Miami is heading into the next stretch of the season thin at cornerback, and Mario Cristobal made that clear Monday when he said OJ Frederique will be out for a long time and Ja'Boree Antoine will be out for some time too.
That leaves Damari Brown and Ethan O'Connor as the two most experienced options ready to carry major load over the next month, but Miami is still going to need help from a deeper group of younger defensive backs to get through it.
Brown already got pushed into a bigger job in the week one win over Stanford after Frederique went down on the second snap of the game. He handled 55 snaps, gave up two catches for 34 yards on seven targets, and brings some real game experience with him after starting five games and playing 385 snaps in 2025 before his injury and holdout from the College Football Playoff.
O'Connor also logged meaningful work against Stanford, playing 26 snaps and allowing no catch on his lone target. His 2025 season showed both volume and production: seven starts, 633 defensive snaps, 47 targets, 24 completions allowed, 310 yards surrendered and one touchdown. Before that, he was a ballhawk at Washington State in 2024, when he played 755 snaps and intercepted four passes.
Beyond those two, Miami has a handful of players who may be asked to step in at corner, depending on how the next few weeks unfold.
Ryan Mack is one of them. The redshirt sophomore is listed at 5-feet-11 and 185 pounds, has dealt with nagging injuries in his college career, and is healthy now after a strong fall camp.
He mostly worked at nickel during camp, but he has outside corner experience from high school. Against Stanford, he played nine snaps on defense for the first time in his college career and gave up one catch on one target for no yards.
Chris Ewald brings a different profile. The redshirt freshman is 6-feet-1 and 175 pounds, and he spent most of his high school career as an outside corner.
He played nine snaps against Stanford and wasn’t targeted. In 2025, he logged 20 defensive snaps, all of them at outside corner.
JJ Dunnigan is the biggest of the group at 6-feet-3 and 205 pounds, and the true freshman’s size and confidence give Miami another possible answer. He played 33 defensive snaps against Stanford, with 10 coming at nickel, and the idea with him is straightforward: use his length, keep him off islands he can’t win, and let his athleticism work.
Bryce Fitzgerald is another name Miami could turn to. The sophomore is 6-feet-1 and 190 pounds, and he showed strong instincts in coverage during his time at UM.
He was expected to start out at corner when he committed, but as a true freshman in 2025 he picked off six passes while playing safety and nickel. If Miami leans on zone looks, Fitzgerald could be a fit.
The article also notes that this would have made even more sense if Dylan Day were healthy enough to handle some safety snaps while Fitzgerald moved over.
Camdin Portis got a look at outside corner against Stanford too, and the true freshman’s eight snaps there were rough. He stumbled and nearly gave up a deep touchdown that was ultimately broken up by safety Isaiah Taylor. Even so, Portis is described as a future star, with nickel looking like his best immediate fit.
Brody Jennings and Jaelen Waters are still in the mix as developmental options. Jennings, a true freshman at 6-feet-1 and 185 pounds, worked a lot during spring football but did not play a defensive snap against Stanford.
He has length, though he still needs more speed. Waters, also a true freshman, is 6-feet-1 and 180 pounds, has long-term upside and made progress during fall camp after a rough spring, but he likely needs another year before he becomes a real contributor.
The good news for Miami is that it has at least two corners with experience in Brown and O'Connor. The rest of the picture is a little more flexible, with Mack and Ewald offering nickel-to-outside versatility, Dunnigan and Fitzgerald bringing size and athleticism from the safety side, and the possibility that more zone coverage could help ease the strain.
Hetherman has already managed injury issues in the secondary before. In 2025, Keionte Scott missed the final few games of the regular season with a toe injury and Fitzgerald filled in. In the National Championship game, Miami had to deal with a first-half suspension for Xavier Lucas and an injury to Brown.
In Other News...
SMU Just Took A Shot At Miami's QB Debate
Rhett Lashlee has no interest in hiding how he feels about the quarterback conversation shaping up in the ACC. In an ESPN interview, the SMU coach put Kevin Jennings in the same breath as Miamis Darian Mensah, using Jennings yardage against a stronger opponent to frame his own signal-caller as one of the leagues top answers under center.
For Miami, though, the comparison comes with a little extra edge because Mensahs recent outing against Stanford was cleaner, with a high completion rate, multiple touchdown throws and no turnovers, while Jennings was working through a closer win over Florida State that included more interceptions and a lower quarterback rating. The two quarterbacks are still firmly in the mix as the ACC Championship race takes shape, even if their teams wont cross paths in the regular season. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Fans Have One Fair Question About This AP Poll Snub
Miamis rise in the AP Top 25 has been steady enough that a sixth-place vote one week and no mention at all the next stands out immediately. Brian Fonseca, one of the polls voters, left the Hurricanes off his ballot after ranking them sixth the previous week, even though Miami still checked in at No. 7 overall.
The omission has only added to the intrigue because Miamis point total would have moved ahead of Oregons if Fonseca had included the Hurricanes, which could have shifted the order in the poll. Fonseca has not offered an explanation, so the most obvious reading is that it was simply an oversight, but until theres clarification, it leaves Miami fans with a fair question about how one ballot changed the picture. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Commit A'mir Sears Is Fueling A Huge Recruiting Push
Amir Sears has already become one of the biggest early drivers of Miamis 2027 recruiting buzz. The five-star commit has played well to open the high school season, even as his team took a loss to St. Thomas Aquinas, and his presence has helped give the Hurricanes a class that is drawing national attention. He is part of a group that already includes quarterback CJ Cypher, another notable pledge whose long-term path remains a talking point.
For Miami, the bigger picture is how much momentum these early commitments can create as the cycle keeps moving. The Hurricanes are watching a highly regarded class take shape, and the interest around Sears only adds to the sense that this group could keep climbing if the right pieces stay in place. Upcoming games will give him more chances to build on his start, while the recruiting side of the story continues to carry as much intrigue as anything happening on the field. [Read more 🡒]