Happy Monday, everyone.
Hope your March has gotten off to a great start. There might be no March Madness in Coral Gables this year (talk about what’s felt like an empty couple of months of men’s sports with the basketball team’s all-time implosion), but there’s still plenty to talk about. Let’s get to it.
1) The Canes had several players at the Combine perform and stand out, and the biggest name did the smartest thing by……..not.
Cam Ward didn’t throw – as our Cam Underwood noted the other day – and by God, why should he have? At this point, he has not much to gain and stock to lose by throwing. Case in point Exhibit A: Will Howard’s less than stellar performance throwing the ball in Indy (although his film should still keep that from being too big of a hit).
Ward is going to be the first QB taken unless the general manager who takes the first quarterback is a fool. But hey, the New York Giants chose Daniel Jones in the top ten, so anything is possible, I guess.
Ward met with the media and answered questions, as well as met with teams. That’s all he needed to do. He’s got the competitive mentality that teams are looking for, so that should have become apparent when speaking with team executives.
We’ll see Cam do work at Miami’s Pro Day. Until then, it’s about wondering if he’ll be a Tennessee Titan, or otherwise where he’ll end up in the top few picks in the draft.
2) But hey, a handful of other Canes participated…..and some made some names for themselves.
I was pleased to see Damien Martinez turn in basically a 4.5 40 with a 4.51. For a man that big and powerful, that’ll do. The only problem for Martinez in this draft is the fact its ridiculously, LUDICROUSLY deep at running back, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him to in round three or late on day three. Who the heck knows this year?
3) Sam Brown, Jr. really tested well over the weekend.
4.44 40-yard dash was quite impressive, but the second-best vertical jump of all players at 41.5 inches was jaw dropping. Absolutely freaky athleticism. I’d ask why he wasn’t on the field more, but when you’ve got two NFLers in Xavier Restrepo and Jacolby George as well as new Alabama WR Isaiah Horton to compete with, that was a tough road to hoe.
4) Tyler Baron and Kiko Mauigoa also tested solidly.
Baron put up a 4.62 40 with a 1.61 10-yard split, which both ranked in the top 6 among edge players. Kiko had a 4.60/1.56 and landed in the middle or above on just about every exercise. He topped all linebackers in the 20-yard shuttle. Kiko’s tough to predict – could be day three or an undrafted free agent – but Baron should draw good interest in the middle of the draft.
5) Canes baseball did what Canes baseball does – drop a series to the Florida Gators.
Miami dropped the first two games of the series in similar fashion 6-2 and 6-3. They picked up the finale with an offense that apparently took the scenic route from Coral Gables to Gainesville, putting up 13 runs to salvage something from the series.
I don’t know what to make of this series, to be honest. Miami had pitched well, but they didn’t get enough in Gainesville, and had they done a little bit better, the bats let them down enough to still not matter. Their plate discipline on Friday against Florida’s Liam Peterson was quite poor, swinging time and again at his curveball breaking down and way out of the zone.
We’ll see if they can get win another on Tuesday against FIU at the Orange Bowl LoanDepot Park.
Go Canes!