Cowboy Football Notebook: Miami Gets King Back, All-Americans and Transfers
STILLWATER – I’d like to start this article by saying that I hope everyone had a happy and safe Christmas. These are weird and trying times we’re living in, but I’m certain that 2021 will be better.
Good news for Miami and their head coach Manny Diaz the day after Christmas as Miami reported back to practice and quarterback D’Eriq King announced that not only is he focused on the bowl game with Oklahoma State, but that he will return to school next year and be a super senior starting quarterback for the Hurricanes. With over 4,000-yards in total offense that is a valuable returner for Miami football for 2021.
A couple of other items to make note of from over the Christmas holiday. Cowboy back Jelani Woods has found a landing spot and two Cowboys made the Reese’s Senior Bowl All-America team.
Let’s start with the current Cowboys. These two Cowboys will more likely than not make multiple other All-America teams over the next month or so: Teven Jenkins and Tylan Wallace.
If you go through the list of offensive players, Jenkins and Wallace are in some rather elite company. I found it a little odd that Rodarius Williams didn’t make the list, but had he, Oklahoma State would’ve joined Alabama as the only two schools with three or more selections.
Both Jenkins and Wallace have made themselves very rich men with their performances on the field the past few seasons, but Jenkins’ performance has been insane. He was cornerstone of the offensive line that helped Chuba Hubbard to 2,094 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2019. He also played 778 snaps without allowing a single sack. The last sack Jenkins gave up was in week 11 of the 2018 season.
As for Wallace, he had a great season following tearing his ACL prior to the TCU game in 2019. In fact, there’s many people, myself included, that believe he came back even better than he was in 2019. Wallace hauled in 53 receptions for 877 yards and six touchdowns in just nine games this season.
A group of Cowboys also earned Associated Press Big 12 honors this week.
First Team
T Teven Jenkins
G Josh Sills
WR Tylan Wallace (unanimous)
Second Team
RB Chuba Hubbard
LB Amen Ogbongbemiga
CB Rodarius Williams
As for transfer Jelani Woods, he’s headed to the University of Virginia. Woods, a redshirt junior this past season, will be a grad transfer for the Cavaliers next season.
The redshirt junior told coach Gundy and McEndoo after the Baylor game he wanted to be closer to home and I can’t blame him. While the drive from Ellenwood, GA to Charlottesville, VA is nearly eight hours, that’s also five hours shorter than the drive to Stillwater, which is close to 13 hours.
This season, Woods hauled in eight receptions for 129 yards and one touchdown. For his career, Woods finished with 31 receptions for 361 yards and four touchdowns. Oklahoma State uses the cowboy backs as blockers first and receivers second, so I would imagine Woods will get more catching opportunities with Virginia.