After Wednesday’s drills, head coach Manny Diaz updated the status of a few UM injuries, beginning with RB Lorenzo Lingard. The sophomore back missed Saturday’s game against Bethune-Cookman with an undisclosed injury, but was back at practice today and was cleared for the Central Michigan game this weekend.
“It’s good to see him back running around,” Diaz said of Lingard.
While Robert Burns has been the third RB with Lingard out and recorded 5 carries for 32 yards against BCU, Diaz said the competition for the #3 role is still ongoing between the pair.
“Their ability to continue to compete and be able to roll three guys in would be pretty cool," Diaz said.
Diaz mentioned that striker Romeo Finley also returned to practice today and looks ready to play against CMU, but said that WR Mark Pope is still being held out.
“We’re still hopeful, will probably be a game time decision,” Diaz said of Pope.
The Hurricanes have also been dealing with long-term injuries to DT Nesta Silvera and LB Patrick Joyner, and Diaz said today that the pair have taken steps to return to the field shortly.
“The news and outlook is all good for him,” Diaz said of Silvera. “I don’t have a date that he will be back, but he joined the team for flex today, which is all the running and going back and forth. He is starting to get excited that it is not too far off.”
Diaz added that Joyner has rejoined the team for flex as well.
Coming off their first win, Diaz has felt the team has responded well in practice this week and is hungry for more success, singling out WR Dee Wiggins as someone that has impressed so far this week.
“Everything has been very positive. Putting in hard workdays,” Diaz said. “The mood is it’s Wednesday and it’s hard and it’s designed to be hard and let’s just be a team that works.
"We have a staff that keeps it real, we’re honest in terms of what we see, say `This is not our standard, not right, we have to fix this regardless of opponent going forward.’”
After getting the first win of his career on Saturday, Diaz was presented the game ball by the team in the locker room, led by DL coach Todd Stroud.
“That was pretty cool, we’ll have to find a place for that,” Diaz said.
