Tough guy, tougher road: A grim birthday awaits Miami’s Moncur, who remains sidelined

Another lost season for Miami’s Moncur

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — It could have been one of those days Eric Moncur would remember forever.

He was supposed to be playing his final regular-season game Saturday for the Miami Hurricanes. His mother was supposed to be there, wearing her kid’s No. 94 jersey, screaming nonstop for three hours to the delight of the Miami faithful sitting nearby. And afterward, a proud and close-knit family was supposed to go out to celebrate, a mother and son toasting each other on the birthday they shared.

None of it will happen.

Saturday promises to be the most trying day of a trying season for Moncur, a defensive end who received a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA and could barely use it, enduring yet another injury-filled campaign that kept him off the field.

And if Edwina Moncur hadn’t died of cancer 15 months ago, it would have been her 44th birthday, too.

His birthday won’t be a happy one.

“Going to be a rough day,” Moncur said.

He’s had more than his share of those.

Moncur couldn’t play football right away because getting the necessary SAT score proved to be difficult at first. He buried Bryan Pata, his best friend and teammate, after a still-unsolved slaying in 2006. Moncur lost his mother to cancer in August 2008. He has played in only nine of the 24 games since, an array of injuries basically ending his college career much earlier than he wanted.

“It’s sad,” Miami coach Randy Shannon said. “Here’s a guy who came back for another senior year, had troubling times, lost his mom, graduated from school and then came up with another injury. It’s sad.”

Last season, a torn abdominal muscle kept him out of much of the year. The NCAA granted him the sixth year, but Moncur missed time in training camp with another injury, and hurt his right foot and calf more than a month ago. He originally said that he hoped to be back within a week. He’s barely played since, not at all in any of Miami’s last four games.

Shannon said when the 19th-ranked Hurricanes (8-3) visit South Florida (7-3) on Saturday, Moncur won’t be able to play then, either.

“It is hard to watch, especially when you have a good friendship with the guy,” Miami quarterback Jacory Harris said. “You sit up there, you look at him, he gets in, and he plays wonderful. The next week, unfortunately, he gets hurt or something like that.”

It’s a bizarre trend for a 6-foot-2, 250-pound defensive end who has drawn rave reviews for toughness from teammates and coaches in past years.

He was listed on the top 100 by plenty of recruiting services coming out of Miami Carol City High, an All-American by one of those, and had plenty of Division I offers. Miami was his choice, he was one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top defensive freshmen in 2005 after a redshirt year, and the future looked bright.

“Me and Bryan, we used to think about what we would do when we left after our third year,” Moncur said, speaking of Pata, with whom he was practically inseparable. “It didn’t happen that way.”

Pata was killed in 2006, and Moncur has dealt with one blow after another since.

But this year, he’s been determined to make the most of his last year with the Hurricanes. He’s still at practice and in meetings, still a part of the team, now primarily charged with keeping everyone’s spirits high. He also could play in Miami’s bowl game.

“You can see what type of person he is,” Harris said. “He still has a high spirit, still wants to be involved in this team. He does everything he can to give back. … You kind of feel sorry for him, but he’s a hard-working guy and hopefully somebody will give him a chance.”

The plan, if his calf recovers (the exact diagnosis of the injury is unknown, although Shannon said it stems from a muscle that simply hasn’t responded yet to treatment) is for Moncur to resume working toward his goal of playing in the NFL soon. But after missing the bulk of the last two years, getting drafted seems improbable, though not impossible.

The free-agent route to the pros appears far more likely.

Still, Shannon cautions against counting Moncur out. The day before Edwina Moncur died, her son promised to take care of the family, and that meant getting to the NFL.

That vow was the final birthday present for his mom.

“He’s been through enough where he has the mentality to do it,” Shannon said. “Eric needs football in the worst kind of way.”