Just take a look at the top Miami Hurricanes selected in what was an otherwise underwhelming NFL draft for UM.
Linebacker Shaq Quarterman and running back DeeJay Dallas (picked in the fourth round) and wide receiver K.J. Osborn (fifth) were some of the team’s top leaders and representatives of the program last year. Quarterman and Dallas might’ve gone slightly earlier than various projections, but many predicted Osborn would go undrafted. He shot up to become the third Hurricane taken on Saturday after Miami was shut out of the first two nights of the draft.
It’s a lesson UM coach Manny Diaz wants to push forward as a new group of leaders look to improve on last year’s 6-7 record — and also improve their own future draft stock.
“Everybody saw that, really, our top culture guys were the ones that were picked first,” Diaz said on the Hochman and Crowder Show on 560-AM and 790-AM on Thursday afternoon. “You look at a guy like K.J. Osborn. Came in and established himself from Day 1 as one of the hardest working guys in our program and really changed his status from a guy at Buffalo who might’ve been on the free agent-seventh-round fence to become a guy picked in the fifth by Minnesota. And Minnesota had him with a third, fourth-round grade.”
Osborn’s character and work ethic, in addition to his ability, catapulted him to where he was drafted, whereas Miami’s other receiving draft prospect, Jeff Thomas, went undrafted. While Thomas arrived at Coral Gables ultra-talented as his team’s MVP in the Under Armour All-America Game as a recruit, he was also dismissed from the team at the end of his sophomore season, brought back and then suspended for two games last year as a junior.
“Our guys see it, and there’s a great lesson in which our guys understand,” Diaz said. “I think we’re a little different group of teammates than we were a year ago in that everybody’s connected. And when the team wins, everybody wins, and when the team doesn’t win, that hurts everybody. Being together with like-minded people who want to work hard and grind for each other and starting to eliminate some of the guys that necessarily don’t, now it helps us win in the fall, but that’s going to help our guys in April, as well.”
Along with Quarterman, Dallas and Osborn, defensive end Jonathan Garvin was drafted in the seventh round by the Green Bay Packers, to give UM four draftees. Thomas and defensive end Trevon Hill signed with the New England Patriots as undrafted free agents, cornerback Trajan Bandy with the Pittsburgh Steelers and defensive back Romeo Finley with the Los Angeles Chargers. Linebacker Michael Pinckney will continue rehabbing from surgery on a torn labrum in his hip before signing.
Redshirt sophomore defensive end Greg Rousseau would fall under the category of both a top on-field performer and top culture player for the Hurricanes, and a slew of very-early 2021 mock drafts have him among the elite defensive prospects eligible for next year’s draft.
Diaz cautions, however, that much can change over a year, and he recommends Rousseau doesn’t get ahead of himself.
“It’s probably more than (LSU quarterback and No. 1 pick to the Cincinnati Bengals) Joe Burrow got this time last year, right?” Diaz pointed out of Rousseau’s draft hype. “No one knew that Joe Burrow would’ve been the first pick in the draft, and no one would’ve thought that the Dolphins would get Tua (Tagovailoa) at (No.) 5 this time last year.
“Things change, so let’s focus on what’s real. Greg knows that he did a lot of good things this past year, but there’s some big improvements that he needs to make to really become the guy that we want him to be. Greg knows it. He’s a better person than he is as a player.”
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