Orange Bowl: Sizing up Miami’s Best WR Threat
With the Orange Bowl rapidly approaching, Badger of Honor sizes up the best receiving threat the Miami Hurricanes have to offer
The Wisconsin Badgers have a road date for the Orange Bowl against the host Miami Hurricanes. The reward for a runner up finish in the Big Ten title game against The Ohio State.
Of course, the Buckeyes hurt Wisconsin’s defense with big plays. So lets look at the guy the Badger secondary has to be careful with at all times in the Orange Bowl.
The Hurricanes have the #50 passing offense in the country, throwing for 245.8 yards per game. Conversely, the Badgers and its #4 passing defense permit just 160.1 yards per game on average.
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Miami has made 120 first downs via the pass compared to 98 from the running game. Hurricane QB Malik Rosier has 213 pass completions and 52 of them have come to senior WR Braxton Berrios.
Berrios is just 5-feet-9-inches tall and 186 pounds. But his 52 catches for 634 yards and nine touchdowns was good enough for 14th best in the ACC this season. That puts him 12 receptions ahead of Miami’s 2nd most prolific weapon, senior TE Christopher Herndon IV.
Of course, Herndon is out for the year with an injury.
The 2017 season was a breakout for Berrios. he had just 45 total catches entering his senior season. He caught only 12 passes each of his previous two seasons. Even in Miami’s ugly 38-3 loss in the ACC title game he managed to snag seven passes for 51 yards.
He also serves as a primary punt returner having amassed 194 yards on 12 returns. A season ago he had 19 punt returns for 215 yards and a touchdown. So watch out for him on punt returns.
But given his diminutive stature, it’s reasonable for the Wisconsin defense to expect to see Berrios moved around a lot. Most likely, he’ll operate well out of the slot but can be put in motion.
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Its imperative Wisconsin not let linebackers try and cover a quick twitch guy like Berrios. Instead Wisconsin will have to rely on its CB like Derrick Tindal or Nick Nelson to try and lock up Miami’s best receiving weapon.