Monday Musings: Mark Fletcher’s getting the short end of the respect stick

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Happy Monday, everyone. I hope your weeks have gotten off to a great start.

It’s Monday. Y’all know what that means. Let’s dance.

1) Something caught me off guard earlier this offseason. Completely left my jaw on the floor. On3 Sports put out their list of top 100 players in all of college football earlier this year, and Miami RB Mark Fletcher came in at No. 93.

I had to do a double take. Indeed, there he was, at 93. I scoffed. That’s one of the more ridiculous things I’ve seen in a list in a long time. Fletcher was the tenth running back on the list. And I’m here to tell you he’s nowhere near No. 10 in real life.

The reason I thought back to that is another list came out this week, and this time it was a lot fairer. ESPN ranked the top college running backs, and Fletcher checked in at No. 4. That’s more like it. But still probably not high enough.

2) Fletcher has gotten docked because, it seems, he’s not dynamic enough of a back to satisfy some folks.

But there are a lot of ways to skin the cat, and horsepower/blunt force trauma is one of those ways. 6-2, 225 pounds of — as Raheem Morris once put it about Maurice Jones-Drew — a rolling ball of butcher knives. Like trying to drag down a runaway truck. There’s value in trying to juke and dust guys, but would you rather have Alabama’s Derrick Henry or a shiftier player? I’d rather have Henry.

And I don’t think bringing up Henry is unfair either. No, Henry was a generational specimen, and I’m not saying Fletcher is the exact same player, but don’t tell me he’s not cut from the same cloth. Watching him run last postseason was like watching Derrick Henry run through the competition at times, particularly in College Station.

Oh, and here! This was not slow.

Fletcher set the College Football Playoff record for rushing yards, and he’s become more of a footnote for the 2026 season. All I’m saying is not enough people are talking about his physical, punishing performance and how THAT somehow isn’t enough to warrant higher consideration.

We’ll see if the Canes’ lead back uses all of this as extra motivation once the season gets here.

That’s all I’ve got for today. Peace be with you, and until next week….go Canes!

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