CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Running back Mark Fletcher Jr. is coming back to Miami next season, saying Tuesday that he plans to postpone his NFL plans for one more year.
Fletcher made the news official just a few days after the best game of his college career — a 172-yard rushing effort that helped No. 10 Miami top No. 7 Texas A&M 10-3 in the opening round of the College Football Playoff.
The Hurricanes (11-2) play No. 2 Ohio State (12-1) on New Year’s Eve in the CFP quarterfinals.
“Yeah, it’s true. I’m coming back another year,” Fletcher said. “I have another year. You know, I’m a true junior. Another year guaranteed. I love this team. I love this organization. I love this culture. And I just want to spend more time with my brothers while I can.”
Fletcher has rushed for 84 or more yards eight times in his Miami career, six of those games coming this season — including four of his six 100-yard efforts.
“We were just excited to help Mark Fletcher do his thing,” offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa said Tuesday, when asked about Fletcher’s numbers at Texas A&M. “You see him — he’s a bad guy out there.”
Fletcher — who has career-bests of 857 yards and 10 touchdowns this season — started the year 39th on Miami’s all-time rushing list. He’s now 13th, having passed passing Alonzo Highsmith, Leonard Conley, Lamar Miller, Tyrone Moss, Stephen McGuire and Frank Gore last weekend alone.
He’s up to 1,978 yards in his career, 22 yards shy of becoming the 11th 2,000-yard rusher in Miami history. And more impressive than his stats last weekend, at least to Miami coaches, was the way he helped calm freshman Malachi Toney down after a fourth-quarter fumble. On the next possession, after Fletcher helped get Miami down the field, Toney wound up scoring what became the winning touchdown.
“He played like a man possessed,” Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said of Fletcher. “And we needed it. We needed his leadership in a lot of ways on the sideline and his calmness. And I don’t think you can say enough about Mark as a human being and as a player. What a leader. Just a special person.”