Random news from a slow week in ‘Canes sports

The Miami Hurricanes athletic department has had a slow week with baseball and track & field struggling. Baseball will try to win the series Sunday against Georgia Tech while T&F men’s team has looked poor at the ACC Championships and the women’s team has been good-but-not-great.

Misc. Football News

Jaelan Phillips has been moved to outside linebacker by the Miami Dolphins forcing him to play up in a two point stance versus down in a three point stance which is how he excelled at Miami. Phillips has experience as a linebacker from UCLA, but that was the part of his career that seemed like a five-star bust rather than the defensive end that ran around the ACC with his hair on fire in 2020.

It’s always cool to see guys graduate from the program you obsess over. As little student as there is in the student-athlete, fans still like to see classroom success mixed in with their on-field success.

Like I said in my post, “Analyzing common business and sports cliches,” track doesn’t make you better at football but it isn’t a negative to get around coaches who allegedly can teach sprinting (although by Miami’s ACC Championship turnout... I’ll see it to believe it). Competing and learning from new voices is never a bad thing, especially when speed is supposed to be The U’s forte.

Baseball’s disappointing season

The ‘Canes baseball team is 16-15 in the ACC heading into the series finale with Georgia Tech on Sunday, May 16th. The Hurricanes will then play their final mid-week game against FAU, before a road trip to Kentucky to face the Louisville Cardinals in their regular season finale.

The ACC Tournament starts May 25th and runs through May 30th in Charlotte, NC rather than Durham, NC where outside of 2017 it had been held for four of the past five seasons. Miami has clearly not the favorite to win the tournament, Notre Dame looks like the favorite to win the ACC with a dominating 2021 season.

Christian Del Castillo is still swinging the bat well. The older Del Castillo brother is hitting .378 with four home runs on the season with 39 runs batted in. Adrian Del Castillo is hitting .301 with three HR’s and 23 walks. Anthony Vilar has picked up his pace as he’s up to .300 with four HR’s and 27 RBI’s.

Yohandy Morales has a team high nine home runs and 40 RBI’s. Jordan Lala leads the team in steals with 12... think about the years of Mike Metcalf stealing 40 bases and this team needs to improve their speed and base running.

The Hurricanes starting rotation is getting roped with ERA’s of 5.05, 6.32, 5.49, 5.30 and 5.11 from the five regular starters. Carson Palmquist is still lights out posting a 1.62 ERA, 11 saves, and 59 strikeouts.

Track & Field: The women outshine the men

The ACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships are being held this weekend in Raleigh, NC and Miami is not faring well in the traditional events. The Hurricanes didn’t have a sprinter in the final heat of the men’s 100M. In the women’s 100M Miami’s Alfreda Steele finished 2nd with an 11.28 time. The women’s team won the 100M hurdles with Tiara McMinn running a 12.98. Neither the men’s nor women’s team placed in the 4x100M.

The ‘Canes also had women place 2nd and 3rd in the Discus, and men’s high jumper Isaiah Holmes took 3rd in the ACC. The women’s team also had Hannah Hall finish 2nd in the ACC in the shot put.

Miami’s athletic department wide disappointing season continued on at the ACC Track Championships while the women put up an average showing in 20-21.

Plyo/Lift of the week

Take these in and try them out for yourself. Throws + plyometrics or “accels” as Hounds Speed + Strength calls them. Absolutely great way to generate power that can at least get close to converting to on-field or court performance (you can’t replicate game performance in a weight room, sorry everyone).