With Miami’s second pick in the 5th round they decided to stick with their trend of picking small school players, and selected outside linebacker Jordan Tripp from Montana. He was actually a two-time team captain and is another football guy, who works extremely hard on and off the field.
Last season he racked up 100 tackles with 5 tackles for a loss and 5 sacks, but sometimes gets stuck on blocks, because he doesn’t use his hands effectively enough to shed the block. He probably will not be able to unseat any of our current starters, but his hard work ethic alone should be able to gain the respect of his fellow teammates. Hopefully his enthusiasm, and high character will rub off on the rest of the team, because most football gambling fans would say this team is still in dire need of leaders.
The bottom line is that Tripp should at least be able to make the roster, and contribute immediately on special teams. It will also be up to the coaching staff to be able to work on his technique, and help mold him into at least a situational linebacker. The coaching staff is going to have to start doing a better job developing these youngsters. Last year’s number one pick Dion Jordan barely saw the field, and besides being injured, the coaching staff was constantly saying they couldn’t figure out how to use him. This to me is a ridiculous statement. If a player is not getting enough snaps, then that means he is doing something poorly on the field or needs to improve on certain areas of his game. So for youngsters, this means the coaching staff needs to do a much better job of preparing players mentally, technically and physically for the game. Jordie Tripp seems like a player who is going to work his ass off, and who will do whatever the coaching staff wants him to do. So with proper coaching along with Tripp’s determination he may have a chance to be a contributor in this league one day.