By David Villavicencio
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes have a long tradition of homegrown talent showcasing itself on the football field.
Canes legends like Michael Irvin, Sean Taylor, Jonathan Vilma, Santana Moss and Bennie Blades are just a handful of South Florida natives who shined while donning Miami’s orange and green.
Over the course of the 2013 football season, HurricaneSports.com will honor a Hurricane football player with South Florida ties as the Milam’s Market Homegrown Athlete of the Week. This week’s player spotlight is Davie, Fla., native Jon Feliciano.
Skill position players typically get most of the spotlight, but linemen play a key role in making any team’s offense go.
Whether it is punishing defenders while opening holes for running backs or protecting their signal caller as he zips passes downfield, offensive linemen like Miami’s Jon Feliciano are vital to a football team’s success.
Feliciano fits the mold of the unheralded worker who just gets the job done.
The 6-foot-5, 320-pound lineman is versatile, playing both guard and tackle while at Miami.
Feliciano is also tough, playing in 30 of a possible 32 career games. The Davie, Fla., native missed two games in his redshirt freshman season due to injury but returned to start two of the final three games of the 2011 campaign.
An All-Broward selection as a senior at Davie’s Western High School, Felicano was a three-star recruit that received attention from several quality programs.
Despite getting offers from in-state rival Florida State and SEC programs South Carolina, Tennessee and Ole Miss, Feliciano chose to stay close to home and play for the Hurricanes.
His decision to join the Canes has been beneficial for Feliciano and the Miami football program.
After redshirting in 2010, Feliciano emerged as a key cog in Miami’s offensive line in 2011. He played in 10 games as a redshirt freshman, making eight starts and not allowing a sack while grading out at 84 percent for the year.
In 2012, Feliciano was a fixture on Miami’s offensive line that helped the Hurricanes rank third in the ACC in passing offense (295.4 yards/game) and fifth in total offense (440.2 ypg). The redshirt sophomore started all 12 games at left guard, earning All-ACC honorable mention accolades.
Feliciano continues to be an important blocker for the Canes in 2013, helping Miami to a 7-1 record so far this season. With the Canes set to host ACC Coastal division rival Virginia Tech this weekend, look for Feliciano to continue working hard in the trenches.