Miami head coach, Jim Larranaga, announced that transfer Angel Rodriguez will not file for a waiver to play during the 2013-14 season. Rodriguez transferred from Kansas State and many thought he had a case that would allow him to play immediately. Larranaga sheds some light on the decision process below.
Is Angel Rodriguez similar in a lot of ways to Shane Larkin?
“Yes, but I should let everybody know that when Angel contacted us and made the decision to transfer here, in one of our very first conversations, Angel shared with me, that he was struggling with injuries that he sustained during his two years in college. One was a wrist injury, and one was a very serious tendinitis in his knee. When we had him visit with our trainer Wes Brown, Wes felt that it was so severe that he took him to our team doctors. They did x-rays and MRI’s, and eventually shut him down the entire summer. When Angel and I talked about him for this upcoming year, the discussion was, ‘There is no sense applying for the waiver to help you be eligible when you’re not physically going to be fit enough.’ He told me at that time, he would much prefer to just sit out the year anyway, learn the new system and be 100%, or close to 100%, for his last two years. We were waiting to decide whether or not to apply for the waiver to see how he was feeling. I spoke to him the other day. We both agreed that we weren’t going to apply for the waiver, so he’s definitely going to red shirt this year with Sheldon McClellan and be available next season and the following year.”
Without Rodriguez the Miami backcourt situation will likely be a weakness. Larranaga also shared his thoughts on filling the point guard position.
Plan with the point guard?
“The plan is to spend the next three weeks trying to figure out who might start, who might back that person up, and who would give us the depth we need to get the point guard position. But, right now if you would ask me, I would say Manu, Deandre, and Garrius will all share that responsibility either as a starter or a sub.”
It's going to be a long season for the Hurricanes.
