Monday Musings: Spring thoughts; draft week is finally here

c) The future at running back beyond Mark Fletcher, Jr. is pretty ridiculous.

The Hurricanes have one of the very best in the nation back for next year, but the future is blindingly bright in that RB room. He may not have the hype of some other players who have come in, but man, I love watching Fort Lauderdale freshman Javian Mallory play. He’s a dump truck who gets a head of steam going, and pretty quickly. He had a few looks in the spring game.

A lot of mouths to feed, but with talent like this…goodness.

d) The Hurricanes have some thumpers coming into the program.

Miami was pure hit stick with Jakobe Thomas last year at safety, and now, it looks like we may have a couple of new hitters in their first year with the program. Freshman J.J. Dunnigan and Boston College transfer Omar Thornton made some very nice plays on Saturday. Thornton got the look at nickel, with Zechariah Poyser and Bryce Fitzgerald getting the first team reps at safety.

2) The NFL Draft begins on Thursday.

And, of course, the question is whether Miami will have two or three first round picks. Rueben Bain, Jr. and Francis Mauigoa are lead-pipe lock first rounders. But will Akheem Mesidor join them? Mesidor has been mocked anywhere from Tampa Bay at No. 15 to out of the first round altogether. Keionte Scott will likely be a second-round pick even though he is a first round talent. Someone will get a steal there on Day 2. The question is where will Carson Beck and Markel Bell end up? Wesley Bissainthe and CJ Daniels feel like mid to late Day 3 picks, but Beck feels tougher to read. Bell has taken some Top 30 visits, and his physical tools are ridiculous. Feels like someone will roll the dice on him at least early on Day 3. We’ll find out soon enough where they all end up.

3) Hurricanes baseball keeps on winning.

Kudos to that group. Miami shook off a tough midweek loss to USF to go all the way to the West Coast and take two out of three from Stanford. Miami took game one 6-3 and just barely hung on on Saturday to take game two 4-3. Ryan Bilka came on with two on and two out in the ninth and walked a batter to load the bases. However, he induced a grounder that Daniel Cuvet bounced across the mound to first. Brylan West picked it masterfully to save the game and win the series. And a good thing he did, too, as the Canes got their doors blown off 14-6 on Sunday going for the sweep.

Still, that’s four straight ACC series wins and five straight series overall. Cannot complain about that. The Canes are putting themselves into solid position on the 2 line and with a chance to contend for a hosting opportunity in the NCAA Tournament. Got to keep stacking series, but they’re certainly playing well the last five weeks.

Go Canes!