Injury updates on five Miami Hurricanes starters for home game vs. NC State
The No. 18 Miami Hurricanes’ injury front remains a mixed bag heading into their regular-season home finale against the NC State Wolfpack on Saturday (3:30 p.m., ESPN).
Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal, during his weekly Monday morning spot on WQAM’s The Joe Rose Show, provided updates on a handful of starters who either did not play or were limited in Miami’s 38-10 win over Syracuse as UM tries to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive.
The good news: Cristobal said he is “very hopeful” that linebacker Wesley Bissainthe will play after being limited against Syracuse and said he feels “great” about wide receiver CJ Daniels returning after sitting out the past two weeks against SMU and Syracuse.
The bad news: Running back Mark Fletcher Jr. is likely to miss his second consecutive game.
The in between: Cornerback OJ Frederique Jr. and defensive tackle Ahmad Moten Sr. are in “wait and see” mode. Like Daniels, each has missed the past two games.
“For whatever reason, the last two-and-a-half-weeks, we’ve gotten banged up,” Cristobal said. “We’re just trying to find ways to get healthy and get other guys ready to go.”
Without Fletcher, who leads the team with 636 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns, Miami used a trio of redshirt sophomore CharMar “Marty” Brown, sophomore Jordan Lyle and true freshman Girard Pringle Jr. to lead the run game against Syracuse. Pringle had a team-high 55 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown in the third quarter, on seven carries. Brown had 40 yards on eight carries. Lyle, who started, ran seven times for 17 yards.
True freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney also had three designed runs called for him and gained 14 yards on those.
Bissainthe, who was listed as questionable for the game throughout the week, played just 13 of 71 defensive snaps on Saturday. With the senior limited, Chase Smith (35 snaps), Raul “Popo” Aguirre Jr. (33 snaps), Cam Pruitt (12 snaps), Kamal Bonner (11 snaps) and Jaylin Alderman (five snaps) all received extended playing time at linebacker alongside Mohamed Toure (40 snaps).
At wide receiver, Joshisa “JoJo” Trader started for the second consecutive week alongside Toney and Keelan Marion with Daniels out. Marion had the breakout game, catching all three of his targets for 116 yards and a 61-yard touchdown. Toney caught two passes for 12 yards and threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Carson Beck. Trader caught three of six targets for 19 yards. Freshmen Daylyn Upshaw and Josh Moore, sophomore tight end Elija Lofton and senior tight end Alex Bauman each caught a pass as well.
Damari Brown, Xavier Lucas and Ethan O’Connor continued to be Miami’s primary rotation at outside cornerback, with each member of the trio receiving between 34 and 51 snaps on Saturday.
And sophomore Justin Scott started for a second consecutive week at defensive tackle alongside David Blay Sr. Scott had four tackles, including two tackles for loss, against Syracuse, over 41 snaps. Armondo Blount (40 snaps), Donta Simpson (18 snaps) and Daylen Russell (six snaps) also got playing time.
The Atlantic Coast Conference requires teams to provide three availability reports with formal updates throughout the week. Those will be released on 8 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and 1:30 p.m. Saturday for the Miami-N.C. State game.
This story was originally published November 10, 2025 at 6:59 AM.
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