As the summer moves along and the season begins to creep closer and closer, we thought it’d be fun to take a look at who stands above the rest in certain attributes within each position group in the form of superlatives.
A spot that looks night and day from where it was a year ago, the sheer talent and depth has supremely been upgraded in Miami’s backfield. Without further delay, here are their superlatives going into the 2018 season.
Most Valuable: Travis Homer
Due to the improved depth at the position in 2018, it wouldn’t quite be the same as Mark Walton going down last season, but losing Homer would have the biggest negative impact on the position group. Homer brought stability to the RB’s last season when things looked bleak and UM had no proven back to hang their hat on, and he’ll aim to bring more of the same in 2018. Homer’s experienced presence gives Miami the ability to continue to use DeeJay Dallas as a swiss-army knife, while also allowing the Canes to bring along true freshman five-star Lorenzo Lingard slowly. Homer’s combination of power, speed, and vision will only be amplified this year after getting his feet wet last season, and a huge season could be on the horizon for RB1.
Best Pass-Catcher: DeeJay Dallas
This could easily also go to Homer or Lingard, which shows just how well-rounded Miami’s backfield is this season, but I’m going to go with Dallas here as UM’s best pass-catcher. He’s a running back with a receiver’s skills, as proven by Dallas starting his career at wide-out, and he could very well find himself growing more into a 3rd down role in the Miami offense as the season progresses. As UM’s most versatile weapon that can be moved all around the field, I’d love to start seeing Miami get creative and line Dallas up in the slot more to show off his excellent hands and keep defenses off-balance in 2018.
Fastest Speedster: Lorenzo Lingard
It’s true we've not seen the true freshman on the field in game action yet, but if you’ve been paying attention to Miami over the off-season, you’ve probably already heard the crazy sprint times Lingard has been posting. He was clocked at 4.27 seconds in the 40-yard dash in team testing, establishing himself as not only the fastest RB on the team, but also fastest player on the entire roster. Soon after spring ball, Lingard joined the UM track squad and was installed as the anchor leg on the Hurricanes' 4x100 relay team for the National Relay Championships. In high school, he was a state champion in the 110-meter hurdles event with a personal best time of 13.94 seconds. Lingard will start fall camp as UM’s RB3, but don’t be surprised if he’s taken over the majority of the backfield carries by the end of the season. It’s rare to find a guy with that next gear that’s also well-built at 6’0” 202 pounds.
Most to Prove: Robert Burns
Burns looked like a completely different player this spring and it was definitely a step in a positive direction to show he could stay healthy for an extended period of time. Burns is the second-fastest back on the team, but has really earned praise from Thomas Brown by showing his physicality and using his 225 pound frame to break tackles regularly. The question now becomes, can he stay healthy throughout an entire regular season? At fourth on the current depth chart, Burns won’t have to do too much and if he can get a few carries here and there while also staying injury-free, it would give everybody a big boost of confidence in the redshirt freshman runner.
A spot that looks night and day from where it was a year ago, the sheer talent and depth has supremely been upgraded in Miami’s backfield. Without further delay, here are their superlatives going into the 2018 season.
Most Valuable: Travis Homer
Due to the improved depth at the position in 2018, it wouldn’t quite be the same as Mark Walton going down last season, but losing Homer would have the biggest negative impact on the position group. Homer brought stability to the RB’s last season when things looked bleak and UM had no proven back to hang their hat on, and he’ll aim to bring more of the same in 2018. Homer’s experienced presence gives Miami the ability to continue to use DeeJay Dallas as a swiss-army knife, while also allowing the Canes to bring along true freshman five-star Lorenzo Lingard slowly. Homer’s combination of power, speed, and vision will only be amplified this year after getting his feet wet last season, and a huge season could be on the horizon for RB1.
Best Pass-Catcher: DeeJay Dallas
This could easily also go to Homer or Lingard, which shows just how well-rounded Miami’s backfield is this season, but I’m going to go with Dallas here as UM’s best pass-catcher. He’s a running back with a receiver’s skills, as proven by Dallas starting his career at wide-out, and he could very well find himself growing more into a 3rd down role in the Miami offense as the season progresses. As UM’s most versatile weapon that can be moved all around the field, I’d love to start seeing Miami get creative and line Dallas up in the slot more to show off his excellent hands and keep defenses off-balance in 2018.
Fastest Speedster: Lorenzo Lingard
It’s true we've not seen the true freshman on the field in game action yet, but if you’ve been paying attention to Miami over the off-season, you’ve probably already heard the crazy sprint times Lingard has been posting. He was clocked at 4.27 seconds in the 40-yard dash in team testing, establishing himself as not only the fastest RB on the team, but also fastest player on the entire roster. Soon after spring ball, Lingard joined the UM track squad and was installed as the anchor leg on the Hurricanes' 4x100 relay team for the National Relay Championships. In high school, he was a state champion in the 110-meter hurdles event with a personal best time of 13.94 seconds. Lingard will start fall camp as UM’s RB3, but don’t be surprised if he’s taken over the majority of the backfield carries by the end of the season. It’s rare to find a guy with that next gear that’s also well-built at 6’0” 202 pounds.
Most to Prove: Robert Burns
Burns looked like a completely different player this spring and it was definitely a step in a positive direction to show he could stay healthy for an extended period of time. Burns is the second-fastest back on the team, but has really earned praise from Thomas Brown by showing his physicality and using his 225 pound frame to break tackles regularly. The question now becomes, can he stay healthy throughout an entire regular season? At fourth on the current depth chart, Burns won’t have to do too much and if he can get a few carries here and there while also staying injury-free, it would give everybody a big boost of confidence in the redshirt freshman runner.
