Wednesday, November 5, 2008

First round streak?

A lot of people have been asking me if I think that Miami will have a first rounder in this year's draft.

My answer, right now, is no.

The best chance before the season had to be DE Eric Moncur. He has all of the tools to be a first round defensive end, and was UM's most productive lineman last year.

However, his mother passed away right at the beginning of the season, and then he suffered a pretty serious injury in the early part of the season, derailing any chances that he had to impress scouts. He will probably get a medical redshirt and be a very important part of the Miami defense next year.

Second in line was probably OT Jason Fox. He has an NFL frame on him at 6 feet 6 inches and is weighed in at around 305 lbs to start the season. However, his play has been inconsistent this season and while he shows flashes of being an excellent line prospect, he appears to be headed for the 2nd or 3rd round of the draft.

Fox is the best remaining chance that Miami has, and if they win out and win their bowl game with a successful run game, Jason Fox will be a huge part of that. Even if that does happen, he will also have to impress at the Combine and Miami's Pro Day to have a remote chance of going in Round 1. He should run pretty well, remember, he was a TE in high school and only started playing tackle when he got to Coral Gables, reminiscent of Eric Winston.

The third guy here is Graig Cooper. He is technically eligible for the NFL Draft, as he went to prep school for a year before coming to UM last year. However, all signs point to him coming back next year as he is still raw. He definitely has the tools to become a high draft pick, although he is probably not as physical as some scouts would like. He's greatly improved at hitting the hole hard and not dancing, which was a problem for Coop last year. He will run a legit 4.4 at the combine whenever he chooses to come out and has continually added weight since leaving Melrose HS in Tennessee.

All in all, I do think the tradition will pause for a year in this coming NFL Draft, but in my opinion, there is around 5-6 underclassmen on this team with first round potential and it will be up to the coaches to get them to that plateau.

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TIDBITS

* Cane recruit Stephen Plein of Fort Myers (TE/OL) has had his suspension reduced. Apparently, he was accused of swinging his helmet at a guy (who does he think he is, Anthony Reddick?) but was cleared by numerous eyewitnesses. He is still suspended for 1 game as of now, but is fighting to have the ruling completeley repealed.

* Head coach Randy Shannon says OT Jason Fox is okay and will play next Thursday at Virginia Tech. He had a scary knee injury against Virginia in the 2nd half and it didn't look good. He got his knee checked out and apparently it was just a small sprain. This is huge news. For one, it keeps our best OL in the game and keeps either Pipho or god-awful Reggie Youngblood away from the blindside of our two prized QB.

* On the recruiting front, DT commit Luther Robinson says he will take visits, but is still committed. The general feeling around insiders is that Robinson is not quite sure of his committment. I have heard as much as a 40 percent chance that he will not be a Cane, but once Randy does his thing, I wouldn't worry much about him leaving. The guy simply knows how to recruit Florida.

* Ray Ray Armstrong, an athlete from Sanford High School and a huge priority for Miami, says he will visit Georgia, Miami, and Florida. He has already visited LSU (although it is believed that he will not end up there). The word is that Ray Ray has been close to committing to Miami before, but now is trying to decide what's best for him. I still expect Ray Ray and Dye to end up Canes, but Andre Debose (his teammate and the highest rated recruit out of the Sanford trio) is going to be a tough get. Florida is on him hard, and Debose is not exactly in Cane country.

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