In recent years, Miami has struggled to live up to the days of winning conference championships, let alone national championships. Where Miami has not struggled is producing NFL draft picks.
Last year, Miami produced four NFL draft picks including two first-rounders in Jaelan Phillips (Miami Dolphins) and Gregory Rousseau (Buffalo Bills). This year, the Canes have a number of draft hopefuls, but only a few will likely be drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Miami held its annual pro day Wednesday which allows NFL scouts to view the draft hopefuls performing in a series of drills. Many NFL Canes alumni were on hand to support the potential future pro Canes including Jon Beason, Devin Bush, David Njoku, KJ Osborn, Brevin Jordan, and others. We take a look at what round the top the Canes NFL prospects will likely be drafted.
Day Three Draftees
The draft is over a course of three days with the first round on day one, rounds two and three on day two, and rounds 4-7 on day three.
Two Miami players are trending toward locks as NFL draftees.
Bubba Bolden, Safety (6-3, 200 pounds)
The USC transfer was one of three Hurricane participants at the NFL combine last month in Indianapolis (Charleston Rambo and Jon Ford). There, Bolden clocked a 4.47 in the 40-yard dash and chose not to run at his pro day.
Bubba closes in on the ball well and makes his presence felt on the field when healthy. Unfortunately, there were not enough spectacular plays made throughout his career to garner himself as a higher-round pick. The 2019 and 2021 seasons were injury-shortened seasons so there may be questions about his durability. Bolden finished his career with 135 total tackles, two sacks, ten tackles for loss, five forced fumbles, eight passes defended, and two interceptions.
Bolden is ranked just outside of the top 20 at his position by most draft experts which makes him a likely round 5-7 pick.
Projection: Round 6
Charleston Rambo, Wide Receiver (6-0, 180 pounds)
The all-around receiver ran a 4.5 at his pro day and continues to build a solid resume to be drafted later this month. The Oklahoma transfer led the Canes with a record 79 receptions for 1,172 yards scoring seven touchdowns in his lone season a ‘The U.’
With that being said, Rambo can still be drafted as high as fifth in the draft depending on if a coach fell in love with him during the East-West Shrine Game. Rambo had two catches for 23 yards during the game, but was impressive during the practice week beating his counterparts in several one-on-one drills.
The problem for Rambo is that this is another wide receiver heavy draft and Rambo does not rank among the top 20 wideouts according to several sources.
Prediction: Round 6
On The Bubble
Mike Harley, Jr. Wide Receiver (5-11, 180 pounds)
Harley ran a 4.46 on Wednesday and finished his career as one of the most prolific receivers to ever play at the University of Miami. Harley is the all-time leader in receptions with 182. The St. Thomas Aquinas product tallied 2,158 yards receiving scoring 15 touchdowns.
At times, Harley can be physically overpowered at the line or in the run game. Harley grew into a reliable receiver for the Hurricanes and can very well make a 53-man roster if he impresses in training camp.
Prediction: Undrafted
We’ve seen this before @Deriqking__ ➡️ @MikeHarleyJr pic.twitter.com/lZT9pmF2Pl
— Canes Football (@CanesFootball) March 30, 2022
D’Eriq King, Quarterback, (5-10, 195 pounds)
D’Eriq King, quarterback-wide receiver, is drawing interest from a number of NFL teams including Buffalo, Dallas, and Seattle according to league sources. As a Hurricane, King passed for 2,686 yards throwing for 23 touchdowns to just 5 interceptions. King also rushed for 538 yards scoring four times on the ground.
King, a transfer from Houston, scored 69 touchdowns in his three-year career with the Cougars. Throughout his collegiate career, the compact athlete racked about 11,000 yards at the wide receiver, kick returner, and quarterback positions.
Prediction: Undrafted
Likely To Be Signed As Undrafted Agents
Cam’Ron Harris, RB – Recovering from an ACL injury. Ran for 1,794 yards scoring 22 touchdowns. Also had 48 receptions for 393 yards scoring four touchdowns.
Jon Ford, DL – At 6-5, 333 pounds, Ford totaled eight tackles for loss and three sacks in his career at Miami.
Zach McCloud, DL/LB – Posted a 4.66 40-time at his pro day. He ended his collegiate career with 192 tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss, and 11 sacks.
DeAndre Johnson, DL – The Tennessee transfer had his best year as a senior at Miami totaling 26 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks. He ran a 4.83 at his pro day.
Navaughn Donaldson, OL (6-6, 350 pounds) – Put up 15 reps of 225 pounds on the bench.
Jarrid Williams, OL (6-6, 310 pounds) – Pushed up 225 pounds on the bench nine times.
Amari Carter, S – Ran a 4.65 in the 40. Carter finished with 173 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, and two interceptions in his college career.
The NFL draft is set for the last weekend in April from the 28th to the 30th.
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