Eight Miami football alums invited to NFL combine promising for future

The Miami football program continues to be one of the biggest suppliers of talent to the NFL despite their struggles on the field. Eight Miami Hurricanes have been invited to the 2020 NFL Combine in Indianapolis beginning later this month.

Eight former Miami football players have been invited to the 2020 NFL Combine in Indianapolis that commences later this month. That tops the six Hurricanes that participated in the 2019 combine. Several of the combine participants from Miami played in college all-star games like the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl.

Senior linebackers Shaq Quarterman and Michael Pinckney participated in the East-West Shrine Game and graduate transfer defensive end Trevon Hill in the Senior Bowl. Pinckney led the East with five solo tackles and tie with Quarterman and three other players with five tackles total.

Hill was productive at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. The former Virginia Tech star finished with two tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack. Five other Miami players will have a chance to impress scouts in Indianapolis.

Juniors, cornerback Trajan Bandy, running back DeeJay Dallas, defensive lineman Jonathan Garvin, and WR Jeff Thomas, in addition to graduate transfer wide receiver K.J. Osborn received invites to the combine. Players have the option of whether or not to accept the invite and which and how man events to participate in.

The eight players invited to participate in the combine is an indication that the Miami football staff has developed their players. That is separate from the disappointing 7-6 and 6-7 seasons that the Hurricanes had in 2018 and’19. NFL scouts are looking at these players as individuals, especially at the combine.

Matt Miller of the Bleacher Report projects four of the eight Miami football alums invited to participate to be selected in the NFL Draft in April in Las Vegas. Hill is the first player Miller projects to be off the board from Miami in the third round to the hometown Las Vegas Raiders.

Miller has a prognostication of Quarterman in the fifth round to the Miami Dolphins, Dallas to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the sixth round and Bandy in the seventh round to the Atlanta Falcons. It would be surprising for the productive Pinckney to go undrafted. The potential for the other Miami alums going undrafted sends a message.

Of the four Miami alums Miller projects to go undrafted, two are juniors giving up their last season of eligibility to enter the NFL Draft. Thomas was likely finished at Miami. It was very thinly veiled that Manny Diaz and his staff were tired of the indiscretions that Thomas has had over the last couple of seasons.

Miller was suspended for two games in 2018 and ultimately not with the team for the final two games of that season. Thomas was suspended for two more games in 2020. After a breakout 2018 sophomore season, Garvin was not productive for Miami until the end of the 2019 season.

Garvin had exclamation to the end of his Miami football career with 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks against Duke in the regular-season finale. Garvin would have benefitted from another season in South Florida. Miami will survive without Garvin. Former Temple DE Quincy was added Roche to team with Greg Rousseau.