Miami Hurricanes have key players sidelined. How they’re still making their mark
Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal watched as Keionte Scott pulled CharMar Brown to the side on Saturday. Brown had just fumbled the ball late in the first quarter against NC State.
Scott, likely sidelined for the rest of the season with a “serious” right foot/leg injury, took it upon himself to give his teammate some encouragement.
“Hey, man, you’re that guy,” Cristobal remembers Scott telling Brown. “You’re going to come back, you’re going to bounce back, you’re not going to get after it and you’re going to make some critical plays in this game.”
Sure enough, Brown scored two drives later on a 1-yard rushing touchdown on the Hurricanes’ way to a 41-7 rout of the Wolfpack at Hard Rock Stadium.
“Keionte’s leadership,” Cristobal said, “it screams loudly.”
At this point, it needs to.
With Scott not able to contribute on the field, the star nickel cornerback has to find other ways to make an impact on the No. 15 Hurricanes (8-2, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) as they continue their push toward a hopeful spot in the College Football Playoff.
“That’s a true teammate, a guy that you can lean on — on and off the field,” safety Jakobe Thomas said of Scott.
Scott, a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award given annually to college football’s top defensive back, is not the only one who has had to take on this role recently as the Hurricanes have dealt with their share of injuries to major players.
Wide receiver CJ Daniels, who leads the Hurricanes with six touchdown catches, hasn’t played in the past three games.
Running back Mark Fletcher Jr., who leads Miami with nine rushing touchdowns, has been out for two weeks.
Starting cornerback OJ Frederique Jr. has missed the past three games. Defensive tackle Ahmad Moten Sr. missed two games and as soon as he returned last week, Miami’s other starting defensive tackle in David Blay Jr. was out with injury. Linebacker Wesley Bissainthe has been limited the past two weeks.
“Almost a third of our starters,” Cristobal said.
Yet while those players haven’t been able to take the field on Saturdays, they’ve been putting in work behind the scenes.
Pushing through rehab. Being engaged in practice. Speaking up in team meetings. Prepping their successors to succeed. Serving as de facto assistant coaches on game day.
Anything and everything they can do to make sure whoever is on the field is producing to the best of their abilities.
“It says a lot about our culture,” defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor said. “Everybody is active during practice. If you’re not in, you’re in the back looking at the person ahead of you — what he’s doing right [and] what he’s doing wrong. Even if you’re not on the field, you’re still making the same calls, the same checks. It’s always a next-man-up mentality, so everybody has to be ready. Everybody takes the same amount of mental reps — maybe not physical, but you’re going to take a ton of mental reps, — so you’re ready to step up whenever somebody goes down.”
It’s paying off.
Daniels, a sixth-year senior and LSU transfer, has corralled the wide receivers and been serving as an extra sounding board for them in between drives. He’s giving them tips based on what he’s seeing from the sidelines and providing feedback on their approaches with certain routes.
“He’s just preaching to us to keep each other lifted and keep each other going,” said wide receiver Keelan Marion, who has seen an uptick in production (15 catches, 289 yards, one touchdown) the past three weeks. “Don’t be scared to ask questions and coach each other, take criticism and stuff like that. He’s just always being that leader and captain that he is.”
Added freshman Malachi Toney: “His perspective from everywhere counts. He’s out there coaching while you’re on the field, so we come back to the sideline, and he’s like, ‘Hey, what did you see on this? Here’s what I would have done.’ It’s just a great.”
Fletcher, a junior who has contributed all three of his years at Miami, has been an emotional leader all season. That hasn’t stopped since being sidelined by an injury sustained late against SMU on Nov. 1. He’s still a leading voice in the running back room.
“Their voice is extremely important, and they’ve done a great job leading up to the game,” offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said of Daniels and Fletcher. “On the sideline, between every drive, those guys are elite, elite teammates and elite leaders. We miss them on the field, for sure, but to their credit, they have stayed positive, and they make an impact on the game, but just their energy and attitude has been awesome.”
Added freshman running back Girard Pringle Jr., who earned his first start on Saturday and ran for 116 yards on 17 carries against NC State: “It’s a brotherhood. We’re just a big family, the whole team. There’s no selfishness in the room.”
And then there’s Scott. As soon as he knew he wouldn’t be playing, he went to freshman Bryce Fitzgerald, the main player who was going to take over Scott’s duties at nickel corner.
“Keionte made sure that he knew every call,” Thomas said. “He helped him everything. He was the most juiced on the sideline on every play.”
Scott’s efforts came as no surprise to his team.
“On the field, off the field, he’s always going to make sure we’re getting better in those situations,” defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman said. “He’s always going to be involved.”
As beneficial as those players have been in this capacity, the Hurricanes hope to get some of them back on the field, too.
Cristobal on Monday said he anticipates Daniels returning when Miami plays Virginia Tech (3-7, 2-4 ACC) on Saturday (noon, ESPN) and added that Fletcher and Frederique are also trending in the right direction.
“To have some of these guys on the mend and working their way back,” Cristobal said, “it’s exciting.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 12:43 PM.
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