cam Ward is the star of the show, but which OTHER Miami Hurricane player(s) are you excited to see at the Combine? Which player(s) do you think are a fit for your NFL team? Hop in the comments and let me know what you think.

We’ll be back to recap the Combine and much more as NDL Draft Season continues.

Go Canes