The Miami football team will still have a deep running back corps without DeeJay Dallas who announced on Friday that he will enter the 2020 NFL Draft and forego his senior season in 2020.
Over the last three seasons, DeeJay Dallas has been the heart and soul of the Miami football team, especially on offense. With a family to now support Dallas announced on Friday that he will forego his senior season to enter the NFL Draft. There is plenty of depth returning and entering MIami at RB to absorb Dallas leaving.
Dallas led Miami with 694 yards and rushing and eight touchdowns on the ground in 2019. The Georgia native added 14 receptions for 140 yards and two TDs receiving. Dallas finishes his Miami football career with 1,528 rushing yards, 17 rushing TDs and 28 receptions for 317 yards and another two TDs.
The departure of Dallas hurts the Miami locker room throughout the entire team and specifically offensively. Dallas did an exceptional job replacing Travis Homer this season who was stellar in 2017 and ’18 after replacing Mark Walton. Rising junior Cam’Ron Harris will be the first team RB heading into the offseason.
Harris ran for 576 yards and five TDs and added 16 receptions for 118 yards and two more TDs in 2019. The sophomore was exceptional as the Hurricanes lead RB this season when Dallas was out with injury except in the season finale offensive flop against Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl.
Dallas went out with an injury against Georgia Tech and missed the following week against Pittsburgh. The Georgia native suffered a season-ending fractured elbow against Florida International last month. In the four games that Dallas was out even partially, Harris ran for 326 yards on 53 carries with three TDs.
Harris added seven receptions for 64 yards and another TD in those four games. With a 6.15 yards per carry average as essentially the lead back, Harris has proven he is ready to be the lead RB for the Miami Hurricanes. Miami will have a plethora of depth behind Harris. The RBs on the depth chart will evolve behind Harris.
FOREVER MIAMI. pic.twitter.com/idWrSacNdW
— DeeJay Dallas (@DallasDeejay) December 28, 2019
Robert Burns gives Miami a steady presence behind Harris but will likely be passed up on the depth chart behind him. Burns ran for 116 yards on 29 carries without reaching the end zone. Burns is not the explosive back that Miami needs. Rising redshirt sophomore Lorenzo Lingard has been an enigma this season.
Lingard suffered a torn ACL during the season in 2018. The former five-star recruit seemed to be ready to play in 2019. Lingard could have played in the Independence Bowl loss to Louisiana Tech on Thursday and still maintained his redshirt. Anyone that follows Miami football closely has been baffled by why Lingard hasn’t played.
Lingard was on the edge of stardom before suffering the knee injury in 2018. As a freshman, Lingard ran for 17 times for 136 yards and two touchdowns at eight yards per carry. The speedster played sparingly this season but did not receive a carry. He is expected to consider transferring during the offseason.
In addition to Burns and Lingard, Miami also signed consensus four-star RBs Don Chaney Jr and Jaylon Knighton to National Letters of Intent earlier this month. Chaney and Knighton are expected to challenge Harris for playing time next season. With the Miami inconsistencies of the Miami offense, anything can happen.