Mario Cristobal had some roster news waiting before Miami opened fall camp Tuesday morning, and the updates touched both sides of the ball.
Speaking on The Joe Rose Show on 560 WQAM, Cristobal said tight end Luka Gilbert will miss the season after getting hurt while home over the summer. He also said the Hurricanes have parted ways with second-year defensive end Hayden Lowe and true freshman defensive back Jontavius Wyman.
“Luka Gilbert, when he was home over the summer, hurt himself and so he is going to miss the season and he will be back the following year,” Cristobal said. “The University of Miami and Hayden Lowe have parted ways and we certainly wish him the best in his future endeavors and the same for Jontavius Wyman.”
Lowe’s exit closes the book on a career that never really got rolling in Miami. The former five-star recruit arrived with plenty of hype after a strong spring in 2025, but an upper extremity injury during that year’s fall camp ended his season before it could begin. He was expected to be part of the defensive end rotation that fall.
The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Lowe also missed most of spring practice in 2026 for undisclosed reasons. He later returned to team activities during the summer, but is now gone from the program. According to 247Sports, he was the No. 16 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class and came out of Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, California.
Cristobal also noted that defensive end Third Scroggins is set to return after dealing with a minor offseason injury. Scroggins, a true freshman in 2025, played 76 snaps last season and is now expected to be part of the rotation at defensive end. He is listed at 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds.
Gilbert’s absence leaves Miami thinner at tight end, especially when it comes to in-line blocking. The 6-foot-7, 255-pound tight end played 68 snaps as a true freshman in 2025 and had been in line to compete for that role again this season. Now, true freshman Gavin Mueller and walk-on Owen Ruskavich are expected to battle for those snaps instead.
In Other News...
Miami Suddenly Needs Third Scroggins In A Much Bigger 2026 Role
Mario Cristobals latest defensive line update left Miami with a thinner front than expected, and it quickly shifted the spotlight to the players who now have to absorb those snaps. Second-year end Third Scroggins is one of the names moving up the board for 2026, a change that matters for a unit that has been building around young pass rushers and edge depth.
Scroggins is part of a broader group the Hurricanes will lean on, with Damon Wilson, Marquise Lightfoot, Booker Pickett and Asharri Charles also in line for bigger contributions. Miami has spent the last stretch sorting out who can handle more responsibility as the rotation changes, and the next step is finding out which of those younger defenders can turn opportunity into a real role. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Secondary Suddenly Has A Bigger Freshman Question Than Expected
Miamis secondary was already a spot worth watching as the season approached, and now the freshman storyline around Jontavius Wyman has taken an unexpected turn. The true freshman cornerback came in as one of the more notable additions in Miamis recent recruiting class after flipping his commitment from Georgia to the Hurricanes last spring, a move that raised the profile of his arrival before he ever took a snap.
Wyman has announced he is stepping away from football for the 2026 season, though he says he intends to return in the future. Mario Cristobal confirmed Wyman is no longer with the team, leaving Miami to adjust its depth picture while one of its most intriguing young defensive backs puts his career on pause for now. [Read more 🡒]
Ethan O'Connor Sees Unfinished Business In Miamis Secondary
Ethan O'Connor arrived in Miami with plenty to prove, and the junior cornerback has already leaned into the kind of accountability that tends to earn respect in a secondary. After transferring from Washington State, he looked back on a difficult showing in the National Championship game, but just as important was the support he said he felt from his teammates as the season wound down. It helped frame a first year in Coral Gables that ended with 28 tackles and five pass deflections, a solid starting point for a player still chasing a bigger role.
Now O'Connor is talking like someone who sees unfinished business in a Miami defensive backfield that expects to be tested again. He wants to raise his interception total this fall, and he sounds convinced the group is in position to make that happen after the work it has already put in for the new season. For a Hurricanes team that has been building around its secondary, O'Connor's confidence adds another layer to a unit that knows the margin for error gets smaller when the games matter most. [Read more 🡒]