UM defensive nuggets at midpoint: Playing time news, who has and hasn’t excelled
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes defensive notes and metrics at the midpoint of the season, with some data courtesy of Pro Football Focus:
▪ Among players who have logged at least 50 defensive snaps, PFF rates UM’s top five defenders in this order: defensive ends Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor, slot cornerback Keionte Scott, defensive tackle Ahmad Moten and backup edge player Marquise Lightfoot, who has played 91 snaps. The top three matches up with what our eyes tell us.
Among players who have logged at least 50 defensive snaps, PFF gives the worst grade to linebacker Wesley Bissainthe, edging out linebacker Mohamed Toure and cornerback Xavier Lucas. That’s surprising, because the Canes’ linebackers appear to have played better than the grades suggest.
▪ Some notable front-seven defensive snap counts: Kamal Bonner, the linebacker who transferred from North Carolina, has played just three snaps all season and former Louisville starter Jaylin Alderman has played just 23. That’s a reflection of UM’s improved depth at the position.
That compares with 264 defensive snaps for Toure, 241 for Bissainthe, 111 for Raul Aguirre, 85 for Chase Smith, 17 for Cam Pruitt and 14 for freshman Kellen Wiley Jr…
Second-year defensive tackle Justin Scott, one of UM’s most ballyhooed recruits since Mario Cristobal’s arrival, logged just seven snaps in the loss to Louisville and has 109 for the season, compared with 221 for David Blay Jr. and 234 for Moten. The thinking going into the season was that all three would play a similar amount of snaps.
Among other defensive tackles, freshman Donta Simpson has played 35, Daylen Russell 14, Mykah Newton 3 and Artavius Jones 1.
Armondo Blount, who can play both end and tackle, has played 132 snaps.
Bain has played the second-most snaps on the defense (327), a testament to his improved conditioning. Mesidor is fourth in snaps at 309.
Among other edge players besides Blount (132) and Lightfoot (91), UM has given 25 snaps to Malik Bryant, 24 to Herbert Scroggins and 21 to Booker Pickett. Cole McConathy, who was injured earlier in the season, hasn’t played a defensive snap.
▪ Some notable defensive backfield snap counts:
Scott, who won the nickel cornerback job in August after transferring from Auburn, has played the most snaps on defense (349) and has been probably better than anyone in UM’s loaded 2025 portal class.
Among other cornerbacks, Lucas has played 223 defensive snaps, OJ Frederique 212, Washington State transfer Ethan O’Connor 186, Damari Brown 152, freshman Ja’boree Antoine 27 and Charles Brantley just 11.
Brantley has one of the nation’s best passer ratings against at Michigan State last season, but his low snap count is largely a byproduct of Scott beating him out for the nickel job.
Notably, Brown got the start opposite Frederique against Louisville, but Lucas played far more snaps in the game.
At safety, Jacksonville State transfer Zechariah Poyser has played the third most snaps (320) and Tennessee transfer Jakobe Thomas has played the fifth-most (300).
Among other safeties, impressive freshman Bryce Fitzgerald has played 118 snaps, while Isaiah Taylor has played 34 and Dylan Day 31. Markeith Williams was removed from the roster after the opener.
▪ Fitzgerald has been UM’s best defensive back in coverage, with three interceptions and four completions for 31 yards and a touchdown, equaling a 79.2 NFL passer rating in his coverage area.
How the other cornerbacks have fared:
Scott has allowed an 83.6 passer rating (20 for 29 for 163), with no touchdowns or interceptions. The bad news: He has missed nine tackles, which is tied with Thomas for the team lead.
Frederique, who struggled on crossing patterns against Louisville receiver Chris Bell, has allowed 10 completions in 21 attempts for 168 yards and a TD (by Bell). That’s a 91.8 passer rating against.
Ten of the 13 passes thrown against Lucas, the Wisconsin transfer, have been caught for 109 yards, with no TDs or interceptions (a 101.1 rating).
Brown has permitted three completions in six targets for 63 yards, an 87.5 rating.
O’Connor has relinquished three completions in five targets for 39 yards and a touchdown (a team worst 124.2 passer rating against, albeit in a very limited sample size).
Among safeties, the passer ratings against the starters are 111.7 against Poyser (8 for 10 for 108 yards) and 80.6 against Thomas (8 for 18, 119, with two touchdowns allowed but also an interception).
▪ Toure is the only UM linebacker who has allowed a touchdown pass. He has given up 17 catches on 24 targets for 156 yards, a 102.1 passer rating against.
Bissainthe has permitted 12 catches on 17 targets for 91 yards (and 83.2 passer rating against).
PFF says Aguirre has been UM’s best run-defender among linebackers, and third-best overall, behind Keionte Scott and Bain. Aguirre has been on the field for 52 running plays.
Among 38 defensive players who have logged snaps this season, PFF ranks Toure ninth against the run and Bissainthe 16th.
Justin Scott, who has been on the field for 48 running plays, is ranked 35th against the run, ahead of only players who have played fewer than 13 snaps against the run (Alderman, Simpson, Day). No wonder Justin Scott has played much less than Blay and Moten.
▪ PFF ranks Bain, Thomas, Mesidor and Toure as UM’s best pass rushers.
Bain has two sacks applied quarterback pressure on 31 of his 192 pass rushing snaps.
Mesidor has 3.5 sacks and has 25 pressures.
After Bain and Mesidor, the three UM defenders who have the most QB pressures are Moten (15), Lightfoot (13) and Blount (10).
UM’s defensive backs have generally been very good on blitzes. Scott has blitzed on 36 plays and has pressured the quarterback on eight of them. Thomas has rushed the quarterback 16 times and has six pressures. Poyser has on QB pressure on two blitzes.
Toure has seven pressures on 26 blitzes.
Here are a bunch of nuggets about UM’s offensive personnel at the halfway point.
This story was originally published October 24, 2025 at 12:57 PM.
